Question 13: How do you go about being spot on in finding one key area to focus on for improvement?
This is an interesting question as I don’t know that I am necessarily spot on in the areas I focus on.
Experience plays its part although I think that confidence plays a big part too. When you suggestion areas for improvement with confidence, that confidence is passed on to the speaker and the audience. When you make suggestions without confidence, you can make the best suggestions in the world, but the speaker will likely ignore them.
I also don’t usually suggest just one area for improvement. As my skill improves, I make more and more suggestions for improvement in such a way that they don’t even come across as such. We learn the simple sandwich technique early on, 2 pieces of bread surrounding 1 layer of meat. The true power comes from multi-level sandwiches where there are many more thinner pieces of bread with meat layers that are not so obvious.
So, don’t worry too much about finding the one key area. Make suggestions you are comfortable with. Do it with confidence.
Posted under Toastmasters
This post was written by john on March 4, 2009
