Twenty years ago, I almost failed during my undergraduate thesis defense simply because I could not present my work in English. Can you imagine, I presented my case in our vernacular - 100% of the time. I could not speak a single word of English!
Then my speaking skills change and it came rushing like avalanche since three years ago. That was the time when I joined Toastmasters. I really never thought I would develop to be a leader much more a speaker. Yet today, I was invited to serve as trainer for the incoming club president for the 2nd term of Toastmasters program year 2010-2011. It was a great privilege, and I felt proud about it.
Officially, I have twenty-five registered participants - all presidents - from different clubs of the entire Division A. However, before I started the session, some members asked permission if they can sit-in during the training. I readily agreed provided they have to take the back seats and will not be given any hand outs. Then, people starts coming in to our large conference room in Riyadh Palace Hotel. To my surprise, the total participants swelled to almost forty.
* * * * *
The training went well. I didn't use the TI-ready materials because I know from experience that using that, as is, would be boring and flat. Instead, I use a different presentation slides. I incorporated the TI-ready material and merge it with some leadership resources. As a result, my material were reinforced it with new slides that aims to trigger discussion and open forum. True enough, I successfully get the participants involved in the discussion and even during the presentation.
My message was "Don't be afraid to take risk and accept the responsibility of being a leader of the club, because you are the club president".
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