I joined Toastmasters two months
ago. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for many years, but I never dug up the
courage to follow through. I thought it would be nerve-wracking, I would be
under a lot of pressure to succeed, and I would be out of my league with other
speakers.
For those of you who aren’t
familiar with Toastmasters, it’s an international organization and its club
mission statement is “We provide a supportive and positive learning experience
in which members are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills,
resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth.”
Formal speaking in front of a
group, large or small, can be intimidating to many people. It certainly was for
me. I’ve had to speak in front of groups, and I always get nervous and end up
with the “ums” and “uhs” and “you knows” in plentiful supply during my talk.
Finally, at the urging of a friend,
I attended my first Toastmaster meeting with a club that was still fairly new.
It made me feel better to know many of the members had been attending for
months, instead of years. Yet we also have seasoned members who help keep the
club running efficiently and effectively and mentor us as we grow.
I make the majority of my living
writing and editing. Although I enjoyed the two months of Toastmasters, and
intended to keep going, I had to wonder - what does this bring to the table in
regard to where I am right now in life?
The answer came to me as I was
preparing my first formal speech called the Icebreaker. I had to introduce
myself to the audience, letting them know a little about me.
If you haven’t tried to condense
your life into a few minutes, let me tell you that it’s more difficult than you
might imagine. I’ve had many diverse careers, raised a family, married and
divorced, went on several grand adventures, and have many interests - all of
those helped shape the person I am today. Narrowing down the focus was
challenging.
I was only given four to six minutes
for this speech. It seemed like forever when I thought about standing in front
of the members for that amount of time. Yet when I actually wrote out my speech
and timed myself during practice, I talked for over eight minutes.
Now the tie in to my writing. I had
to be super organized, like I do when I’m trying to write a story, stay on
task, and make sense of everything I included. During my speech I needed to cut
out the extraneous words and thoughts, because I simply didn’t have time to go
off on a tangent. When I write I need to trim up the prose, because my readers wouldn’t
have patience for my off-the-subject rambling, no matter how brilliant I thought
my writing was.
Just as organization is key to an
effective presentation, with a clear introduction, body, and summary,
organization is also key in fiction and non-fiction writing to trim unnecessary
words and keep the story moving.
When I timed my first speech about
growing up on the farm, and realized I had to cut a minimum of two minutes off,
and preferably more since I wanted to throw in some well-timed pauses for
effect, I had some problems deciding what was important and what I could cut.
Are you kidding me, my entire early
childhood was important, right? Wouldn’t my audience want to hear about my
adventures riding dirt bikes in the pasture, climbing the apricot tree even
when we weren’t picking the fruit, going through my grandfather’s old shed and
finding decades-old copies of Life and National Geographic?
Here’s where my writing experience
helped.
Kill Your Darlings.
Be ruthless. Just because I was in
love with a scene or a description or a character, didn’t mean it belonged in my
story. Or in my speech.
I thought my first speech went well,
considering. I was nervous, had to rely on notes, and needed to speed up at the
end to finish within the time limits. It’s going to take practice and time to
become proficient at giving speeches, just as it does to become proficient at
writing.
Even if I never have to give a
formal speech in front of an audience other than my Toastmasters club members,
what I’m learning about communication and leadership is invaluable. I can see
how, as I become a better speaker, my writing will become clearer and more
interesting.
My initial worries about
Toastmasters were put to rest after the first meeting, and now after my
Icebreaker speech I can safely say that it’s not as nerve-wracking as I thought
it would be. I don’t feel pressured from other club members - I feel fully
supported. Although the long-time members are much better speakers than I am,
no one makes me feel like I’m out of their league. I’m part of the club,
supported, mentored, and encouraged every step of the way.
Not to mention it’s also - dare I
say it - fun!
