Toastmasters Youth Leadership program is popular and it works!

Teaching Presentation Skills to Kids

- Julie Bawden Davis

Toastmasters' Youth Leadership
program is popular – and it works.

By Julie Bawden DavisCaption: The Kilpatrick sisters speak before an audience of 14,000 at the 2006 Environmental Science Research Institute's International Convention in San Diego, California.

Thirteen-year-old Shelby Kilpatrick and her 10-year-old twin sisters, Lauren and Kaitlyn, were only a “little nervous” the day they spoke for an audience of 14,000 at the 2006 Environmental Science Research Institute’s international conference in San Diego, California.

“Once we started talking, everything was fine,” says Shelby. Their speech discussed the trio’s 4-H project in which they used a GPS system to create a trail map for the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife. Ask the girls how they remained calm and capably spoke in front of all those people, and they gladly credit Toastmasters.

Thanks to an eight-week Youth Leadership program sponsored by the Denton Toastmasters club in Denton, Texas, the Kilpatrick sisters received extensive training on presentation skills and leadership.

“The classes were really fun,” says Shelby, who speaks often during her 4-H work. [4-H is a youth organization sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.] “My sisters and I learned to be calm and to present our information so that people understand it. Now I really like giving speeches. It makes me feel important to get up there and talk about things that people enjoy hearing. I also learn a lot when I put together my speeches.”

Shelby’s mom, Susan Kilpatrick, saw a great deal of change in Shelby and her sisters after the Toastmasters training.

“They’re pretty much fearless today,” says Susan. “Learning to speak in public built their communication skills and confidence and enabled them to develop charisma and capture attention. They volunteer all the time for tasks that require leadership roles and easily work with groups, organizing other children and communicating what needs to be done.”

Creating outgoing, well-organized, motivated children is the goal of Distinguished Toastmaster Ron Clark. The 30-year member is president of the TV Toastmasters club in Dallas, Texas, and began the Youth Leadership training in 2004.

“We’ve seen the training program really take off,” says Clark, who is also secretary for the Texas Jump$tart Coalition, which seeks to improve the financial literacy of young adults. “My first Youth Leadership class in 2004 consisted of nine students,” he says. “Now I get calls all of the time. I’m currently scheduled to do several workshops for home schoolers, high schoolers, middle schoolers and elementary students.”


                    "Before the [Youth] Leadership classes, we never did any kind of speaking,
                    and now we speak all of the time," Kaitlyn says. "It's easy once you know how."


Designed to develop speaking and leadership skills for adolescents and teens, Toastmasters’ eight-week Youth Leadership program is similar to a regular Toastmasters meeting. Classes last about two hours, and the students run the meeting while the coordinator provides training and guidance. The informal course focuses on teaching students communication and leadership skills. They learn to overcome nervousness when speaking in front of groups, to organize and present ideas logically and convincingly, to listen carefully to the ideas of other students, and offer helpful advice.

“Kids absolutely love the training,” says Clark, who feels that speech training also teaches children skills critical to a successful life that they often don’t learn in school.

“Children learn hard skills like math and science in school, but speech training teaches them important soft skills such as leadership, creativity, persuasiveness and organization,” says Clark, pointing out that mastering these talents in Toastmasters made him successful in his career as an engineer.

Parents and Toastmasters teaching the Youth Leadership program say kids benefit by learning speaking skills at a young age. “The sooner you teach children about public speaking, the better,” says Susan Kilpatrick. “If you catch kids before they have that fear of speaking in front of people, they’ll probably miss that hurdle altogether and go on to be great communicators and leaders.”

Abe Birnbaum, DTM, a member of the Denton Toastmasters club, has assisted Clark with Youth Leadership training and agrees with the importance of teaching children presentation skills as early as possible. “Kids take to speaking readily because they haven’t learned to be embarrassed yet,” says Birnbaum. “This sort of training is one of the best benefits you can give them
and it will stay with them for the rest of their lives.”

Thanks to the leadership and speech training classes, 10-year-old Lauren Kilpatrick feels she can speak in front of anyone now. “The classes helped me do things that I thought I couldn’t do. Now I’m not afraid to speak, and I can talk about anything at any time. I was a princess in a personality contest recently and they interviewed me, and I just got up there and said something, and it was okay.”

Lauren’s twin sister, Kaitlyn, agrees. “Before the leadership classes, we never did any kind of speaking, and now we speak all the time,” she says. “It’s easy once you know how.”

Their older sister Shelby found Table Topics to be especially helpful. “I’m able to think on my feet now, and I can put together a speech really quickly,” she says. “I recently did a speech for the Denton County Livestock Association Youth Fair on honeybees. I wrote the speech and gave it the same day. I talked about some general information about honeybees, including how they live and the different products that they create like honey and royal jelly. The speech was judged, and I got third place.”

