Speaking, but not communicating

I am home sick today and catching up on watching The Daily Show.  I only get news from the Daily Show.  I can't take the pundits from the 24-hour networks and local news just scares me.  At least the Daily Show makes me laugh at the world's problems.

I just finished watching last Thursday's episode where Stewart covered the previous evenings State of the Union.  His guest was Doris Kearns Goodwin, presidential historian.  They discussed many things, but the one thing that struck me was a comment made about how the President was a great speaker, but maybe not a great communicator.

This comment really struck me as a Toastmaster.  This is exactly why I joined and stay in Toastmasters.  When I joined I was a good speaker, but a poor communicator.  I find, and I am sure many of you would agree, that most people come just to be better speakers.  Once they are more comfortable speaking they often leave and use their new skills.  So few stay and refocus their efforts on being better communicators.

Why can't we, as Toastmasters, communicate this part of the mission of the organization?  When I talk to people about being a Toastmaster they assume I went to be a better speaker.  They are often surprised to hear me talk about the communication skills I have learned.

As a better communicator I have been able to develop better speeches.  I have been able to identify what my message is and how to promote that message to my audience.  I have been able to ask questions and find it easier to understand my audience than I did before I began Toastmasters.  Through programs like High Performance Leadership I have been able to understand how to articulate a vision and mission; how to let others help me; how to build investment in my message and more.

These lessons and more have been more valuable to me than the lessons on being a better speaker.  I can only imagine that the same is true for those who have transitioned into the program.  I especially believe this is true for those who take the program and its lessons seriously rather than just accumulating the awards without going through the process.


Would you agree with any of this?  Feel free to tell me more in the comments. 


Watch the video from the show to hear some of Stewart's thoughts on how Obama could communicate better.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Doris Kearns Goodwin
www.thedailyshow.com
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Club Webpages: Who Is It For? Members?

Here we go with the much anticipated part 2 of my comments on club webpages. Last time I wrote about what we should be thinking about with webpages for guests. What about a webpage for members? What do members need to help them reach their goals? Let's stick with our evaluation of FreeToastHost since most clubs are going with them. I am aware of easy-Speak, but I have not had a chance to really play with it yet. We will save that review for another day.

A comment from the previous post mentioned that the front page is mostly for guests while the duty roster, calendar and other resources are for members. I would venture to say that the front page can and maybe should be for members too.

Members typically have similar goals: be better speakers, get over fear of speaking, be better leaders, have a good time. To reach these goals, within this organization, they need to go to their club's meetings. Thus, they are very much like a guest. They need to know where and when the meeting it. Last time I said the meeting information should be "above the fold". I told you to look at your page on the most common resolution: 1024 x 768. If members and guests need the meeting information it is critical that this information be easy to locate. It should be the first thing they see.

Does your club meet in an area with bad weather? Mine does! We spend our entire winter wondering if we are going to have a meeting night with snow and ice on the ground. How will your members find out about meeting cancellations or sudden changes? I know I check the webpage. We added a Twitter widget (very problematic with FTH). We post news to Twitter and it shows up on the webpage. This is above the fold right next to our meeting information. We don't just use Twitter to post meeting updates. We use it to announce awards, welcome new members, post updates from our blog/newsletter. You don't have to use Twitter, but that front page is an easy way to keep people updated on the club. Let guests and members know what is going on with the club. Members want to know.

What else does FTH have for members? It depends on what the club wants to make available. Here are the ones I like:

• Calendar- members should be able to easily find a calendar of upcoming meetings. This is especially true if your meetings are not weekly, if they change location or if they change times. People often forget these things. Rather than forcing them to remember, accommodate their bad memories.
• Duty Roster- members should know what the upcoming meeting agenda is so they can sign up for roles. I would even suggest that FTH allow clubs to change the name of this feature to agenda if they want. I know that's something my fellow members find easier to understand.
• Extra pages and link spots- we have a club library, occasionally offer free workshops, and a club blog/newsletter. We added links and pages to our webpage to add those features in. They are not the most popular feature, but they help provide information to people who may be interested.
  

