“By mutual confidence and mutual aid – great deeds are done, and great discoveries made”
— Homer
Just a quick note to thank the fine folks at Eco Voices Toastmasters, a sustainability-themed club in Portland, for letting me come and give a practice speech in preparation for an upcoming presentation at the Communicate Oregon conference next week.
Giving a speech in front of new faces is always a little daunting, but ultimately rewarding. The obvious downside is that one has to swallow a lot of pride and admit … “your work needs work”. The upside is that you allow people a chance to put a fresh set of eyes on your product and help you see the strengths and weaknesses, ultimately making it better.
The speaking slot was only open because two scheduled speakers cancelled at the last minute. Hopefully, in a roundabout way, I helped them have an interesting meeting by filling in as a speaker. They certainly helped my speech.
When we work together, we work better.
Today’s gift of time … Visited Eco Voices Toastmasters and filled a speaking role for them. As so often happens when I give my time, however, I got more back than I could possibly imagine.
Give Our Time 
I must at last admit, Eric, that before I became a follower of your blog, I truly thought that Toastmasters was the same as Dean Martin’s Roast of various celebrities. ;-D Hilarious how we can let our minds slip into lazy assumptions! How happy I am to learn that Toastmasters is actually a group of speech givers! Someday I might even attend one of our local Toastmasters meetings. Now that I know what it’s about…kinda.
Yes, we are a group of speech givers. 🙂 (Actually many many groups across the world)
It’s been of great help to me just in getting up in front of a group, but also as importantly, learning to listen and give feedback that is motivational, not derogatory.
I’d encourage you to check out a meeting, or a couple as every club is different. toastmasters.org
I’ve learned a lot and had a lot of fun!
Nice post! I am so excited to come and speak tongiht at your club and tahnk you so much for setting that up for me. ps I really like the new GiveOurTime.com URL A LOT!
Happy to help set up a speaking time for you, Ryan. Looking forward to hearing your speech tonight…
Thanks about the domain change, I had some good input on selecting a new url. 🙂