Within any Toastmasters meeting are a number of service and leadership opportunities. One of these is sharing an inspirational quote and with that assignment is tallying the votes for ribbons to be given out for the best speech, best table topic, and best evaluator. Here is a running list of those quotes I have shared in meetings: “It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is

It’s been many years since I first learned about Toastmasters. I think it was from a Manager Tools podcast. My takeaway was that it was like an AA meeting but focused on allowing anyone to give speeches to improve their public speaking skills. For a time, I was seeing a therapist who told me it was a non-negotiable requirement that I attend and so I did. Minus heights and snakes, I think all of my fears are front and center in these meetings. The first speech that you give is called the Icebreaker. It’s a four to six minute speech