Orange County Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
I have to give a speech tomorrow & poll
I joined Toastmasters (after reading this if you're interested email me and I'll give you info on it) in November and have been really enjoying it. But tomorrow is my first full length speech of 5-7 minutes and it's on the worst possible topic - ME. How do you fit that into 5-7 minutes? Anyway, I can't believe I'm nervous. I've spoken in front of groups plenty of times FFS. Ugh. I have butterflies. It wasn't so bad in November bc the group was small, less than 20, now it's mid 30s almost 40 people.
Anyway, if you had 5-7 minutes to talk about yourself in your "Icebreaker" speech, what would you focus on? Just curious.
Re: I have to give a speech tomorrow & poll
public speaking is probably one of my biggest fears. i suck at it.
wow, d. 5-7 minutes is a long time! i'm not helping, am i? well, if i had to do it, i'd be doing a lot of talking about how much i love being a wife and mom. i'd throw in some stuff about my hobbies, like my new obsession with sewing, how much i love to blog, that i suck at photography even though i snap away constantly. cooking would make an appearance, too. i can't talk about me without mentioning bacon. or tater tot casserole.
but remember, i'm incredibly narcisisstic.
Can you imagine talking about all those things in a way that it was fitting as a speech though and fit it in to 5-7 minutes? So difficult!
I am so off, it's on Thursday, not tomorrow. Whew.
dude, see, i don't find it hard to "fit it in." what i think would be tough is stretching it OUT to 5-7 minutes!
I know. I could talk about those things in about 30 seconds.
This has been something I have gotten used to as a teacher. My class periods are 120 minutes long, and I have to keep them listening and interested the entire time.
The best way to do this is with anecdotal stories. Don't just talk about something you like, tell a funny story about it, too. It takes up time, and it is more entertaining for your audience.
Honestly, I think it would be funny to talk a bit about your parents, and you can talk about your mom's adventures on facebook.
If I were you I'd talk about running/spark journey. It's a bit personal but something you are passionate about (Hello Spark Motivator!)
I'd of course edit a lot of personal items out etc, but it's a start :0
I actually thought about talking about my dogs as the best roommates. I thought about Farmville. I refuse to give a speech about love and my marriage, that's just too personal. My job is too boring. Considered talking about the nest but decided I wanted to keep that private too.
Maybe I will talk about running although I'm not much of that or a motivator right now.
Blegh.
One word: Barbies.
I would have a really tough time with this too! I would probably talk about moving to CA, my career, my husband, etc. My favorite Nestie GTG moments.
If I talked about Barbies I'd get the side-eye. This Toastmasters group is called "Money Talks Toastmasters". 8-/
Maybe I could talk about cooking for myself for a week. Have each day last a minute. Different recipe. Oh fuuck I don't know. I'll think more tonight.
<whimpering>
Maybe a good approach is to think of your hobbies and associate a story with each one. Like you like to run - maybe talk about your experience with TNT. Or with your dogs, talk about how you ended up bringing each one into your home. Stuff like that.
You can talk about your adventures in cooking and what impact it has had (or that you hope it has) on your budget. You can also tie in your interest in health & fitness by talking about the content of the meals you eat out vs. those you cook yourself.
You're using this group to network as well, right? If that's the case I don't think I'd talk about Barbies or Farmville.
I would also tell the story about trying to live off of $30 a month or whatever crazy_shit you were doing w/ your Banquet meals.
Why don't you talk about what brought you to joing Toastmasters and how you have been trying to find a topic to talk about for 5-7 minutes.
Throw in that you are used to talking for work, what you do, and then discuss all the suggestions that you have gotten from your friends, like talking about your rad cooking skills, and then give an example of each of those talking points.... It would be genuine, interesting and there is no pressure to be funny.
I can't talk about the kitchen sink you guys!
Wahhhmbulance.
Okay, here's what you can do.
Focus on yourself and money
Give some background about yourself
Give some background about your history with money
Talk about some of the things you like to spend money on, and the things that keep you from saving (this would be a good place to talk about Barbies, or some funny stories about your hobby switching, your car mess, etc)
Talk about steps you have taken to be more MM (these can range from silly and extreme to serious - Month o' Banquet meals to cooking more at home)
Come to some kind of conclusion about yourself, your money, and your plans for the future.
I would pay big money to see this on youtube.
BIG money. like, enough to buy you banquet meals for the week.