Originally published January 6, 2015 in the Winnipeg Free Press
Welcome to Toastmasters! Those are the happy words you will hear when you visit one of our clubs. If joining Toastmasters has been one of your goals, or even a New Year´s resolution, there is no better time to visit a club than now.
What you can expect is a friendly, supportive group that will introduce you to what Toastmasters can offer. Need to give a presentation at work? We have a program
for that. Want to meet friendly, interesting people? We have them. Looking for ways to communicate better with friends and family? We can show you how. Long business meetings getting you down? We have the tools to keep them on time. Toastmasters can help you with these items and more.
For a practical example, let me share the story of Dananjaya Hettiarachchi from Sri Lanka who is the 2014 World Champion of Public Speaking with his speech “I see something in you”. It had a basic plot. A young man finds himself in trouble with the law. Through the pain in his mother´s tearful eyes and with the help of a mentor he is given another chance. With the help of Toastmasters and other programs, he finds his voice and wins the ultimate prize, a new life filled with self-confidence, excitement and promise.
The tools he used for his speech covered all of the basics for a good speech. Using gestures, he opened with a beautiful red rose and said that this represented all of us, perfect until life changes us. He then tore petals off the rose. Using vocal Variety, he called out to the audience, ¨How many of you have a mother who would cry for seeing her son behind bars”? He then included us all by saying “My mother is like all of yours put together!” Repeating the phrase, “I see something in you but I don´t know what it is”. This was woven through his story first by his mentor, then by his future wife, and lastly by a Toastmasters member. Humour, he pointed to a spot on the stage that represented his wife and commented that he was so fortunate to find his beautiful wife. Even though she also said “I see something in you, but I don´t know what it is”. Then he said “I couldn’t find a job, but I found a wife”. Picture this with dramatic pauses, exaggerated facial expressions and a shy smile. Using drama, after sharing his journey from delinquent to successful speaker, he paused for a long moment, reached into the bucket on stage and pulled out the perfect red rose. The audience exploded as he ended his speech. I invite you to check it out this speech on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbz2boNSeL0 and I look forward to hearing about you visiting us at a Toastmasters meeting in the near future.
To hear more comments about Toastmasters, please go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WStG9TnG0Gw There are Toastmasters meetings every day of the week (day and evening) in Manitoba and North-West Ontario that would welcome you. Go to www.toastmasters. org/findaclub or call 204-338-7401 to find out more. No experience necessary.