Now that the good weather has arrived I have been thinking about gardening and talks, and I have realized that they have many things in common… and not only that they are both industrious…
your garden? If so, you are probably looking forward to receiving the catalog of seeds, studying them carefully and deciding what to put where in your garden: flowers or vegetables, which types, how many. You can read books on perennial planting or container gardening. Talk to other gardeners to get advice on the best flowers or vegetables to plant in your soil, and maybe get photos of your garden so you know what you’re looking for. You may want to attract hummingbirds or other birds to your backyard, so you’re looking for information on what types of shrubs to plant. Then you need to decide where your garden will be, how big, will it have a path, what will be your focus. You want to make sure you have different colors and plants throughout the garden and not just group them in one place. You may want to put a path so that people can leisurely stroll through your garden. Perhaps you have a bench where you can sit and pause while looking at your garden, perhaps near your pièce de résistance: the most beautiful flower or amazing vegetable plants.
If you’re a Toastmasters International member speaker, each month you receive a Toastmasters magazine with lots of articles and speaking tips. You also read your manuals deciding what kind of speech you’re going to give (you do, don’t you?) and if you belong to more than one club, which club you’re going to give it to. You can keep a file folder of funny stories you’ve come across or those from your personal experience. You talk to other Toastmasters and ask them for advice on how to craft your speech, what to include and what to leave out. So you decide on a plan. What are you going to use to attract the attention of the audience? What colorful words or alliteration can be used to attract people? Then you think about the body of your speech. You will need to have it move at a smooth pace so that everyone can understand what you are saying. You’ll need to add pauses for particular points (your best flowers) so people can appreciate what you said.
You’ll want to complete the body of the speech, just as you would the garden: a few points here, a few there, gently guiding the audience down the garden path of your speech to the conclusion where you give them your best shot. suggestion to share
I’m sure you can now clearly see how crafting a speech is like planting a garden. By following this “speech gardening plan,” you’ll be sure to create great speeches. Just remember the following:
Just as a garden needs a variety of colors, a speech needs colorful words to draw images in the minds of the audience.
A garden contains many different types of flowers and/or vegetables. A speech needs many points of interest or stories.
A garden needs a path to guide the viewer. A speech must be linked with words and phrases to guide the audience from the opening to the conclusion.
People often want to “stop and smell the roses.” The audience needs time to pause and reflect on a particularly powerful statement. The speech should have a good rhythm and not be rushed.
In a garden it is important not to pile everything up, but to distribute it so that people can enjoy it. In a speech it is important not to rush and put all the information in the first or last paragraph.
Oh yes, one more thing. A gardener has to work in his garden and weed regularly to keep the garden beautiful and a speaker needs to read and weed his speech to remove superfluous words and make it fit the required time. framework.
