What are the most common phobias in the world?
Well,its pretty simple right? Snakes,Spiders,Heights,Death...
Well,let me tell you something, one of them is Public Speaking too! Also known as Glossophobia
As we watch media and read books,one must think public speaking is easy as the other person in your television or computer screen does it with such ease,humour,and gesture.
Its not.
Trust me, public speaking is not as simple, standing in front of a crowd can make your once perception of yourself on how great you think you are,change.
Thats how I felt in the three days in a Toastmasters three day event which was organized by EXTOL Toastmasters Subang Jaya which emphasizes in shaping you to the world of public speaking in reality with a bunch of strangers you never know.
Day 1
It was an early 9 am on a Saturday,when me and Krystal arrived at a small building. My eyes scanned the place and I was packed with excitement for something new. After registerations and receiving a file with some brochures to flip through,we seated ourselves in a enclosed hall with other 30 kids,all strangers to one another. My eyes rovered while scanning the room while making small chat to my sister.
I guessed I should try to make some friends so shook hands and introduced myself to the girl beside me, Rachel who was only 12. Later, we were greeted by one of the mentor's speech which was an inspirational one. We had a minor ice breaking session,with each of us to mention our names,age,and school we were from.
To my utter horror,I discovered that I was the only 18 years old! there wasn't even a single 17 year old! Everyone around was about 12-16 years old! I had a mild baby blooming panic attack that everyone was going to have high expectations from me and treat me like some inspirational tool thing! I felt so worried! I kept urging my sis to insist I was 17 and I almost felt like lying,but didnt in the end thanks to my GENUINITY!
Later the group of 30 of us were divided in two teams. Each team needed to elect four presidents and four sergeant in arms. I nominated this new girl I met,Alicia(whom has the biggest dimples I've seen so far)as the president while she nominated me as the Sergeant in Arms(SAA). She kept giving me signals from her table indicating she wanted to nominate me, and I was giving signals back like 'Noooo' .In the end,she mentioned my name!The 4 presidents in my batch were: Aarvin, Alicia ,Ian Tan,and Emily Chow. Joining me as SAA's were James Lim, Tristan Ong,and Law Hui Huang.
Later we were asked about what makes a good public speaker,and were given some chocolates and snacks if we could answer them. I managed to receive some biscuit wafer with some chocolate fillings inside! Yay! Some of them include focus,humour,connection with the audience,facts and figures and gestures.
Later we were divided into groups of five.I was in placed in the first group (for my batch) and there was Aarvin, Brendan,James,and Denack. Aarvin was the first to greet me with a handshake and warm smile. Later we were told to write a speech about ourselves! Can you believe that ? I started to get worried, I mean I don't find anything great about myself,I must admit, and I'm freaking insecure not to mention, so I was playing it cool the whole time, you know,if you show your vulnerability,people wont like it...something like that. So there I sat,just tapping my pen on blank piece of paper with the only few words 'Loves Music'. Like, just telling about your passion is good enough,screw it,I hardly have achievements in my life. Anyway, James was also expressing his worry and I just told him not to worry about it! Although I myself was worrying. He was telling how he wanted to be a singer and all so I told him why not,he could be a star some day...errr,Im a HUGE music lover but never really believed that. Anyway he has a nice voice,unlike mine. Therefore,he has potential of being a singer...
So the other person in my group, Brendan, I didn't really talk much to him at first because I thought he was like some 'gangster' with mohawk side haircut and the way he didn't really bother to make any eye contact with us at first. I thought he was the cool kid and everything. Later when James and Aarvin went somewhere else, I started chatting with Brendan and he told me his love for Fernando Torres and started showing me the picture of him in the phone,and I told him how I preffered Messi. And Messi in any case is waaayyy better! And we chatted a little and I realised I was so stupid to be such a quick judgemental person,he's really cool,not cocky at all! Slaps to my own face!
Later we had breakfast in a short span and I met Alicia back while waiting near the restrooms. Another slap to my face, I got confused with her and another girl. Her name was Emily and they both had slight similarites in features.Thus,both were wearing green! We introduced ourselves and had breakfast together. Can you believe it,Emily does not eat chilli!!! Alicia told me she used to join public speaking competitions and received first place,but she was humble about it! Both also told me that they joined ballet when they were younger but Emily quitted because it was too tough!
I joined my sis later and she told me her topic was going to be about 'Rockstar' because of her love of drums and all! Such a fun and easy topic! And she wouldnt help me decide what to write about myself. Grrr,anyhow,she has no authority! Hahaha!
Later we were called back and the time to introduce ourselves began.
Everyone had some amazing stories about themselves! I found out about Aarvin's love of football,Emily's passion for the arts, and many more! When it came to my turn, I started blabbing about my passion for music and guitars and pianos, and I did a stupid thing of admitting my weakness so fast: I'm not so focused. Guess its kinda true, I mean, I find accomplishment a bit tough because my brain cant seem to stick on something easily. Then i blabbed somemore about my horrible coordination in driving and how I used to grip the tray when working in Old Town White Coffee because I was afraid I would spill the delicacies delight on the customers! Anyway I came back and felt pretty silly, but James said it was quite cute,and thanks to that minor compliment I felt much better!James is always smiling and such a sweet guy in front of everyone, I dont even know whether that was true,but whatever,I accepted it! James is one of the most smiling guy in the place,in every speech he made he was always smiling!!! Not in a noob way,the happy warm feeling kinda smile that can make you happy :)
Later,the prizes were given and Aarvin won the first place! His speech was really good and I was very amazed at the way he delivered his speech. It sounded professional Good job!
Our second speech after lunch(which was horrible anyway),and because of my diet,I took less rice(Mr Ratnam was being sarcastic and all saying: WOW! THAT'S A LOT YOU EAT!),..was an impromptu speech. I've done this in Muet before and totally screwed it up( You can read about it in my earlier posts) and I was really hoping I could do a better job!
My topic was about 'My Most Memorable birthday' Easy piece of cake! I just mentioned about my birthday when I turned 17, I still vividly the enjoyable day when I received some gifts and warm wishes and songs and the joy with my friends! And the best part, one of my best friend was celebrating her birthday on the same day as me! So that wasn't too hard. The only difference is, this Muet topics were pretty simple as the people around were still young, but I told myself,if I cant even do these simple speeches,how can I ever tell myself I'm prepared for days ahead in Muet, next to university and the real working world! The evaluator mentioned my speech was loud enough and clear,and interesting but I spoke a little too fast!
(Just took a break with a Music wafer!) Back to me,me!
Before going home,we were reminded to prepare a speech with any random topic.
I came home and started researching and practically trashing the entire Google to find something interesting. I cant believe out of the kazillion,bazillion,dazillion,...ZAZILLION topics in this entire universe, I couldnt even find a single topic from 2 am,until when it reached 2 am ,I finally came down to the topic I wrote in my blog a few months back about 'Valentine's Day in Japan'!!! My friend,Nadine was being such a great friend to stay up with me till late that night in helping me pick a topic! On the same time, I was being a better friend in introducing her to the world of Nigahiga and I politely asked her to remove her laughing hyena from her room! Unfortunately she didn't, the hyena laughed and laughed her spots off!
And thats how I slept super late,such a good preparation for the next day of waking up at 7 am,smart girl,*pinches own cheeks*...
And for Day 2 coming up on the next post ;)
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