When I first tried ChatGPT to see how it could boost my productivity, I immediately thought of how it could help me with Toastmasters. This post summarizes my exciting discoveries of how ChatGPT can be an invaluable tool for the productivity of Toastmasters.
The mission of Toastmaster clubs is to provide a learning environment where individuals can develop their public speaking and leadership skills through regular practice and feedback. Toastmasters follows a structure where we have a prepared speech, opportunities for everyone to participate in impromptu speech practice, and an evaluation portion of the meeting to give feedback on our speech performance. In addition to this structure, we are given roles and responsibilities that involve giving speeches and/or listening to speeches and giving feedback or alerting others to what we heard.
As an artificial intelligent (AI) language model, ChatGPT can support Toastmasters in various portions of our meetings and roles. Here are the four ways I discovered how to use ChatGPT in Toastmasters:
1) Generating or Brainstorming a Theme for the Meeting:
As a Toastmaster of the day, you’re tasked with selecting a theme for the meeting and giving a mini speech on that theme. When I tried ChatGPT for the first time, I asked it to give me a theme. It gave me the following:
“How about ‘The Art of Communication’?
This theme can cover a range of topics related to effective communication, including public speaking, interpersonal communication, active listening, and nonverbal communication. It’s a great topic for Toastmasters because it allows for a variety of speeches and activities that can help members improve their communication skills. You can also incorporate some fun icebreaker activities, such as charades or Pictionary, to reinforce the importance of clear and effective communication.”
2) Speech Writing Brainstorming Support:
Because part of Toastmasters involves giving prepared speeches, ChatGPT can offer brainstorming sessions to help speakers generate ideas for their speeches and provide them with useful information on a topic. With its vast knowledge base and natural language processing capabilities, ChatGPT can quickly generate speech outlines, provide relevant quotes, and help structure speeches. Here’s an excerpt that ChatGPT gave me for a speech on Art of Communication:
“Good evening, fellow Toastmasters and guests,
Tonight’s theme is ‘The Art of Communication,’ and I believe it’s a topic that’s relevant to all of us, both in our personal and professional lives. At its core, communication is about connecting with others and sharing our thoughts, ideas, and emotions. It’s a skill that we all possess, but like any skill, it can be honed and improved through practice and dedication.
The art of communication is not just about speaking, but also about listening. In fact, active listening is just as important as being a good speaker. When we listen actively, we not only hear the words being spoken, but we also pay attention to the tone, body language, and context of the message. This allows us to better understand the speaker’s intent and respond appropriately.”
3) Impromptu Speaking Prompts/Questions:
For the Table Topics Master tasked with generating table topic questions or impromptu speaking prompts on a particular theme, ChatGPT can be used to generate impromptu speaking prompts. It can provide you with a topic, a question, or a quote to improvise a speech. This can help you develop your impromptu speaking skills and improve your ability to think on your feet. Here’s what I got when I tasked ChatGPT to give me 5 Impromptu Speaking Prompts/Questions on the theme of communication:
Sure, here are five impromptu speaking prompts/questions on the theme of communication:
- What is one communication skill you wish you were better at, and why?
- In your opinion, what is the most effective way to communicate with someone who has a different cultural background than you?
- What are some common communication barriers in the workplace, and how can they be overcome?
- Can you think of a time when miscommunication led to a misunderstanding or conflict? How could it have been avoided?
- What role do nonverbal cues, such as body language and tone of voice, play in communication? Provide an example to illustrate your point.
4) Word of the day suggestions:
For those tasked with the role of Grammarian, one of the duties is to select the word of the day (WOD). In this regard, ChatGPT can help you identify and learn new words, phrases, and expressions relevant to a theme. Look what happened when I asked ChatGPT to suggest a word for the day relating to the theme of communication:
Sure, here’s a word for the day relating to communication: “articulate”.
Definition: (adjective) able to express oneself clearly and effectively in speech or writing.
Example: “The speaker was incredibly articulate and had a way of communicating complex ideas in a simple and engaging manner.”
From my experiments and discoveries, ChatGPT offers useful support for Toastmasters. Whether you’re the Toastmaster of the day and need help generating themes, the Speaker in need of speech ideas, the Grammarian trying to identify a WOD, or the Table Topics Master preparing speaking prompts for the impromptu speaking segment, ChatGPT offers valuable support to accelerate your task productivity. Leveraging the power of AI, Toastmasters can accelerate the preparation work needed for Toastmasters to become more effective communicators.
And by the way, this entire blog post’s first draft was written by ChatGPT. However, as a Toastmaster with experiences and understanding that ChatGPT didn’t have, I rewrote this post. Then I asked ChatGPT to proofread my finished rewritten draft. This is another example of how AI and a Toastmaster can work together to create something beautiful and useful. So go ahead and get started at https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt and see what ChatGPT can help you with in Toastmasters.
Created by Mark-Shane Scale, Talbot Trail Toastmasters