My Toastmasters Journey

#126

I stumbled upon a Toastmasters magazine back in 2019. At the time, I dismissed the idea. One fine day in the latter half of 2020, I stumbled upon yet another magazine, this time for some reason I decided to take it seriously. I read every article in that issue cover-to-cover and I was mesmerized by the experiences people shared. And so it began...

In the first week of October, I entered my registration details on the Toastmasters.org website. I didn't know much about 'clubs' back then so I chose a random (what I thought to be random at the time) one in Chennai which held meetings on Saturdays. Soon enough, I got a call, spoke to the concerned person and decided to take my very first step in my Toastmasters journey - I attended my first meeting as a guest.

I had zero expectations, all I had in mind was to attend that one meeting to see how things were conducted and that's it. Out of the blue, I was called to speak on a table topic. Being a person who does not like being put on the spot (surprise surprise, I don't like surprises!), I simply refused to speak. Despite being cajoled to try a couple of times, I persisted "I don't know what to say, I can't speak." Immediately, I shut off my video and continued to listen to the rest of the meeting in that manner, feeling thoroughly embarrassed and kicking myself for not standing up to the challenge and speaking.

After that day, I attended 2 more meetings as a guest and I did try my hand at table topics. Though it was quite a disaster - my speech was filled with 'ahs' and 'ums', I was happy with myself that I at least said yes to trying. October 24, 2020 - I paid my membership fees and started actively participating in each and every meeting, taking up roles, giving regular speeches, and helping out with other initiatives such as contests and newsletters.

This April would mark one year since I started this blog :) It was a 30-day challenge on City Connect. What a year it has been! I decided to use this month to post all the Toastmaster-related artifacts, my speech scripts and videos I have given in my club so far, and I'm not treating it as a challenge per-se, but I hope to regain my consistency by posting regularly.

Cheers!