It was ten years ago this month that I gave my first Icebreaker speech, the start of my Toastmasters journey.  As we approach New Year’s, it’s a good time to reflect on our progress, and consider our future.

While working on my MBA (Masters of Business Administration), a couple of the instructors mentioned Toastmasters as a useful way to improve presentation skills.  I was never terribly bothered by having to give a speech, no more than any other sort of work assignment, but I can’t say I was terribly good at it either, and I certainly had never given a speech in front of more than 20-30 people.

A few months after I graduated, I saw a sign in the lobby of the building I worked in announcing a Toastmasters meeting right in the building.  I figured it couldn’t get much easier than that, so I decided to go check it out.  There were several speeches, but what I remember most is a woman who gave what I later learned was the visual aids speech.  Her topic?  The fearsome critter known as the jackalope.  At the end of her speech, she reached under the lectern and pulled out a stuffed jackalope!  It was a great speech, very well-presented.

After another meeting or two, I filled out a membership application and joined.  My Icebreaker came soon after, and it was exactly ten years ago this month.  Since I was doing a lot of traveling, mostly for work, my title was “Travel Broadens One’s Mind”.

My speech outline was a dozen typed lines (I didn’t write it out verbatim), starting with growing up on a farm in Iowa with parents who had never been out of the country, to my first trip abroad (London and Paris for work), a trip around the world (including a leg on the Concorde SST), favorite vacation spots, and places I wanted to go.

I do remember being nervous, as these were all practiced polished speakers who were going to critique my work afterward!  But TradeMasters is a good strong club, and the evaluation gave me the courage and strength to continue on with the rest of my CC.  And I was surprised to learn that people thought I had a good (and natural) sense of humor!

From there on, it took me about a year and a half to earn my CC award, but that’s another story.  Here’s the evaluation PDF.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all my readers!