Made a speech last night at Laughing Matters Toastmasters, 3 days into retirement. My theme, Tempus Fugit, means "time flies" but I altered the Latin term to "Tempus Fug- It!" Actually my title turned out better than may speech. I didn't bring the relaxed, but alert, mental attitude you need to make a good speech. I may have been caught up a bit, wrestling too much with the concept of retirement itself to be entertaining for the audience. Kap, my evaluator, pointed out that my presentation lacked passion. The Laughing Matters club had fun after the meeting-- Post Toasties as we call it-- in the outdoor front tables area of Bagpipes Restaurant.
Just spoke with Bill, a fellow Toastmaster, and he did a great job on his speech. He forced himself to think the speech through carefully and never wrote it down. I noticed he achieved complete comfort with the material-- and made a great connection to his audience. Maybe that's a good approach. Know your speech so well and so thoroughly that you can deliver it with confidence. The best way to rehearse is to make your mind go through the speech, learning the speech logic as you do so.
The challenge of making the speech was helpful. Retirement is still very new. I didn't completely have my footing at the Toastmasters meeting. Only by attempting the speech did I realize I am still working to establish a new equilibrium.
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