Transforming Lives

By MahathiVeena R

I still remember the day in office when my friend and I were walking towards the canteen seriously discussing on the lunch menu of the day and a poster captivated my eyes and instantaneously I walked towards it to see what it was all about. There was a picture of a Mic and the caption was “Are you interested in Public speaking”? From then on I wanted to join that toastmasters club but never made an attempt to do so.

I had imagined it to be a normal session where there will be experts sharing their experiences may be with the help of PowerPoint presentations and stuff. We will just have to follow them and learn things by ourselves. I had this perception until this Pandemic which came as a blessing in disguise and proved me wrong and clearly reinstated that there is much more to it.All the meetings were in virtual mode and so there were no constraints of locations.

This was totally a new experience for me for two reasons -one that I was new to toastmasters and the other one is that meetings are on Virtual mode.May be a renowned and experienced toastmaster might not agree with my thoughts as in person connects are way better than the Virtual connects. But to me everything seemed new and so didn’t make a difference as I was focusing more on the learning process and was curious to know more about it. I am enjoying every bit of it. Initially I had challenges facing the camera and speaking on video calls, it was weird but I can proudly say I am ready to talk loads after being part of toastmasters for more than 6 months now. I learnt to be more confident and now I don’t hesitate to convey what I want to.

How did all this happen? My first encounter was in September when I joined as a guest for the first time and I was a bit nervous. I had spoken to the Vice President Membership before I joined the meeting and she had asked me to try attending the meeting once to get a better insight about everything in toastmasters.I still remember the day I joined as a guest I was given a topic in the impromptu section and I was stuttering and was at a loss of words. That was when I realized I had to work more on this area. I was pretty nervous and couldn’t articulate the thoughts in my mind. I couldn’t deliver what I was intending to. Subsequent sessions that I attended made me realize I am at the right place and though I have come across about this forum a little late, I always thought “Better late than never”. From then there is no looking back, I became a member of the club I would rather call it a family where people strive to uplift and motivate each other. I am happy I landed in the right place.

The family surprised with yet another learning opportunity and trusted a newbie like me and offered the role of Vice president public relations. I was Skeptic initially as I have never handled poster making in the past. With all the encouragement and support from the members, I had taken it up and now I definitely feel I did the right thing. Being a part of Excomm and leading from the front is not easy. Representing the club and handling responsibilities on our shoulders and motivating each other to work more was not a cake walk. I always believed that being a part of Execution committee it is important to lead by example and persuade members to join in to sessions to learn and grow together.

This really is a wonderful experience with both highs and lows. I Personally believe if there are no lows there is no learning. Being a VPPR taught me the nuances of poster making and helped me understand a lot of new things which I have never attempted to learn earlier. This toastmasters Journey So far has been really helping me in my personal as well as professional life. It has improved my lifestyle by bringing in high energy levels, more confidence and enthusiasm.

Various contests organized in Club, Area and Division levels like Milestone contests of Clubs on Writing a quote, Poem helped me improve and bring out creative head inside me. The Table topics contest brought out the impromptu speaker in me and also helped me overcome my fear and nervousness.

With the Lovely bond I share with the family members and with the help of a mentor mentee concept, I am sure I will upskill myself and become a motivational speaker one day and bring in more laurels to the club. I am truly grateful to all the members and my mentor who has always been a guiding light and had confidence in me that I will be able to do it.Now I am glad I will be part of the 200th milestone meeting of the club.

Toastmasters is an ocean and I am glad I grabbed the opportunity to get the best learning droplets out of it.I commit myself to learn and grow together and become a better version of me as the days progress and scale more heights.

By MahathiVeena R