Here is the general outline for the Topic Master's presentation. Please feel free to say this in your own words, however you think is appropriate for the audience that night. You can also collect notes and read them if that makes you feel more comfortable for your first time. After doing it a couple of times it will become easy. :)
1-2 minutes: An overview of why Table Topics is important and how to do Table Topics
Table Topics is an important part of our Toastmaster's meeting because it gives us a chance to practice impromptu speaking. Impromptu speaking is speaking about a topic for which you've had no prior time to prepare. This can happen in personal settings, such as being asked to say a few words at a dinner event in front of a group, or a professional setting, such as when your boss asks you to give an update about a project you are working on. The goal of Table Topics is to help you feel more confident and relaxed when you are asked to speak in situations like these.
We use Play, Pivot, or Pass in our club:
1. Play: You answer the question I give you as best as you can
2. Pivot: You answer a different question related to the one I asked
3. Pass: You decide to pass answering a question. Of course, we always recommend trying to answer so you can get practice.
Additional tips/longer descriptions you can give if we have a lot of guests:
Here are some Table Topics tips and tricks you can use when you are called up and you don't know what to say:
1. Take a deep breath to calm yourself down, and smile broadly at the audience.
2. Say "Good evening fellow Toastmasters and guests"
3. Repeat the question you were just asked.
4. Answer the question as best as you can in the amount of time given. Remember, when you are nervous and don't know what to say it is more important to be dynamic and connect with the audience than it is to say something brilliant.
5. OR: Use a technique called pivoting: If you have no idea what the question meant or it does not apply to you, take one word or phrase out of the question and talk about that instead.
Pivoting example: Mark is called up to answer the question "What was your favorite pet when you were a kid". As it turns out, Mark never had any pets when he was a kid. He decides to use the pivoting technique. Instead of talking about a pet that he had, he talks about something else related to pets. For instance, let's say that he wanted a dog when he was a kid but he couldn't have one because he had allergies. He could talk about that instead.
~~~~~
Here is the general format for making the questions. Keep questions short so that the speaker can remember them easily!
1. Short factoid about the topic of the day (1-2 sentences long)
2. Question related to factoid
Example:
1. The popular search engine Google celebrates the birthdays of awesome people from all over the world with Google "Doodles."
2. If you could select a person to be featured in a Google Doodle, who would it be and why?
1-2 minutes: An overview of why Table Topics is important and how to do Table Topics
Table Topics is an important part of our Toastmaster's meeting because it gives us a chance to practice impromptu speaking. Impromptu speaking is speaking about a topic for which you've had no prior time to prepare. This can happen in personal settings, such as being asked to say a few words at a dinner event in front of a group, or a professional setting, such as when your boss asks you to give an update about a project you are working on. The goal of Table Topics is to help you feel more confident and relaxed when you are asked to speak in situations like these.
We use Play, Pivot, or Pass in our club:
1. Play: You answer the question I give you as best as you can
2. Pivot: You answer a different question related to the one I asked
3. Pass: You decide to pass answering a question. Of course, we always recommend trying to answer so you can get practice.
Additional tips/longer descriptions you can give if we have a lot of guests:
Here are some Table Topics tips and tricks you can use when you are called up and you don't know what to say:
1. Take a deep breath to calm yourself down, and smile broadly at the audience.
2. Say "Good evening fellow Toastmasters and guests"
3. Repeat the question you were just asked.
4. Answer the question as best as you can in the amount of time given. Remember, when you are nervous and don't know what to say it is more important to be dynamic and connect with the audience than it is to say something brilliant.
5. OR: Use a technique called pivoting: If you have no idea what the question meant or it does not apply to you, take one word or phrase out of the question and talk about that instead.
Pivoting example: Mark is called up to answer the question "What was your favorite pet when you were a kid". As it turns out, Mark never had any pets when he was a kid. He decides to use the pivoting technique. Instead of talking about a pet that he had, he talks about something else related to pets. For instance, let's say that he wanted a dog when he was a kid but he couldn't have one because he had allergies. He could talk about that instead.
~~~~~
Here is the general format for making the questions. Keep questions short so that the speaker can remember them easily!
1. Short factoid about the topic of the day (1-2 sentences long)
2. Question related to factoid
Example:
1. The popular search engine Google celebrates the birthdays of awesome people from all over the world with Google "Doodles."
2. If you could select a person to be featured in a Google Doodle, who would it be and why?