Last night I went to my first ever “Toastmasters” meeting near where I live in Derbyshire. I’d never heard of Toastmasters, until my colleague Gurusimran Khalsa mentioned them when were discussion the challenges of being a VMUG Leader and getting the membership to step forward and present. The first thing I had to explain to my wife (I had to account for my movements between the hours of 19.30-21-30) was I wouldn’t be donning a red coat and barking. My interest in attending was two fold really. Although I was instructor for many years, and familiar with standing up in front of room of strangers – that type of “presenting” is very different from the 30/40/60 minute presentation I’m called upon to do at VMUGs and other events. So perhaps I could learn some tips and tricks. But my bigger reasons was to see how the group was structured and organised – to see if I could compare it to our own VMUG Meetings and see if anything could be brought across.

One of the first things that saw (and scared me!) when I got into the room was a red traffic light system commonly used at very large political conventions. I have largely warranted reputation for massively over-running on my presentations – and gobbling up break and lunch times. Although I was there as a guest, I was asked if I would be willing to speak for 2mins as part of what are called “Table Topics”. Of course, I said yes – there’s little point in going to a meeting about speaking in public if you refuse the first fence. The model for selecting the topic was to pick a coin out of a bucket, look at the date it was minted – and speak for 2mins on significant event in that year. I was in luck, I pulled out a 2012 coin – which allowed me to ramble on about how I proposed to my wife that year. And yes I did stick to the time limit. Reader, I was second longest presenter – but I did not over run! As soon as that red light came on, I soon wrapped things up and quit the stage…

Feedback and evaluation is an essential part of the Toastmaster structure – even the evaluators of speakers are in turn evaluated – and there are lots of different roles which are assigned to people in the group. What was interesting about this (and the random plucking of people to speak at the beginning) is how much interaction and participation this drove. The room had about 25 people in it – and doing a quick count at the end of the event I figured about 20 people had spoken to the group in that time. I started to wonder if the VMUG event could ever hope to drive that much interaction – I doubt it because of the numbers we draw in (except for smaller groups – the smallest VMUG  I went to last year had 20 odd people in a single room). It also reminded me of something that the London VMUG used to do in the early  years. We used to have a thing called “Top & Tailing”. I forget how it got this name – but everyone would stand and if I remember a coin would be flipped. Those picking heads would sit, those picking tails would remain standing. This carried on until only a handful of people were left. They would be then invited to come to the front and speak for 5mins about their environment with a whiteboard. Now, I’m not suggesting this should be adopted by VMUGs… But what I do think is interesting is how this drove more contributions from the membership. Perhaps we could have a list of short topics – and then randomly members of the VMUG would be invited to speak for just 5mins of about their experiences or views? If this list was known about in advance then perhaps each member would prep a little 5min take on a feature inside vSphere or some other technology. So if they were (un)lucky enough to be picked from the audience they would have their little party piece ready? In the past I’ve spoken about how if a session is made deliberately short (10/15min) then that might less daunting that being asked to present on 30/45/60 minutes of material – so how about 5mins?

At the mid-way point of the evening we were treated to some prepared presentations ranging from just 5mins to 15mins. Toastmasters has quite a long and involved program which their members are encourage to undertake – it involves speaking confidently in public, and in recent years a “leadership” program has been added – which complements the leader roles within their various chapters (Secretary, Toastmaster, President, Timekeeper and so on). One thing I was struck by was the total lack of powerpoint at the event. Admittedly visual aids are important part of any presentation (one guy had a map of the South Pole as talked about Scott’s failed attempts reach it first) – but I do wonder how the PowerPoint has become a crutch for all of us (including myself). There’s was something about some just speaking (all be it with notes – referred to with various degrees) – in someways the Powerpoint (of which we have all heard the death by stories) now gets in the way of personality and voice of the person presenting. It remind me of my love of singer-songwriters, the lone guitarist delivering a song. It’s some how more personal and immediate, than going to large noisy rock concert – where the performers miles away separate by corridor of security. So I have thought. This year – I’m going to put together a presentation where I don’t use a projector or powerpoint. I might use Powerpoint to order and structure my presentation – which I will use as aid to memory – a bit like a politicians use auto-cue rather than reading a typed speech from a podium. I think this format probably lends itself more to a presentation that is meant to move and influence people, rather than one that delivers dense factual information.

I found these longer presentations so engaging (there was on how an excess of choice in the modern world that leads to indecision and angst about making the right choice, that was particularly gripping) that I want to discuss not the presenters ability, but what they had said. That got me thinking perhaps at the end of longer presentation – there could be a 5min discussion (rather than just a QA) about the content presented? That way the presenter would get immediate feedback on how the presentation had been perceived and received.

Conclusions:

Would I recommend Toastmaster to someone getting into presenting? Yes, I would whole heartedly. It’s not something I’m going to personal pursue for reasons for which I hope are obvious. But for someone who is novice I think its a good place to start. It’s relatively low cost compared to other programs. I think you would want to at least pursue the public speaker track, as for the leadership track I think that largely depends on your goals. I found the Toastmasters group very friendly and informal, but the way the event is order is very structured and formal (everyone has a role; allocated time slots are heavily transcribed – 1min for this, 1.30 for that and so on). If you are like me, someone who feels uncomfortable with high-levels of organisation – you will have to be prepared for this and go with the flow…

I’m not sure a program like Toastmasters could be instituted within the VMUG program – its perhaps bit overkill or unwieldy for what might be one members presentation, delivered once in year. However, what I think is interesting is how the structure of the Toastmaster events drives much greater interaction between all the attendees – and that can only be good thing. I’m also wondering if some time spent at other vendors UGs would be useful – because one thing I pretty sure of is that all UG programs probably have the same challenges. Time spent looking at the UGs that exist with other vendors could provide valuable insights, and perhaps usher in new ideas and approaches. Merely attending another type of UG event – albeit one which is actually about presenting was interesting to see how the order of events influences in the action and inter-action it drives…

The other thing I’m resolving to do this year is to fix once and for all my timing issues. This happens for one big reason. Overstuffed presentations with too much content. I’ve worked out pretty much that if any of my powerpoints runs to more than 15 slides I will have trouble fitting it into a 30/40min presentation. The answer is less is more. It’s something I warn other presenters about, and then fall into the exact same trap!