At our meeting on the 27th of August, Toastmaster of the Evening Matthias began with the evening’s theme of “Gratitude!” He contacted the speakers in advance, introduced them wonderfully and made sure that the spotlight was on the speakers.
The first speaker Olena delivered her Icebreaker entitled “Forget about love, I’d rather fall in chocolate!”. She gave a short introduction about herself in which we learned that she is a software developer, that she lives to do sports and that she likes eating, especially chocolate, cakes or candies. She admitted that as a child she had problems with eating too much, that she used to hide pieces of cake under her pillow (n.a. audience laughing). She also informed us that 1 kg of chocolate can add 3 kg to a person’s weight. However, by practicing self-control, she learned to keep her distance from the sweets she likes so much. She ended her speech beautifully, wishing that our lives be full of happiness and chocolate.
1st class drawing vs. current drawing
The second Icebreaker was given by Marina, who told us about her dream of becoming better at public speaking. She started her speech by admitting that in school she was very shy, and that one day she had a complete blackout when she was in front of her classmates at the blackboard. This event created the belief that she was a horrible speaker, a belief that was reinforced through her school life.
But she continued by giving us an example of a picture she drew in 1st Grade. Putting that picture in contract with another recent one, the advanced art student that she is gave us proof that with practice one can become a master artist. This example shows that with practice you can improve and become master in the field you have chosen. Thus, with practice you can become a good public speaker. It is just a matter of practice.
She finished her speech with a call to action: “Play on your strengths instead of on your weaknesses”.
Holger gave CC#9 speech Inspire your Audience, entitled “Turn Off the Digital Noise”. He grabbed our attention when he told us that we are bombarded with messages via twitter, emails, facebook, sms etc. etc.- a phenomenon he calls digital noise. Holger asked us if we really understand what is important or not from or with these messages.
He continued with a nice example about his mid-summer bike trip in the beautiful mountains of Norway. While the sun set he soaked up everything Nature had to offer. At one point, a car stopped, a man got out speaking into his cellphone about his daily routine “what wine to buy, who is visiting on Sunday”. Afterwards, he took some photos, got back in the car and continued his journey. At that point Holger asked himself: did that person enjoy the view of the mountain? Did he see the beautiful lake or the glacier in the distance turning slightly pink in the sunset? Did this man see the sun reflecting in the lake? Did he notice Holger watching him?
Holger’s call to action was to live in the present moment and enjoy the beauty around us, to turn off your cell phone when you are with friends, biking, hiking, dancing or doing anything else important. When you’re watching a movie, let the story grab you, instead of investigating the background of the story on your tablet (n.a. audience laughing). Turn off the phone and do that thing you are doing very well. We do not need to make ourselves slaves of digital noise.
Word of the day: ubiquitous, which means existing or being everywhere: Political corruption is ubiquitous in many parts of the world.
Lesson learned: We can learn everything, it is just a matter of practice.