Take your Competent Communication Projects to the Max!

Introduction

Recent post-speech discussion with a club member who had at that evening’s meeting shared his Vocal Variety (project 6) speech from the Competent Communication (CC) manual got me thinking about how we should perhaps look at this and the other projects in that manual which develop certain aspects of speech delivery. This tip is primarily related to projects 4 through 6, and to a lesser degree, to projects 2 and 3, and provides what I believe is helpful information not just to the person crafting and delivering a speech, but to his prepared speech evaluator as well.

What do I mean by the title of this tip? Let’s start with the aforementioned project 6 speech as an example. The speech objectives in the manual (Competent Communication, Item 225, Rev. 6/2014) are as follows:

• Use voice volume, pitch, rate, and quality to reflect and add meaning and interest to your message.
• Use pauses to enhance your message.
• Use vocal variety smoothly and naturally.

To “take this project to the max” means not just achieving those objectives, but over-achieving — exaggerating — them. I gave the club member verbal examples of what these objectives would be like if “taken to the max.” “Don’t just vary your volume a little bit,” I told him, “but discover what your volume range is by pushing for the limits.” When it comes to pitch, I suggested the implementation of different voices, perhaps male and female, into his presentation. Find a way in the speech to vary your rate from very slow to very fast. Test the “pause waters” by crafting your speech with a huge pause which seems terrifying to you. A pause can be a huge speechcraft asset and this is the project which asks you to explore that area. Take every objective here to the max to learn what you can handle and are comfortable with, and to stretch and grow yourself. “Max it out” in these CC projects!

Some ideas for the CC projects identified above

Project 2 (Organize Your Speech): Include the not-so-subtle phrases “I’d like to introduce you to…” and “and in conclusion” to clearly segment the organization of your speech and fulfill the last objective to “Create a strong opening and conclusion.” Make it super obvious that you’re moving from one speech part to the next to test how well and how you can best do so.

Project 3 (Get to the Point): Why not use phrases such as “In general, I want to share with you…” and, perhaps as part of your conclusion, “We looked at a few specific things this evening…” to make it abundantly clear what the general and specific purposes of the speech are? See project 2 notes about fulfilling the structural elements evaluation point (#5, page 20).

Project 4 (How To Say It): When writing your speech, work in a way to have one word sentences, perhaps by sharing with the audience a list of adjectives which describe something you’re talking about. Example: “How can I describe the view from the top of the mountain we had just climbed? Breathtaking. Inspiring. Majestic. Scary!” Take this project to the max and “over satisfy” the third evaluation aspect on page 25 to “use vivid, descriptive words that created mental images” by increasing your vocabulary and finding new adjectives to describe your mountain top view or express another point.

Project 5 (Your Body Speaks): We old-timers know this as the “gestures” project. Find a way when developing your speech to use every part of your body “to the max.” Counting off points on your fingers and other hand gestures are fine, but push the envelope and include material that necessitates, for example, stomping a foot, moving from one part of the stage to another, bending, lifting, twisting…whatever! You don’t need to write a speech about aerobic exercise to accomplish this, but come up with something that gets you learning just how great a tool your body language can be. And don’t forget that the “parking position” for your hands, when not deliberately in use, is at your sides.

Project 6 (Vocal Variety): Go constructively crazy with your vocal variety as described in paragraph two above.

And now, something for our prepared speech evaluators. First, know in advance the objectives of the speech project (you share these with the audience before the speech, right?) and be familiar with the evaluation points. Ideally, you have read the entire project. Second, please do not overreach in your prepared speech evaluation. I have seen this and I find it unfair to the speaker. Illustration: Bob just gave his CC #5 and you have spent 2 of your 3 minutes describing his use of body language, pointing out good and not-so-good aspects thereof in his speech presentation, but now you have decided to include in your evaluation some comments about how next time Bob can do a better job with his vocal variety. Huh? Why? That’s project 6, and he’s on project 5. The principle of not evaluating on points either not included in the project’s objectives or list of evaluation points is, obviously, applicable to all speech projects, but especially to those in the CC manual. Bob’s speech was to show off his hopeful mastery of body language and you’re pinging him on something that was not one of his objectives! DON’T DO IT! Broader evaluations covering multiple presentation aspects are appropriate to later speeches in this manual and to the advanced manuals, but not these developmental projects. Stick to what you should stick to.

Conclusion

When you get to the last four projects in the manual, you are going to be using the speech delivery aspects you exercised to the max in the preceding ones. Here, you’re going to be less obvious, but still implement them. If you maxed yourself out as suggested, you know now what you are good at and comfortable with. When you “persuade with power” in project 9 and “inspire your audience” in project 10, vocal variety and the proper body language are going to be key speech components in satisfying the objectives. Toastmasters manuals are designed such that when projects are taken in numerical order, the skills learned in earlier ones are implemented in later ones. The CC manual is a great example of this sequential process. Toss aside your inhibitions during your first ten speeches, max out each project’s objectives, and you will emerge with not only your first Toastmasters award, but also as a competent communicator ready to take on the advanced manuals. Go for it (to the max)!

Toastmaster Art (Arthur L. Farnsworth), CTM

15 January 2016 (rev. 17 January 2016)