MEET THE TEAM - PRESIDENT, CHET THAKER
Chet Thaker is the current President of the West Herts Speakers Club.
Following is his personal insight into Toastmasters and how it has helped him achieve his personal goals and objectives.
1) WHEN DID YOU JOIN TOASTMASTERS?
In the summer of 2006. Doesn't time fly when you're having fun.
2) WHY DID YOU INITIALLY JOIN TOASTMASTERS?
I found myself having to do more and more presentations at work to senior management and although I had no nerves with speaking in public, I had become a little rusty so wasn't totally happy with my performance during those presentations.
At the time a Toastmasters club was just starting up in my head office in the USA so this introduced me to what Toastmasters was all about and I thought it would be the ideal place for me to practice my public speaking so I could deliver good presentations at work.
3) HOW DID YOU FEEL WHEN YOU DID YOUR FIRST SPEECH?
A mixture of emotions really.
Like I said earlier, public speaking wasn't new to me but I quickly realised that at work I was using Powerpoint as my crutch and relied on it too much, whereas I should have been concentrating on what I was saying and how I was saying it rather than reading from the slides.
Not having Powerpoint was scary but at the same time I was excited as I had realised that there was so much to learn from Toastmasters about public speaking than I had realised.
I didn't know what I didn't know so it was great to start out on my Toastmasters journey with the ice-breaker speech.
The warm reception and feedback you get from the other members really gives you a boost which is great!
4) WHAT LEVEL OF SPEAKING ARE YOU AT NOW?
You don't realise how good you've become until you actually do a good speech outside of a club and it becomes obvious when compared to other speakers who may have not had the benefit of Toastmasters.
As a direct result of Toastmasters I was able to achieve a goal I had of speaking at an internal company conference to an audience of over 300 people. Not only was I able to communicate my message to them clearly, I made them laugh during the speech.
I never thought I would find myself saying this but I loved every minute of that speech and if someone asked me to speak to an audience of that size or bigger now I would not hesitate for a minute. All you have to do is apply the techniques you learn at Toastmasters and it all comes together to make a great speech. That day was proof of how useful Toastmasters is in helping us develop our public speaking skills.
5) WHAT SKILLS HAS TOASTMASTERS GIVEN YOU IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE?
I've found that Table Topics has helped me communicate better in meetings. Whereas before I may have waffled when talking in meetings, I catch myself now being much more specific and succinct in my answers without losing any of the information I want to communicate.
Taking on other roles in the club meetings helps you develop key communication skills of listening, which takes a while to get used to, and I really appreciate this.
Toastmasters is not just about speaking and it's as much about giving constructive feedback through evaluations and this has really helped me in my day job as a manager. You're regularly faced with having to give feedback to your staff and others in order to help them improve. Using the Commend, Recommend, Commend approach allows you to deliver this feedback far more effectively.
I joined Toastmasters to practice and develop my public speaking skills but I've been able to develop my leadership skills as well thorough the Competent Leader programme. I wasn't aware of this before I joined and I feel the skills are as important as the public speaking skills.
6) WHAT DO YOU ENJOY ABOUT TOASTMASTERS?
So many things.
I really enjoy the energy and buzz of the club meetings and no matter how much of a long and hard day you may have had, you always leave a club meeting with a buzz.
You're treated to speeches from people who come from all sorts of different walks of life and professions, who have varied interests so you're always entertained and/or educated.
There is something special about Toastmasters meetings - it seems to attract people who are so warm and friendly so the breaktimes are just as much fun as the meetings themselves where again you get to chat with different people about so many different topics.
One of the most rewarding things is seeing people develop and grow through the Toastmasters experience. It's facinating to watch and see the people who have a real fear of public speaking become very competent speakers and totally comfortable at the front of the room delivering a super speech. Not so long before they would never have imagined themselves being able to do so - the look on their faces when they've achieved their personal goals is priceless!
WHY NOT POP ALONG TO OUR NEXT MEETING TO MEET CHET AND THE TEAM...YOU'RE ALWAYS WELCOME.
