Any ideas ? Toastmasters Table Topics

[Engle]

As part of Toastmasters speech club, there is segment called Table Topics.

The goal of Table Topics is to allow everyone in the room to speak for 1 minute and with 1 minute advance preparation.

The Table Topics Master (me) passes around an envelope containing slips of paper. Each participant opens, reads and speaks to the item on their slip.

Now, the upcoming theme is " Personal Branding "

Does anyone have any ideas/direction/hints (especially from Toastmasters) what items I could include relating to " Personal Branding " ?

We have about 35 participants, so am looking for that number of questions, quotes, logos, anything ....

Thanks in advance,

[Daffy Duck]

Here's an idea for one item on a slip: "Strategies for thinking of a one minute speech in one minute, with an emphasis on personal branding."

[rose A]

.... .... ........... ..THAT WAS FUNNY,

[rose A]

now on the serious side.

What steps would a person take to recover from a personal slip up so to not ruin their reputation personally and marketability?

[Steve Pavlina]

Not really personally branding per se, but here's a set of Table Topics questions I created that were a lot of fun. You might be able to adapt the general concept to personal branding.

I called this one "Spin Doctor."

One of the important things in life is being able to stay positive, especially when bad news strikes. Today's power topics participants will demonstrate their spin doctoring skills by attempting to put a positive spin on items that might normally be considered somewhat negative, undesirable, or otherwise unpleasant.

Let's begin with the first scenario...

1. A group of fireman just extinguished a blaze at a single family home, but the home was a total loss, burnt to the ground. The family that lived there is just returning from vacation, totally unaware that their former home is nothing but a pile of ashes. When they arrive, you, the fire captain, must give them the "good" news.
2. You're a dentist who just extracted two of your patient's front teeth. However, as your patient is coming out of anesthesia, you suddenly realize you mixed up this patient's chart with someone else. This patient was only supposed to have a routine tooth whitening, since she works as a glamour model. Now you must give her the "good" news.
3. You work at an adoption agency and have been notified that there's a child available for a couple that has been wanting one for a long time. On the couple's application, they requested a 3-6 year old boy. Unfortunately, their request was mis-read by the computer, and you are now ready to present them with their new 36-year old son. As the couple enters your office to pick up their "child", give them the good news.
4. You're a commercial airline pilot whose plane full of cranky passengers has been stuck on the tarmac for several hours, waiting for clearance to take off. You've just been informed that you'll be stuck there for at least another four hours with no food. Inform your passengers of the good news.
5. Despite your spouse's misgivings, you finally quit your job to start your own business. Unforuntately, the business has been a financial disaster, wiping our your family's savings and leaving you deep in debt. Give your spouse the "good" news.

I always like asking Table Topics questions that give people the opportunity to be creative and have fun.

For personal branding, here's another idea. Write down a bunch of unusual personal brand ideas on small scraps of paper, such as "Redneck Motivational Speaker," "Compassionate Dictator," "Geeky Supermodel," etc.

Then call people up, tell them to pick a piece of paper randomly, read it to themselves quietly, and then act it out in front of the club. After each person finishes, ask the club to guess what the brand was.

[Engle]

Success !

Here's what I did.

Passed around envelope containing slips of paper.
Each slip had 4 multiple choices of Personal Brand attributes.
They had to state the choices, discuss them and select one that most closely resembles their Personal Brand.
The choices were as varied as possible to fit any occupation/personality, e.g.

1.Intuitive 2. Fearless 3. Unconventional 4. Go the extra mile
1.Charismatic 2. Good Listener 3. Driven 4. Big Picture awareness

Some memorable performances :

One woman spoke well on 'Building relationships', said she is so good at it, she could build a relationship with a rock.

Another woman picked ' Well-rounded ' and turned around to show all her well-rounded figure. Peals of laughter.

A pastor spoke on being a ' Visionary ' and was the best of the lot. I'm convinced that pastors make the best speakers, they do it for a living.

The hit was an Asian with accent who was speaking at length on being ' Focused '. While he was talking, something fell behind him and all eyes turned in that direction. On cue, he brought everyone back on track by saying quickly ' lets stay Focused on Table Topics and not be distracted ' .

An enjoyable evening was had by all.

And Thanks Steve for your suggestions, however, I had almost completed my piece.