I have been at Toastmasters for less than 12 months and I have grown so much in the arena of public speaking during this time. I have won a humorous speaking contest and recently I visited a different club and won the Table Topic Speaker of the Day award there – on my first visit.
How did I achieve these things? It’s simple:
1. Consistency: I fully recommend going to your local club as often as you can. I really love football and training happens on a Thursday (same day as my club meeting) but I have missed football for Toastmasters on many occasions and now I am reaping the harvest of those decisions.
2. Contest: I didn’t plan to enter the humorous speaking contest, it just happened that my initial speech fell on the same date as the competition so I had no choice. But as I won the local round, I was able to speak to a larger audience which is always a good experience. It also taught me that a speech is a seed that grows each time – which is exactly what my speech did.
3. Comparison: The manual recommends that you look back and implement skills from previous speeches in each new speech you do. I find strength in comparing myself with MYSELF! When I look back I see a young man who was good turning to a young man who is even better – I can actually see how much I have grown over which is so encouraging.
