On the verge of 50, I wish I did years ago what you should do now. Join toastmasters.
In a little more than a month from now, I will turn 50. It's a time of reflection. Regrets? I have a few. And one I'll mention. I wish I joined Toastmasters at a younger age.
I'm an engineer-type. Public speaking doesn't come naturally to us. I've been running tech events for so long and have keynoted a few times. But I still get nerves. This surprises some people.
I've seen world-class, seasoned speakers nervous as hell before killing it. You would never know. But some do share their jitters with the organizer.
If you want to become a better speaker, go to Toastmasters. Or if you want to be a speaker at all. It is fantastic.
There are so many different aspects of speaking. Presenting. Speaking off the cuff. With demos broken. Asking questions. Answering questions. Big rooms. Small rooms. In front of kids. In front of foreign speakers. In front of important people. Each one is an opportunity to get nervous, to be surprised. To learn something new.
I've been shopping around different toastmasters over the last few weeks and I love them all. Tonight I participated as a guest. I really didn't feel like speaking. Just wanted to observe. They have "table topics" where you are told the topic and with no prep time invited to speak.
At the last few toastmasters where I guested, after hearing the table topic and watching people go up, I felt that I couldn't do it. Would have nothing to say.
But I'm doing this to improve. To get out of my comfort zone. So on a whim, even though it was a room of strangers, and my first table topic ever, I volunteered. It was a bit nerve wracking to make up a speech on the spot. But I did it and it's exhilarating to feel like you stretched yourself.
So much so, that I felt it was important to write this in the hopes of catching one of you who want to enhance your career. Just join toastmasters. It's a place to practice. Everyone there is nervous at first. They teach you to get better. Do it. Now.
Don't wait until you're 50 like I did.
Relentless Advocate for Entrepreneurs, Dealmaker, Veteran, Tree Farmer
6 年I can relate - at about 49, I realized that I enjoy speaking and teaching much more than my traditional career path. I found that it is less about speaking and more about sharing your experiences, both successes and failures. You described this above as answering questions, and I think you will find that it is teaching. And for me, teaching is incredibly rewarding. It took me a while to acknowledge the value of simply engaging in a natural dialog is highly valuable to people earlier in their career paths.
Finally in a space where I can recognize that this is a thing I can start to love, and starting is terrifying. Time to kick myself in the butt!
Principal Software Engineering Manager at Microsoft
7 年Great advise Joe. Even many of us that do it for a living get the jitters still. findings a good toastmasters will do wonders. We should do coffee soon.
CTO | Board Member | Advisor | Mentor
7 年excellent joe - early in my career i was uncomfortable speaking at events but over the years i've been ask to speak a lot (by you too) and now enjoy it most times (talking about topics i don't care about is still challenging) i've found that a room full of people i know is more challenging than a room full of strangers