112th Issue of

From Silent to Seen Newsletter

Last Thursday, i bombed my 1st speech in front of 30 people at a Toastmaster club i joined 3 weeks ago... here’s what actually happened:
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prior to joining this club, i took a 9-months break from Toastmasters due to my car accident in Oct ‘25.
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3 weeks ago, i joined this new Toastmasters club and made a few critical mistakes before & during my 1st speech:
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1 >> i went with TAKERS mentality - this was the biggest one. i wanted to make that speech about me. i wanted to get the applause, good first impression, and maybe win the speech contest ha-ha. But a speech/talk is never about the speaker. It’s about the message & what you’re gonna GIVE to audience in exchange for their time/ attention.
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FIX: embrace the GIVERS mentality.
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2 >> i was a little over-confident so i went underprepared & unrehearsed. Because the speech i was planning to deliver was very familiar to me. but over-confidence betrayed me & i struggled to follow a clear through line.
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FIX: rehearse it at least 5x on different days before the event. (especially beginning, ending & tricky transitions)
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3 >> taking 9-months break from live (in-person) public speaking made me bit rusty. i think of public speaking as a muscle you need to train regularly similar to your physical muscles. (the reason why i'm still a member of Toastmasters since 2022)
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FIX: engage in some form of live public speaking at least once a week or biweekly.
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Because of these 3 things...
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i couldn’t connect with words i was uttering & with the audience
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but i didn’t sweat it..
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i did the after-action-review (AAR) within a few hours, learned my lessons, and moved on.
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(ps - what do you do after you bomb a talk or presentation? Be honest 😉)

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-waqas

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