Vice President for Education
From a “No Nothing” Speaker to International Stage
When I did my project 9 Persuade with Power on 16.1.2002 at the joint meeting with Queenstown TMC, my evaluator remarked that my speech was so bad that it has “No nothing” My topic titled: “In every crisis, there is opportunity” lacked the emotional appeal which I left out due to my fear of embarrassment if I revealed too much about the crisis that I underwent. In trying to stick to the title I was actually trying to prove that success came after every crisis that I had experienced instead of relating the downside of the events when I was temporarily lost in the wilderness.
Then .....
After the evaluation, Albert Lim came around to console me that it was a good speech and that I could stomach the harsh comments. The humiliating experience made me resolve to repeat the speech at the Bukit Batok TMC with better results.
Although I am not interested in competitive speaking and never try hard enough to do so I had the privilege to be invited to speak at several public seminars locally and overseas since becoming a Toastmaster in late/early 1998/9.
And Now.....
Recently in mid-October I was invited to speak on “Fraud in Funding” and “Funding for Investors” by the organizers of the GlobalEntrepolis@Singapore and Batam. Frankly at the time of the invitation I did not have any material to speak of but bravely accepted the proposal and within a week found the case files from the Commercial Affairs Department of the Singapore Police Force.
Originally the scheduled speakers from the Forensic Dept
of Ernst & Young withdrew due to lack of assistance from the same
authority but I was lucky and managed to get their full assistance. The
organizers told me that no one was able to speak on the subject due to
lack of materials.
To me, it is a case of “No guts, No glory” and I thought that
I was the most glorified speaker of the day when the Press interviewed
me and some VIPs asked for the script of my speech.
After my speech in Batam, many of the delegates invited me to sit at their tables but I eventually ended up at the VIP table with the Guests of honor and organizers. As a result of the conference my business has expanded beyond my expectations with contacts all over the world. All my expenses, transport, hotel and food were provided for by the organizers during the five-day event.
It pays to be a Toastmaster even if you are a “No nothing” speaker.
Willy Tan, CL
1st Vice President for Education
Toa Payoh Central CC Toastmasters Club
Toa Payoh Central CC Toastmasters Club
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