Speaker: John Lo
C1 Speech: Ice Breaker
Caught in the Limelight
Hello. My name is John Lo. As of today, I am a member of the YZU Toastmasters’ Club. I understand that Ice Breaker speeches are supposed to let everyone get to know who you are, but I feel I should leave trivial things like hobbies to private conversations. And instead of cramming a large amount of information in a 5-minute speech, I want to concentrate on one topic. So for my C1 speech, I want to tell you why I joined Toastmaster.
English has always been my strong point. It’s one of the things I’m good at. It’s the only thing I’ve ever exceled at. However, even after years of honing my reading, listening, and writing, I still couldn’t handle speaking, at least not until my second year in high school. Yet, teachers always see fit to choose me as the class representative in English speaking contest. For years to come, I would automatically be chosen to represent my class in the schools’ speech contest whenever one comes along. I contended proudly and willingly at first, but with each failure under the limelight, I started to fear the stages more, and the fact that I became a lot quieter in middle school didn’t help. I made three speeches when I was in middle school, and they all went down the same way. I would walk onto the stage, start to make the speech, and before I had reached half of it, I would forget the rest. What followed would be a few seconds of awkward silence which I was so sure was measured in hours. The rest of the speech would feel like a blur. I would try to at the very least give the speech a proper closing, but it wouldn’t change the fact that it was a complete mess.
When I became a junior in high school, I was once again chosen, along with another classmate, to represent our class in a speech contest. For some reason I looked up tips on how to give a good speech, and came across this book, Public Speaking for Success by Dale Carnegie. The book is filled with great advices and stories. For example, it taught me that in order to remember my speech; I shouldn’t recite it without emotion, but simply rehearse it with conviction many times. I followed the instruction, repeating the speech in front of a mirror on the days before the contest. When the big day came, I got on the stage.
All seemed to be going well through two-thirds of the speech, and then suddenly I once again forgot what I was supposed to say next. But this time, the silence only lasted for a fraction of a second. Because before I could even start to remember, the next sentence came out of my mouth. Do you know that feeling you get when you leave your house every morning, you open the door, you close it, and then you lock it without even thinking about doing it, the feeling that your arms and hands were on autopilot? That is what I felt! The speech became a habit to me. The sentences were linked, and one could not come out without another one following. I finished the speech, and for the first time in my life, instead of wanting to rush off the stage and bury myself, I felt great after a speech. I couldn’t help but smile on the way back to my seat offstage.
I got the second place, temporarily, for that was only the first round of the speech contest. The second round was impromptu speech, and I reverted back to my old mumbling self, and dropped to third place. I realized I can only progress so much on my own. I may have completed a speech without replacing most of it with babble and silence, but I know my body was stiff during the whole speech. I remember when going back to my seat, a friend of mine who was sitting next to me asked me: “Why did you look like you’re about to murder someone?” I realized I can talk to mirrors all I want, but those eyes that looked back are the very same that greets me every morning. They don’t give the same deer-in-the-headlights effect as a stranger’s eyes do. And until I can overcome that power, I will still fail when asked to speak on the spot. It happens all the time in 1 on 1 conversations, and it’s sure to happen in front of dozens of people.
In order to remedy this, I need people who are willing to sit down and lend me their ears, and grabbing them from the streets isn’t an option. Thankfully, this book has another trick up its sleeve. It speaks of these groups that can be found in some cities around the world called Toastmasters’ Clubs. I looked up Toastmaster on the internet, and found that there is no club in I-lan, where I live. There are many in Taipei, but back then, with school and everything, I simply had no means to get to one. I put the thought on the back burner, and went on with my life, until now. Today, I join the Toastmasters. Today, I stare down at the limelight, and walk away unscathed.
