Toastmaster - CC Manual - Project 5: Secret of an Old Man

Delievery Date: Oct 22, 2008

CC Manual Project 5: Your Body Speaks.

Secret of an Old Man

If you were here last Wednesday, you must have heard Sylvies speech, and you must agree with me that she is a proficient public speaker.

Do you want to be like her, able to speak confidently, comfortably, and smoothly in front of audience. I believe so otherwise you wouldnt be here, spending your time, effort and energy with Toastmaster. Today, I am going to share with you a little secrecy helping you to improve your public speaking skill and to be like her one day.

First, let me show you something. This is a quarter, and in the middle there is a white and pink part. More than a thousand years ago, Chinese used similar currency. It was yellow, made of bronze, and in the middle it had a square hole about the size of this white and pink part.

There was a smart old man using this coin to help with his business. He sold cooking oil. What he did was he held a coin above the mouth of his clients oil jar, and then poured oil through the hole. He promised, if oil stained the coin, he would not charge.

Because of this, a lot of people came to buy oil from him, hoping for free of charge. However, he never failed. People were amazed when they saw oil running through the hole like a thin thread, straight and steadily. They all wondered how this old man could do this. So one day, a young man came to ask him, "Master, would you mind sharing your secrecy? Do you have any magic?" The old man answered, "Young man, I dont have any magic. The secrecy is that I have done this, and repeated doing this over hundreds of thousand of times."

This story told us a simple but important truth, "Practice makes perfect."

How many of you drive? Do you find out that driving is very challenging? Some people say driving is as easy as sitting on a bench. Its not true. Human is born to be able to sit. No one is born to be able to drive. Driving is very challenging. You have to be familiar with your cars space. You eyes, your hands, and your feet have to cooperate to handle steering wheel, shift gear, signal, gas paddle and brake smoothly. You have to get used to the mirror view to judge distance. The list of challenge can go on.

I know drivers of many years experience still having obstacles with certain things. Some dont drive on highway, some never do parallel parking, and some are very awkward driving backwards.

For those of you who are able to drive in all the situation comfortably, wouldnt you agree it is the result of a lot of practice?

Three years ago, I dont drive at all. However in the past three years, I have to drive a lot. I have to go on highway, and I have to be able to park in very limited space. Now I become very confident about my driving skills. Its practice that makes difference. Practice makes perfect.

Now coming back to public speaking skills, it makes no difference. To be able to feel comfortable and confident with speaking before audience, you have to do it. You have to speak in public frequently and repeatedly. Here in toastmaster, you are offered excellent opportunities to practice. Giving speeches, taking roles and participating table topics all help you to build up your public speaking skills. The more you do it, the more confident you will be about yourself.

I challenge you to be more active with Toastmaster. Practice makes perfect. One day you will be like Jennifer, Scynthia, Eric, Hallam, and Sylvie.