Toastmasters

The meeting of "the Lafayette Club" is held the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Mondays of every month. I visited the meeting yesterday. "the Lafayette Club" is one of the "Toastmasters" clubs. "Toastmasters" is an organization for people who want to improve their presentation skills. http://www.toastmasters.org/ Two and a half years ago, when I heard about this organization, I was excited to think "This is what I want to do!" However, my English was too poor to join the club at that time. My English hasn't become perfect yet, but I decided it's time to challenge myself!!

The meeting was held in one of the buildings on the Purdue University campus(the photo.) Last week, I visited another meeting which was for advanced members. I was recommended to visit "the Lafayette Club" because there were some "non-native English speakers," like me. I had imagined almost all of the attendees were university students. But in the meeting, half of them were students, and the other half were advanced members who were so-called "the toastmasters." They evaluated each other.

What went on in the meeting? Almost all members made impromptu speeches, and some members made prepared presentations. Evaluaters gave the presenters comments, and each member voted for the best speaker. If you made a presentation which was over "the requested time," you were not qualified to be voted on! Do you think it is a SCARY club? I agree with you!! Can I survive in this club? I don't know! Anyway, I decided to be a formal member.

While I was listening to their speeches, I noticed several things. The most interesting thing was "eye contact." Even though they were making good speeches, "keeping good eye contact" seemed difficult. Many speakers often looked at the president or the chairperson of the meeting. I was impressed by one African-American guy. He did a very good job! His speed, voice volume, stage presence, and the uniqueness of the content were outstanding. However, he always looked upward, not at the audience. This was weird..but later, he said " I am 80% blind." I was sorry for my misunderstanding..

At any rate, "Toastmasters" fascinates me! I was thrilled to be there! I was looking forward to having my presentation skills trained there! Just after the meeting was over at 8:00pm, my husband called me, and said" I'm coming home!" I replied, " OK! But now, I just finished the TOASTMASTERS meeting.." Then he said, "What!? The GHOSTBUSTERS !?" I know he pretended to mishear, I love his sense of humor...