I'm no longer a guest at Toastmasters. I paid my membership today and obligated myself to do an icebreaker at our next meeting. Sounds easy enough, right?What do you think an icebreaker is?
When I think of "icebreaker" I imagine a tool or a ship colliding with ice causing a rippling domino effect--kind of like spider cracking when a stone hits your windshield at 60 mph.
I also think of the times when you're attending a get-together and you're instructed to turn to the person on your left or right and introduce yourself.
An "icebreaker" at Toastmasters, I surmised, would be an equally brief introduction. No more than a few generous seconds.
Just to confirm that our definitions matched, I raced back into the hall where today's meeting had adjourned and asked an old-timer.
I was (rather unpleasantly, I admit) surprised that I had agreed to a 5-7 minute autobiography.
5-7 minutes! I don't talk in that long a stretch about anything! Sure, I can read a book aloud or answer a few questions. But this is me, with or without notes, rambling on and on about my life? How would all these fresh acquaintances regard my gibberish?
I was faced head-on with one of my biggest fears and I realized I would need to summon all the courage I could muster.
Hoping I'd receive a response that would generate compassion and understanding, I related my plight to my mom.
No sympathy there. In fact, I think she was laughing.
1 comment:
Bravo for taking the plunge into Toastmasters.
The icebreaker speech is not as daunting as it might sound. It really is closer to "an introduction" than "an autobiography".
You can find a wealth of tips and example icebreaker speeches here:
Toastmasters Speech 1: The Ice Breaker
You can do it!
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