Blog of Kim Loon

“How Toastmasters have made an Impact in your life?”
“How Toastmasters have changed your life?”

These are some of the common questions being asked, during Toastmasters Club Speechcraft sessions or Demonstration Meetings. Toastmasters have changed my life for the better in many ways. This is one of the stories which I shared during such events.

One of tasks as an engineering student in the polytechnic, we needed to complete an engineering final year project. Towards the end of my polytechnics days, a close friend doing computer science visited me in the polytechnic.

I was very excited showing him the polytechnic, and of course, my proud final year project.

This close friend was impressed by the technical wonders which we had put into our project. And he believed that the project would score well. Out of interest, he asked what else to be done to the project.

I told all we need to do was to give a presentation to the lecturers.

As my close friend, he was frank with me. He gave me this advice, “Let my project partner do all the presentation works.”

This friend had never seen my project partner, and not even heard him speak. He gave me this advice, but he knew me very well. He knew so well that he knew, my presentation was so bad that almost anybody could do a better job in giving the presentation.

I did not feel anything wrong with my bad presentation then.

Years had passed. As I stepped into the working life, I realized how bad my presentation had affected me in my life. I had difficulty presenting my ideas.

After I joined a Toastmasters Club, I was given a positive environment to improve my presentation skill. On the process, I also gained confident about myself.

Without joining Toastmasters Club, I do not think I am able to give this presentation on “How Toastmasters have changed my life?”.

Toastmasters had changed my life, for the better.