Toastmasters, Connect With Your Audience

Objective

Below is the outline that I have made for my Toastmasters speech about Connecting With The Audience. In short, the purpose of this speech is to practice connecting with an unfamiliar audience. While speaking, you are to monitor the audience for their reactions, engagement, and to adjust based on this. Consider the audiences prior knowledge of the material. Make adjustments and use references that they can relate to in order to communicate your message.

Speech Outline - Gardening with Technology

Speaker Introduction

At one point in time, before World War 1 and the Industrial Revolution, most Americans had a garden or farm on their property. The Industrial Revolution changed all of that. Now we go to grocery stores to get food that has traveled for days or weeks to the store and not be as fresh. What if there was a way for us to go back to gardening at home and not have to put in as much effort as a farmer?

Intro

• cost of everything has gone up (inflation)
• grocery stores are empty, missing some products. Remember in 2020 when people were fighting over toilet paper?
• empty grocery store shelves
• where's the beef? - Wendy's Commercial 1980s
• Taco Bell comes out with wings, during chicken wing shortage - probably not actually chicken
• backyard gardening with technology
• most US food is imported; travels via ship or truck
• traditional farming methods do work, but are often impacted by climate, pests, and disease
• Don't know anything about gardening. Solution is technology

Automated Watering (Ford)

• timer purchased from big box store and use it to water your garden
• combine with other growing techniques and be successful
• some do have Wi-Fi and can get weather data to prevent overwatering, but that's an upgrade
• the one I have has the ability to water multiple zones at different times of the day for different durations
• designed for growing items outside in a grow bed or yard
• $20-70 range

Indoor Gardening systems (Cadillac)

• aquaponics or hydroponics
• countertop gardening systems; automatically control light, water
• can be customized
• mostly grow leafy greens or herbs, but can grow fruit and veggies with some modifications
• no weeds
• some have specialized grow solution that must be added or mixed
• $100-700 range

FarmBot (Range Rover)

• runs on custom built software that is maintained
• individual that used a CNC machine and computer programming to create an automated garden system
• you tell it where to plant what, and it manages everything else and lets you know when to harvest
• it has different attachments that can plant seeds, get rid of weeds, water, and can harvest some crops
• price point is over $1500
• has camera to see and analyze plants
• designed for home users, but not within the budget of most consumers
• can grow anything that will survive in climate
• can send notifications

Conclusion

• gardening technology will be here and may even make it to large scale farms
• automated greenhouses exist.
• Netherlands is a major exporter of food despite their climate not being suited for growing. Using technology, and other methods, they have become the number 2 exporter of food by value
• when you grow your own food, you have greater connection to your food and the benefits for it can be better health, cost savings,

Evaluator Feedback

• speech had balance among various sections
• in future speech, include plants that are difficult to kill
• did inspire to get an automated timer to prevent dead plants in the summer time