I bit the bullet. I took the plunge. I screwed up my courage to the sticking-point. I joined Toastmasters. I've been toying with the idea for a couple of years, and felt that now is a good time to participate. I'm giving a presentation at the next Internet Librarian conference, and wanted to learn to feel more comfortable speaking before people who know more than I do about lots of things.
The Klassy Talkers meet at the Executive Airport, not far from home, and they seem to be a closely-knit bunch of characters. They made me feel very welcome when I dropped in unannounced several weeks ago, and have all been very encouraging and kind. My first speech will be the "Icebreaker", which is all about me, and will serve to introduce me to the group. I think it's a 5-7 minute speech.
I have a mentor, who will help me with the first couple of speeches and also introduce me to the Roles that make the meetings unique: Ah-Master, Table Topics Master, Joke Master, Timekeeper, and others. I have a workbook that outlines the progression of lessons and speeches that will chronicle my development into a Klassy Talker, too.
Let's get started!
2 comments:
Well, well, how did it go?
They say I aced it! I was really nervous, but I had a terrific mentor, and it was an "easy crowd" - they listened, laughed in all the right places, and wrote me lots of "love notes."
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