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Practice Makes Perfect: Windy City and NSA
By Stan Piskorski, President of Windy City Professional Speakers Toastmasters
One valuable resource for professional speakers is the National Speakers Association. We are often asked by current and prospective NSA members how joining Windy City Professional Speakers would benefit an NSA member. Here’s our response.
Three of the eight NSA competencies are best developed through practice:
- Topic Development
- Presenting and Performing
- Platform Mechanics
It’s one thing to create a presentation that you think will move an audience and quite another to hear the deafening silence from an anecdote you thought was humorous. Even though it helps to practice in front of a mirror or a video camera, only a live performance will prove that you connect to the audience…or don’t. And until you actually hear the person who is supposed to introduce you stumble over the words you’ve written, there’s no way to know that the introduction worked…or didn’t.
So where can you practice? More importantly, where can you practice and get candid feedback about what worked and what didn’t as well as suggestions to help you increase your effectiveness?
Some NSA members have explored speaking at Toastmasters meetings. After all, many of the founding members of NSA honed their skills through Toastmasters and an NSA Toastmasters club was founded in Arizona just last year.
Unfortunately, many NSA members have been less than thrilled with their forays into Toastmasters. They find the format of the Toastmasters too limiting since most clubs expect speeches to be less than 10 minutes long. NSA members are also disappointed in the feedback they get from people who may have joined Toastmasters to overcome fear of speaking .
Fortunately, there is a better way – Windy City Professional Speakers. Although it is officially a Toastmasters club, it barely fits the mold. The members are all speakers, consultants and trainers. Members routinely give presentations 10 to 40 minutes long. The feedback sessions last from 10 to 20 minutes and everyone in attendance participates. Members are encouraged to work the same material again and again. Presentations and feedback sessions are video taped so members can see what the audience did.
Over the past decade that Windy City has been in existence, a few NSA members have become Windy City members. The mixed reputation of Toastmasters and limited outreach by the Windy City club have limited the draw from NSA.
This year will be different. The Presidents of NSA-Illinois and the Windy City Professional Speakers have been exploring ways to work more closely together for the benefit of the members of both organizations. If you’d like to learn more, please browse more of our web site at www.oocities.org/windycitytm or send an e-mail to our president Stan Piskorski. Better yet, visit one of the Windy City meetings. They are typically held the second Sunday of the month at 6:00 PM at the Hyatt Oak Brook. Check the next meeting page for dates, agendas, and directions.