Friday, February 24, 2006

Toastmaster Speech #1


Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format, 19 MB, 7 minutes)




<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/Toastmaster1.mp4"><img src="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/Toastmaster1.jpeg" width=640 height=480></a>

In January, I joined Toastmasters, an organization dedicated to helping people become better public speakers. While I secretly suspect they're actually a cult, just waiting for the opportunity to recruit me, I also welcomed the opportunity to showcase my abilities and improve them.

Speech #1 is the "Icebreaker" speech. It's 4-6 minutes long, and the purpose is to get to know the speaker and to establish a baseline for future improvement. It's uncommon in our club to videotape speeches, but it is acceptable, and of course I couldn't try something new without sharing it with you all! Plus, you can get a laugh at how unbelievably self-centered I am in this video.

The audio's weak because the audio on my camcorder is weak (boo). I'm taking suggestions for an inexpensive (<$500) camcorder. Must have good low-light and audio capabilities, and it'd be great if it were lightweight.

Also, my practice speech is available here. It's longer and more rambly than the final one I gave to the Toastmasters meeting, and weighs in at 32 MB, which is why I didn't post it directly.

Edit: I *think* I've fixed the problem with the wrong file being sent with the enclosure. Sorry about that!

Oh, and I should probably mention this, since it harkens back to the early days of this vlog. I bought This Book Will Change Your Life AGAIN! and have done one of the days exercises-- I'll post it as soon as the vlog for that day is ready. I probably won't go back to doing an item every day, but periodically it's nice to go back to one's roots.




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