I totally bombed last night’s Toastmasters speech #9 – at least from my point-of-view. I’m still very new to public speaking and I completely blanked on what my speech even was, and just gazed at the audience for 30 seconds until I could find the words in my head.

IT WAS AWESOME!

Totally blanking out is a great experience. And with every hiccup I get a better feel for what to expect and how to react next time. I’m beginning to have enough experience with public speaking that I now know what I need to work on. With this 30-second pause experience, now I have “real-life” questions for my mentors. Toastmasters is a great place for me to continually practice, so next time I can use the “repeat the last line” technique and see if that helps. It’s all about getting the experience, learning a new technique and applying it to the next speech.

Luckily, I video all of my speeches so I can study them for body language, pauses, delivery, which direction I look more often, etc. The autopsy begins.

No true soldier is without kick-ass scars, and I have to get my experiences – good & bad – so that I am a good mentor when it’s my turn to be a mentor.