From fumbling and mumbling to speaking

I remember it like it was yesterday. How excited I was to be promoted back into management at my new employer! An office (small but it had a window)! Staff (all three of them)! Higher salary (small but growing)! There was one small problem. I was required to give a 15-minute presentation on my work to a group of peers and other interested department heads.

Public speaking? Me? Not my forte! To say I was petrified was an understatement. I did what anyone would have done. I wrote down everything I wanted to say. I chopped it down until it was 15 minutes in length and then memorized the whole speech. Finally, I rehearsed the speech replete with practiced gestures, using my son's teddy bear collection as my audience. I was ready.

D-Day arrived. I went to the presentation room early to practice again and everything went smoothly. And yet, when it was my turn to speak and I saw 50 sets of eyes looking at me, I froze. I forgot what I was going to say. My hands were shaking so badly that I put them in my pockets. That didn't present a better visual experience for the audience. Apparently my shaking hands made me twist from side to side. One person noted on their feedback form that I looked like a marionette being blown about by a stiff wind.

As speakers, we received written feedback and a score on a 1 - 10 scale. My average score was "-3". Yep, "minus 3". As I sat in the corner of the presentation room, licking my imaginary wounds, one of my fellow speakers told me I needed to join Toastmasters. I heard it as "toast makers" and with that in mind, asked him why, after such a trainwreck of a speech, he felt I needed to learn how to toast bread. Perhaps this group would teach me menu planning as well?

Fast-forward 27 years. I've given hundreds of speeches to audiences both big and small. I've copped Toastmasters' top award, Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM), twice and am now pursuing my third DTM. I have competed in contests and known the pinnacle of success ( District 57 Evaluation Champion, 2009) as well as the taste of falling flat on my face.

In my opinion, Toastmasters is the most cost-effective public speaking training out there. There are in-person clubs around the world and even clubs that meet via Zoom. If you are new to public speaking or just polishing up your skills, Toastmasters can help.

Of crucial importance to my 401k role is being able to adapt my 401k talks to whatever length/ topic/ emphasis the plan sponsor wants. I am also able to improv on the spot if I sense the audience is not getting my message or wants to go in a different direction. Yes, I have grown since my ill-fated hands-in-pants-pockets flapping speech.

To that end, I am helping launch a virtual club out of Houston that seeks to help bald people speak with confidence. My family was poor. Mom would save money by giving me a haircut. I was certainly the laughing stock at school and my self-confidence was not great. Baldness in adults can occur for any number of reasons including early hair loss (ie, male pattern baldness) and hair loss from radiation treatments. To the extent that we are defined by our haircuts/ lack of hair, this Toastmaster club seeks to help those regain that confidence.

While that may not be applicable to you, please do consider Toastmasters if you are looking to be a more polished public speaker (https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club).