Easy-Speak How easy is it? Does everyone here know what easy-Speak is? It’s a combined record keeping and scheduling system. Tonight I’m going to give you a quick walk through of how to use it, but you will have to learn it by using it – just like everything else in Toastmasters. If you have questions about it, ask me and I’ll try to get answers for you; however, I don’t claim to be an expert. How easy is it?

Agenda Logging in Signing up for a duty Signing up for a speech Notification Confirmation Conclusion Here’s what we’ll be covering. We’re going to be rushing here so try to keep up, but stop me if you can’t. Agenda

Logging in Notice User ID Password http://easy-speak.org/ By now you should have gotten a notice of your user ID and password. To log in to your account go to easy-Speak.org. Logging in

The first time you should see something like this The first time you should see something like this. Enter your user ID (username) and password. The password is case sensitive if you are using alphabet characters. Then click on login.

You should get something like this You should get something like this. If you are a member of more than one club that uses easy-Speak, as Ray is, I suspect you’ll need to click on the link for the club before the name comes up. There are multiple ways to get to screens in this system. Over here on the left hand side you’ll see My Participation is already expanded. To schedule yourself for a speech or a duty click on the appropriate link. Let’s look at signing up for a meeting duty.

You should get something like this You should get something like this. You can click on any yes to sign up for that duty on that meeting date. When you do, you’ll see this Signing up for a duty

Notice the red thumb down Notice the red thumb down. You can click on that and take yourself off the schedule. There is a setting where you can sign up for up to three jobs on a given date and order them as first, second, and third choices. Right now it’s first come, first served. Darrell will have to resolve any conflicts.

When you click on a date you’ve already signed up for you’ll get something like this. Note that you can back out here as well.

Here I clicked on a day where none of the jobs have been assigned or selected. The ones I can sign up for have a yes button. General Evaluator doesn’t become available until you’ve completed a certain number of meetings so you can’t sign up for right now. Darrell – or the Toastmaster of the meeting will have to assign it for the next few meetings.

Here’s what it looks like if you’re the Toastmaster of the meeting Here’s what it looks like if you’re the Toastmaster of the meeting. Each unassigned role has a pull down list of members that you can assign.

Now let look at signing up for a speech Now let look at signing up for a speech. Again there are a number of ways to get there. Click on any button or link that says “Request a Speech.” Signing up for a speech

This is basically what you get This is basically what you get. If you were on a specific meeting the first preference will give that meeting date instead of “Missing”. I typed in a title and clicked on the “Workbook/Speech” tab.

This is what I got. The green check mark appeared as soon as the tab opened since I had already typed in my title. The second green check mark appeared after I clicked on the button for speech 10. Notice a few things here: first, I can start a new workbook. Second, I’m guessing but I suspect if you have more than one manual in progress you’ll have to select the one you’re speaking from before it will list the projects. Next click on “Preferred dates”.

This is pretty self explanatory This is pretty self explanatory. The preference selection is a little squirrely. If you click on a preference for a given date, as far as I can tell, you can’t change your mind without clicking on the same preference on another date. When you’re done, click on Save.

This takes you to My Communicator Progress page This takes you to My Communicator Progress page. Your requested speeches are at the top of the page. This shows your workbook status. Note that you can still edit your speech title and cancel the speech.

Once you have a specific date, the program sends out an email notice to you. DOES NOT REMOVE your membership. Click on the link under I accept or under I will not be at as appropriate. That will take you to the confirmation screen. Notification

Note that even here you can decline the speech, rename it, or blow off the meeting. Confirmation

How easy is easy-Speak? It isn’t rocket science, but it does have its own personality. Work with it. Try things. If you bring the site down, that’s the webmaster’s problem. If you mess up our part of it, Darrell should be able to repair the damage. If you mess up your own part of it, just go in and click on the thumbs down button until you’ve cleared the problem and then start over. Or as the saying goes, “If all else fails, read the manual.” Conclusion