I am a member of Toastmasters for over 18 years.
One of the tips we give members:
Writing a speech is like preparing to go on an airplane trip. When you're packing your suitcase, you will find that you cannot close it and it's way over the luggage weight limit. You need to remove half the stuff.

Same with writing a speech. Write the speech. The eliminate half what you have written. Be concise and precise.

I went through Toastmasters and a follow-on program called Speakwell back when I was ten and eleven years old as part of a really good youth organization that existed in Denver from 1916 to 1977 (it's also the organization where I learned to play trumpet, wilderness survival, military drill and ceremonies, small-group leadership, tumbling (to a tiny degree), and rifle marksmanship). I was too young at the time to really appreciate what we were learning, but the skills did stick and they have served me very well over the decades.

There is a "Speakwell" program today, but it is not the same as it was started in the 2010's. I had thought, at the time, that Speakwell was essentially Toastmasters II, but in the years since have come to strongly suspect that they were two independent programs. I also didn't realize at the time that Toastmasters was anything other than a semester long program that was required within that youth organization as I had never heard the term prior to that, although I imagine the relationship was presented in the first meeting. It was a number of years later that I discovered that our program was actually sponsored by the local Toastmasters club and was very much the same format that they used, tailored only slightly for our age group in terms of the topics that were used for discussion and speeches. In particular, it wasn't expected that we would do much in the way of quality research into our topics. I remember my first speech, which was about the U.S.S. Arizona, and how most of my "research" came from the side of the box that the model I was building at the time came in! But, I had still had to build that out into a several minute speech, which was probably the main utility I got from that first one. I don't remember any of the specific topics of speeches after that, but I remember spending time at the public library reading up on them to prepare my speeches. That was when I first discovered Encyclopedia Britannica and the wonders of a library's card catalog. It's also where I learned the joy of just wondering through the shelves and perusing books that just happen to catch my eye.

 

Toastmasters is a public speaking and leadership program for adults. However, each club has the opportunity of organizing a Youth Leadership Program within their local community. Our club has done this in coordination with the local public library. It is very refreshing and rewarding to observe teenagers come out of their shells and develop self-confidence in speaking and leadership.

 

Toastmasters is a public speaking and leadership program for adults. However, each club has the opportunity of organizing a Youth Leadership Program within their local community. Our club has done this in coordination with the local public library. It is very refreshing and rewarding to observe teenagers come out of their shells and develop self-confidence in speaking and leadership.

Keep in mind that I'm not talking about Toastmasters of today or even twenty years ago before you got involved, but rather Toastmasters as it was more than half a century ago. I have no idea how much has changed, but you can bet a lot.

 

It's often said that engineers have the smallest vocabulary of the educated professions. And with a good reason - when we use a word it has a very specific meaning, so we don't need another word to mean the same thing.
As I countermeasure, I'm a big fan of New York Times's Spelling Bee although I do get caught out by American spellings from time to time, and I do get annoyed by words I know that are not in their list.
Perhaps we ought to start an off-topic thread on words that should be in Spelling Bee but aren't.

That’s such a relatable take Engineers do love precision over variety.
If you enjoy Spelling Bee, you might also like Connections, Strands, and the daily Wordle or The New York Times Crossword. They all test vocabulary in slightly different ways grouping logic, hidden patterns, or clever clues.
And honestly, an “off-topic” thread about words that should be in Spelling Bee but aren’t sounds like a fun idea. There are definitely a few that feel unfairly excluded!

 

When I first came across the word "discombobulate" I thought it must be from a Blackadder episode. But it turns out it's real.

 

Larger than the average reader because of the copious amount of technical terms (and acronyms?) but smaller than that of a hIstorian or literature specialist.
I did actually read that somewhere, but don’t ask me to cite the source!
Who has the larger number of technical terms? Us, or the medics?

Doctors and nurses, to be sure. They have to learn all sorts of terms for little reason.

 

Doctors and nurses, to be sure. They have to learn all sorts of terms for little reason.

Gee, I thought it was so they could accurately communicate observations of medical conditions. Silly me.

 

"Doctor, the man's thingy just doesn't look right"

 

Gee, I thought it was so they could accurately communicate observations of medical conditions. Silly me.

I've occasionally wondered if they get into the same kind of arguments over terminology that engineers do, such as what "ground" means. Or whether different fields within medicine use the same terms for slightly different concepts and that causes miscommunication between them, such as the notion of what constitutes a "key" in secure communications does between EE, CS, and IA communities.

I suspect that they have and do, but that this drives an ever-growing litany of medical terminology and jargon to deconflict them.

 

Gee, I thought it was so they could accurately communicate observations of medical conditions. Silly me.

Yes, a subset of the terminology they learn is used regularly. But there is a lot of orthodoxy in medical education—similar in many ways to legal education. A good doctor knows all of the commonly used terminology, but they have little reason to be able to recall the terms they rarely or never use.

It is akin to the punishing and probably damaging intern programs that force them to work to exhaustion.

 

"Doctor, the man's thingy just doesn't look right"

just recall handwriting of people who studied medicine...