| Telling music apart | Anyone reading 'Angels and Demons' by Dan Brown? |
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 Sat Jun 03, 2006 11:50 am Concept of Toastmasters? |
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Hi you all!
I?m really amused about what happened here in the recent replies.  Please let me add one experience I have with Polish way of drinking Vodka. It is right that the Polish people like drinking Vodka but they don?t drink beer beside it. For more they have always some mineral water or limonade for the thirst. And what really was wonderful is that that Polish people which I joined to always drunk Vodka during the supper. By the way the supper lasted two or more hours, so that you can imagine our state of mind finally. For meal it mostly gave fresh vegetables and the next day I never felt sick! I always think back to this times with happiness. 
| Torsten wrote: | Michael, how important do you think are language skills in general? And what exactly are language skills? Let's say there is a highly qualified specialist, an expert in a particular field. Does this person interact with other people? And if so, how does she communicate with others?
Think about. How often do you make decisions and how often do you try to influence the decisions of others?
Also, do you think the Toastmaster concept is about lecturing? Are there any 'teachers' and 'students' like in a state school classroom? Who attends this type of seminar and why? |
I?m a bit sad to come back to the topic theme  but for me language skills are most important. As you probably experienced I like playing with words sometimes. In this sense I might have chosen the wrong profession.
Torsten, you might be right if you refer to highly qualified specialists and that it is important for them to interact with other people. But let?s have a look to the people to whom they must interact. If they speak about their particular field to other specialists they have their own language so that I think it isn?t necessary to teach them. What about the other people? I think speaking with their families and relatives they are also capable. So what are the people a specialist has to speak to? In my opinion they are mostly financial deciders who uses convincing arguments to support projects. This people are specialists at their own field and unfortunately do they have the most power to decide whether a project will start or not. For example, if a machine manufacturer try to sale a machine the customer?s last argument for the decision is the price and their is an adding argument I won?t discuss here.
Googling the toastmaster?s website I got a bit the impression that, finally, if the members applaud an speech they don?t applaud the content of the speech but the way the speech was done! And also meeting a person who is highly improved in lecturing I often become careful because it is often to obvious that such a person is trying to search his advantage only.
Spencer, you are right to say that most of further instructions have some points of view which are new or, at least, giving additional information for everybody. So I didn?t wan?t to give a bad sight of it. Only, if there is a moderator who beats about the bush before he comes to the point -that is what I often have experienced- I felt asleep and missed the interesting point. 
So what are your opinions?
Michael |
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| Sat Jun 03, 2006 12:36 pm How many people suffer from glossophobia |
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Hi Michael, the following is an excerpt from the Wikipedia definition of public speaking:
The fear of public speaking is called glossophobia. It is believed to be the single most common phobia - even above death - affecting as much as 75% of all people.
What do you make of this? Do you think it is true that so many people suffer from glossophobia? Have you ever experienced such a situation? You say that most people have can easily communicate with their friends and family. Is this really so? How many people can give a good toas for example?
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Torsten
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| Sat Jun 03, 2006 12:48 pm Public speaking |
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Hi,
I quite enjoy public speaking or at least I used to when I was in full-time employment. You have extraordinary power in a way because everyone is supposed to be listening to you. If you say this to yourself, it can give you some courage. But there are moments of sheer panic sometimes. One of my scariest moments was when as deputy Principal at the college where I worked, it fell to me to give a small speech at the annual concert mainly to welcome the guest presenter who was a longtime friend of the college and also an international percussionist. I went on and on about the man and the main reason was that I had forgotten his name or at least I just couldn't recall it. It came to the final bit where I had to say something like: And now it gives me great pleasure to welcome our celebrated guest ... and somebody up there must have been kind to me because the name came to me at the last moment.
Alan
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| Sat Jun 03, 2006 13:02 pm Concept of the toastmasters |
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| Torsten wrote: | | Interestingly enough, if you google the phrase German beer guide you will find a comprehensive website run by Brits, not Germans... |
Everybody thinks that the beer somewhere else is better than the beer where they live. At one time, Coor's beer, from Colorado, was not available east of the Mississippi, and Stroh's beer, from Detroit, was not available in the west. Detroiters craved Coor's as if it were a connoisseur item, and if they knew anyone who was driving across the country, they almost obligated them to bring back a case or two of Coor's. When the Detroiters got to Colorado, they were surprised to find that the people there were dying to get their hands on some Stroh's and thought it was much better than Coor's.
In reality, both beers taste exactly the same, and nobody who didn't see the label could ever tell the difference. |
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Jamie (K)
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Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| Sat Jun 03, 2006 13:58 pm How many people suffer from glossophobia |
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| Torsten wrote: | Hi Michael, the following is an excerpt from the Wikipedia definition of public speaking:
The fear of public speaking is called glossophobia. It is believed to be the single most common phobia - even above death - affecting as much as 75% of all people.
What do you make of this? Do you think it is true that so many people suffer from glossophobia? Have you ever experienced such a situation? You say that most people have can easily communicate with their friends and family. Is this really so? How many people can give a good toas for example? |
Hi Torsten, I mustn?t think about whether glossophobia exist, I know that it is true and myself have experienced exitement before speaking in front of a bunch of persons. It is an aweful feeling I know. That is what people are afraid of, isn?t it that? Particularly, if you are at a celebration or anything else, where many people are who you don?t know and suddenly you received the request to bring out a toast. I mean the latest situation I never experienced because I?m no popular person. On the other hand I?ve been used to speak in front of people for some times and I always felt fear first and I experienced that the unpleasant feeling will disappear if such a speech will achieve the listeners. Also I experienced that a speech depends on the attention of the listeners. Of course, to bring out a toast you have to watch some rules concerning the way of toasting, as there are for example to variegate the voice, not stand still and not looking over the listeners to an fixed point and so on. But though for me the best preparation is always to be familar with the theme or to speak about anything that doesn?t depend on the celebration or event but what you do know and bring at last a link to the current theme. That is what proficient Toastmasters do, I think! And you are right if you say that this needs some proficiency!
By the way, what about the 25% who don?t fear the glossophobia? Who are that people? Almost all teacher or politicians?
Michael |
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Fan Of Arabian Horses
I'm here quite often ;-)
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Yankee
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| Telling music apart | Anyone reading 'Angels and Demons' by Dan Brown? |
