My Speech, My Little story

Ladies and Gentlemen, Imagine yourself standing on the stage with a thousand pairs of eyes staring blankly at you, anticipating the glorious moment when your mouth opens to push out the words that you have prepared for so long. Somewhere in your heart, you reassure yourself again and again that it is all going to be okay, but then what comes out is nothing more than a struggling, noiseless ‘pop’. Does this sound familiar?

Public speaking is a little misleading devil that haunts us in our daily lives. When we look our student presidential candidates running from lecture theater to lecture theater to speak in front of us before the lecture starts, it seems to be an easy, smooth, perhaps even enjoyable experience to them. However, when these inevitable moments eventually come to you, it seems that even two to three audience members are enough to form a formidable wall in your heart. This is the moment that you start to wonder, “What’s wrong with me?”

Let me share a little story. As a first year Imperial undergraduate, I had the fortune of discovering a young club hidden in the Mechanical Engineering department called Imperial College Speakers. Amazingly, it is part of a global organization that dedicates itself to nurturing great speakers and leaders, Toastmasters International (a tip for the job-seeking students: HR departments know this organization well). I remember the first meeting quite vividly: the joyous, relaxed atmosphere that illuminated the air, sandwiched with the slight nervousness from each member as they stood up on the stage and started speaking. Yes, this is a club that asks you to make a speech.

I had my share of embarrassment. I stood in front of 20 people, legs slightly trembling and definitely feeling very anxious about my speech. So as I tried to make a desperate attempt to calm myself down, I began to shout in fragments: “GO-OD EV-E-NING LA-DI-ES...”. I sounded like a spoilt microphone that only makes a sound when you bang it on its corners. However, the amazing thing about Toastmaster is that immediately after the speech, the audience gave me an approving glance that even I found it to be unbelievable. Hey, all the members are just here to learn, so this is a challenge with no failure, it is just another experience.

As I went down the journey towards being a speaker, I learn a few lessons and cleared a few misconceptions. First of all, speaking can be improved by experience. If you ever have the chance of audience a speech by Ex-president Michelle, you will find her to be the most graceful lady on stage (off-Stage too). You can’t really believe (I still can’t) that a human can be so composed on stage, even though the evidence is blatantly just in front of you. However, behind this grace, behind the composure, behind all this unbelievable confidence, is nothing more than two years of public speaking experience. Trust me, if you are willing to go that extra mile, eventually you will be a better speaker than you ever dreamed yourself to be.

It is through making one speech after another that I learnt a lot about how to inspire people, how to be humourous and how to carry on a conversation. But it is not only about the skills that I acquired, it is the feeling of accomplishment, the satisfaction that was imprinted on my heart when people just cheered me on after a successful speech. It is cliché but the truth is that every time members come to me and thank me for inspiring them, I am proud of my speech because it is changing people’s life one at a time. Now, it is time for me to end off with a little scenario for you to consider. When we look at the professional speakers standing in the limelight with people cheering so loudly, there is idea that crosses our mind “wouldn’t it be great if one day I can speak like him?”(Admit it!) Well, maybe it is time for you to give this thought a little nudge. Who knows, maybe twenty years down the road, you will be thankful that little decision you make here.