Tell your stories

Today marks a new beginning of sorts, a relaunch of this blog with a new purpose. I started it originally to deliver political commentary and critique in an attempt to prod people to action on important issues of the day. I believed that people - especially people of faith - had forgotten what they really believed and or had a disconnect between what they said they believed and what their actions demonstrated what they believed. I still do,  and I believe that needs to be communicated widely. But rather than presenting others with facts and figures and arguments,  we can be more effective sharing our stories to make our points and lead,  rather than drive, people to consider changes.

I have been a member of Toastmasters for the past 5 years,  both speaking and leading in various roles. I have delivered more than 50 speeches and many of those have been stories with a point. I find that being subtle rather than "in your face" works well to communicate my point across in a way that gets past the usual defenses and makes people examine themselves. For instance, I delivered a speech that talked about prejudice but did not use any of the usual "trigger" words. Rather it examined the whole meaning of prejudice (pre-judging),  the basic human self-defensiveness that drives it, and how to overcome it. I used three far back prejudice examples - redheads, left-handedness, and women teachers getting fired upon marrying - to address the issue and asked people to consider what illogical things we are doing today that we need to stop.

In our Toastmaster meetings after a speaker finishes, we give a minute or so for the attendees to write a note of evaluation or commentary for the speaker,  as well as a formal verbal evaluation from one designated member. I keep all those notes because I am interested if I made an impact on my speech. From that prejudice speech, I got many notes, included one that said: "I was convicted, I will have to go home and examine my own prejudices".

And my mantra throughout my Toastmaster time has been "everybody has stories to tell". I encourage everyone to speak up and tell their stories. All those stories need to be told, and we need to hear them.
This is true in Toastmasters and beyond, so I am expanding my storytelling through this blog. I encourage you to tell your stories and encourage you to check out a local Toastmasters club. I am providing a link to the Toastmasters International site, which has a club finder function.
I have found it to be a great help in improving how I deliver my stories, as well as a good platform to share them.

https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club


I welcome your feedback and look forward to sharing my stories with you.
Cheers
Bob