A TMOD theme titled “Boons of Public Speaking”

About a year back, I was in a dealer’s meet hosted by a large corporate. At the meet, apart from food, awards and photo sessions, there was a section where some of the dealers made small presentations about the industry. One such presentation was by a young 22 year boy who was studying and simultaneously helping his father run the business. He gave an impressive talk on the best practices in the conventional industry from the perspective of a fresh young participant. Last week, I happened to run into the same guy in another gathering. Somehow we got into talking and I mentioned “Hey you made that presentation in the dealer’s meet right? It was amazing.” The boy’s face lit up. “You remember me from that meet. Amazing. It was a great experience for me too. I learnt a lot of things while preparing for it.” The boy thought I was great because I recognised him from a meet a year back but in reality it was his presentation that was great because it made him worthy of being remembered. There were about 100 dealers and I barely knew any of them because I was new in the industry. Yet I remembered him because he was the one who stood on the stage and gave a talk. That is the power of public speaking Toastmasters. Imagine we are all a swarm of ants – looking alike, homogenous in all aspects, nothing worth differentiating about. Public speaking differentiates us in that swarm, makes us worthy of being remembered. Needless to say, from that point on my efforts in Toastmasters has tripled.

On that note let me tell you how a Toastmasters meeting happens. Every Toastmasters meeting is divided into three parts. The first part is the prepared speech section where members prepare a speech in advance, get it mentored and deliver the same. The second part is the impromptu session where anyone including the guest can participate. And the third part is the most important evaluation session where we will all learn how to improve ourselves. Let me now invite the General Evaluator to explain his role. Please help me welcome TM Name with a big round of applause.

Once the General Evaluator has explained his role, start the prepared speech section. After this session, continue with the theme as under.

One another advantage of public speaking is that it also fills you with confidence, confidence that usually comes to most people only after a couple of rounds of whisky. Remember the time when you learnt how to drive or how to swim, didn’t it give you feeling of floating a little above the ground? Being a confident public speaker is a whole lot like that with one big advantage – swimming or driving is a common skill. The novelty therefore wears off with time. Public speaking on the other hand is a rare one and every time you do it, you rub this fact on the face of an entire audience. In fact with YouTube and social media, the gains you make as a result of this skill has only amplified. It’s like floating a little above the ground at all times.

It’s time now for the most exciting and fun session in a Toastmasters meeting. Please welcome with a big round of applause our Table Topic Master TM Name.

Once the table topic session is over, continue with the theme as under.

Let me tell you about the gains I have because of public speaking. Just last month, a local organisation was hosting a panel discussion on women empowerment. And they needed someone to host it. A friend of mine referred me because he had seen my Toastmasters video on our YouTube channel. That show had an audience of 200 people and about half of them came up to talk to me during the dinner. After I saw the young boy give a speech in the industry meet, I volunteered to speak as well. While I am still a newbie in the industry, the company officials approached me to be a speaker in a similar program in another area as well. But the one I gladly remember is when my grandmother died and I made a eulogy that swelled everyone in the family with emotions. My cousins on the other hand were scared to death just to hold the mike, pun intended.

With that it’s time to start the final session of the meeting, the evaluation session. Let’s welcome the GE for the day TM Name.

Once the Evaluation session is over, conclude the theme as under.

Fellow Toastmasters, over the last one year, I have genuinely come to believe that the skill of public speaking can do wonders to any individual. I have seen it make people stand out, be remembered and handed out opportunities that few get. All of this has made me double down my dedication to Toastmaster. But frankly speaking, nothing I said today was new to you. You fully knew the benefits of public speaking long before. So think of today as a refresher course on the same. With that I hope all of you would double down your efforts in Toastmasters as well just like me.

It’s time for awards now.