By Jeff Young, ACB, ALB, Area I-33 Director
Back in 2010, I was told I couldn’t communicate clearly. By my manager. “You tend to stumble over your words. You speak way too fast for me to follow. You’re disorganized and I can’t tell where one of your points starts and where it ends, and I think you overshare information.” While I was a great technical writer, I wasn’t her go-to person when it came to presenting.
She told me about this club that she was a member of called Toastmasters, and the local chapter was right in my company. It turned out she was the President of the club. Most of the members were employees of the company, with a few outside guests.
At first, I thought my mission was to get through the Competent Communicator Manual. Ten speeches, no sweat, how hard could it be? Did I really need this course? Surely I wasn’t that bad of a speaker…
…but then I learned by the feedback and the evaluations that I got that how I saw myself was not the truth. I got a lot of people telling me to slow down. To make sure that my points were well outlined. To provide ‘just enough’ information rather than too much. I learned that there were tricks to using PowerPoint slides, and how to use them effectively. I learned that props could be distracting even if they were cool, and how to deal with the dreaded Silence when you ask, ‘Are there any questions?’
I started off being afraid of getting up behind that podium. And somewhere in there, between the speeches and workshops and frequently being Toastmaster, I learned to enjoy it. I’d still get feedback like, ‘Um, I don’t understand what you’re asking’, and ‘Can you repeat that again, slower?’ when it came to workshops or running Table Topics (for all you Table Topics Masters… remember to try and keep it simple!)
I learned to love Mondays. How many people can say that? My South Bay Toastmasters co-conspirators do!
At two years, three months in, my 10th speech was about expanding my horizons. It was a little long, at 13 minutes, and from there, I had the choice to quit, or take the free Advanced Communicator manuals that were the surprise for finishing. I picked Technical Presentations and Humorously Speaking, because I wanted to actually focus my speeches on the why I joined Toastmasters in the first place, and to learn to be funnier. And so I kept going. Ten more speeches. Three more years. And then after that, I got inspired by someone at the District level who had done –ten- CCs, and so I started another one. And then I was a beta tester for Pathways. I’ve given three distinctly different Icebreaker speeches, and each one was better than the last.
Like so many things in life, we get better with practice. We get rusty when we don’t practice. Toastmasters is like that too. (I love the fact that City Speech managed to get three speakers in when I visited this month.)
I’ve mentored people many times over the years, too. I always go with the same advice; ‘there’s nothing to be afraid of except yourself – we’re here to support you, word ‘warts’ and all.’ My teaching style is all about inspiration and improvisation – and teaching helps me slow down in order to be understood.
I was also active in the Area – volunteering as a judge, target speaker for contests, and when nobody else wanted to step up, I represented my club at the Area Contest. And I was up against some amazing speakers – and came in dead last. Mostly because I was scared all over again. I realized I was comfy speaking in front of my own club, but at the Area level? That was a whole new ballgame. Especially when the timer started by showing me the red card first… that threw me off my game right off the bat!
But instead of letting that stop me, I got contact information from the other contestants – and learned from them. That’s the thing about competitions – your ‘opponents’ are Toastmasters, too. And we’re all out to help each other be better speakers and leaders. And that didn’t stop me from going up again, either. (I came in second that time….out of two.)
Ten years later, my club is now 90% outside guests, 10% company employees. People from all walks of life have come through our doors, and we are richer for the experiences. I’ve learned so many things from so many people – even an Icebreaker can be eye-opening. We had a brief hiatus when we went on what looked like a temporary lockdown, and like the rest of the Toastmasters universe, we had to adjust to the notion of virtual meetings. But the fact of the matter is that we’re still showing up even after almost a year of this, and we find reasons to speak every week.
It’s taken me ten years to step up and volunteer to be an Area Director. Mostly because I never saw myself as a leader, but leading is not just about ordering people around, it’s learning to connect with strangers and be a resource rather than a manager. It’s not at all what I expected – it’s mainly a reason to visit new clubs and to get out in front of a new group of people and … to just be me. Practicing public speaking in front of a crowd of strangers who would become friends with a shared passion.
A statistic I keep hearing year after year is that the majority of new Toastmasters never make it to Project 5 – or past Level 2. But yet I’ve seen so many Toastmasters at the clubs I visit, at Area contests, and at TLIs who keep coming back, year after year. If you stick with it, you not only get a lifetime of learning, but a legion of friends who remember who you are. It’s our own way of being ‘famous’, because when you get a chance to speak, you get a chance to shine.
Will you be the next person to step up and speak? The future is yours, and the sky is the limit.
City Speech Toastmasters 