Page 34 - voices-09-2021

QUARTER NOTE
I joined Toastmasters
after two friends suggested
I might gain a lot of worthwhile
experiences by checking out the
organization. After briefly hesitating,
I wound up attending several meetings at
Babble-On Toastmasters before joining the Club
in November 2013.
Then things really picked up. Although
I’d been given a mentor, I rarely relied on
him at first. Reading through the Competent
Communicator manual, I noted that many of
the first exercises came easily to me. In fact,
quite a few of the lessons mimicked those I’d
34 ONE COMMUNITY
Run at Your Own Pace
David Freedman, IP3
learned as an actor. The main reason
I joined Toastmasters was to further
hone those skills that would aid me
in my craft. I jumped right into the
Club culture and rapidly started
working on all of those lessons
related to preparing your
speech: getting to the point,
vocal variety, improving
body language, and more. I
also took part in learning the
various meeting roles—Timer,
Evaluator, Grammarian, and
so on. I was fearless about being
on stage, particularly when giving
speeches—always wanting to do
more.
Then I got to the eighth project, “Get
Comfortable with Visual Aids.” Suddenly, my
confidence took a nosedive. Although I’d taken
a PowerPoint class in college, I hadn’t used the
software since then. I certainly hadn’t utilized
a computer or projector for a presentation. I
don’t recall panicking outright but I certainly
was nervous about moving forward and giving
the presentation. Long story short, I asked for
help and received it from my mentor and several
other people. I gave the presentation. To the best
of my knowledge, it went just fine. But in order
to give the presentation properly, I had to learn
to slow down and ask questions in the first place.