kids ninavu

I still remember couple of years back I had won 1^st prize for interschool dance competition & the next day I was very eager to take the trophy to the school. The principal had announced this in the assembly and praised me for achieving this. I was very proud myself to stand on the stage & to face the whole school with a sweet smile on my face. At the end of her speech she asked me to share my experience. By hearing this, suddenly a spark had gone through my heart, my sweet smile had vanished and I could feel my face turning red, eyes bulging out. With my shaky legs I walked to the mike, my voice started shivering, I said Good Morning to every one and repeated this couple of times, no other words came out of my mouth, and my mind went totally blank. The principal noticed my pathetic situation, patted my shoulder & asked everyone to clap hands & had asked me to go back. I had cursed myself for getting the prize, cursed myself for bringing the trophy to the school, which had created such an embarassing scene in front of the whole school. Even though I have performed many dances on stage, public speaking was one of my fearful zones.

My parents were looking for a course for children for improving the public speaking. We came to know about the organization called Toastmasters. Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization that operates clubs worldwide for the purpose of helping members to improve communication, public speaking & leadership skills. There are many clubs in UAE for adults & children, which conduct the biweekly meetings that help the members to learn & practice speaking & evaluation skills. I joined a Gavel club in May 2006, which is a club for students.

It was a new beginning for me, where I gradually started stepping out of my fear shell. The whole atmosphere of the club had fascinated me; the fellow gavelliers (members of the club), coordinators of the club & the mentors had inspired me. And finally I did my first speech project, Icebreaker where I bagged the best speaker award, which had really boosted my confidence. Then each role in the Gavellier’s meeting had given me strength & confidence in each area. My shyness towards mixing with the people gradually diminished. The table topics sessions in the club meetings had given me the power of talking impromptu of any subject. The grammarian roles had given me good command on English language. The AH counters helped me to reduce my unnecessary fillers in the speeches; joke master role turned me to a jovial person.

After 8 months of my toast mastering I appeared for the club level contest, in which I snatched the 1^st & 2^nd prize for International & Humorous speeches. Those were one of my most memorable days in my life. I was told by the coordinators of our club that I’ve to compete for the inter-gavel club contest. I knew that the inter gavel contest is a tough one where the toppers from different clubs assemble for the best speaker title. With the help of my parents & my mentors, I did a good level of practice. All my efforts & hard work did not go vain; I achieved the “Best Humorous Speaker” award for the whole of Northern Emirates.

Yes I took the trophy next day to the school to show it to the Principal & told her that I would like to share my experience to the school this time.

So now when I look backwards, I could see my journey from a shy & timid little girl who stood with her head down in front of a big audience struggling with words can now confidently stand & orate boldly.

Thanks to the toastmaster’s organization for giving me the power to identify my hidden strength in communication.