In a previous post, I gave a couple of rules of thumb for telling a story. One of them was: Never let the truth get in the way of a good story. In the particular case of non-fiction, there are two important cases to distinguish. The first is, stories intended to communicate an experience; the… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Toastmasters
Ethos, Pathos, and Logos: A Guide for Scientists
This article originally appeared in The Soap Box, a public speaking column in Paper/Work, the postdoc newsletter at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab. Go to the bookstore, and you’ll find a plethora of books on public speaking; each one has its particular take, its particular focus. But there’s a simple concept at the heart of… Read more »
Paris and the Beauty Contest
This essay was based in part on a speech that I wrote and delivered at a Toastmasters meeting. The speech was inspired by my reading of Homer’s Illiad, as well as Edith Hamilton’s Mythology. There was once a grand and magnificent city, in what is now Turkey – a city called Troy. But Troy was… Read more »
Nixon Plays Chess
I. I’m bad at chess – really bad. In fact, I’m so bad, I don’t know when to stop playing. Every time I play, I’m absolutely certain that this time, I’ll manage something clever – manage a draw, maybe, or manage to last longer than 40 moves – but inevitably, by move 10, I’m struggling,… Read more »
Toastmasters Table Topics Idea: Crayons
What does a Table Topics Master do? For our latest Toastmasters meeting, I was the table topics master. The table topics master runs the portion of the meeting during which the club has table topics, which are 1-2 minute unprepared impromptu speeches on a variety of topics. It is the table topics master’s job to… Read more »
America (redux, Toastmasters speech)
This speech was originally given for Earth Day (see the original version here), but I revisited the speech to change its focus and get some feedback on it. I was invited to give a speech at a Toastmasters club that is not my regular club – Watergate Toastmasters in Emeryville. We need… Read more »
Little Red Riding Hood, Reinterpreted (Toastmasters speech)
Based on Angela Carter’s “The Warewolf,” found in the latest issue of Lapham’s Quarterly (Magic Shows). You may think you know the story of Little Red Riding Hood. But I am here to tell you the true story of what happened when Little Red Riding Hood visited her grandmother that dark night. Little… Read more »
Social Capital (Toastmasters Speech)
Who wants 20 bucks? Too late, missed your chance. Who wants this? It’s a coupon for 100 likes on your next Facebook status update. How about this one? It’s a coupon that will guarantee your next tweet on Twitter will get retweeted 200 times. Or this one? This guarantees 50 people will write on your… Read more »
Five Things to Ask Weasels and Peacocks When You See Them (Toastmasters Speech)
“Bob Dylan is the defining figure of 1960s counterculture, and a brilliant songwriter. Some people call him the king of folk, some people call him the godfather of hip hop. But everyone will agree, he’s one of the greatest musicians ever.” That sounds great, doesn’t it? It’s got a nice ring to it, a nice… Read more »
Everything I Needed To Know About Bureaucracy, I Learned From Wikipedia (Toastmasters Speech)
I want to take you on a virtual trip. So close your eyes, and imagine that you’re sitting at your computer. You open your browser, and you type wikipedia.org/Elephant. Now, at the top of the page, you’ll see some tabs, like “Article,” “Talk,” “Edit,” and so on. Let’s click “Talk.” And what we’ll find is… Read more »