Michelle Borders’ Post

Earlier this year, Arkansas State University faculty certified in ACUE's Effective Teaching Practice Framework shared what participating in the ACUE course has meant to them. Dr. H.Steve Leslie, EdD, SCCT, MBA, MSISeC, MA, ACUE, assistant professor of business communication, shared that earning this certification has had a profound impact on his teaching, moving him not just to the top of his teaching ladder, but also deepening his commitment to pedagogy and professional growth. "I'm there amongst those persons who spent nine months working on improving their pedagogy, improving their teaching, and making sure that learning is not just about getting your students to improve and do well, but it's also about you as an individual, as a professional, being better at what you do." Hear more about Dr. Leslie's experience in this ASU video, and if you are working towards or have earned your certification in the ACUE Framework, please share in the comments what it means to you.

On Wednesday, July 10th at 12 PM Pacific, our virtual Toastmasters meeting was a delightful blend of service, courtesy, and humor! 📚 Word of the Day: "Courtesy" - Because even in the digital world, good manners never go out of style! (Definition: Polite behavior marked by respect for and consideration of others.) 🤔 Table Topics: Our "Service" theme sparked some hilarious responses! From tales of accidental volunteering to heroic acts of holding doors open, our members proved that service comes in all shapes and sizes - some more comical than others! 👏 A big thank you to our dedicated team: Dena (Toastmaster), Kaiyu (Timekeeper), Jennifer (Grammarian), Michelle (Ah Counter), Elden (Table Topic Master), and Kyla (General Evaluator). 🤗 Special shoutout to our guests, Lawrence and Elena. We loved having you and hope to see you again soon! To our regular members: Your enthusiasm and growth continue to inspire us! To those curious about Toastmasters: Join us virtually! Develop your public speaking skills from the comfort of your own home (pants optional, but recommended). 📅 Next virtual meeting: Wednesday, July 17th, 12 PM Pacific. Theme: Words that sound funny! (Prepare your best "kerfuffle" and "brouhaha") Interested in visiting or have questions? Contact us: [email protected] Let's connect and grow together in this digital age! Because who said professional development can't be fun?

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Excellent advice and information here for both experienced and aspiring Chairs.

This quote by Simon Sinek, was shared at the meeting last Monday by our President, Sam. We can set ambitious long-term goals, however celebrating those small improvements and witnessing the progress we make along the journey is just as important. #FarnhamSpeakers #FarnhamToastmasters #ToastmastersInternational #PublicSpeaking #SpeakingSkills #PresentationSkills #Confidence

Tuesday tip: Practice, practice, practice! Whether you want to win a competitive event, deliver a well-received presentation, or make a meaningful connection with someone at your next networking event, remember to practice, practice, and practice some more. Ever since I won the District 26 Toastmasters Metro Division Evaluation Contest on March 2, I take every opportunity I can to practice evaluating a speech given by a Toastmaster. Since I belong to three Toastmasters clubs, I'm arranging to be an evaluator as often as possible at the meetings of these clubs, and I'm using the approach I've used to win the three evaluation contests I've won so far (club, area and division). I also offer to privately evaluate the contest speeches of other Toastmasters or the speeches of club members prior them giving the speech at the club meeting. If you haven't heard of an evaluation contest, here's how it goes: The contestants watch another Toastmaster who is not known to any of them give a 5-7 minute speech in front of an audience. Then the contestants have 5 minutes to prepare their notes in a sequestered room. The contest Sgt. At Arms then takes these notes from them until it's time for each contestant to go back one by one into the room where the contest was held. Speaking order is determined by random drawing prior to the contest. Each contestant gives a 2-3 minute evaluation of the Toastmaster's speech. There is a group of judges (all must be Toastmasters) in the audience who then rate each contestant using a judging form created by Toastmasters International. Their identity is not known to anyone except for the chief judge. After the last contestant gives his/her evaluation, the judges pick their first, second and third choices amongst the contestants. The chief judge and two helpers then tally up the results and present them to the emcee of the contest who announces the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners at the end of the event. The District 26 evaluation contest will be on Saturday April 27 as part of the district conference at the Anschutz Medical Center in Aurora, located just east of Denver. At this event, I’ll compete against division level winners from around Colorado and Wyoming. My goal is to win this contest! If you'd like to attend this event, please let me know, and I will provide you the specifics. #practicemakesperfect #toastmastersinternational #evaluation #competition

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak for the The National Speakers Association's "Paid to Speak" event. In it, I explained the basics of The BE/DO Concept® (the 2 opposite ways of thinking) and how you can use these different ways of thinking to help yourself get "unstuck". In this case, helping speakers get paid to speak. I love this concept because it's so helpful in understanding why people do the things they do, and why there are often misperceptions and misunderstandings when two people communicate with two opposite thinking styles. There's a lot to this concept, but this is a good introduction to what I'm so passionate in wanting to share! #thebedoconcept #keynotespeaker #motivation

Thinking about pursing the APR? Check out this webinar. 😊

Something I have always been terrified of doing is public speaking so over the last 5/6 months I joined toastmasters which is a public speaking community with 14,000 clubs in 150 countries with over 270,000 members and its been game changing for my personal development. It's helped me build confidence and learn from my mistakes within a constructive and safe community and along side this I have been able to learn from loads of truly amazing speakers! Recently we had an in-house competition and I was fortunate enough to win that and had the opportunity to represent the club in the area competition which took place last night in Chelmsford. Now let me throw this out there right away I didn’t win. I came 2nd and I questioned should I post this? I didn’t come first, should second place be celebrated? But then I realised that it wasn’t about the position I came but more the challenge I overcome. I felt sick waiting for my name to be said, I felt crippling anxiety standing there in front of a room full of strangers and the thought of being judged made me shake (literally) but to live outside our comfort zone is how we grow, how we learn and how we overcome challenges and fears. So we MUST do those things that make us feel scared or how else will we get to where we want to get to? Here’s a video of my speech last night. For context of the competition it’s called Table Topics. You have absolutely no idea what you will be speaking about until a couple of seconds before you need to start, so zero time to prepare or practice. You will be judged by a number of judges who are sitting within in the room but you don’t know who all of them are and you will be disqualified if you speak under 1 minute or over 2 minutes 30 seconds but the sweet spot is 2 minutes and you’re up against the best of other divisions who have won in there in house competition. I just want to say a huge thank you to those who came to support and those I learn so much from. Lets get to 1st place next time!🙏🏽 ⁉️ A question for you ⁉️ What is the biggest fear you have overcome and how did you feel after? #growthmindset #overcomingfear #toastmasters #publicspeaking #personaldevelopment #stepoutofyourcomfortzone #confidencebuilding

🙌 Credit to Stacey Salt, from the Co-operative College, for delivering an excellent course on Nature of Strategy. This is one of a series of courses we complete for the Co-op National Members Council. I really enjoy this aspect of cooperation: sharing knowledge, Principle 5. It strengthens my ability to influence our Co-op, while sharpening my professional development. The image below gives insight into the impact we can have on Council! ⚡