02 Dec

White Elephant Gift Exchange 2021

Dear Toastmasters and Guests,

You are cordially invited to join our Online Christmas special event, where we are going to unwrap our virtual Christmas gift and take a look into fellow members’ home offices. All of that will we in Toastmasters style which means you’ll have a lot of opportunity to train your public speaking skills.

For those wanting to join, we kindly ask you to send the following pictures to elephant@basf-toastmasters.com

  • your Christmas gift, e.g. a funny, strange, spectacular object you would like one of the participants to receive as a gift (and create a spontaneous speech related to that)
  • your personal home office, the place where you work in these times at home (this will be also shared during our session — “Which place belongs to Whom?”)

Once you’ve sent these pictures we will share the link for the online event with you! We look forward to having a wonderful and entertaining evening together with you.

Should you have any inquiries, please feel free to contact us. Our first meeting in 2022 will be on 10 January.

Yours sincerely,
Club Officers

17 May

Mind Mapping (part II) on 31 May 2021

Have you been to our Toastmasters workshop in March about “Mind Map & Creating Action”? Or haven’t? No matter, join in on 31 May and create a mind map by yourself! At first Martin will give you a very short introduction / summary about the principle of a mind map. And then it’s time to design a quick mind map on your own to a given topic. Following in small groups you’ll merge the individual maps to the group’s mind map and share the result. Furthermore this workshop offers small activities to be creative and speak.

Let’s create an atmosphere of fun and learning; Toastmasters and guests are very welcome to join in — please prepare

  • a peace of paper and a pen
  • a bell (!!) e.g. a bicycle bell, cow bell — if you have . . .

We kindly ask you to register  →here.

19 Feb

Renew your membership now and be with BASF Toastmasters until September


Dear fellow Toastmasters

currently we are still meeting online — so participation in our Toastmasters meetings is just one click away! As you have been with BASF Toastmasters in the past I’d like to share a look at our upcoming (educational) activities in the next time:    

  • 08. Feb “Develop (with) Toastmasters”
    We would like to get your needs to develop skills regarding communication and leadership — this session will be moderated by experienced Toastmasters from neighboring clubs
  • 22. Feb “The Classic”
    Toastmasters meeting with presentations of new members and power members
  • 08 March “To be prepared or not to be prepared”
    We are going to focus on Table Topics and “Off the Cuff” speeches and offer one slot for a prepared speech
  • 22 March “Workshop”
    Area F1 Toastmasters show you how to improve leadership and feedback skills
  • April 2021 “Flower Power”
    Inviting you to visit the Flower Festival in Freinsheim
  • Mai 2021 “Spring Into Action”
    Debating / speaking with mic / Table Topics® Gala / upside-down-meeting, last year we had to cancel our series of meetings with an extra portion of fun and learning so we hope we can make it happen this year!

All of us are looking forward to have personal meetings at Toastmasters again. Nevertheless once we will meet face to face again we plan also to include those members who have diffculties to reach out to BASF Ludwgishafen site all the time. In September 2020 we already had successful “hybrid meetings”, we want to continue doing so and invite members to join us by computer  wherever they are.       

Please contact our Vice President of Education Lei or me if you have further questions.      

Reinstating or renewing your membership is easy. To do so we kindly ask you to remit 6 x 8 EUR / month = 48 EUR (2021-04–2021-09) to our account!

07 Apr

Your audience is special?!

Different characters can be convinced by different methods. While writing your speech it is important to know characteristics of your audience and to make sure that the style of your presentation and your arguments stay on target.

Of course your audience usually consists of various personalities but ask yourself – do they have something in common, e.g. working in the same field or sharing a similar interest or motivation? Especially in this case take a closer look at them. Finding out the audience’s basic personality type can lead to a special design of your presentation. Some ideas how to develop your speech according to the majority of characters in the audience.

Idealists are sympathetic, helpful, loyal and patient. People of this type like to work together with others to achieve results but don’t have a need to appear in public. You will find idealists especially in caring professions like doctors at a hospital or social workers.

The dos…

  • focus on team orientation,
  • strengthen the sense of togetherness,
  • show care about people within and outside the audience;

the donts…

  • isolate a group or a person,
  • show contrasts (“what is right and what is wrong”).

Scientists, engineers and technicians match above-average to the type of a logician. This personality strives for perfection and is quality conscious. Focussing on facts they want to know possible consequences of activities.

The dos…

  • present facts and statistics,
  • structure your speech,
  • go into details;

the donts…

  • press them for time,
  • demand creativity or a broad variety of alternatives.

A communicator stands out for inspiration and entertainment. This proactive personality is a team player and likes to establish contacts. In shaping the environment she / he tries to involve others. Especially creative people and artists represent this type.

The dos…

  • provide entertainment and humor,
  • show passion,
  • make a creative and colorful presentation;

the donts…

  • scare them with negative conequences,
  • bore with facts and figures.

The dynamic person is usually dominant. Willing to take risks these people are decisive. They want to achieve results and overcome resistance of others. This group of people is highly represented by managers and entrepreneurs.

The dos…

  • show clear goals and visions,
  • be enthusiastic,
  • rise to a challenge;

the donts…

  • be sceptic and ask to many questions,
  • show weakness.

Of course all of this is a rough description and simple categorization of personality types. Nevertheless it can be a guideline when you prepare your speech.