Open Elements

The first time I heard of “Toastmasters“, I wasn’t quite sure who they were or what they did. After some research, I found out they were a group of people that got together to improve their public speaking skills by doing speeches in front of one another. The idea of public speaking usually terrifies me, so I decided not to do anything about it at that time.

I’m not exactly sure how it happened, but I ended up making an appointment to visit a toastmasters meeting near my house a few days later. The members at North Star Toastmasters made me feel welcome and just let me observe their meeting; which was fine by me. At some point during their meeting, they asked me if I wanted to participate in something they called “table topics” and I agreed, mostly because they made it look very easy.

Table Topics
Basically, someone asks you a question about a certain topic and you answer it however you want; the only requirement is that you have to speak for at least one minute, but no more than two and half minutes; and that’s it. I won’t go into the details, but I will just say that I spilled the beans and gave out too much personal information. I won’t be doing that again. Lesson learned!. Overall, I had a really good experience that first day and made the decision to return to the meeting and eventually I became a member.

One year later
It has been about a year since I joined toastmaster and I’m finding myself looking for a goal or target. The Competent Toastmaster (CTM) award is the first level of accomplishment a Toastmaster can achieve. It also serves as a goal for working through the essentials of public speaking. To reach CTM level, you must complete 10 prepared speeches. Last week I completed my 6th prepared speech towards CTM status and I’m getting really excited about completing all 10 of them!

You too
Public speaking still terrifies me, but I’m finding it a lot easier to do thanks to Toastmasters. They provide you with the right tools and knowledge you need to pull off a fantastic speech or presentation. If you feel uncomfortable in your own skin at the thought of speaking in public, then consider visiting a toastmasters meeting in your area. They have thousands of meetings all over world; even in Tukwila, WA. Who knows, you might even enjoy it as much as I have.