Toastmasters Gamified

Disclaimer:The following slides represent the work of the author for the purpose of obtaining the Engagement Alliance Level 2 Certification on Gamification. This work is not an official Toastmasters International Project. And this will only be used for the pure educational purpose.

Gamifying the journey of a Toastmaster

By Prageeth SandakalumConsultant – Engineering and Business Development, Virtusa Corp.

https://twitter.com/prageeths

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What is Toastmasters International

“Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of meeting locations.”

“Headquartered in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, the organization has more than 292,000 memberships in more than 14,350 clubs in 122 countries.”

“Since 1924, Toastmasters International has helped people of all backgrounds become more confident in front of an audience.”

-Taken from Toastmasters International Website

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As a Toastmaster…

I have been a Toastmaster for 4 years

I obtained Advanced Communicator Silver (Level 2 of Public Speaking) but Yet to achieve the Competent Leader Title – Actually I’m far behind (Level 1 of Leadership Track)

From 3rd year onwards, my attendance was going down drastically. Same with most of my friends who joined the same time.

I was a club officer and I knew it’s same with everybody. We had 55+ members registered but on average about 15-20 turned up.

The promised speakers didn’t show up along with the other role players where it became a huge problem.

I know continuous contribution / participation was very important, but…

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Challenges in Toastmastering

It’s hard to get people on delivering their first speech as well as later speeches consistently and also playing roles like speech evaluator, Toastmaster of the day, grammarian, etc…

Once they achieve the Level 1 – Competent Communicator, they tend to leave the community.

Level of motivation of the member to keep attending decreases over time

Some members claimed to have problems finding topics to speak in each assignment as well. A lot of FAQs a repeatedly asked.

People find it difficult to complete the Leadership manual since it’s not as easy to understand and straightforward as the speaking manual

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Understanding the Player Types

Achiever

Many toastmasters become members since they want to achieve the titles like competent communicator, advanced communicator, competent Leader as well as they want to achieve leadership positions in the club.

Socializer

There are many socializers exist as well. They come to toastmasters because they feel the belonging in the community. They also want to have a chat and get away from corporate stress. The friends are their primary target

Explorer

Not much exist. Some toastmasters do take additional manuals and also repeat speeches because they want to get different evaluations.

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Understanding the Player Types

Achiever

Many toastmasters become members since they want to achieve the titles like competent communicator, advanced communicator, competent Leader as well as they want to achieve leadership positions in the club.

Socializer

There are many socializers exist as well. They come to toastmasters because they feel the belonging in the community. They also want to have a chat and get away from corporate stress. The friends are their primary target

Explorer

Not much exist. Some toastmasters do take additional manuals and also repeat speeches because they want to get different evaluations.

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Player Journey

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Player Journey

Player Journey can be designed in multiple stages

1. Newbie (Getting On-boarded)

2. Little Experienced (Slightly Skillful Small Challenges)

3. Highly Experienced (Skillful Harder Challenges)

4. Expert (Retention is the Key)

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Player Onboarding

Toastmaster Mobile App

Once the user is registered with the system, he can download the mobile app. The first message is;

“Hey, congratulations !!! While your friends are too busy going out, you showed courage to be a great speaker. Good luck !!!”

This message is shareable so that the newbie feels proud about the decision he took and he is certainly able to let his friends know about his decision

We can introduce the Toastmaster Badge that he can display in his profiles.

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Player Onboarding II

The next day member receives a message saying

“The first step is easy… It’s the ice breaker speech, It’s all about speaking about yourselves only for 4-6 minutes… Below are some YouTube videos on ice breaker speeches. Turn on your

manual, page 2-3 do include some deep instructions”

Keep reminding how easy the first task is. It should also give number of resources to make the task achievable by the user.

Once achieved, he is given comparatively large amount of points to get him started and the progress bar shows 10% completion.

Meantime, the app also shows his fellow members in the club along with the speech completion.

