Toastmasters – Page 5 – FindYourBuriedTreasure

What’s stopping you from reaching your goals? You are!

“Betty, I’m ready to get out of my own way.” The words were music to my ears, even though I got them by way of a Facebook post. They were from a former coaching client of mine, and she’s someone I’ve been urging for a long time now to visit Toastmasters. She’s written two children’s books, started her own company, and is eager to get out in the world to do readings and presentations, and to promote her books and her business. Anyone who is [...]

By bettyliedtke|July 18th, 2014|Accountability, Achieving Dreams and Goals, Coaching, Columns, Toastmasters|Comments Off

Which would you choose?

First question: Would you rather take a shower in ice-cold water, or skip taking a shower? Second question: Would you rather go without water or electricity in your home? I had to think about both of these questions one day last week, although the choice wasn’t really mine to make in either one. The first question came up during Table Topics at my Toastmasters meeting on Thursday morning. During Table Topics, a question, dilemma, or quote is presented to the group, and the person called [...]

By bettyliedtke|May 23rd, 2014|Columns, Making a Difference, Toastmasters, Uganda|Comments Off

Tall tales can make life more fun

I gave a speech at my Toastmasters Club last week, and during the feedback session following the speech, one of the members in the audience said my speech almost made her sick. I took it as a compliment, which is exactly how she meant it. The speech was for a Tall Tales Contest, which is something I love taking part in. It gives me a chance to stretch my imagination, to improve my vocal variety and pacing, and to spend a little time being just [...]

By bettyliedtke|March 28th, 2014|Columns, Toastmasters|Comments Off

A weekend road trip leads to Thunder Bay

The bus left Rochester at 5:30 a.m. on Friday. It pulled into Bloomington – where I boarded – at 7:00. After one last stop to pick up a few more people in Duluth, we continued on to our final destination of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Actually, we had one additional stop, a brief one at the border crossing. We didn’t pick up any additional passengers there, but we did impress the Customs agent – or at least made him smile – when we sang the first [...]

By bettyliedtke|November 1st, 2013|Columns, Toastmasters, Travel|Comments Off

Put Your “Brave Mask” On

It was early on a Saturday morning, and I was getting frustrated. I was working on the book I’m writing about my first trip to Uganda, and I was on the very last section of the book. I had planned to spend the whole morning writing, and I knew exactly what I wanted to say. But the words just weren’t coming together. This actually happens to me a lot when I’m writing, and I’ve learned through experience that the best way to handle it is [...]

By bettyliedtke|October 11th, 2013|Columns, Toastmasters, Uganda, Writing|Comments Off

Guess who’s coming to your holiday dinner?

If you were having a dinner party and could invite four people from anywhere and anytime in history, who would be on your guest list, and where would you hold the dinner? Every once in a while, I’ve had to answer questions similar to this – usually in a Toastmasters Table Topics session or contest. But this time, it was during a Holiday Happy Hour with a writing group I belong to. There are actually two separate groups, because the first one was growing too [...]

By bettyliedtke|December 14th, 2012|Columns, Holidays, Quotes and Sayings, Toastmasters, Writing|6 Comments

Find your voice – and use it!

“I found my voice. Now what do I do?” That was the subject of a session I presented at the Toastmasters District 6 Fall Conference last Saturday, and it’s a question I spent a long time trying to answer for myself. When I first joined Toastmasters, one of the reasons was that I felt I could express myself fairly well in print, but not when I was speaking out loud. I didn’t have any noble or global ambitions at the time, I just wanted to [...]

By bettyliedtke|October 26th, 2012|Columns, Professional Speaking, Toastmasters, Uganda, Writing|Comments Off

Enjoying the changes that autumn brings

During the past few weeks, I’ve been at three different Toastmasters meetings where the theme of the meeting was autumn, or the changing of the seasons. At all of them, participants and guests were asked what they liked best about the fall season. Probably the most popular response was about the fall colors. Even though we experience it every year, there’s something magical and mesmerizing about the glorious colors of fall when they first start to appear. Throughout the season, we continue to marvel at [...]

By bettyliedtke|October 19th, 2012|Columns, Toastmasters|1 Comment

Is your gratitude showing?

“Count Your Blessings” was the theme of our Toastmasters meeting last week, and the person in charge of Table Topics decided to focus on gratitude. As she opened up that portion of the meeting, she told us that in preparation, she had Googled the word “gratitude.” What she said next caught me totally by surprise. “I’m not sure what made me think to do this,” she said, “but after I typed in ‘gratitude,’ I added the name, ‘Betty Liedtke.’ Do you know how many hits [...]

By bettyliedtke|May 11th, 2012|Columns, Toastmasters, Values|Comments Off

Dance of Life? It’s the Hokey-Pokey!

The Hokey-Pokey. That’s what I’ve decided is the dance of my life. I’ve never thought about my life as a dance before, and probably never would have if I hadn’t been asked that question during the Table Topics Speech Contest at the Toastmasters District Convention last weekend. The exact question was this: “Life is a dance that you learn as you go along. What dance represents your life?” When you’re asked a Table Topics question, especially in a contest, you don’t have time to think [...]

By bettyliedtke|April 27th, 2012|Columns, Toastmasters|Comments Off

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