Chances are your club webpage isn't just for guests or just for members. Webmasters need to keep thinking strategically about what they are putting on their pages, where it is located and who it is for. Being aware of the power of your webpage will help you be able to use it to meet everyone's needs.

Club Webpages: Who Is It For? Guests?

I am my home club's webmaster this year. We use FreeToastHost to run our webpage, but I have found it very limiting. It has sent me down a path of deep contemplation about club webpages.

I am going to stop here and say that Freetoasthost is a fantastic service and one I am glad is available to clubs. Most clubs are just beginning to understand how a webpage can help them. It is enough to ask them to have a webpage. Without FTH this would not be possible for 99% of the clubs in the organization. I thank Bo and his team for helping this organization take this step in 21st century communication.

Now that club's have webpages, it is time to start thinking about them strategically. We have to ask ourselves this very important question: Who is this webpage for? There is no wrong answer, yet being able to answer it will help you shape your page and its message.

• Is this page for guests? If so, what do guests need to be able to find and know about this club?
• Is this page for members? If so, what are your members asking to have information about? What, from this webpage, will help them reach their goals?
• Is it for both guests and members? If so, how do you combine the needs of both groups to create a good webpage.

I am going to focus on FTH since so many clubs use this service for their webpages. I think there are many club who should move to FTH, but that is a post for another day. I am also going to focus this entry on what guests need on your webpage. I will do another entry about pages for members and blended-needs.

Think of your standard FTH webpage. It's full of information that you have to read. Do you read it? No, really, answer the question honestly. Chances are you said 'no'. Don't worry, I said no as well. Here is why: nobody reads online. We skim and scan. What are we skimming and scanning for? FTH assumes you are interested in know more about TM, what's in it for you and how it works. Oh yes, and about the club you have visited (down at the very end of the page).

Anyone searching for Toastmasters would first find Wikipedia and the TM International website. How are people finding clubs? That's a good question and there is probably not one way it happens. Let's put that aside for this entry. The point is that most people who come to your webpage may already have an basic idea about the organization and what it can do for them. They want to know about your club. What do that want to know:

• When the club meets (date and time)
• Where the club meets (actual location and city, state)
• If they can come

That information should be above the fold. The phrase "above the fold" is something from print newspapers. The newspaper is folded in half. The most important information is on the top half of the paper or above the fold. That information is the name of the paper, the top headline, and the date of the paper. It remains a big deal to be above the fold of a newspaper. The same is true for your webpage. The most important information should be what people can see without having to scroll down the page.

What information should be above the fold for guests? The information that answers the questions I listed above. FTH does allow you to customize that first page. You could remove all of it and put your own content in. Cut out all that text and put in bullet points. Redesign the entire page like I did for my club (the key is tables). FTH has made this more flexible than people realize.

Keep this in mind: everyone has different size screens (aka resolutions). I know people with massive screens who can see most of the page. I know people with tiny screens who can't see much. How do you decide what is above the fold for most people? You have to go with the most common screen size. Some statistical packages (like Google Analytics) will actually tell you what screen resolution is most common for your website. FTH has statistics, but this is not something they will provide you with data about. W3 Schools can provide you with a very general idea of the common screen resolution: 36% use 1024 x 768. My computer is 1280 x 1024. This means I see more of the page than most people. Thus, when I design webpages, I have to keep in mind that my fold is lower than most of yours.

Look at your club webpage as a guest. Is it easy for them to find the information they need? What is your screen resolution? How does your page look at 1240 x 768? What changes should your club consider making to the page?

