My Greatest Experience as a Toastmaster

It is hard to pick one time out of the hundreds, even thousands of experiences I have enjoyed the most over the past years with Toastmasters.

I could start with the overwhelming relief I felt as I put my notes down and realized that I had survived my first “Icebreaker” speech. Or perhaps the feeling of satisfaction that went with completing my 10^th speech and achieving the CTM designation of a Competent Toastmaster. Maybe the simple words of an evaluator “I remember when you first started, you could barely get out a full sentence. Now you've become a great speaker.”

No, my greatest experience came after a speech I made on my vision of the future. I always try to make my speeches as interesting as possible. By mixing a variety of facts and theories along with my personal beliefs I hoped to come away with an interesting talk that will keep my audience engaged.

I thought the speech went well but I wasn't sure. Did I keep the audience's interest or was I talking over their heads?  The evaluation was good, but for me it was the timer's reaction that told the story: “I'm sorry, I was so captivated by the speech that I forgot to keep track of the time.” - Mission accomplished.

 

Rick Nesbitt