Modern Buddy

I joined a public speaking club called Toastmasters this past Spring to learn to be a better public speaker. Part of the program is to work your way through their manual of 10 speech projects. Each 5-7 minute speech focuses on a different aspect of public speaking and you can talk on whatever topic you want to. So, last night my speech was about scooters. Since I only had 5-7 minutes I narrowed it down to three points, scooters are practical, easy to ride, and fun.

I wasn't sure how it would be received, especially since there were a lot of guests, and you know how some people don't have a high opinion of scooters. Well, it went really well and everybody loved it. After the meeting they were all telling me how much they enjoyed the speech, and how much they learned. Some were asking me questions about how to buy one. It was really fun.

Drew wrote:I joined a public speaking club called Toastmasters this past Spring to learn to be a better public speaker.

Doesn't your local community college offer "The Art of Informal Remarks"?

TVB wrote:

Drew wrote:I joined a public speaking club called Toastmasters this past Spring to learn to be a better public speaker.

Doesn't your local community college offer "The Art of Informal Remarks"?

Haha! I forgot about that.

Way to spread the scooter love Drew!

Nice! Was the speech a general "Why scooters are great" subject or something more specific?

Very Nice! Makes me wish the writers of Larry Crown had thought of that potential... E

ericalm wrote:Nice! Was the speech a general "Why scooters are great" subject or something more specific?

Since I only had 5-7 minutes I really had to narrow it down to just a few key points. So I started out talking about how people are curious about scooters and that I am asked about mine a lot. I said how there is a certain nostalgia and romance about scooters and mentioned movies like Roman Holiday, Lizzie McGuire Movie, and Larry Crowne.

My three main points were that scooters are practical, easy to ride, and fun.

For "Practical", I talked about how the modern scooter was designed to be practical to navigate the war-torn streets of Europe in the aftermath of WWII. Then I talked about how they get great gas mileage and that you can haul a lot of stuff on them for their size. I told how I took a 40 lb bag of weed and feed home from Home Depot on my floorboard.

For "Easy to Ride", I talked about how scooters have a low center of gravity that makes them easy to balance. Then I told them that you don't have to shift most modern scooters.

For "Fun", I talked about how when you see scooter riders they are smiling. You don't have to put your "bad" on to ride a scooter. You can be yourself. When you ride a scooter you can literally smell the flowers, freshly cut grass, food cooking, etc.

Then I told them even riding in the rain isn't always bad. I told a story about how I got caught in the rain without my rain suit. When I walked in the door soaking wet my wife said six words that changed my perspective on riding in the rain forever. She said, "Take your clothes off right now!" Everybody laughed and then I did my conclusion.

It was hard to narrow down what to say but I had to keep it in the time allotted.

Drew wrote: When I walked in the door soaking wet my wife said six words that changed my perspective on riding in the rain forever. She said, "Take your clothes off right now!" Everybody laughed and then I did my conclusion.

Excellent closing remark. I'm going to have to use that line sometime.

synaps3 wrote:

Drew wrote: When I walked in the door soaking wet my wife said six words that changed my perspective on riding in the rain forever. She said, "Take your clothes off right now!" Everybody laughed and then I did my conclusion.

Excellent closing remark. I'm going to have to use that line sometime.

I use it all the time!

I did a similar thing - it wasn't our company's Toastmasters group, but I took a two-day class on Effective Presentation Skills. For pre-work, we were all asked to knock together a 5-minute presentation on something either work-related, a process, or a hobby.

I gave 'em The Basic Scooter Oil Change.

Excellent closing remark. I'm going to have to use that line sometime.[/quote]

Feel free to use it all you want. It really happened too.

And if anybody is at all interested, check out a Toastmasters club in your area. I really recommend it. They are glad to have you visit. It doesn't cost much, you learn a lot, and it's a lot of fun. Almost sounds like points for another speech, huh?