I mentioned a while back that I had decided to join Toastmasters here in Rochester. Well, I was officially inducted as a member after at my 5th meeting and gave my first speech. Before I get into what I said and how it went here is a little more on just what Toastmasters is:
The Mission of The Club
The mission of a Toastmasters club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every individual member has the opportunity to develop oral communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth.
About Rochester Toastmasters Club 476
Rochester Toastmasters Club 476 is a non-profit educational organization affiliated with Toastmasters International. Chartered in 1947, it is the oldest chapter of Toastmasters International in the state of New York!
- Business Session: Meetings begin with a short business session in which club officers deliver their reports and the club discusses business motions using parliamentary procedure.
- Table Topics: Members and guests, if they choose to participate, present 1-2 minute impromptu speeches on assigned topics.
- Formal Speeches: Five members present prepared speeches based on projects from the Toastmasters International Communication and Leadership Program manuals. Projects emphasize such areas as speech organization, vocal variety, language (working with words and word pictures), gestures, and persuasiveness.
- Speech Evaluations: An evaluation panel evaluates every prepared speech and offers constructive feedback to the speakers.
- Awards: Awards are given for Best Table Topic, Best Speaker, Most Improved Speaker, Most Notable Speaker, and Best Evaluator.
Project #1: The Ice Breaker
Summary: For your first speech project you will introduce yourself to your fellow club members and give them information about your background, interests, and ambitions.
Objectives:
- To begin speaking before an audience
- To discover speaking skills you already have and skills that need some attention
Time: 4-6 minutes
This was supposed to be an easy speech to write because I am supposed to already know about the topic: me. Well, that wasn’t the case and I really racked my brain on what to say and how to craft some life event into a coherent story. I am not thrilled with what I came up with, but for a topic this difficult for me, I was willing to accept it. Here’s the written speech that I outlined and memorized off of.
Shift Happens
Mr. Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters, and honored guests….
Imagine for just a moment that you are fishing on a pier, not just any old pier, the “North pier” a concrete walkway sticking out almost a quarter mile into Lake Erie. It’s very dark, almost pitch black, dusk has long since come and gone. A small lighthouse with a red blinker stands tall at your side. It’s quiet, the only sound is that of the water hitting against the slabs and hopefully the jingle of the little bell duck taped to the end of your pole, indicating a bite.
Just then you see a bright light coming towards you, you hear noises, it’s getting closer and closer and closer…………..
This is one time in my life when I was quite afraid, now I had probably watched an episode of X-Files the night before, and you would have mistaken that park ranger for an alien creature too, but remembering this event got me thinking about other things that I have been afraid of. Aliens and monsters aside, as I look back, fear of change has been something I’ve encountered numerous times, but instead of freezing to a point of inaction like I did on the North Pier, I have worked over time to transform the fear into a motivating positive catalyst.
For example, I grew up with one younger sister in Erie Pennsylvania, a short drive from Presque Isle, our peninsula on the lake. Growing up my parents always had a computer for me to tinker with, my first was a brick commodore 64, and I grew up playing river raid and jeep commander. As I got older and was my around the end of my junior year in high school it was time to chose a college and I knew at the time I wanted study computers. My research and school visits led me to RIT and their computer engineering program, but the more I looked at it, the more I read each class description, and planned out what each quarter would look like, the more I afraid I became.
RIT has 5-year, 10 week, year round quarter system to allow for co-op in industry, instead of the standard 15 week semesters. This means more material in a shorter time frame; ok normally not a huge deal, but I saw this as a giant leap from my relatively slow paced high school.
Also, the Computer Engineering program had 10 math classes! and 3 physics classes! I got mediocre grades in high school math and I barely passed the intro senior physics. Geeze, what was I thinking, I got to a point where I was shaking in my boots.
But, for some reason I decided to go for it and promised myself that if I got in I would change that fear into motivation to work hard and prepare. What happened next you ask?, well It wasn’t a walk in the park, and I certainly didn’t get out of there without skinning my knees, and maybe breaking my arms, and most certainly the bank, but I made it out alive.
I’ve followed a similar transformation from fear to motivation in several other big life events. Whether it was hiking the Grand Canyon, Air Force Field Training in South Dakota (which turned out to be the best thing I would never repeat), resigning and changing full time jobs… Standing up here tonight is a result of the same process.
Each time I gain a little more confidence and it makes change less difficult.
Author and speaker Jim Rohn can sum all of this up in a quick phrase: “Don’t be afraid to make changes, you are not a tree”
……..
Requested time – 5:00
Actual time – 5:20
Feedback: I received some great feedback from the senior members on areas in which I did well and areas I could improve upon, some tips on content and how I achieved the objective.
Through the process I learned a lot about writing and preparation and overall, speech #1 was a very valuable challenge.
Other Toastmaster Speeches:
Related posts:
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Toastmasters is AWESOME! I have learned so much from my years of being in it and my television program, Toastmaster Time, is celebrating it's tenth year in production, it's fourth with me as producer!
Cool!, I am excited to be starting the whole process. Is the show only local to Alameda County? Is that something you created with local toastmaster groups?
Because it's public access, it can only be broadcast at Comcast channels where we have someone local to "sponsor" it. So it's only broadcast at a handful of stations in the Bay Area. However, we have four years worth of programming online at ToastmasterTime.com if you are interested in viewing it. If you are interested in getting involved in the actual production, there are Toastmaster TV clubs scattered around or you could even start one yourself!
Toastmaster Time started a bit over 10 years ago. Originally it was a collaboration of several clubs. Then FUN Toastmasters, no longer a functioning club, took it over for a few years. When I became producer I opened it up to other people and our talent and crew hails from all over the Bay Area.
I feel we offer a real service to Toastmaster members, not only giving them a venue for completing some of the advanced manual stuff, but just broadening folk's experience. Comcast has been very supportive of our process and provides training and equipment for many local public access programming. I also work on a show called Mental Health Matters, produced by a local minister.
Excellent idea and a great venue, not only to possibly attract new members to the local club, but like you said to provide a larger audience for completing the advanced speaking assignments. I'll take a look at the site. Thanks