Category: Scribbles

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Scribbles

Let the mouse(speech topic) come to you!

We have had a cat for 5 years. Her name is Coco. She is a hunter. She brings in mice to the house.

She sometimes eats them

She sometimes plays with them

She sometimes forgets about them

The mice that get forgotten are the ones that surprise you from behind the refrigerator

They sometimes make noises from the pantry. Our pantry is strategically planned so that there are only canned cat food and closed bottles in the ground level cupboard (But surely mice can climb, can’t they?)

My wife is brave and catches the mice when she sees them with her bare hands (with gloves) and lets them out of harm’s (our cat) way outside the house.

I heard a friend recently talk about mouse traps and how she saw another friend use them in the living room and it going CLAP!

I thought mouse traps only worked in cartoons! (Like Tom & Jerry – and even there Jerry never gets caught)

But I saw a mouse trap in a DIY store and thought, why not? Let us give it a try.

I did.

We set it up with chocolate and the chocolate melted

We set it up with a piece of cheese and CLAP!

A mouse was caught! (I was going to post the picture with the mouse in the mousetrap but I realised I did not have the GDPR signed document to do so)

My wife happily carried the mouse out of harm’s (our cat) way.

This time,

  • we did not have to corner the mouse
  • we did not have to keep the cat away
  • we did not have to run around the mouse

The mouse came into the trap.

Sometimes we run behind problems.

What if we let the problem come to us by laying a trap.

We then safely move the problem out of our way.

PS: How is this related to speech making? I was thinking of the same thing!

Sometimes we run behind speech topics

What if we let the speech topics come to us by keeping an open mind

We then can filter out the good speech topics and start building on them

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Scribbles

Jump or remove obstacles

I was walking to my daughter’s school today. After the thunderstorm yesterday evening there were a lot of branches that had fallen from the trees.

I saw a lot of kids in their bicycles crossing the branches bravely.

  • Some went around the branches
  • Some went inbetween the branches
  • Some went over the branches

But one kid crossed the branch and stopped. He went back and removed the branch from the pathway. I was impressed.

We are busy in our day to day routines.

How many obstacles do we keep crossing?

How much of our daily routines is crossing obstacles?

How often do we stop and remove the obstacle?

Not just for us, when we cross it again but also for others who use the same path.

Can we set aside some time to remove obstacles and not just jump them?

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Scribbles

Couch to 5K

I started running end of last year 2022 as I realised that my fitness levels in practicing Brazilian Jujitsu could be improved.

The program from the NHS (The National Health Service (NHS) are the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK)) fit my needs perfectly. 9 weeks to take me from the couch to running 30 minutes or 5K without a break.

My daughter, her friend and mom joined the journey in the beginning. But after Week 1 Run 3 they dropped out. I stuck with it.

I noticed how well the program was setup. Starting in November, I should have been done by January. However Christmas and New Year’s came in. My regular runs reduced but the format was simple to follow. Each week had 3 runs and you had to finish them before you moved it. I could pick up from where I had left and continue.

After Week 5, I noticed something that happened in my Jujitsu practice. I was no longer tired or running out of breath towards the latter part of the training. The cross training efforts were paying off.

Once I crossed the mental barrier of 10 minutes, it became easier to keep on running.

I also noticed that stitches while running which were present started to disappear after Week 6. It is amazing to experience the journey of running from the Couch to 5K as it happens.

I started enjoying running. I have never run during vacation. I was in Denmark two weeks earlier and I did my run 1 and 2 of Week 9 in Denmark. I saw the vacation place with different eyes.

I finished my Week 9 yesterday in home ground and I had a big smile on my face. I got some cake to celebrate.

Thank you to the NHS for creating such an amazing program that takes you on a journey that works.

Now I am going to try and replicate this journey on “Learning and Development programs” and “Agile training for teams”!

Should I call it “Couch to Agile mindset!”

PS: I used Instagram to document my journey and it was fun. I unconsciously was using the “V” symbol for victory every time I completed a run. Celebrating small wins goes a long way.

