Posts Tagged → competent communicator

iPhone Apps Review Project

Recently, I started a personal project to review and evaluate iPhone Apps and gave a short speech about it to my Toastmasters club.

I felt great after I put together the content: apparently for this technical topic, I did a great job “de-technicalize” it for my audience — my fellow Toastmasters, who come from a variety of backgrounds. After I gave a speech and gathered my evaluations, I know this speech has so much more room to improve.

A Look Back on My Toastmasters Journey

Finally, after two and a half years, I completed my first 10 Toastmasters speeches in the Competent Communication manual.

Looking back, I’ve conquered a great amount of fear towards public speaking, and I’m happily graduating from an entry-level English speaker on to the next.

Looking for a way to conquer your fear? Come with me to revisit my journey in Toastmasters and you’ll find the answer.

Become a Better Speaker by Video Recording Yourself

I gave a speech on how to become a better speaker by recording yourself in video.

I talked about why video recording works for you, how to set it up and after get yourself recorded, how you can effectively review the video. I also talked about how I applied this technique to my preparation in the speech contest last year, and got myself into the division contest level.

Happy Chinese New Year of Horse!

I gave a speech on the 12 Chinese Animal Zodiac in my Toastmasters club. My evaluator told me that my shoes were too colorful, and they constantly distracted his focus from my speech. Wow, I never noticed this before! From now on, I will certainly pay more attention to details like this that may affect my audience.

Other than the speech, I spent a few hours on my props — the image of the 12 animals! It might be too bright to see in the speech video, so here is a better view :)

12 Chinese Animal Zodiac

Change

Do you like people who greet you with a smile?

I do, and I love greeting others with a smile. But can you imagine a shy little Yingying, who was trying to stay away from doing it?

Here’s my speech about the “change” in my life.

The Adventures Have Just Begun

This was my ice-breaker speech in May 2012, a month after I joined my club Marin Toastmasters. As a shy and non-English speaker, Toastmasters gives me this opportunity to enjoy a fun journey on self-discovery.