What is a Back Pocket Speech in Toastmasters?

Toastmasters is a public speaking club.

Within this club, there are separate roles.

There is the Toastmaster, the general evaluator, 3 planned speakers, 3 evaluators, the impromptu speakers, etc.

Every now and then, a planned speaker is unable to attend.

They are sick or got caught up at work.

Now the evaluator who was supposed to evaluate that speaker has nothing to do.

This can cause the meeting to end early.

Rather than ending in 1 hour and 30 minutes… it ends in 1 hour and 10 minutes.

For guests who are visiting, this is not good.

They didn’t get the full Toastmasters experience.

When a speaker drops out, the Toastmaster will ask:

‘Anyone willing to give a back pocket speech?’

The back pocket speech is the speech that you give on the fly.

The speech that will save the meeting.

Will you raise your hand?

How To Create a Back Pocket Speech

There are 2 ways to create a back pocket speech:

• Off-the-cuff talk
• Planned talk

Off-the-cuff talk

This strategy is an extended table topics speech.

You give an impromptu talk on whatever.

Every now and then, a Toastmasters meeting has a theme.

Like a ‘historical theme.’

If you are well-versed in a historical event, then it would be great to plug yourself into the theme & give a talk.

Most back-pocket speeches last for about 5-8 minutes.

Times vary depending on the club.

Planned Talk

Other times, you can give a talk that you prepared earlier.

My back pocket speech is the 4 haircuts, which was my icebreaker speech.

You may have a certain talk that just flows out of you.

No harm in delivering that talk again to a new audience.

Side Note:

There have been a few times where the back pocket speech ended up being the best speech for the meeting!

The person who is voted the best speaker gets a cool ribbon.

So, there is an incentive to raise your hand.

Side Effects of Giving Back Pocket Speeches

I believe a lot of the lessons from Toastmasters can be applied to life.

I’ll give you an example.

There was a period when I was in BNI.

This was a business networking group where a collection of professionals gave each other referrals.

Every meeting, we’d have 2 speeches.

One day, a speaker couldn’t make it.

Suddenly, there was an open slot for a member to give a speech to promote themselves.

No one was eager to give an impromptu speech about their business because they worried about fumbling their words.

A sloppy delivery would reflect poorly on their business.

Everyone was making their body smaller.

It felt like déjà vu.

‘I’ve seen the same scenario in Toastmasters!!’

I raised my hand and said:

‘I’ll give a talk.’

I ended up giving a 7-minute impromptu talk on my business, ArmaniTalks.

I shared how I help entrepreneurs improve their communication skills.

‘Learn to write your first book and connect loose thoughts into a unified presentation.’

One of the guests in the meeting was a realtor who was trying to write a book for a long time.

He was what I call a hood-realtor.

Meaning that he fixed up houses and collected rents in the toughest communities out there.

After the meeting, he approached me and said:

‘Hi there, I have a story to tell. The amount times I’ve had a gun pulled on me would make you laugh. I think it’d make a lot of people laugh. I just have no clue how to package my experiences into a product.’

This guy & I ended up working together.

Just imagine:

• A talk on the fly led to a client.

You never know when the courage that you built from giving a Toastmasters back pocket speech can translate over to other facets of your life.

Building a Rainy-Day Fund

I’m all for learning impromptu speaking.

It’s a skill set that turns speech anxiety into speech excitement.

However, I do believe planned speeches have a unique role in the public speaking world.

I recommend you build a rainy-day fund.

I have roughly 10 speeches that I can give whenever.

They range from humorous talks, to logical arguments, to anecdotes.

It’s easy for me to populate the rainy day fund because I have a YouTube channel where I consistently force myself to create talks.

For you, it may be more difficult.

You may be an engineer, a businessman, a realtor, etc.

How are you going to create a rainy-day fund for speeches?

Simple.

• Start with just 1 talk.

How did you get into your profession?

That’s an easy talk to start off with.

Having a rainy-day fund for speeches is like having a lot of money in your bank account. It gives you a shot of confidence.

Save the Day, Be a Hero

You may have seen situations where someone pulled out of an event last minute, and everyone was scrambling on what to do.

Then you saw a brave person step in.

‘I’ll give the talk’ they said.

Even if their speech was a flop, the fact that they raised their hand during uncertainty won the audience over.

Luckily, Toastmasters has a path to help you build courage during moments of uncertainty.

Most meetings will go smoothly.

All the planned speakers showed up.

But every now and then, one of the planned speakers couldn’t make it.

The nervous Toastmaster will ask:

‘Um, any volunteers?’

Allow your hand to shoot up while others make their body small.

Give that back pocket speech.

Whether impromptu or planned.

Deliver it, and watch the audience look at you like the hero who saved the day.

For more tips to improve public speaking skills, be sure to check out my eBook, Speaking Wizard.

In this book, you will learn:

• How to brainstorm a talk.
• Strategies to effectively connect loose thoughts into a speech.
• How to practice giving your speech.
• Fashion tips to dress up for speech day.
• How to deliver your speech with confidence.

And much more!

Get the Full Speaking Wizard Book here!