Message From the Lt. Governor Education and Training

Fellow Toastmasters,

How do you deal with failure? You know...like the time you prepared a GREAT speech, only to have it fall flat with the audience?  Or that time you had a BIG VISION for your new leadership role, only to see your projects die?  We've all experienced failure.

• Most people give up on their goals when they fail.
• Some people work even harder, perhaps on a different goal, trying to overcome what stopped them the last time.
• But only very few people stick with their original ideas and plans, and see them through until the end.

Let's get specific - 

Did you create a leadership or communication goal for the 2011 year?  How is it going?  Experienced your first failure on your way of achieving your goal yet?  If not, just wait—it'll happen.

Decide in advance. RIGHT NOW...when setbacks happen this year (on the way to achieving your goal) how will you deal with them?  How can you use them to empower you to stay on course?

Here are some suggestions:

• Tell everyone in your club about your goal, and let them hold you to it!
• Tell your Area Governor about your goal.
• Encourage other members of your club to achieve their personal goals (you'll find motivation out of encouraging others to achieve).
• Make a list of all the ways you usually deal with failure or setbacks.  Make a commitment not to take any actions on that list the next time you experience a setback.
• Find a mentor who knows how to deal with failure!
• Visualize and think about how great it will be to achieve the goal.  

Ben Lappen

 

 

 

World Championship of Public Speaking

Imagine…you’ve arrived.  You’re at the Toastmasters International Convention.  It’s day 5 of the event and you’re sitting in a room with over 1,500 people.   The energy is electric.  A speaker is on stage.  You’re excited, maybe a little nervous – you don’t know what to expect, but you know that you are about to witness something that will inspire you, move you, and perhaps even change your life –

On August 14th, 2010, I arrived at the International Speech Contest minutes before it began.  I grabbed an agenda and slid into a seat near the back of the room.  Two HUGE jumbo screens were overhead and a sea of heads was between the stage and me. At the podium stood Michael Notaro, the 2nd Vice President of Toastmasters International, and he introduced to the room the rules of the contest.

On time, the lights dimmed, and the contest began.  I sat and watched as, one-by-one, the best speakers from around the world each took a turn to deliver a 5-7 minute speech they had prepared for months.  Each speaker was skilled and a master at the art of public speaking.

But then…midway through the competition…a young man named David Henderson from San Antonio Texas took the stage.  His speech was titled “The Aviators” and it was a story from his childhood when he lost his best friend to T Sachs disease.  For the next 7 minutes, the room was riveted.  First, we laughed as he relived the story of meeting his best friend while they were kids (they both loved pilots and flying planes…they were The Aviators!) and then David told the story of how his friend died, and how his mother fell to her knees and cried to him “David, losing people is part of loving people!”

David stood up and there were tears in his eyes.  I searched the audience and there wasn’t a dry eye in the room (except, of course, your Lt. Governor of Education and Training…the only lone ranger in the back of the room)…
           
In less than an hour, David was crowned The World Champion Of Public Speaking.   He was asked to say a few words after his victory.  David said, “if I’ve learnt anything in my time in public speaking, it’s this: people do not want to hear a speech.  People want to feel an experience.”
           
The lesson is a great take away from his speech and the contest.  Often, each of us want to impress the audience, dazzle them with a presentation, craft just the right words to waltz past even their greatest expectations.  But really, all people want is hear your experience, feel the genuine emotions you experience, and connect their hopes, struggles, triumphs, and failures with your story. 
           
How can you use this lesson in your next speech?  Something to think about.

Warm Regards,

Ben Lappen
Lt. Governor of Education and Training.

 

 

ABOUT BEN:

Ben Lappen has been a member of Toastmasters since 2006.  He served as a Presidential Distinguished Club President, a Presidential Distinguished Area Governor, and a Presidential Distinguished Division Governor.

Outside of Toastmasters, Ben works as an academic performance coach for Jewish Vocational Services.  He is also an entrepreneur and a coach.

Ben Lappen, ACG
Lieutenant Governor of Education and Training