Ever wondered what goes in to completing a Pathway? For his final speech as a Boater, outgoing member, Gerald Hartley gave us a stunning overview of the projects completed and lessons learned throughout the course of his Dynamic Leadership Pathway.

Here’s a transcript of his speech, along with the timings he used as a guide. This is terrific Gerald, thanks for sharing these lessons in writing so we can all learn and be inspired by them.

 

Introduction

Good morning and a very happy Friday to all my fellow boaters, and welcome guests. Now I know that 2020 was a year that most of us would rather forget, but July 2020 happens to be the month where I not only started my second Pathways path, but also served as VP Education for that Toastmasters year.

So I thought it appropriate to choose the Dynamic Leadership pathway for my second path –  which is the pathway dedicated to developing strategies to facilitate change in an organisation or group… and considering the amount of change we had going on, I don’t think I could have chosen a better, more relevant path than this one.

So let me show you what I’ve covered in the last 2  and a bit years by guiding you on a journey across the projects and speeches that got me to where I am today.

 

Level one (1.5 mins)

Icebreaker  speech– Forging a new Path

• Spoke of my grand vision to begin a new Pathways path – Dynamic Leadership, which I started at the same time I began my role as VP Education in 2020… which was an appropriate choice considering the considerable amount of change that was happening at the time

Evaluation & Feedback project – 3 Speech Writing Tips / 3 More Speech Writing Tips

• Rule of 3 – speech structure – Beginning, Middle, End; Intro, Body, Conclusion; 3 core ideas to your speech
• Table Topic Your Speech – Break your speech into 3 core ideas, and give a 2 minute table topic on each idea… and voila! You have a 6 minute impromptu speech!
• Word Count – 700-800 words = 5 – 7 minute speech, depending on how fast you speak

Research Project – Ars Rhetorica

• Aristotle’s teachings on the art of persuasion in public speaking… where I had a friend pick a topic, write a few core concepts, which I then re-wrote and delivered in my own interpretation. Does it count as cheating? Maybe, but it was a fun one!

 

Level two (1.5 mins)

Understanding your Leadership Style – Owning it

• taking full accountability and responsibilities for your actions, whether good or bad, positive or negative – and making steps and adjustments to either course correct, fix, or improve your situation

Understanding your Communication Style – Who wants to know their communication style

• a fun one where I used all the PowerPoint skills at my disposal to emulate a ‘Millionaire’ style quiz… sound effects, transitions, anxious waiting… the works!

Introduction to Toastmasters Mentoring – Patience, Young Padawan

• Yet another speech title with a reference to Star Wars… I can’t help myself. This speech detailed my experience of mentoring someone who was looking to enter the Data & Analytics industry, and helping to set them on the right track to attain their first job… which I’m happy to report, they were able to do!

 

Level three (1.5 mins)

Negotiate the Best Outcome (The Gambler’s Guide to Negotiation)

• Talked about negotiation strategies, using a few lines from the Kenny Rogers classic… know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away, and know when to run

Social Speeches – Finding the Confidence Within

• This speech I conducted as part of a special Toastmasters ‘Show don’t tell’ event, which had speakers from multiple clubs across Christchurch talking about their journey and successes they’ve found since joining Toastmasters.

Prepare for an Interview– You’re Hired

• This was an excellent opportunity to practice my skills for an upcoming interview, by having another Toastmaster conduct a mock job interview, which I felt helped a lot to eventually secure that position.

 

Level four (1.5 mins)

Managing Change – A change is gonna come

• Change is a constant, change is inevitable, and sometimes change is out of our control… this speech listed a few steps around dealing with change management by identifying –
  • Who the change will impact
  • how will they be impacted, and
  • what resistance can we expect?

Question & Answer – A Team of Champions

• This is where I spoke about the idea of ‘champions’ within the club, by growing in-house experts over a range of topics such as Pathways, Easy Speak, Technology, Humorous speaking etc. This was followed by a Q&A session, where my goal was to answer questions clearly and succinctly, which other than a few rambly moments, I felt I achieved

Level five (1.5 mins)

Lead in any situation (The Next Level)

• I talked about my leadership experiences in taking the VP Education role, comparing it to my previous role of VP Membership, and contrasting the different goals, aims and situations.

Lessons Learned (Ngai Tahu Speechcraft 2022)

• The latest speech I conducted from last month, talking about the many lessons and experiences I learnt from conducting the Ngai Tahu speechcraft course in 2022

There you have it, 3 years of Pathway summarised into 8 or so minutes, gone in a flash! But alongside these speeches and projects, I’ve been amazed at what I was able to achieve during this time:

… Completed 2X Pathways Paths, 2nd Place at District Humorous Contest, VP Ed, Treasurer, Mentor, Speechcraft Coordinator, Event Speaker, Contest Judge, speaker at 2 virtual conferences, took on a people leader role for a bit… and probably a few more I can’t recall.

 

Advice for those just starting their first path…

• Keep checking the content in your Pathways project. Not only do they tell you what to do, but they help you fill out your speech a lot too. If in doubt, check your project content.

 

Obstacles you faced / how you overcame them

• There were a few tricky ones which required a bit of prep and teamwork involved. Always double check the objectives of each pathway project to make sure you’ve done all the prerequisites. Also check the time of each speech, as the higher levels may require you to conduct more than one speech, or perform one that’s longer than 5 – 7 minutes – for instance, this one! Make sure you give a heads up to your VP Ed about these ones

So where to from here?

– Back when it all started, it was my career that was the biggest reason I joined Toastmasters, and I know that I wouldn’t have reached the heights that I have if it hadn’t been for Boaters.

– I’ve met so many people that I’ve learned from and worked with over the years, who just like me, have grown and flourished because of Toastmasters

– And after what feels like 100 job changes in as many months, I feel it’s time for me to refocus, reprioritise, and prove once again that I can achieve the same for my career, as I have been able to achieve at Toastmasters.

Member blog; Gerald Hartley