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Player Onboarding III

Once completed the first speech, it’s time to get him to leadership track. First assignment is the easiest assignment

“You are a real achiever in public speaking, it’s time to take you through your leadership journey as well. How about the Timer to

start with? It’s easier than you think…..”

Once completed he is again given certain amount of leadership points. And his progress is updated and shown in the app with the percentage completed to achieve the level 1 Leadership title.

Meanwhile after each assignment, the player can optionally put a tip regarding the assignment. Like “foursquare”, whenever someone is about to do the assignment, those tips can be viewed.

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Using Game Mechanics

Whenever user completes an assignment both in Leadership track and communication track he gets points

A Leaderboard is displayed with the last 3 / 6 / 12 months performance of the club members based on the points scored.

If the toastmaster played the same role thrice, he is given a badge of that particular role type. I.E. “Timer Badge”, “Evaluator”

If the player is completing more than 9 of the same role (Usually some toastmasters evaluate others often) they can go for the Level 2 of that badge. I.E. “Super Evaluator”

Once the speaker completes 50% of the speaker manual, he unlocks the Second Level thus opening some benefits which will discussed later

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Using SAPS Model

Status is given by Toastmasters in the traditional way. But additionally the app includes;1. Toastmaster Status with a Status Link that Can be embedded to

your social profiles2. Same goes with traditional titles like Adv. Communicator /

Leader, etc…

Once finishes the first 5 Speeches / 10 speeches Access is given to former World Championship Speeches, Some Paid Materials for free. Also the app gives the speaker opportunity to role play and speak in other clubs

Once the user complete 5 speeches the app unlocks his Power of ability to Evaluate the others and also it gives him the chance to pick 2 days for his next 2 speeches. (Priority Given)

When the user takes on roles consistently, he is provided with virtual Stuff like Ribbons that he can display on his profile

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Using 3F Model

Specially for the Socializers Friends and community is everything, hence,1. Player is provided with data on how his friends are performing, he

can analyze the points achievements of the fellow club members2. Every achievement is displayed as a News Feed to which anyone

can comment, Like and Share in Social Media channels3. The users can tag “Besties” whose incoming activities are notified

to the player (motivation to attend the meeting)4. Weekly tip on “get to know another toastmaster” from another

club

As discussed earlier, Feedback, Congratulation Messages are provided frequently.

Whenever the user is consistently playing roles and speaking he is provided with elements of Surprise and Delight. He can share, poke, like the comments while his entire journey is visualized in the progress chart which all contributes to make the player journey fun

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Implementing Flow – When Skill goes Up

During the early stage the complete focus is playing roles and doing speech assignments

When the speaker completes 5th Assignment, he is given the opportunity to evaluate others (Prev. Slide)

When the speaker completes 8th Assignment, he is now comfortable, he is given the opportunity to speak in community events like “Speechcraft” Programs.

When he completes 60% of the Leadership Manual, he is given the opportunity to chair special projects like club officer installation ceremony, Themed meetings (Halloween, Christmas), etc…

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Retention of Expert

The feedback and tips is more about Altruism, Giving back to the community from which you received a lot.

Keeping the friends activities like Upcoming Assignments updated.

Make them Mentors, assign 2-3 newbies. Responsibility becomes a motivator.

Assign harder tasks like Starting a new club. Given him/her resources and build the entrepreneurial feeling (Self Esteem). The app helps the player to manage the activity. The flow is properly instructed

Send him updates on the club regularly, the newsletters published, themed meetings, etc…

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Conclusion

The Proposal / proposed solution aim to keep the members motivated to attend more meetings and take up roles

It also gives recognition whenever possible, making the entire journey fun specially for the achiever

The social graph is well formed with member data for the socializer to play around

When the player improves on his communication and leadership and get familiar with Toastmasters, he or she is given additional challenges to keep him or her movies without boredom.

Once the toastmaster becomes an expert, use “community and helping others” motivation to keep him in the system.

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