Contest Season... again

Yep, it's speech contest season again- Humorous this time. To be honest, I am not a huge fan of contests. There are a few reasons.
While they are fun to watch, I don't think most members want to be part of them. I have found it intimidating to be speaking with those who are much better speakers than I am. I can only imagine how intimidating it would be to speak in the same contest as one of the few who return to the contests each year and make it to the international level. I suspect this actually acts as a deterrent for contest participation. I have spoken to a number of people who have said they aren't good enough to participate. This time it will be that they aren't funny enough. I can only push the "you don't until you try" line so far before I feel pushy and disingenuous.
Then there is the club level of contests. I am sure there are clubs with real contests, but from my experience clubs are lucky to have one participant. As a past VP of Ed and now an Area Governor I find myself begging people to participate. I am telling club presidents that if they have one person they can just appoint them. The pressure from TMI seems to be on having the actual contest.
Personally, I am bored of planning contests. There are so many rules and things to consider, even at the Area level where I may have just 1 participant. I still have to have a full contest for that one participant. Then there is the participation rule which is specific for the international contest, but doesn't exist for the humorous contest. It is a major point of confusion. There there is judging and training judges. I think something isn't working when you have to train people to be judges and most of that time is spent on the judging form. How to fold it so you aren't influenced by others, make sure you sign it, etc.

I get that this is important at the upper level contest and especially for the International Speech Contest. For me, an Area Governor and maybe even for the Division Governors, this is a lot of work for something that most of our members don't care about. I think we want to see those who make it to the World Champion of Public Speaking/International Convention level. Still, I don't think we all want to spend the time planning endless contests to help someone get there.

Thoughts?

New Toy: Scribd

I realized last night that it has been 2 years since I updated my actual webpage. I use it as a professional portfolio. Thus, it isn't critical to keep updated, but 2 years is too long.
I do keep a list of presentations I have done for Toastmasters. I send people there to re-print handouts and get copies of power points I may have run. In those 2 years, a lot has changed with technology and I have been looking for a way to begin using Scribd.
Scribd is pretty cool. It allows you to upload word, power point, excel, pdf and more. People can then view, download, print and share the document. Here is an example from one of the items I uploaded:
Toastmasters: Successful Club Series Activity (2006 TLU)
As you can see- the entire document is here. I will be uploading more this week. I also plan on updating the Squidoo guides before the end of the month. I need to pay more attention to my toys.

Padding the Numbers... again

I am involved in 2 clubs. One is my home community club where many of my friends are members. I love this club because I helped rebuild it and we are all on the same page with our club's identity. Last year we were presidential distinguished, but we knew we were getting ready to loose a few members. We took a bigger hit than we expected and were down bellow 10 members again. We worked our magic, focused on our members and their goals. We rebuilt the mentor program and re-thought our education program. We came back to 17 with no members ready to leave the club this fall. In my opinion we did better this year than the previous year, but the DCP can't measure it.
The other is an advanced club I was once a club coach for. I worked with this club to rebuild and they did it- last year they were select distinguished because they sold the club to new members. This is a club that may loose 1 or 2 members a year. Most of the members are involved in the district and know what they are doing and trying to learn. I enjoy this club because of the feedback I can get from them and the things I can learn about being a better leader. They didn't end the year as distinguished either. Mostly because they didn't have enough membership growth.
Their membership numbers are possible the result of the plea from the DG to join clubs at our end of the year BBQ.
When I checked the numbers on June 30th, they still reflected that the membership number from the meeting I last attended. When I checked a week later, I found the final number were actually up by three.
I happened to be at the most recent meeting, the first one after the new year began. Two of those three members happened to be at the meeting. Both of those two people had been at the BBQ, heard the plea and committed to join another club. I spoke to one of them who indicated she was in a number of clubs already... 6 or 7. Her membership went in on June 30th.
I am sure these people mean well and I am happy to see two of the three at the meetings. My point is that we are stuck in this pattern of not thinking when asked to do something unethical. Yes, this is an ethics issue. It's about doing what's right rather than doing what is easy.
Did these people actually join because they were asked to do so? Probably.
I really end up with one question: how did they pick this advanced club?

A Third Post About Tone

I am totally fascinated with this issue of tone-of-voice.
A quick recap... a friend of mine, a fellow club member, has an problem with her tone of voice. She wants to be a professional speaker. I feel her problem with tone could hurt her more than help her. It took me a few weeks to realize my frustrations with her had to do with her tone-of-voice. Once I did, it opened up a new world for me. Two things have happened since my previous post about this.

