Toastmasters & Etc.

Listening * Thinking * Public Speaking * Self Improvement

5

Apr

Get To the Point (Six Words)

Posted by John Spaith  Published in Speaking

I visited my club’s sister club, Eastside Toastmasters, last Thursday. The theme was really interesting - describing yourself in six words. The inspiration for this was Earnest Hemingway, who once got a bet to write a story in six words.

 

“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

 

Wow! There was just dead silence after the Toastmaster read that in the meeting.

 

The next time I gripe because I only have 5-7 minutes to say something instead of the 20 I wish I had, I’ll rethink the time limit being so bad. Shakespeare may have said it best, also in six words. Brevity is the soul of wit.

2 Responses

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Andrew says,
in 4-7-2008 @ 13:45:47    

Neat idea for a theme. I think I’m going to use this in my club next time I am chairing a meeting.

Simon - presentation skills trainer says,
in 5-28-2008 @ 10:20:47    

Good idea. I might throw it in as an exercise in one of our training days: at the moment we do something similar by giving people a paragraph of something complicated and asking them to make a newspaper headline out of it to capture the essence of the piece.

s