What if a speaker is given a topic they don't agree with?
This was a question we asked Ms Bharathy Bhaskar during our District Conference 2023. This is what she had to say:
"A speaker should be able to talk, for and against a topic irrespective of his/her opinion. It is important for a speaker to understand both sides of the story and articulate accordingly." She shared that, during her job interview many years ago, she was asked to talk for and against the gulf war which got her the job.
I then remembered a game we played a year ago at Madras Toastmasters Club, during one of those online meetings. It was the 'switch' game, where the speaker should keep switching between talking for and against the topic when they hear the word 'Switch' from the TT master.
My (then) 10 year old who attended the meeting as a guest, was given the topic, 'Online classes are a boon or a bane'. This is how she tackled it. I got to know her plight only during this session :)
The video that was streamed live on YouTube:
Comments