Quora Answer: What Could be the Best Table Topics for Toastmasters Demonstration Meeting at a Potential Corporate Club?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “What could be the best table topics for Toastmasters demonstration meeting at a potential corporate club?” 

Corporate Toastmaster clubs have a distinct culture and focus from community Toastmaster clubs.  They have an added set of key performance indicators specific to the needs of the company.  Companies have corporate clubs because they want their staff to improve their communication and organisational management skills.  A secondary goal would be networking. 

As such, table topics in corporate clubs tend to be focused on areas of problem solving, objection handling, or salesmanship.  Conducting table topics the way community clubs do, such as asking philosophical questions, or playing with situations is not going to impress management.  They do not demonstrate skills that are seen to be immediately beneficial or aligned with the goals of the company. 

An example of a good table topics session would be to give a scenario with a potential client, or an internal or external customer.  The participant has to address a specific contention, or query.  For example, what we do at AIA Toastmasters is to give our members a question specific to the sales concept, and have them address that contention.  It is important that the focus is not on the product, since products change.  This allows the members to practice anticipating and addressing common and not so common objections. 

Another example is more situational, and is good for management staff.  The table topics master gives a specific scenario.  For example, it could be something as far fetched as all of them being stranded on a boat that is slowly sinking, and they have to convince the rest of the people to allow them to take the last life jacket.  All the participants are given the same scenario.  The twist is that they are given a character to role play.  This is a useful tool for them to think outside the box, and has practical applications in decision making and developing consensus. 

There are a variety of ideas.  The intent of the table topics is to train participants, in a fun manner, to think on their feet, and learn to speak impromptu.  It is important to explain real world application for these skills so that people are invested in doing their best.  After the session, it would be good for the table topics master to wrap up by commenting on some of the noteworthy demonstrations of impromptu speaking, and inspire them to take advantage of this airtime for future sessions.