Category Archives: Toastmasters

Overview of the Presentation Mastery Learning Path

Posted on by
Reply

I enrolled in Toastmasters Pathways and got oriented. Let’s take a look at a learning path curriculum. There are five levels each with a bunch of projects. I plan to blog as I go through Pathways. I’ll update this page updating descriptions or linking to the relevant blog posts from this page as I go.

Yes, I typed all this in. My club has a full set of advanced manuals so members can see what they are getting into before they order/commit to a manual. I’m trying to do something equivalent for Pathways. Not share all the content obviously. But to give a feel for the requirements and experience. For a better overview, see my comparison of paths.

I then found out that District 57 has it posted already. They have great PDF resources including a high level list of what is in each path.

I already have a DTM so I’m going through Pathways more rapidly to learn about the program.

Project statuses

Each project has one of the following statuses:

  • Not activated – A project you are eligible to start, but haven’t yet. For example, the Icebreaker when you first sign in.
  • In Progress – A project you have started or viewed.
  • Completed – This project is completed.
  • Pending Prior Training – This project will be unlocked after completing a pre-requsite project.

Level 1 – this level has 3 required projects + the submission

I’ve heard that level 1 is the same regardless of your path.

Project Description Pre-req My comments
Icebreaker One speech None This the first speech you give in Toastmasters. For more details, see my Icebreaker blog page.
Evaluation and Feedback Two speeches

Speech evaluation

 Icebreaker project You can give the same speech two times or different speeches. For more details, see my Evaluation and Feedback blog post.
Research and Presenting One speech Icebreaker project This project is a speech along with the necessary prep. For more details, see my Research and Presenting blog post.
Level Completion Paperwork All three projects in this level This is for submitting to your club that you completed the level. In particular, you did four speeches and an evaluation to complete level 1. For more details, see my Submitting Level 1 blog post.

Overall feedback on the level: This is almost half a CC. You give 4 speeches and do one evaluation. I find the “locked until pass pre-req” frustrating as you can’t plan for what is coming.

Level 2 – this level has 3 required projects + the submission

Project Description Pre-req My comments
Understanding your communication style One speech None This project includes some short reading, a “test” on your communication style and a speech explaining it. See  completing level 2.
Effective Body Language Two speeches

Speech evaluation

 Icebreaker project  This project includes some short reading, a practice and a speech on any topic. See  completing level 2.
Intro to Toastmasters Mentoring One speech Icebreaker project This project includes some short reading and a speech about when you were a mentee. I gave this before my Level 1 was approved. See my blog post for more on the project itself and about completing level 2.
Level Completion Paperwork All three projects in this level This is for submitting to your club that you completed the level. his level qualifies you to be a Pathways mentor.

 

Level 3 – this level has one required project, two elective projects and the submission

See my level 3 post

  1. Persuasive Speaking
  2. At least two projects from this list: – this is one of the benefits of Pathways – choices! Note that you can take as many as you want.
    1. Deliver Social Speeches (a special occasion speech)
    2. Using Presentation Software
    3. Connect with Storytelling
    4. Creating Effective Visual Aids
    5. Using Descriptive Language
    6. Connect with your Audience
    7. Make Connections through Networking
    8. Focus on the Positive
    9. Inspire your Audience
    10. Prepare for an Interview
    11. Understanding Vocal Variety
    12. Active Listening
  3. Level completion – remember that you must serve as Toastmaster, Evaluator and Table Topics Master at least once before you can advance to level 4. You enter this in your profile as you go. This level qualifies you to get a letter to your manager.

Level 4 – this level has one required project, one elective project and the submission

See my level 4 post

  1. Managing a Difficult Audience
  2. At least one project from this list: – this is another benefit of Pathways; modern skills
    1. Create a Podcast
    2. Building a Social Media Presence
    3. Write a Compelling Blog
    4. Manage Online Meetings
    5. Q&A Session
    6. Public Relations Strategies
    7. Manage Projects Successfully
  3. Level Completion. This level qualifies you to get a letter to your manager.

Level 5 – this level has two required projects, one elective project and the submission

  1. Prepare to Speak Effectively
  2. At least one project from this list:
    1. Lessons Learned
    2. Moderate a Panel Discussion
    3. Ethical Leadership
    4. High Performance Leadership
    5. Leading in your Volunteer Organization
  3. Reflect on your Path
  4. Level Completion. This level qualifies you to get a letter to your manager and a certificate of proficiency.

 

enrolling in toastmasters pathways

Posted on by
Reply

Toastmasters is modernizing their program and starting a new one called Pathways. I’m already a DTM (distinguished toastmaster) using the previous program. Kind of like “graduation.” Except you can keep learning and mentoring. I’m looking forward to exploring Pathways on a more rapid pace to put myself in a position to coach others. I’m going to be blogging about the experience. I’m assuming readers are in Toastmasters for many parts of it.

To being, I submitted my last two “old program” awards today. Which were a CL (Competent Leader) and ACB (Advanced Communicator Bronze.) This gives my NY club points toward the DCP (Distinguished Club Programmer.) These are going to be my last awards in the “old way.” Pathways is using a phased start where different regions are eligible to start at different times. If you are in multiple clubs, you can enroll in Pathways anytime after the first club is in an eligible region. I’m also a member of a club in California making me eligible.

Pre-reqs to start Pathways

  1. You do not want to file any more awards “the old way”.
  2. You are a member of a club in a region that has passed the launch date in the rollout schedule.

