Tag Archives: rhetoric

14 Feb

Where Public Speaking Skills Take Center Stage

If you find yourself stumbling over words or feeling uneasy when speaking in front of an audience, BASF Toastmasters is the perfect platform to hone your public speaking skills. As a part of the global Toastmasters International network, the Ludwigshafen club provides a supportive and encouraging environment for individuals to develop their communication, leadership, and presentation abilities.

At BASF Toastmasters, members come together to improve their public speaking skills through a series of structured programs and activities. Our next meeting will be on January 13, 2025, 17:30 - 19:30. From impromptu speeches to prepared presentations, participants have the opportunity to engage in various speaking opportunities that allow them to practice and refine their communication techniques. Constructive feedback from fellow members and designated mentors further strengthens the learning process, ensuring that individuals receive valuable insights to enhance their speaking prowess.

Diversity and inclusivity are fundamental pillars at our Toastmasters Club. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds, ages, and professions, fostering an environment where everyone’s unique perspectives and experiences are valued. This diversity not only enriches the learning experience but also reinforces the understanding and appreciation of different communication styles, ultimately contributing to the overall growth and development of each member.

Whether you aim to become a more confident public speaker, elevate your leadership skills, or simply connect with like-minded individuals on a journey of self-improvement, for BASF employees and externals we offer a welcoming space for personal and professional growth. By becoming a part of our community, you can embark on a transformative journey that empowers you to conquer your fear of public speaking and unleash your true potential.

21 Jun

“Double” hybrid meeting in June

Dear Toastmasters and Guests

Please be cordially invited to our meeting on Monday, 27th June 2022. This meeting will be our first double hybrid meeting ever! Hybrid means that on the one hand we will meet again in Ludwigshafen at BASF site in building J660 in room 136 and enable your participation also via MS-Teams.

Double hybrid means, that we are offering the opportunity to give a speech in German as well! So we welcome also those who would like to improve their German speaking skills!! Our English speaking Club Members continue their strong support with excellent speeches.

Let´s finish the ending Toastmasters year and also start the new term together at our meeting on 27th June 2022. You are welcome to contact us any time you want.

08 Feb

Continue your journey with Toastmasters

Dear fellow Toastmasters
spring will come soon which also means that you can extend your Toastmasters membership at our club! Continue your individual journey with Pathways and enjoy full access to toastmasters.org with all its digital resources. BASF Toastmasters currently meets online but will be having face-to-face meetings as soon as possible.
Therefore we kindly ask you to remit 6 x 8 EUR / month = 48 EUR (2022-04–2022-09) to BASF Toastmasters’ bank account!
On request an invoice for membership payments can be issued. We also would like to take the opportunity to say “thank you” to those of you who already paid for the new term in advance. Please contact us in case you have any questions!

01 Jan

Welcome to 2022!

Dear fellow Toastmasters and Guests

the year of 2022 has just started and this can be the year where you make the important step to become a better speaker and presenter? We welcome you to participate actively in our meetings in January! Join in from wherever you are because this month will only be online meetings!

Meetings on Monday 10th and 24th Januaray will open on 17:45 and last until ca. 19:30 including a small break.

Want to prepare a speech or short presentation? Use easySPEAK  to enroll for your favorite activity or contact  us! You don’t believe online presentations can be fun?! Then you simply must participate!!

Yours Club Officers, BASF Toastmasters

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

07 Jun

Election of Club Officers 2021/2022

Dear BASF Toastmasters,

Many of you already know that we are going to elect our new officer team for the term 2021-2022 soon. Right now we are 10 in total. 7 of you are going to pick up an officer role to help our club grow and to achieve its goals. While some of you already informed us about his favorite officer role, we are looking forward to receiving the messages from the others for these seven roles listed below.

  • President: for the team building
  • VP Education: for planning and organizing the club meetings
  • VP Membership: for recruiting
  • VP Public Relations: for propagating
  • Treasurer: for budgeting
  • Secretary: for record keeping
  • Sergeant-at-Arms: for logistics and office support

If you are not only interested in practicing your public speaking with the Toastmasters by attending our biweekly meetings, but also interested in practicing your leadership skills which requires communication, follow up, responsibility and many other qualities, then please reach out to us and indicate which role you volunteer for.

Our club election will be on 28. June. You are invited to attend this event in the beautiful Ebert Park Ludwigshafen (close to the Tor 2), no matter you want to vote or to be voted or just want to enjoy this wonderful summer weather and mingle with the others. Those members who delivered his icebreaker speech or achieved his 1st/2nd level in the pathways or achieved his CL/ALB/ACB/ACS last year will have the opportunity again to obtain his plaques. We hope to see you all on 28. June in the Ebert Park and have a good time until then!

17 Jan

BASF Toastmasters meets Sherlock Holmes

Dear BASF Toastmasters and guests,

You are cordially invited to our next special online meeting, details as followed:
What: Virtual Escape Room – online game
When: Monday, 25 January 2021, 17:45 CET
Where: Skype (contact us for access details)

Please note that the game is optimized for laptops/ desktops and can be played on all standard browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox…). Pen and paper are not required but could come handy.
We would appreciate if you could confirm your participation beforehand, so that we can make the necessary technical preparation.

27 Nov

Season’s greetings 2018/2019

Dear fellow Toastmasters and friends,
Whatever is beautiful. Whatever is meaningful. Whatever brings you happiness. May it be yours this holiday season and throughout the year 2019.
It would be a great pleasure to see you at our meeting on 10 December where we will have our legendary White Elephant Gift Exchange, speech presentations of our club members and other activities to train public speaking skills. We also in invite you to join in for a glas of hot wine and seasonal food on Ludwigshafen’s winter market! 2019 will be perfect to improve your skills of leadership and rhetoric — visit our meetings on January 14th and 28th!

02 Jun

Make them say “Yes” (2/2)

As a speaker you try to convince the audience of your opinion. They should agree to the major views of the speech. Apart from the contents there are certain techniques that can be uses for to create a feeling of firm conviction. Proceeding one of the previous posts I’d like to give some more suggestions that are based on Robert Cialdini’s principles of persuasion.

Liking or “just be nice”

Have you heard that a waiter in a restaurant can increase the tip simply by adding another peppermint sweet to the bill in front of the customers? Showing sympathy to someone increases your chance that she / he will agree with your own needs. So try to buil a good relationship to your audience. How can you do so if you have just limited time in your speach? Some ideas:

  • use positive body language techniques,
  • share something personal with the audience that makes them feel special
  • show appreciation that people came along to listen to your speech.

Authority or “the prove by power”

Usually we tend to follow people in positions of authority, we feel more obliget to accept what they say. Most of us will do what our managers request us to do or agree with someone who is in a high position.
For this reason try to find a prominent and outstanding personality of your point of view or your proposal. Got a quote or an example given or experience by a well known person with best reputation? Brilliant — take her / him to strengthen your thesis.

Scarcity or “now or never”

If people have the feeling that they might miss something if not acting immediately they decide quicker. To pile pressure on customers limited stock or closing dates for special offers are announced to gain a buying decision on the spot. That way you can influence your audience if you expect them to support your idea or project. By exposing an urgent problem that can (only) be solved by your suggestion your audience will likely agree. When speaking in front of a decision-making body point out the need for a clear and positive decision.

Give it a try, working with the specified techniques will make the audience agree to the strong points and ideas of your speech!

pictures:
Jetti Kuhlemann / pixelio.de
Tim Reckmann / pixelio.de