The Monkey Kings 美猴王

Suzhou Web Toastmasters held its demo meeting on Saturday. Over forty people attended. Many people held formal roles like evaluator and timer, others gave speeches and everyone seemed enthusiastic about being a Toastmaster. Our meeting was a bigger success than I expected. Our volunteers did a great job and so did the speakers. If this is what we can expect from the club, we will be really successful.

So far, we need more people volunteering for this week’s meeting, including for giving speeches. The club, so far at least, is based entirely at Web English school, so all we need to do is ask our students and teachers if they would like to do anything at the next meeting.

And since it is at an English school, I would like to put extra emphasis on English learning. That would mean giving the grammarian (the person who helps us improve our English at each meeting) extra time to learn more things, and lowering the bar for membership to those who might not have very good English but are still anxious to be Toastmasters. I’m really looking forward to seeing what can happen in the months to come.

I just became a member of China Advanced Toastmasters, or CAT. Having completed the first Toastmasters manual by giving ten prepared speeches, I am a Competent Communicator in Toastmasters. CAT is a club designed for advanced speech makers, where you can get the feedback and the opportunities you need to clear all the last hurdles to your mastering public speaking. And an unexpected bonus was that it was the cheapest Toastmasters I’ve ever found.

I am also strongly considering starting a Toastmasters club at my company, Web International English in Suzhou. It would be a boon for the teachers and students. I’ll let you know how things develop.

On the last weekend of May, the Monkey Kings journeyed to Shanghai to attend the Toastmasters District 85P Spring Conference for Mainland China. With over 200 attendees, the conference provided opportunities to learn how to improve your public speaking, listen to the contestants for the district speech and evaluation contest and network.

Darren LaCroix, the 2001 World Champion of Public Speaking, was the keynote speaker. He provided the audience with an inspiring speech about his rise in public speaking focusing on the fact that when he started out, he was really, REALLY, bad.

The first time he spoke in public was at a comedy club’s open mike night. His aunt was in the audience and video-taped his performance. During his speech, Darren showed us a minute of this painful performance:

“Hi everybody. How are you all doing tonight?”

<Audience applause and cheers>

“Has anyone ever noticed how every other small town in New England takes one little, small historical fact and makes it the greatest event in the world?

“Sorry for my voice fluctuating.

<Darren looking at his index cards sitting on a stool next to him>

“I was doing some research. Places like Lexington, you know, the first revolutionary skirmish happened there with uh, what’s his name? I can’t even remember his name. Obviously he was real famous.”

…And it went on like this.

If this had been a clip on The Simpsons people would have been rolling around laughing because it was so bad. It’s a perfect example of how not to do standup.

But Darren used the clip well. He asked if he could start out at that level and become world champion, what could you do?

Many people see successful people and only see the end result. They think he is lucky. They think he is a natural. They think he was born a great public speaker. They don’t see where he started out and the thousands of hours of practise dedicated to his work.

Darren provided useful tips to improve. While he was talking about public speaking, the tips can be applied to the pursuit of any goal.

• The most important tip is NEVER TURN DOWN STAGETIME.
  Darren actually had a mentor tell him “If you ever turn down stage time, I will never help you again.”
• Don’t fall into the trap of comparing yourself to the best.
  When you’re starting out you should only compare yourself to other people starting out, not Jerry Seinfeld.
• Record yourself.
  Darren showed photos of his closet with hundreds, if not thousands, of VHS tapes, DVDs, CDs and audio cassettes containing all his speeches.
• Be humble.
  You don’t improve if you think you already know everything or aren’t willing to fail.
• Crave feedback.

Darren also talked about the World Championship contest. To prepare he reviewed 20 years of contests to find out what separated 1^st place from 2^nd place.

1. They were Masters of the Pause – A speech is a dialogue, not a monologue. You need to give the audience a chance to react.

2. They weren’t perfect – People go to watch humans, not robots.

3. They had a sparkle in their eye – They were so focused that everything else just faded away.

Before starting a speech Darren asks “What do I want my audience to think about differently when I’m done?” It should be answered in less than 10 words. The thought process in the listener’s mind is the most important part of a speech.

What did Darren want is to think about differently after this speech?

Stage time, stage time, stage time.

PS. His first attempt at stand up comedy can be seen on this YouTube clip starting at 1:10.