Toastmasters District 65 Conference

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Another weekend of wasted potential... or is it? As it turns out, I spent the weekend busily preparing for and running A/V stuff for the District 65 Toastmasters conference in Ithaca, NY. It was a stressful, confusing, and complicated enterprise, but far and away worth the lost hair and ulcers that will no doubt manifest themselves in the coming weeks.

Under the fearless leadership of Linda Tompkins and Laurie Hultberg, both of my own Ithaca Area Toastmasters club, we put together and executed an excellent conference, featuring DARREN LECROIX, 2001 WORLD CHAMPION INTERNATIONAL SPEAKER. I'm generally skeptical of celebrity, but he seemed decent and grounded enough. The conference schedule is available on the district website.

The conference consisted of two days of talks, workshops, banquets, and the like. Personally, one of the most important insight came from a conversation I had during the dinner banquet. A very articulate and intelligent tablemate (not a rare phenomenon in Toastmasters) pointed out that much of English language is focused on the negative, often concealed through grammatically nonsensical, prolific use of negative contractions: "don't", "can't", "won't", and the like. Specific examples escape me (perhaps because I somehow avoided the atrocious grammar that frequently characterizes California public school education), but I do remember quite distinctly certain colloquialisms that are absolutely nonsensical when "don't" is expanded into "do not". She has given me food for thought, something for which I am always grateful and, in the final analysis, is the long gray line between me becoming wise and the arrogance that is nearly the birthright of a twenty-something middle-class American.

For me, the best part of the conference consisted of Irish drinking songs and the testimonials of how Toastmasters has changed lives. When I first read about Toastmasters on Steve Pavlina's blog, I first assumed that this quasi-cult was something far less than the godsend that Mr. Pavlina made it appear in his blog.

I was pleasantly mistaken. Toastmasters has been far and away one of my most prized activities here in the wilds of upstate New York. Rather than surrounding myself with upper-middle class academic types 24/7, I have the distinct pleasure of learning from and with individuals who may lack a billion letters after their names, but are among the wisest, most compassionate, and most articulate individuals I have ever known. I am truly in their debt, and hope that I contribute in some small way to the advancement of the club and the enrichment of their own lives.

Should you have the desire to improve your public speaking and meet interesting individuals from the community, I highly recommend Toastmasters to you.