My first speech turned out was a success. Before I stepped up to that small stage I knew I would nail it. At that Bar, I received my best reward: Best Speaker (SWS toastmaster club on July 1, 2015).
My second speech was scheduled on July 22, 2015. I did not have too much time preparing it. In fact I spent a lot of time reading articles to come up a good idea content-wise. It turned out people really liked the idea, they liked the insight in it, the opening was really creative. But people cares more about the way you deliver it. Basically, at toastmaster club, delivering skills matter the most.
My intention to join toastmaster is not to get the reward. But when my fellow toastmaster got that reward that night, I still felt a little disappointed at myself. My fellow toastmaster Oliver deserved that reward. He was delivering in a super natural way, like a guy wandering at his own backyard, telling this amazing story about a fantastic trip at an amazing wonderland. He is the Natural. I felt happy for him and at the same time I congratulate myself that I have reached my first goal, and I will still strive to make progress towards my next goal. This is something that really matters. In the end, you will get what you put in.
The following is my thoughts about this speech: Keep up the good work and keep SURPRISING your fellow toastmasters!
-Strong points: – Great contents
– Great insight
– Creative opening
– Well-structured speech
-Points for Improvement:
– Pronunciation especially when you speak really loudly (Action: work on pronunciation)
– Body Language and Gestures (Action: pay attention to body language and gestures; add some)
– Not presented as well as I was supposed (Action: practice more)
– Might be too long (Action: Stick with priority, if I cannot speak too fast, then cut the story short)
– Less interesting at some points (Action: should work on adding more humor throughout the speech)
Overall, I am very satisfied with my performance and I will keep pushing myself for a better speech.
The following is the contents; my mentor helped me a lot:
Today we have 2 special members. Saud, the most popular personal trainer in town, who can deadlift 350 pounds for 5 reps. He is Saud-the-trainer. Another member: the most favored model for many big names, a runway queen: Helen, tonight, she is Helen-the-model.
Fellow toastmasters, most welcome guests: Gartner, an IT firm, predicts that by 2025 one-third of today’s jobs will be replaced by robots. Will Helen-the-model, Saud-the-trainer be replaced by robots? If you think that would happen to Saud-the-trainer, please raise your hand. What about Helen-the-model? What about us, Will WE be replaced? Before our boss brings in co-workers wearing metal pants, we better get to know what jobs will be replaced soon, what are safe for now; and then think about what we can do to face the challenge.
Then which jobs will disappear first? Low-skill and routine jobs will. Take waiters for example, study shows that they have a 94 percent chance of being replaced by robots. The process is already happening with robotic waitresses serving diners in cafes in China.
But the changes won’t stop right there. As our software gets smarter, more jobs are at risk.
My son wanted to become a professional school bus driver. But one day he saw in TV google’s driverless cars moving around on public streets. They’re better than human drivers in just about every way: they don’t have blind spots and they don’t get sleepy. No humans can beat that, my son then changed his career idea and came back telling me this time he wanted to be a writer.
But writers are probably disappearing too. Many of the news articles we’ve read over the last few years have been written by software. This is especially true in sports and finance, as those articles are extremely data-oriented.
(What types of jobs will be safe for now?)
Now my poor son got really upset: will there be any jobs left for me? Yes, there will be, as we, humans are still far superior in at least 3 skill areas:
(Number 1: jobs with high-end creativity)
Top one is our creativity, which generates things like great new business ideas, scientific breakthroughs, novels that grip you, JK Rowling is no machine. There is a very wide range of creative occupations, like artists, musicians: Yoyo Ma won’t be replaced by robots any time soon, and advertising specialists ….
Are you in a “creative” role that will be safe from automation? Not so much for me, but my job requires another unique human characteristic: Judgment and critical thinking. Like judges, politicians. About politicians, I always thought they had already been replaced by robots. The study shows that robots will never overtake the realm of politics. Robots won’t be placed in charge of cities or countries. They won’t be creating new laws or making judicial decisions.
The third area requires interpersonal skill and social perception: like counselors, social workers, psychologists, public speakers just like you.
(What can we do now)
(Review)Robots have come for our jobs; there is no doubt about it. The lower-skill tasks that we are taking on, the lower protection we have from robots. The more creative, personal, human the job is, the safer we are. Back to Saud-the-trainer and Helen-the-model. Their jobs are under threat. But if they can use their unique human talents, things might be different. Saud-the-trainer can help design a more user-friendly robot with this cutting-edge training routines designed by him. Helen-the-model, she leads the fashion, she is the trend, with her creativity, she can help design more eye-catching holographic models to showcase the clothes. In that case, she still can lead the trend; she can even drive the change into the future.
What about us? What do we do about this change? What can we learn for our children to better survive the new age? We can take on more creative work, more responsibilities and maybe learn new skills. Ask yourself “what do I bring to my work?” “What do I bring to this company; to this industry? “Knowing what your unique advantage is, Knowing what you have to offer allow you to put your unique touch on the job, your unique signature that NO ONE else can copy. Know your uniqueness, my friends. It will protect you from replacements and gives you satisfaction in what you do”
My fellow toastmasters actually provided me very constructive suggestions; I outline as follows:
Saud:
Strong Points: You engaged the audience, loved speaker. Well organized speech; clear message and smooth transitions.
For improvement: a bit ****
Overall impression: well presented ideas; call-to-action; looking forward for your next speech.
Abdulhalim (Halim) Alhiraki :
Strong Points: very well structured towards your message of your speech; useful content to know and think about
For improvement:add more humor to the speech, like think about ordering food or wording and giving a silly example of how difficult it will be and a strong conclusion
Overall Impression: I was really impressed with the message that people should know, keep it up!
Oliver Proudlock
Strong Points: Very confident and composed. You told me you were nervous before but it did not show.
For improvement: I know it is not your first language but there is no other improvement to suggest; work on more clear enunciation (Enunciation is the act of pronouncing words. Make sure your enunciation is clear when ordering in a restaurant so you don’t get French flies instead of French fries. Enunciation is from the Latin word enuntiationem, meaning “declaration)
Overall Impression: Well done! : )
Gratien Rudakubana:
Strong Points: creative; thoughtful; well-prepared and well-delivered
For improvement: emotion conveying; transitions; vocal variety
Overall Impression: Great! Keep going madam!
Brandon Nolet:
Strong Points: Good use of English language; great eye contact
For improvement: work on pronunciation
Overall Impression: very precise, much potential
Helen Peng, CC CL:
Strong Points: You wowed me by your great speech, you bring great insights, great examples and great arguments, clearly well prepared and practiced
For improvement: I’d like to see abit more interaction with the audience, make them think of their own job
Overall Impression: overall impressive speech for a cc2 and I loved that you use Saud and me as personal example. Thanks for my new career.
Marris:
Strong Points: exciting topic; asking questions
For improvement: more body language
Overall Impression
Suer:
Strong Points: very creative start, great speech topic
For improvement: you could have paused a bit more you will be able to command more attention to your speech
Overall Impression: well prepared speech, very professional delivered and fuel of interesting facts.
