11/04/2012

Different audience

I did prepare a speech for yesterday "And the award goes" was the title, or "there is a silver lining behind any gray cloud". The Task or Project, as it is called, from my Toastmasters Advanced Manual "speeches by management" was to Deliver Bad News.

The bad new I choose was that my Advanced Communication Gold award, did not go to this club, where I delivered the message, but my main club (where I am president currently). And the sliver lining was, that I am decided to finish another Award and this one to offer to the club instead.

Well, because Eastern, there were relatively few club members present and those present were mostly new. Plus, we had guests, who did not even know what an Award was and its importance for the club, was not evident or interesting to most present.

Indeed, my "bad news" was not affecting them.
 Why is bad? What I am speaking about?

Realizing this, before I begun to speak, I rearranged my speech and explained a lot about what is behind a ribbon the club receives and why it is important and how it shows a club's health and progress. I did not have time to explain about Manuals and Awards. I did succeed to make people laugh, showing my two awards, the Silver written with Golden letters and the Gold written with Silver letters! I realised that just a few hours before the speech, as I took them out, to show!

Why did it happen? Well, at least to be able to make the public laugh about it.

I did succeed, also, finishing early, near the minimum time, not to bore those in audience who did not care about the "bad news" but were interested to understand about Toastmasters clubs and how they work.

It was well received, even if no one cared, or very few, if I will succeed - I will! unless something very bad happens to me - to finish 7 more speeches till end of June. One is for tonight, one Story for next week, three others about programmed for May and June. Then, there are left only two more stories to tell. I can do it!

Alas, as they are specific projects I can not deliver either of them in a Comedy club, but there is an Open Mic Storytelling event in Brixton where I can go in June. So there is only one more story that needs to find a place to be told. There are 43 Toastmasters clubs in London, I am sure I will find an open ear and a spot in one of them from now to end June, when the "official Toastmasters year ends".

But for each, I have to think more carefully about the audience to which I deliver it. Lesson learned.

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