First, I realized that I use this tone. Last year I got some great feedback from someone about how he or she often felt it's Sara's way or the highway. It was probably the best bit of feedback I ever got. I have spent a bit of time working on this for the past year. I have tried to be more suggestive than insistent with ideas. I determined what was important too me, what I wanted to have integrity about as opposed to things I wanted to mentor people on or help them brainstorm about. I have developed a love for "I" statements-- I feel, I hear, I think, I wonder, I suggest... the list goes on.
One of our new members hit the nail on the head though. In a casual discussion about tone she noted that I too have a very strong tone at times. I suddenly connected the feedback I got with the issue I had with someone else. Now I have a better idea of what I should work on- my own tone!

Second, my previously mentioned friend is having a hard time with her tone. She has received some feedback about it from various people. Others, those she is not friendly with, are having a difficult time with it. They are finding her too aggressive, pushy, hounding, demanding. She is pushing guests away from the club and is aware of it. She may be pushing members away from the club. I am struggling with how to advise her. I do know to wait until she comes to me. If I don't I run the risk of doing to her what she is doing to others: using my forceful tone to push something on her. A number of you continue to give me that advice and I am taking it.
I see it slip in when she is not getting her way. Instead of trying to explain herself better, she just starts pushing what she wants. I know I have to wait- she has to see the problem and want to change. I am still amazed at how I can see it happening and know what is contributing to her frustrations.

What Do You Think?

TLI went very well again, especially my DCP presentation. I focused the message on building clubs that meet the members goals rather than on the points. Everyone who spoke to me seemed very happy and a number were thrilled that I didn't talk about the points at all.
I am not sure how I feel about something that happened at a program after TLI. I am not sure what other districts do, but we have an end of the year event to honor the people who served in leadership roles the past year. I like to go to this event because it is a social event that tends to attracts the experienced leadership rather than general members or new leaders. You have different conversations with these people.
I just so happens that my district may not be distinguished this year. At this dinner the numbers for membership had us down by 124 members. There were a few clubs on their way to being chartered, but nobody was sure that would give us the numbers. The general concensus was that we would still be behind and it was our responsibilities to join a club, any club to boost the numbers.
When I say general concensus, I mean the hard sell. It was a message repeated over and over for a good hour. By the end of the evening they had convinced an out-of-town-toastmaster to join a local club among others. I bit my toung, but I was a bit astounded by this. The leaders making the hard sell were leaders I had never heard talk about the points before. They focused this push on the awards we would loose this and in future years if we didn't become distinguished. They were asking people who are members of 5, 6, and 7 clubs already.
What do you think of this?
Personally, I am a bit appalled. These quick "let's make distinguished" members hurt more than they help the club. These are people who add nothing to the club. They are there for the numbers and that is it. They may come to a few meetings, but how much time can they put into it when they have 6 or 7 other clubs that need their attention. There are only so many days in a week and month. This is just assuming they stick around beyond the next due cycle. If they leave then they hurt the club's base numbers meaning they have to work harder to get their membership numbers back.
Then there is the issue of integrity. This request ruins integrity and makes us cheaters. So what if we don't make distinguished for the 6th year. So what if we have to wait three more years to re-earn the good awards. Considering what this district had to deal with this year, take your success and enjoy it. We were able to come together and stay on goal. Leaders came back to the district after this shakeup. It will be OK. I love awards and recognition more than most people, but the loss of my integrity is not worth it. I won't just join another club myself. I have two clubs that take more than their fair share of my time.
I could rant about this for hours and I know there are a few who would agree. Still, what do you think?

Don't Speak To Me In That Tone.

