Question:
I'm an ATM bronze. TM worked well for me. I thought the first set of ten speeches were a good beginning. TM is a great way to overcome speaking fear. However, TM has its limitations. For me, I found the "advanced" manuals unhelpful. I believe speaking needs to be a lot more about connecting with the audience.
I went to a completely different system called Speaking Circles. I found speaking to a group with absolutely no agenda or preparation very powerful. So many beginning speakers speak quickly and are afraid of silences. Just standing looking at your audience, concentration on your breathing and being in the moment are experiences you don't get at TM.
What's your opinions???
Answer:
I believe that the Toastmasters program when applied properly is at the cutting edge of adult learning.
I suspect that Toastmasters may have lucked onto it, and unfortunately have deviated from it in the Successful Club series etc.
Firstly 5 to 7 minutes is about the adult (boomer age group) attention span. TV shows run for about that time between commercials. Commercial breaks are about the length of a table topic for the same reason (more suited to Generation X, and probably Generation Y attention spans. Their first learning was via Sesame Street.)
The experiential learning cycle of concepts then plan to apply them then try it then review it is very successful in introducing new concepts to an adult audience.
The concepts are in the manual. Read them with a view to applying them. Then plan how you will do it. Then do it (speak), then review the effectiveness with peers (evaluation).
The ideal adult learning process would include suggestions of things to think about in the next assignment, and making notes about it. I encourage this, and it is an easy add on to improve the effectiveness of the program. Many evaluators incorporate this in their comments, I know.
Incidentally, this takes place on two fronts - process and content. The process is defined in the manual, the content is something that speaker chooses to learn about. From a learning perspective, the audience is unlikely to learn much from the content, because it is so unstructured and the only time they are exposed to it is during the speech. This is a particularly unsuccessful way to learn. But the speaker learns a great deal about the subject if the speech is prepared properly.
I know that this is not spelt out in the manuals, but if the manuals are used the way that they are intended, the program will produce exceptional results, as I am sure we have all witnessed. Deviating from the old tried and true model is when the learning does not take place. And this model, and many others like it that were tried because they seemed to work, is at the forefront of adult learning practice.