To convert your Toastmasters account to the Pathways program

  1. Go to the Start Pathways page
  2. Login to the Toastmasters site
  3. If you are eligible, you will get prompted with an agreement. Aka the fine print. It is only two paragraphs long. The first is where you agree that Toastmasters and volunteers in your area can call/email you. (I’d rather people not call, but this hasn’t been a problem to date. I don’t expect it to start being one.) The second paragraph is that you won’t bully/harass/etc others. No problem there.
  4. When you click accept on that agreement, you are taken to the Pathways welcome page with three choices:
    1. The navigator
    2. Choose your path
    3. Pathways Base Camp

I. The Navigator

The navigator is an interactive training that introduces you to Toastmasters and Pathways. It reminds me of CBT (computer based training at work). Remember not to go to fast. Some extra info like profiles of members show up after a few seconds of reading. I read really fast; especially when familiar with content; so I have to remember to pause.

There doesn’t appear to be a way to skip content quickly. You can use the “next arrow” to go somewhat faster at least. Much of this info is old hat to current members who are switching over to Pathways. There is interesting content mixed in though; like how to deal with nervousness. It also gives an overview of Pathways. I learned that you can both give and receive badges.

After you finish the training, you get a link to The Navigator in PDF form which is a good reference. Toastmasters has good access control and you can’t see this file if you aren’t logged in. However, Toastmasters makes The Navigator PDF available publicly as well.

I clicked on the upper left logo to go to the home page. There, the website walked me through the major components of the page. This is the Base Camp home page.

It has a link to the Pathways home page.

II.Choose your path

I took the base camp assessment to help pick a path. A lot of the questions are whether you agree/disagree or are unsure about a statement. It’s an odd scale. You could be sure that you are neutral and still have to select unsure. The first couple questions were about interests. The rest read like those personality tests you have to take at work.

Ultimately it doesn’t matter what you enter because the point of the assessment is to recommend 3 paths to choose from. But you can click “additional paths” and choose any of the ten paths.

I got Presentation Mastery, Innovative Planning and Leadership Development. The system picked Presentation Mastery as the best match. That’s the one I wanted to do. My primary goal at the beginning of Pathways is to learn about Pathways. And I figure that will be the most common path for our members.

When selecting the path, you get a message “our journey has officially begun! You will receive a confirmation email shortly and be able to start your path in approximately 30 minutes.”. Really? 30 minutes? In case, it was more like 5 minutes. I got an email receipt for $0.00. (The first path is free)

Base Camp

The third option on the Start Pathways page is to “login as a member” to base camp. You are already logged in though so it just takes you there. And yes, I tried going to that page without being logged in; you just get a log in screen. Shrug. Anyway, in Base Camp you now see “Open Curriculum” in the education transcript section when you scroll down. That’s where you learn what is in the learning path.

What wasn’t clear

  • I couldn’t find the link to Pathways from the toastmasters.org login page right away. It is there as follows, but the direct link is easier.
    • Click Education pull down
    • Click Pathways learning experience
    • Click start your journey
  • I couldn’t figure how to indicate that I completed “The Navigator” and just click the logo in the upper left to go back to the home page.

Next check out an overview of this learning path.

“why are you even here?”

Posted on by
Reply

I went to part of the Toastmasters conference last week. At one of the sessions, I was on my tablet and the lady next to me said “why are you even here if you aren’t going to pay attention”. I was doing a mix of:

I obviously didn’t get into this with the woman who said this. But I did email myself that the answer would be a good blog post. I use a computer/tablet during conferences in two scenarios.

Scenario 1: I want to be fully immersed in the material

As noted in the presentation she was hassling me in, humans have a short attention span. Live blogging prevents me from being distracted. I’m *very* focused on what is going on because I’m listening and processing to write. This only leaves me with a tiny bit of spare brain power. Which I use for scanning comments from others ex: twitter.  And it prevents me from having enough brain power to attempt doing something that has the potential to steal my focus like email.

Now granted, I wasn’t live blogging at the Toastmasters conference. But it is common for me to do so at tech conferences. For example, see my QCon blog posts. Hard to argue I wasn’t paying attention there!

Scenario 2: Only listening some

Sometimes you are only interested in part of a session or the speaker isn’t great. Not bad enough to get up and leave. But not enough to want to pay full attention. (If I’m at a session after work on the weekend or on a vacation day, it’s completely up to me how much attention I pay.) And there’s an advantage to this. Paying partial attention, you might learn something. Leaving you guarantee you’ll learn nothing.

This Toastmasters event was on my vacation time and I paid the entrance fee. There were plenty of the empty chairs in the room so I wasn’t taking a seat away from someone who would pay full attention. And I didn’t sit in the front so I wasn’t taking up a “good seat”. So completely up to me what I wanted to do in the room. At least I wasn’t bothering anyone. I sat next to another person at this event (not this lady) who took notes by repeating what the speaker said into their phone.

As far as why did I come – I wanted to see what the semifinals and world championships of public speaking were like. And I wanted to go on vacation to Vancouver. So I combined the two. You can’t pay for just the speaking part; the educational sessions are bundled. So I went to most of them. They were good. But mainly inspirational or facts we’ve been exposed to. I don’t need to pay full attention to get what I’m going to out of that.

Conferences encourage this

The Toastmasters conference encouraged people to post in the activity stream of their app. (Like a poor man’s twitter.) They incentivized posting pictures rather than having discussions so the stream wasn’t comment rich. But they clearly didn’t discourage having your phone/tablet out. And they supplied internet. [By comparison there was a no phone/tablet policy during the world championships of public speaking at night.]

Now for the speaker’s side

My first public presentation was in 2011 at The Java Server Side Symposium. (Scott and I live blogged there too). I knew it is common at tech conferences for people to be doing other things while in a session – tweeting, email, coding, whatever. So I gave a presentation at my Toastmasters club called “The Case of the Distracted Audience”. I gave people specific annoying things to do and practiced reacting to them. It helped a lot.