Link to the program:

Get running with Couch to 5K – NHS (www.nhs.uk)

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Scribbles

What is in it for me?

Amazon.de: Amazon Prime

What is in it for me?

When I listen to a speech, I ask myself “What is in it for me?”

If I can answer the question when the speech starts, I stay to listen for more.

If I can answer the question half way through the speech, I stay till the end.

If I can answer the question after I have listened to the speech, I remember the speech.

On a different note, I wanted more memory for my photos on my mobile phone.

  • My Google Account was running out of space and wanted me to pay 2 Eur per month for 100 GB.
  • My Microsoft Account was running out of space and wanted me to pay 2 Eur per month for 100 GB.

However my Amazon account which already gave me free delivery on goods, Prime video and Prime music threw an extra value added service.

Members of Amazon Prime now have unlimited, full-resolution storage of photos.

Is this a value added service or a way to keep customers for good?

Anyway, “What is in it for me?” was answered by Amazon is an amazing way. I took the offer.

Are you amazing your listeners with “What is in it for them?”

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Scribbles

Readability

Reference: Readability for technical writers – Readable, free readability test

Gunning Fog, Coleman Liau and Flesch–Kincaid are three names which are connected to readability levels of a piece of text.

I have always been interested to know how readable my speeches were and used to run them on platforms like Readable.

I then tweaked my speech to make it more readable. That’s right. READABLE.

At some point you realise, speeches are rarely read – they are listened to.

Is there a listenability level? I have not come across one yet. I think speeches are subjectively evaluated by an audience.

Here is my mini tool to help you with the readability of your text that you write to be read. Make no mistake, each Readability level has its own limitations but gives you a rough idea of how readable your text is for different levels of the target reader.

Check Readability
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Scribbles

Toastmasters Timer

Timer for Toastmasters Speeches, Evaluations and Table Topics

Click here for the Toastmasters Timer

This is the first version of the Toastmasters Timer. Stay tuned on the above page for newer versions.

Thank you to Toastmaster Caleb Grove for his Toastmasters Timer. It helped me a lot with practicing for Table Topics, Evaluation and Speeches. Here is his Timer: Speech Timer for Toastmasters (calebgrove.com)

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Scribbles

Climb & Slide

Galaxy Water Slide World (therme-erding.de)

I was in a Theme Park last weekend and experienced water slides in all their glory indoors and outdoors!

Each slide seemed to have two components – the Climb and the Slide.

The Climb

You could climb to the slide with a tube or a mat or just yourself. I found this initial step of getting a tube or mat itself interesting as it sets you up for the slide later.

You could watch a speech with a notebook or just yourself. I find that I approach a speech differently if I actively take notes or passively listen to it.

The climb itself is sometimes a long way and you need to wait in a queue to get to your chance for a slide. If the queue is long you might switch to another slide. If the slide is amazing, you will wait as long as it takes in the queue.

The body of a speech itself can be long or feel long. Sometimes we wait for messages in a speech to reach us. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t.

The Slide

Before the slide you could see the information about for what age is it appropriate, what medical conditions are to be kept in mind and even the weight of the person involved.

Before a message is crafted in a speech, we need to get into the shoes of the listener to see if we can provide a ride that they want to get onto. If the message is not crafted well, our listener will very easily be distracted and stray.

During the slide, the speed gets the adrenaline going and there is pure joy. If you do not like high speeds you might enjoy the blue slides. If you enjoy high speeds you might enjoy the black slides.

During the speech, the way we make our listeners feel can be joyful or hateful or much worse – indifferent.

After the slide, if it was fun – we want more. Sometimes more of the same slide or more of something different.

Likewise after a speech, we want to listen to the speaker again talking about the same thing or something different or we might want to listen to someone else

I went up and down many slides and felt great!

Can we take our speech listeners on many rhetoric slides and leave them feeling great?

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Scribbles Workshop

1-2-3-4 Content

I had the opportunity to run a lunch talk for Amiga last month.