Perhaps one of the best aspects of teaching children about speaking is “knowing that we’re equipping the future leaders of our country,” says Clark. “These children are our next generation, and this type of training is important for them and our future,” he says. And although Clark isn’t running the leadership training programs specifically to increase Toastmasters membership, he notes that many of the students are likely to become members once they are 18.


Tips for Teaching Youth Leadership
Of all his accomplishments as a Toastmaster, Ron Clark says he gets much satisfaction teaching speaking skills to youngsters. “Perhaps the best part of showing children how to speak is the look of exhilaration on their faces when they succeed,” he says. “They’re so excited when they realize that they did it all by themselves.” Here he offers tips for successfully educating young people about presentation skills:

• Do your homework. “Carefully read the coordinator’s manual and take advantage of the resources offered by Toastmasters,” says Clark. “There are districts all over the world that have so much valuable material to share; learn from their experiences.”

• Be expressive. Kids like to see animation and a lively performance. “When I do a speech on gestures, I make a big display,” says Clark. “I’ll fool with the keys in my pocket and adjust my glasses and make a lot of noise with change. I also emphasize being purposeful with your gestures; kids love that.”

• Encourage children to give as many speeches as they want. “Initially, many kids are a little shy, but once they start speaking, they often don’t want to stop,” says Clark. “Have as many children as possible speak at each session.”

• Limit participants. Clark likes to keep his class size to no more than 25 students so that he can cover all the important topics and give everyone a chance to speak.

• Minimize handouts and topics covered. Kids can only soak up so much information in each session. Don’t pile a bunch of paperwork on them, which can be overwhelming. Instead focus on one topic, such as gestures, speech openings or giving evaluations.

• Enjoy yourself. Have fun with the kids and they’ll have fun, too, says Clark. “Relax, get a little silly, and use plenty of humor.”


Julie Bawden Davis is a freelance writer based in Southern California. Reach her at Julie@JulieBawdenDavis.com.

Youth Leadership may be conducted for scout troops, 4-H clubs, church youth groups and many other organizations, and for young people in the community. However, all programs must be presented by a Toastmasters club, following the guidelines in the Youth Leadership Coordinator's Guide (Item 802). Clubs may order coordinator's guides and Youth Leadership Participant’s Notebooks (Item 805) from World Headquarters.

This article was originally publish at the Toastmasters International website. You can find free resources and more articles like this at Toastmasters International Free Resources (click here) .

The satisfaction of becoming a standout speaker

Opt to Be an Outstanding Orator

Is your focus on not looking really bad or on looking really good?

By Richard R. Bonner, CC


Many of us joined Toastmasters with the expectation, or at least the hope, that it would better our job and career prospects.

We probably thought in terms of improving our communication skills in staff meetings, thinking more quickly on our feet when questioned by the boss or customers, making creditable presentations both to staff and clients, and, if called upon – God forbid – giving bona fide speeches before live audiences.

In all those endeavors, we likely cared more about being competent for our job performance than about being excellent for its own sake. We had neither the time nor the inclination to try to be outstanding speakers and communicators; we simply wanted to be good enough to get what we needed. We didn't care so much about looking really good as not looking really bad. In essence, it came down to wanting a quick fix for promotions and raises. Show us the money!

But if truth be told, that kind of thinking grievously shortchanges us, denying us the brawny passion and satisfaction that comes from becoming a standout speaker.


Woodrow Wilson’s Inspiration
Consider the case of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, as related by his official biographer, Ray Stannard Baker. While a student at Princeton University, Wilson read a magazine article about great orators, which included his hero, British Prime Minister William Gladstone. The article so excited and inspired him that he vowed he, too, would become a great speaker and statesman. He practiced aloud in the woods near campus and, when on vacation, in his father’s church on weekdays. The young Wilson soon gained a reputation as a fine speaker and debater, which eventually brought him back to the school as a professor, despite an indifferent academic record.

In no time Professor Wilson’s lectures drew some of the most enthusiastic audiences on campus. By continuing to feed his fire and passion for public speaking, he began to draw even more notice, and it wasn’t long before he became the highest-paid member of the faculty; from there he became president of the school. Next, he drew upon his speaking skills to help himself win the governorship of New Jersey and finally the presidency of the United States.

All the while he felt buoyed by the sheer exhilaration of public speaking, “because it sets my mind – all my faculties – aglow...I feel a sort of transformation – and it’s hard to go to sleep afterwards” (from Baker’s Woodrow Wilson: Life and Letters, published in 1927).


Making the Commitment
Let’s say that some of us wanted to become outstanding speakers. What might be our first step? Simply deciding to make the commitment, as Wilson did.

