My Journey as a Toastmaster
I was in my final year of engineering. It was the placements season. Companies were about to visit our campus. Thanks to the pre placement training provided by our college, I was doing pretty good technically and with aptitude. But what I dreaded was the Group Discussion round which was conducted by some companies as an elimination round.
The first company visited our college. I did well on the first round that included technical and logical questions. We were supposed to discuss a case study in a team as a second round. I knew I wouldn’t do well enough. I didn’t. This went on for 3 companies. And then something happened that got me a job..
A company visited our college but it didn’t conduct any rounds that focus especially on communication. I got placed :D But the opportunities I lost gave me a sound reason to work on my communication skills. As days passed by my desire to improve my soft skills was faded.
It had been 2 years after my graduation. Life had been going in ‘default’ mode. I recalled my desire to work on my communication. I had been procrastinating my goal for years. I had researched for platforms that would help me. I came across toastmasters and read great things about it. But never really gave it a serious thought.
One Sunday afternoon as I lie in my bed for a quick nap, I had recalled a sentence I read somewhere : “If you really want to do something, act on it in the next 60 seconds of your life”. I got up from my bed, opened my laptop and searched Toastmasters clubs near me. I called up the nearest club and asked when I could attend a demo session.
If you really want to do something, act on it in the next 60 seconds of your life
Fast forward 2 years… I’m still proud of the decision I took that day. Let me tell you why…
I was at my first Toastmasters meeting. I imagined it to be a kind of coaching where a tutor will be preaching us on how to speak. To my surprise, it was not. I observed every aspect of the meeting with awe. I like the idea that it’s a peer-to-peer learning. Everyone strives to improve others while improving themselves. I was flattered. I had realised that it was exactly what I was looking for. I couldn’t muster enough courage to speak in my first meeting though.
I joined as a member immediately after the first meeting. I promised myself that no matter what, I would speak in the next meeting. In the next meeting I raised my hand during the table topics which is an impromptu speaking session. I didn’t give myself the time to withdraw the promise I made to myself. I walked up to the stage and was given a topic. I spoke for 90 seconds on the given topic. Due to the time bounds, I had just spoke my mind out without overthinking. I had realised something precious looking into the eyes of Toastmasters sitting in front of me: their eyes are encouraging me, they are eagerly waiting to hear from me, they wanted me to succeed at my attempt to speak.
I felt a sense of accomplishment for keeping up my promise. For the remaining time at the meeting I kept recalling what I spoke and judging it myself: what else could I have spoken, how else could I have expressed myself in a better way, did the audience like what I spoke etc. At the end of the meeting the best Table topics speaker was announced. It was me.. I felt overwhelmed by joy. Some of the toastmasters came to me and expressed how great they felt about my speech.
I didn’t look back. I started preparing for my first ever prepared speech — The Ice Breaker. I got a mentor assigned who was very supportive and constantly reminded me of my existing strengths as a speaker. I wrote a rough draft of my first speech, got it mentored a couple of times.
The day had come.. I was sweating cold. I could hear my heart thumping. I walked up to the stage and delivered the speech at one go so that I won’t forget the content. I couldn’t completely enjoy the audience’s reaction. They were howling in laughter as my speech went through my childhood memories. I was given the best speaker of the day. I had discovered that I could make better speeches than I ever thought I would.
I didn’t settle. I prepared for speech after speech, role after role consciously. I kept improving with the feedback I got for each meeting. I hosted the meeting a couple of times. I was suggested to participate in contests. I served as the club secretary for an year. I got lots of encouragement to push myself. I participated in Humorous speech contest although I thought I was not so funny. I made it as a second runner up in division level contest.
I believe that learning is multi- dimensional. Whatever we learn reflects in every aspect of our life. As a toastmaster, I learnt not just how to speak or lead but how to make my day-to-day life better. I feel more confident now as I speak to my fellow toastmasters, co-workers, clients, boss or anyone I meet for the first time. Being a toastmaster made me experience that — “The only limits that we have are the limits that we set on ourselves”.
The only limits that we have are the limits that we set on ourselves
I wish I could continue my journey as a toastmaster forever. But at the moment I’m working on my purpose goals which forced me to take a break. I deeply hope that I would be back up on the stage and improve my confidence further. If you are looking to improve your communication and leadership skills, I highly recommend joining the Toastmasters club nearest to you. You will experience more than what I could describe here in a single article.
