Why Toastmasters?

  Every time I attended a large gathering, the large crowd never threatened me, but the presenter never failed to scare me either. Yes, I was scared that he would call me onto the stage to speak. But more than that, I felt his failure would affect me; I wanted him to succeed, I cringed whenever he made a slight grammatical error or unnecessary usage in his speech. I didn’t know the reason for such a feeling until I came to Chennai Speakers Forum (CSF). Every member of the audience wants the speaker to be successful, they are waiting to hear a wonderful story, they are waiting to be entertained, and they are waiting for another inspiration. What a great lesson to improve one’s confidence!

  At CSF every meeting has at least one person defying all the odds and coming on top. At CSF, with each failure on stage you are closer to success.Members, struck with brain numbing quietness in the middle of their speech are not so uncommon. So are instances of such members turning it around and making it big within a short span. Imagine the hours of practice they have put in. It makes you believe that with practice and patience, anyone can achieve anything in this world. Inspirational !, is too small a word to describe such a feeling.

  This is just the tip of the Toastmasters iceberg. In a shrinking world where communication is turning out be the key factor differentiator. There is no other group that caters to improving communication skills by putting you in a real world situation. Rather than letting you rote and then forget. Its more like jumping into the swimming pool and then reading a book, "how on swimming with a bucket of water in your bathroom". I’m glad I joined Toastmasters. I’m there to get inspired every week and there has not been a week that i have not got inspired.

-Nijil