We could make the commitment privately to ourselves or, if we need to feel the spur and the lash to keep from backsliding, we could announce our decision at a Toastmasters meeting. Making the commitment sets the fire, and to keep it stoked and fueled, to keep the interest and passion up, we could immerse ourselves in the study of public speaking through books, CDs, DVDs, lectures, seminars, the Internet and classroom courses. Such sources could include rhetoric, great speeches of history, grammar and usage, diction, voice improvement, gesturing and body language, the lives of history’s famous orators, and other topics.

Perhaps we, too, could feel inspired – transformed – by the words of, say, Queen Elizabeth I addressing her troops at the approach of the Spanish Armada: “I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and a king of England too.”

Or a poignantly anguished Nehru eulogizing the assassinated Mahatma Gandhi: “All we know is that there was a glory and that it is no more; all we know is that for the moment there is darkness, not so dark certainly, because when we look into our hearts we still find the living flame which he lighted there.”

Or the thrilling hope of playwright Vaclav Havel upon assuming the presidency of the newly liberated Czechoslovakia after decades of communist rule: “Let us teach ourselves and others that politics can be not only the art of the possible – especially if this means the art of speculation, calculation, intrigue, secret deals and pragmatic maneuvering – but that it can even be the art of the impossible, namely, the art of improving ourselves and the world.”


From the Page to the Podium
Of course, “doing” is usually the most effective way of learning, but don’t scant the study and book learning here. It’s invaluable. It gives us the substance and direction needed. It provides the theory for the practice – the theory we take from the page to the podium.

Besides, we’re already doing “the doing” in Toastmasters! And that doing should include entering speech contests. (Granted, somebody’s got to lose in a contest, but everyone who learns something – who improves from the experience – wins.)

Aside from the book learning, we have ourselves as resources to draw upon.

In 1830 U.S. Senator Daniel Webster responded to a speech from a political opponent by quickly preparing and delivering one of the great orations of history. When asked how long it had taken him to prepare, he replied: “20 years.”

For 20 years Webster had thought hard about, and agonized, over the sentiments that had led to his opponent’s position, drawing heavily upon the resources of his own life, according to the book Discussion and Debate: Tools of Democracy by Henry Lee Ewbank and J. Jeffery Auer.

Virtually all of us in Toastmasters have at least 20 years of life to draw upon: our education (formal and informal), our hopes and fears, our triumphs and tears. In looking over our life journeys, many of us might see only vast unremarkable stretches, but they’re not wastelands. They’re fallow fields whose rich potential awaits the skilled orator to unearth.


The Incremental Approach
“Enough,” says a show-me-the-money type. “Spare me the poetry. Who needs, and who can take, all the effort required to become an outstanding speaker? Being a decent speaker is all you need to be.”

That’s possible, but first let’s realize that the commitment and effort needed to excel in speaking seem far less unnerving if we demand only small but continuous steps of improvement from ourselves. This incremental approach takes major pressure off us yet puts improvement on a comfortable auto-pilot. Then one day, without our feeling the pain of the process, it just dawns on us that we’ve become darned good speakers.

Second, if competent speaking ability will likely help us on the job, what might outstanding speaking ability do?

Certainly we can at least consider making the extra effort, feeling a soul’s awakening as we uncage the oratory beast within ourselves. Maybe we’ll lie awake some nights, not in dread of a speech to be given but from a lingering high we’ve gotten from a speech just given, and given well. Put a dollar figure on that!


Richard R. Bonner, CC, a former writer for several daily newspapers, is a member of the Jewel City Toastmasters club in Glendale, California.

This article was originally publish at the Toastmasters International website. You can find free resources and more articles like this at Toastmasters International Free Resources (click here) .

How to create quotable sound bites

Crafting a Quotable Line

Enliven your speech with a
sentence that stands out. 
By Howard Scott, CC

“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” – Winston Churchill

“In the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.” – John F. Kennedy

Why are these statements memorable? It’s not because they are uttered by famous people – the same people said much in the same speeches that we don’t recall. Rather, it is because these sentences are bold enunciations of powerful sentiments. Furthermore, they are crisp, vivid encapsulations of the speech’s main point. Finally, they were uttered with great presence, which made them history.

Most of us are not Churchills or Kennedys, but we still can deliver a phrase or sentence in our speeches that embodies the topic and enlivens the speech. In a talk I gave on the estate tax, I said – referring to inheritance – “If you did a good job as a parent, your kids don’t need it. If you didn’t, they don’t deserve it.” With pauses before and after the statement, and with a bit of a histrionic delivery, I had the audience in the palm of my hand. At that instant, it was obvious the speech would be a success.

Jerry Brightman, a frequent keynote speaker and president of The Leadership Group, a consulting and training company in South Hadley, Massachusetts, says, “In all my talks, I try for one stirring sentence where I grab [the audience]. It’s what I call my ‘aha’ moment.”