We spoke about a few things:

  • Why LinkedIn?
    • Did you know that 1 out of 8 professionals in Germany use LinkedIn?
  • Why Career Advancement?
    • Grow or become a linchpin (Check out Video on References)
  • Kinds of LinkedIn Posts
    • Focus on Image and Video based Posts (Check out posts using Images and Videos)
  • Creating Content
    • Idea–>Write–>Craft–>Share

How many of you have Ideas week in and week out but never take the time to put them down?

“Look at an Event from last week or month that stayed with you where you learnt something or helped someone”

Something of value to the reader can be created in even 280 words. Sit down and write atleast once a week

“Write down 280 to 500 words

PS: 280 words are allowed in a tweet”

Crafting a message with an image or video gets the attention of the reader who has multiple information sources

“Use unsplash or other license free websites to get an appropriate image or use own images

Use license free videos or your own videos”

Sharing the content of multiple platforms or atleast the platforms that your clients are active in is a good practice

“Share on LinkedIn as a Post

If you are on other social media channels you may reuse the crafted message”

References:

  • EVENTS – amiga (I can recommend these Events for International professionals in Munich looking for opportunities)
  • Ranjith @ LinkedIn (Example posts using Images and Video)
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Scribbles

Is there a Gratwanderer in you?

View from Heimgarten to Herzogstand, Bavaria, Germany

A Gratwanderung is “Walking along mountain ridges”

I imagine walking along mountain ridges from movies.

  • Like in the Lord of the Rings when the group keeps walking from one mountain to another

I had been on simple treks with a few metres towards the end with ridges. Last weekend me and my sister were faced with a walk that would take 2 hours and 15 minutes one way with an elevation difference of 200m.

Both of us do not like heights

Both of us considered ourselves to be avid hikers and trekkers but not necessarily gratwanderers!

Here are a few things the German Alpine Organisation (DAV) recommends

  • Local weather conditions
    • 20-22 degrees Celsius
  • Elevation difference during the ascent and descent
    • Herzogstand 1731m
    • Heimgarten 1790m
  • Length and Timing for the tour
    • 2 hours 15 minutes for international tourists
    • 1 hour 30 minutes for local hikers
    • 1 hour for sporty hikers
  • Type of terrain
    • Walking along mountain ridges
    • DAV calls it BLACK
  • Huts to eat and drink
    • Heimgarten has a small hut heavy on sausages and pea soup for vegetarians

We decided to do it.

The first 10 minutes were difficult but after that our lungs got used to the new breathing and our legs to the new terrain.

When we arrived at Heimgarten we saw a guy wearing a pink bunny costume and singing Oktoberfest songs.

The beer was cold and the pea soup was just right to get us ready for the way back.

We took 2 hours on each way.

The way back felt easier because our lungs and legs knew what was in store.

When we came back to Herzogstand we added a BLACK rated hike as a feather on our caps.

We were proud of ourselves.

Are we walking blue and red rated hikes at work?

  • Is there a black rated hike that we are postponing or hiding from our teams?
  • Can we take it on with proper preparation and bit of courage?
  • Do we know the hikers and trekkers in the team waiting to become gratwanderers?

Is there a Gratwanderer in you?

Are you ready for your first or next BLACK hike?

Categories
Scribbles

Message first or Story first

Photo by S O C I A L . C U T on Unsplash

How do we start putting together a speech?

Message first or Story first?

I very often have a story that happened to me in the past. I feel like I learnt something from that story that I would like to share. I then take it and make it part of my speech and then build the speech around it. I find this approach organic. Sometimes getting a supporting frame to this story is challenging.

Having a message first reminds of me of being called to make an Impromptu speech. I have a phrase or challenge thrown at me and I need to build from there. In this case as I get warmed up with a first few sentences, my mind is chugging away in the background trying to put together stories that happened in my life and try to relate them with the topic. The moment any story matches a bit, I bring it in. During my story narration, I keep looking for a nice to loop back to the message. The advantage of this approach is that the message is known and everything is built on it.

What is your approach when you write your speeches?