At a club meeting a few weeks ago, one of our advanced speakers gave the speech from one of the advanced manuals. In this speech he had to deal with various types of different types of people in his audience and keep us or get us back in line. Said member accomplished much of this with his tone of voice. He was calm, kept is voice soft and used a gentle tone. Another member gave him some feedback indicating she felt he should have used a stronger tone to keep everyone in line.
A few weeks ago I posted an entry about a friend who is straddling the line between motivational and pushy. After hearing the above feedback, I realized what I was frustrated with: tone. It's all about the tone of voice we use with people. People might say that presentation is all about message development, but there is still an element of our voices and our bodies that turn people on or off to that message. Tone is, I suspect, a big part of that. I have yet to do any real research on the subject. Think of your parents and how they used tone. The title of this entry is a line my own mother says to me when we argue.
Let's take the example above. A soft, gentle tone was used in the speech. From my experience soft, gentle tones are encouraging, motivational, and inviting. Many people respond well to being spoken with a gentle tone. I feel more respected and valued when people speak to me with that tone of voice. A harsh, firm tone often is interpreted as being yelled at. It may not require a raised voice, but the strength of it makes you take notice. People feel reprimanded when this tone is used. It can be used to make people aware of inappropriate they may be acting. It is, of course, great for children who misbehave.
What has been going on for my friend is that she is use to using a firm tone with people. She use to work with psychiatric patients. She was a nurse. She is use to making people do things that are good for them. She cannot turn it on and off.
A number of you told me to butt out and wait for her to ask for advice. Well, I did and she did. She managed to hurt a developing friendship because of her tone. She was trying to give advice, she used a very firm tone and her advice was ignored and was not asked for again. She may have lost this friend as a result. She was very bothered by this and asked me why it happened. With my recent revelations, I was able to better communicate what I understood.
I explained that most people do not respond well to her firm tone when they come to her for advice. The connotation is often: "do what I tell you" and not: "here is a suggestion". I reminded her of the speech we had heard a few days before where tone became a subject of discussion. She had been the one who felt a firmer tone was needed. She had been the one who suggested the speaker use a firmer tone. She suggested it very firmly as well and seemed a bit taken aback when he said he disagreed.
What has happened since? Not much, but she is aware of her tone now. I know she is listening for it. I can see it when she speaks. She is beginning to notice it.
What are your thoughts about tone? What tone do you use? How has tone impacted messages you have heard?

If You Build It, Will They Come?

Last night's meeting brought up DCP related issues again. My club, with two weeks left of the year, has just gotten comfortable with the idea that we will not be distinguished again this year. We have the points, but we don't have the membership. Our membership numbers are in the same place they were last year: 17 members. We have a number of new member, but we have cultivated an environment where we focus on their goals. We feel it brings in the new members no matter what else we do.
Two years ago at this time was a very different story. We celebrated our 15th anniversary mostly because we had made it through that year. We had just been on the brink of closing the club due to no members. This was the end of the first year we had gone back to focusing on member goals. Before this we hadn't focused on anything except talking. Over the past few months we had seen a number of guests, but had struggled with closing the sale (if you will). We got people in the door, but we struggled to make them members. Three co-workers came as guests a few times and seemed to enjoy it. At the anniversary party they expressed an interest in joining before the end of June. They were encouraged to do so. That was the last we saw of them. That is, until last night. Two years later all three ladies walk in to the meeting. After two years, there are really only three or four people left who may remember them. Two of us happened to be at the meeting. I could place their faces, but not their names.
This was a very cool experience. Mostly because of the connections being made in introductions alone. One of our members is the head of a local charity. These three guests happen to work for different non-profits now, but one of them knew her. A current member, upon hearing about where one of our guests was employed, got very excited and wanted to talk to her after the meeting. At the end of the meeting, they were asked for their impression of the meeting. They commented that things had really changed, but they were comfortable with the group and had enjoyed themselves.
Once they left, everyone was buzzing with the possibility of them joining. They seemed to be interested still and we are much better at getting guests to actually join. We had a great meeting that played to our strengths, was run like a tight ship (I was toastmaster and I know how to control the meeting) and we had a variety of speakers with a new member speaking and an experienced member trying something new. We filled all the roles with ease, but it was still a typical meeting. Plus, we ended on time.
Will these guests join? Who know? We built the club, we have had many successes as a result. It is up to these three guests. They took the time to come back two years later. That has to mean something.
Oh, for you DCP nuts: if they join before the end of the month we will become presidential distinguished. Yes, the club president and I are both very, very aware of this. Is there pressure placed on these women to join as a result? I didn't get the sense that there was. Nobody begged or offered them discounts to do so. Those who talked to them after seemed to focus on their needs, get current contact information and told them to come back any time.