The Toastmasters Podcast

This second installment of a two episode series focuses on 5 key areas to consider in creating compelling content for your podcast. Greg & Ryan offer up practical tips, examples, applications, and relevant references to previous episodes to help give you some ideas. Our hosts also disclose an added bonus tip: a "must-do" for every aspiring podcaster who wants to keep the audience engaged and tuned-in.If that's not enough, you'll even learn a new way to catch fish!  :) 

[26:39] In this two-part episode, Greg and Ryan step away from the typical interview format to talk about podcasting - specifically, how you can create interesting content. With over 900,000 podcasts and 30 million episodes on Apple Podcasts alone, there’s no doubt podcasting has become mainstream. And with the introduction of Pathways, all 11 paths offer a Podcasting elective at Level 4 giving Toastmasters around the world yet another platform to practice, enhance and showcase their communication skills.In this first part of a two episode series, you’ll learn about what makes for interesting content by developing an understanding  of your “Why?” or your purpose. Greg and Ryan also illustrate using examples from their experiences and past episodes including the “Why?” of the Toastmasters Podcast, building on the creative strategies they use to help keep the audience tuned-in and coming back. Part 1 wraps up with a revisit to episode #100, an Interview with 2015 World Champion of Public Speaking Mohammed Qahtani, as a case study. Greg and Ryan look back at and how they were able to dig deeper and uncover lesser known facts and gems from this fascinating World Champion.

In parts of the world, William Hung has become a household name. After his American Idol audition where his song selection was his rendition of Ricky Martin’s, She Bangs, Hung became famous for all the wrong reasons. Since then he’s found incredible success but his life has has a number of twists and turns along that highway. In this episode, Hung shares with Greg and Ryan a little about his journey including where he his now, his new book - Champion by Choice, his albums, how he discovered Toastmasters, and reliving that fateful day in September 2003 when he auditioned in front of Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell in San Francisco.Hung was also profiled in the September 2018 Issue of the Toastmaster magazine.William Hung inspires people to discover and leverage their talent. He can be reached at WillHung.com.

[34:05] On August 24th, 2019 at the 88th Annual Toastmasters International Convention in Denver, Colorado USA, six Toastmasters earned the Accredited Speaker (AS) designation, bringing the total number of designations awarded to-date to 87. In the second part of this two-part series, Greg Gazin speaks with the final three of the six including: Dr. Yelena Balabanova, DTM, Seattle, WA, USA; Michael Bayer, DTM, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; and Greg Van Borssum, DTM, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.Each of the Accredited Speakers shares about their journey, and a bit from their qualifying presentations.Click on the link to visit the AS Speakers profile page where you can learn a little more about them and how to contact them. You can also watch the Accredited Speaker finals in its entirety at Toastmasters On Demand.Learn more about the Accredited Speaker program.

[32:43] On August 24th, 2019 at the 88th Annual Toastmasters International Convention in Denver, Colorado USA, six Toastmasters earned the Accredited Speaker (AS) designation, bringing the total number of designations awarded to-date to 87. In the first part of a two-part series, Ryan Levesque speaks with three of the six including: Paul Artale, DTM, Swartz Creek, MI, USA; Thomas Iland, DTM, Los Angeles, CA, USA; and Sima Dahl, CSP, AS, MBA Chicago, IL, USA.Each of the Accredited Speakers shares about their journey, and a bit from their qualifying presentations.Click on the link to visit the AS Speakers profile page where you can learn a little more about them and how to contact them. You can also watch the Accredited Speaker finals in its entirety at Toastmasters On Demand.Learn more about the Accredited Speaker program.

[21:45] In this episode, Greg and Ryan speak with Dr. Wenjing He, M.D., Ph.D., a member of an elite global team of surgeons and scientists conducting cutting-edge research at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada. Dr. He is also one of several members of the research team who also belong to the College Plaza Toastmasters Club, featured in the December 2019 issue of the Toastmaster magazine. Dr. He joins the show to speak both about the fascinating research taking place in her Star Trek-like lab, as well as the communication skills enhancements taking place in the “learning lab” of the College Plaza Toastmasters club, of which she currently serves as President. You’ll also hear about how this once struggling club put on their "WOW!" and became a President’s Distinguished Club. Dr. He also shares about the unique ways her club offers Table Topics and evaluates speeches to meet the needs of this distinctive and diverse group of professionals - staff and students.

[22:02] Most networking goals are business-related: build a clientele, get referrals, find a job prospect. What if, instead of “networking,” professionals could learn to think of it as “building connections”?  Building more meaningful connections can accomplish all of  these things while also filling a deeper need and importantly, there’s more than one right way to do it. Maureen Zappala, DTM, joins us in follow-up to her June 2019 article in The Toastmaster Magazine to explore practical ways that we can benefit if we shift our mindset and those behaviors that follow from "networking" to "building meaningful connections." Maureen also distinguishes the difference between extroverts and introverts, and offers a technique to help us overcome "imposter syndrome."

[26:19] It’s been said that Emotional Intelligence (EI) a.k.a EQ can sometimes be more important than IQ. In this episode, Greg and Ryan speak with EI expert, speaker and author Harvey Deutschendorf. Harvey’s article, Emotional Intelligence: The Other Kind Of Smart, was the cover story for the July 2019 issue of The Toastmaster Magazine. Harvey enlightens us with what EQ is, how he discovered it and how it’s impacted his life. He also shares with us why it matters and what you can do to boost yours. Harvey’s book is entitled The Other Kind of Smart: Simple Ways to Boost Your Emotional Intelligence for Greater Personal Effectiveness and Success. Harvey lives in Edmonton, Alberta Canada and can be reached through his website: TheOtherKindofSmart.com.[Note: If you’re interested, there’s a project in Level 3 of the Motivational Strategies path, Understanding Emotional Intelligence, it focuses on self-awareness and social skills.]

[33:02] In Part 2 of our interviews with the 2018 Toastmasters International Accredited Speaker (AS), host Ryan Levesque speaks with the final three of the six: Maurice DiMino from Los Angeles, California, Tamara Hamilton from Reston, Virginia, and Terry Watson from Chicago, Illinois. Similar to Part 1, you'll once again learn about these three extraordinary and fascinating individuals, hear about their AS journey, including what they learned from their accomplishment, and some very valuable lessons from the content of their presentations.Click on the link to visit the AS Speakers profile page where you can learn a little more about them and how to contact them. You can also watch the Accredited Speaker finals in its entirety at Toastmasters On Demand. Learn more about the Accredited Speaker program.

[36:13] On August 25th, 2018 at the 87th Annual Toastmasters International Convention in Chicago, Illinois, USA, six Toastmasters earned the Accredited Speaker (AS) designation, from a record 24 applicants, bringing the total number of designations awarded to-date to 81. In the first part of a two-part episode, Greg Gazin speaks with three of the six including: Greg Wood, DTM from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (top left), Valda B. Ford, DTM from High Point, North Carolina (top right), USA and Edwin W. Ettinghausen, ACB from Murrieta, California, USA (bottom center). You'll once again learn about these three extraordinary and fascinating individuals, their AS journey, what they learned from their presentations and some very valuable lessons from the actual content.Click on the link to visit the AS Speakers profile page where you can learn a little more about them and how to contact them. You can also watch the Accredited Speaker finals in its entirety at Toastmasters On Demand. Learn more about the Accredited Speaker program.