Unfortunately, these quotations don’t just pop into your head. You have to work at them. The three parts of quote creation are:

• Crystallizing the talk’s main idea 
• Polishing the phrasing 
• Perfecting the delivery

1. Crystallizing the idea. Write down the nub of your speech in one sentence (i.e., the concept statement). This exercise gets you to focus on the talk’s meaning and enables you to search for a pithier, more dramatic, more concise way of stating it. Of course, the memorable phrase does not have to rephrase the speech’s essence, but it will be more forceful if it does. Regardless, writing down the nub helps you focus on the possibilities. Someone preparing a speech about the flat tax might arrive at this concept statement: “The flat tax is simple, but it isn’t fair because it overburdens the poor and underburdens the rich.”


2. Polish the phrasing. Now your job is to get the words just right. Eliminate the unessential and make it concise. Choose words that reverberate and images that are vivid. Language guides help, but you need to spark your imagination to create something memorable. In the flat-tax speech, one take on the concept statement is: “The flat tax treats us all as the same, yet we are not all the same.” But that’s not quite strong enough for a standout phrase. How about: “The flat tax oversimplifies all our assumptions about economics.” Cutting to the essence, we get: “The flat tax oversimplifies.” Now we have a quotable sentence. The four strong words convey what is truly wrong with the flat tax. In this manner, keep reworking your concept statement until you’ve created a gem.

Let’s say someone is giving a speech about being unemployed. The concept statement might be: “The year on the dole was a painful experience because I only knew my work.” But “because I only knew my work” is rather ordinary phrasing. Can you make the phrase more poetic? How about: “Because I defined myself by what I did, not who I am.” This statement offers concision. One can hear the emphasis on “did” and “am.” Since we are lengthening the phrase, perhaps we can shorten the beginning to simply the word “unemployment” rather than “the year on the dole.” Now we have: “Unemployment was painful because I defined myself by what I did, not who I am.”

Sometimes cutting up the sentence works. In a talk on beekeeping, the speaker’s concept statement is: “Honey is local, because the bees travel three miles in all directions sucking nectar from the plants.” The most important word is “local,” yet it is not explained until the end. Perhaps reversing the order of the sentence would be more effective. But since the second part of the sentence is rather mundane, making two sentences might be even better. The first sentence could be: “To make honey, the bees travel three miles in all directions, sucking nectar from the plants.” The second sentence becomes the memorable quotation: “Thus, honey is truly local.” See how one sentence feeds into the other.

“I really try to come up with a tight, short, key sentence,” says Christy Donovan, a member of the Upper Cape Toastmasters in Falmouth, Massachusetts. “Fewer words make greater impact.”

Another technique is to relate your concept statement to a line from a song, a common catchphrase or a TV show. When you do this, the audience will be familiar with the phrasing. Say a speaker gives a talk on listening to the radio. The concept statement might be, “One of the few things that’s free in life is radio.” How can we embolden these sentiments? How about: “Radio is a freebie 24 hours a day.” Even better: “There is no free lunch, but there is free radio.”

Even humorous talks can have a quotable line. For example, consider the potential for funny phrases if you gave a talk on raising chickens: “As a chicken farmer, you never wonder which comes first.” “Chickens – you can eat ’em or you can love ’em.” In a humorous talk on obituaries, offer this up: “If you don’t have a good obituary, how do you know you’re dead?” A little silly, a little farfetched, but it gets the audience’s attention.

Still another approach is to re-read the speech until you discover the most memorable line. David Kellogg, a member of the Bristol Speaker Toastmasters in East Syracuse, New York, says, “I look over my talk and try to emphasize one key sentence.”


3. Perfecting the delivery. In his only trip to the United States, Oscar Wilde remarked to a customs agent, “I have nothing to declare but my genius.” If he had spoken in a soft monotone, that utterance would not be in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations today. So your delivery must be carefully orchestrated. Take a deep breath and pause before uttering your stirring words. Deliver the line, and then pause afterward. This sets off the statement, giving the audience time to appreciate your meaning.

Move to a different spot on the stage. This will help you own the space. Emphasize key words. Make your face as expressive as possible. Gesture to reinforce the statement.

If the talk warrants, repeat the quotable statement, perhaps right after the first utterance, for extra emphasis. In the unemployment speech, a strong ending might be: “I urge you all: Begin to redefine yourself as who you are, not what you do.” This repetition augments the power of the phrase.

Creating a quotable sound bite is hard work. But you will be rewarded by seeing how much one sentence can improve your speech. Indeed, some will call you eloquent.



This article was originally publish at the Toastmasters International website. You can find free resources and more articles like this at Toastmasters International Free Resources (click here) .