Table Topics Secrets Revealed

One of the table topics strategies in responding to a topic is to tell a relevant story to  illustrate or support your view.  The more stories you remember, the better for you.

Say, you are given this topic: BEHIND EVERY MAN is A SMART WOMAN!

Here is a story you can use:

Barbara Walters, of 20/20, did a story on gender roles in Kabul, Afghanistan , several years before the Afghan conflict. She noted that women customarily walked five paces behind their husbands.

She recently returned to Kabul and observed that women still walked behind their husbands. Despite the overthrow of the oppressive Taliban regime, the women seemed to, and apparently were happy to, maintain the old custom.

Ms. Walters approached one of the Afghani women and asked, ‘Why do you now seem happy with an old custom that you once tried so desperately  to change?’

The woman looked Ms. Walters straight in the eyes, and without hesitation whispered, “Land Mines.”

Action Plan

Whenever you come across good short stories, file them.  Practice telling these stories. Use them to illustrate your points. Stories go very well with quotation questions.  If a table topic master give you a theme, you should be able to pull out a story from your mental library of stories and wow the audience with your story telling skill.

One of the masters of story telling that I have watch live in action is Anthony Robbin.  Watch good story tellers and learn from them. You can find them in action at public libraries.

These and many more tips from the ebook “Table Topics Secrets Revealed“.

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Sometime when you converse with your friends, you mention something off the cuff and then they laughed. That’s the funny moment. If you record these little incidents, you will have your own compilation of funny moments.  These are jokes that are already proven by you. So you know it works.

If we cannot share our jokes, we can share humourous stories. Think ‘Stand up Comedy’.

I heard that William Robin is so good with comedy, that if you give him any topics (from A to Z), he can tell you a joke on the spot.  You can do it if you practice often enough.

The problem with some people is that they rehash the same jokes from Internet. It is better to extract from one’s own experience.

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Sometimes you are given a topic which you  have no experience before.  Even if you don’t know the subject, you don’t have to confess aloud that you don’t know.

You can lie about it.  Tell a tall tale.  Cook up a story. It is perfectly legitimate in a toastmasters meeting and in a stand up comedy.

If you are given the question, “What is the biggest fish you have caught?,” and you have never fish in your life, you could make up a story about a fishing trip.

Or you can tell your audience that you are going to let your imagination leads you. “I’ve never caught a fish, but I imagine that … ”

Put on your storyteller’s hat and bring your audience on a flight of fantasy and imagination.

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Here is one table topics strategy to get you out of trouble when you do not know the subject or it is too controversial to answer. This is a favourite strategy of politicians.
For example,  “What is your stance on abortion?”

“Abortion is a divisive issue. My view is just one person’s opinion. There are two schools one…” Then talk about other people’s opinion.

Sometimes, you may want to avoid the original topic entirely and talk about something else. For example, you could respond by saying, “Your question is very important, however, today I am much more interested in education.”

And there is always my favourite phrase. Do memorise this phrase because it will get you out of trouble:

“A very good question indeed. This reminds me of …”

Discover these and many more simple and effective strategies in the ebook “Table Topics Secrets Revealed!“

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There are many methods to answering Table Topics. One of the methods is to Divide & Conquer.

You can divide into 2 ways or three ways.
In 2 ways, there are pros and cons, problem and solution, past and present, cost and benefits, before and after, East and West.  It is a comparison of two sides of the coins, two sides of your palm.  It’s a contrast between the ying and yang, black and white, between good and bad.

In 3 ways, there are past-present-future, mind-body-soul. Just 3 points.

So pick a division and conquer it.

Discover these and more strategies in the book “Table Topics Secrets Revealed!“

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Table Topics can be challenging and  scary for the untrained toastmasters. However with proper training, any toastmaster can speak with confidence.   There are many ways to tackle table topics. Today I shall share with you a simple strategy you can practice and put to use in their next Table Topics session.

preparation and training, anhone can be a frightening portion of a Toastmaster’s meeting – but with a little preparation, everyone can be a pro at Table Topics. There are a number of ways to tame table topics. Listed below are some strategies you can practice and use.

If the topic requires you to relate an incident, to tell a story, or to describe a word, you can give completeness to the information by using the 5 Ws, namely who, what, when, where, why and how.
For example, you may be given this popular question: “Describe your most memorable event or day in your life.”  Using the 5Ws, the basic information are:

What:  The World Cup Final

When:  The date

Where: at the pub

Why:  because you are a football and you were rooting for your favourite team

With this strategy, you could easily use up 1-2 minutes of your time to response to the question.  Personally this strategy is too straight forward and boring to win any award, but it is an easy way to pass the time and get yourself out of a tongue-tight situation.

Discover more strategies in the book “Table Topics Secrets Revealed!“

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