'Finishing The Race' : my toastmasters Ice breaker went well last night

Not to brag ... Oh who am I kidding, I'm bragging ;) .

My Ice Breaker speech went excellently well I thought. 

I prepared, practised over and over, even tweaking which stories about me I wanted to tell and how I would tell them.

The ice breaker is your first speech when you join a toastmasters club. It's an introduction of you to your club mates, and also to give you a first opportunity to stand up and speak in a prepared and deliberate manner.

I started with the story of my first business , and explained that the story shows 2 aspects of my personality that haven't changed much since I was a child. My determination to do my own thing, and do things in my own way, and also a tendency to challenge myself and take on projects where I have to stretch myself, or learn a new skill. 

Then I told the story of the 94.7 Cycle Challenge, and how Trennie and I fell at the halfway point and how I got back up, and we finished the race. Concluding the speech, I noted that as we crossed the finish line, I knew that no matter what life threw at me, or how battered and scraped I may be from the things people did around me, I would always be able to get back and continue on, and finish the race. 

Overall, I was pleased with the speech, I got some good feedback, and a couple of constructive points of improvement. And I love that part of the meeting, the evaluation, where the positivity and encouragement is double billed with feedback about improvements. Because that's the point isn't it, to improve, which you couldn't do if it was just a love fest. 

And the best part ? Winning the 2 certificates for Best Prepared Speech ( shared with the lovely Carolina ) , and Best overall Performance , again shared with the exceptional Tracy ( our district head, chairperson, manager - not sure what the correct TM name for this role is? ) 

I joined Toastmasters to stretch myself, and improve and practise my public speaking. And I look to be well placed and on track for that goal. My second project speech awaits. :)