My Friend, the Toastmaster

As some of you know, I am a part of Toastmasters International. I've actually been a part of Toastmasters for about 2 years on and off. I think when I first started back in 2005, I was already pretty good and I'm not sure I've challenged myself to do different things with my speeches in a while. In any case, in all the time I've been a part of Toastmasters, I never really got a chance to compete. I won my club's contest when I was part of a university club but couldn't make it out to the next contest (where the winners of different clubs compete) because I had to pick my Mom up from the airport.

This time it would be different. Up against, one other club member, I won the speech contest and moved on to the Area club contest where I would compete with other club winners in my area. Though nerve wracking, it was a good experience, especially since the contest was a humorous speech contest.

I think luck was on my side that day: I was up against one other person again and managed to eke out a win. The win meant that I would move on to the Division contest (and if I won that, I would move on to the District, the final one I believe).

Imagine an early Saturday morning. You just came back to Edmonton from Calgary the night before on a long bus ride home and now you have to give a speech against other winners from the Area contests.

This is what happened:




and here is my speech as I wrote it out (though probably different than when I actually said it out loud).

My Friend, the Toastmaster

Thank you mr. toastmaster, fellow dawnbreakers, most welcome guests and honored judges.

Today, I want to talk about a good friend of mine, a fellow Toastmaster. We have been friends for a few years and he is probably in his 30's now. Some would say that he's middle aged. Others may disagree. I only bring up the age to highlight the fact that he's been a Toastmaster now for almost all his life.

What I wanted to share with you today are some of the traits my good friend has as a Toastmaster. Perhaps these are traits that some of you may already have or are looking to gain. Some of his many great qualities that I will be talking about today include his use of pauses and silence, his passion or heat for being a Toastmaster and his obsession with toasts.

First, let me talk about his use of pauses and silence.

My friend says very little in his day to day life but that doesn't mean that the words that he does say do not carry a lot of weight. He doesn't say much but when he does say something, it is meaningful, relevant, profound and he says things with authority -- like a small bell in a large room. People often listen to his eerie speeches full of pauses and silence and when he finally speaks up, people are happy, they are excited. They even stand up after they have heard his words of wisdom. You may have heard the quote "a watched pot never boils". By his silent speeches alone, he has coined the phrase "a watched Toastmaster never toasts".

You might mistake this as a lack of passion or heat for being a Toastmaster. Make no mistake about it though, he has a burning desire to be the best Toastmaster there is.

His passion has often been described as a flame that would consume anything and everything if not kept in check. Luckily for us, he keeps it in check. As an example of how he keeps his heat in check, every single time I have seen him make a toast, he always ends at either a minute, a minute and a half or two minutes. You can be sure that when he finishes, it is never over the time limit. In fact, he is so consistent and so precise, some even think that he is a machine. Due to his punctuality and his profound toasts, he is often requested by friends to make toasts in their honor.

That leads me to his third characteristic: his obsession with toasts.

A toast as you know, is a drink and small tribute in honor of a person. Like I said, he is often requested by friends to make toasts in their honor. By now, you must realize that all he seems to do is make toasts - why the obsession with toasts, I do not know. His toasts can range from light toasts that are crisp and to the point to dark toasts that are sometimes difficult to swallow. As an example of his obsession with toasts, I have seen him make 2, 3 even 4 toasts, simultaneously to honor 4 different people. Whatever the occasion, he can make the right toast.

Let me now end by showing you a picture of my friend, the Toastmaster. Although he is quite shy, I managed to snap a picture while he wasn't quite plugged into the things around him. I think that many of you may recognize him as he is quite famous for his toasts. As I show you a picture of my friend, I will conclude by reiterating many of the points I have made so far.

- He's been a toastmaster for almost all his life.
- His great qualities include his use of pauses and silence, his passion or heat for being a Toastmaster and his obsession with toasts
- He says things with authority, like a small bell in a silent room
- He coined the phrase, a watched Toastmaster never toasts
- He is so consistent, so precise, some people think he is a machine.
- He has an obsession with toasts
- His toasts range from light toasts that are crisp and to the point to dark toasts that are difficult to swallow
- As an example of his obsession with toasts, I have seen him make 2, 3 even 4 toasts simultaneously to honor 4 different people.

Fellow dawnbreakers, most welcome guests, my friend, the Toastmaster.

Back to you Mr. Toastmaster.

I didn't win that day but it was definitely one of my better speeches I have given.