I have been a member of Toastmasters for about 18 months now.  While I spent 20+ years speaking to many different types of groups, mostly sales presentations, I had never been in Toastmasters.

When I got into the professional speaking business last year, I thought it was time I joined Toastmasters to work on my speaking skills.  I joined Peachtree Toastmasters in Atlanta.  Fantastic club, great members. 

The beauty of Toastmasters is that you get plenty of practice speaking, but you get a quick evaluation the same night.  Another member gets up after your speech and gives an evaluation, pointing out the things you did well and what you could do to improve.

This past Monday I gave a speech from the Advanced Communication Manual for Story Telling.  The objective was to deliver a Folk Tale or Tall Tale.  So, I wrote my own tall tale, an exaggerated story that was actually based on a true story.  I had a lot of fun taking the kernel of the true story from a camping trip with me and my daughter.  I did plenty of edits, practiced a lot, and was ready to go!

The guy doing my evaluation is a very experienced speaker and knows I am in the business, so he delivered a more critical evaluation than you might do for a novice speaker.  He opened his evaluation with the title of this blog, “Marty, great delivery, great presentation, great drama……but fire your writer!”

He then proceeded to back up his statement….and he was 100% right!  It was great feedback and a great reminder for us all.  We can have the best performance, the best drama, the best vocal variety, the best physicality, but if the story is disjointed or not logical or doesn’t flow well, then the speech does not have the impact it should.

Most people I work with on their speaking want to jump right into the “platform” phase or the “stage” portion of their speech.  I take them back to their script, back to the message, back to the text.  Think about it, the best movies are the ones where the director and actors start with a fantastic script.

So, my own experience was a great lesson for us all.  Focus first on writing a great speech, on writing a logical and well thought out script.  Have others read it and react and help you edit it.  Once the story, the message, the plot and the characters are well thought out and written, THEN move on to working on the delivery and presentation.