SpeechCraft: The Choices We Make

It was our final evening for the SpeechCraft Course and we were to deliver two speeches. One is a celebratory speech, 200 words. I did it in a rush. Just wrote about a speech for a Service Recognition Award (20 years) and I based the story from one of my colleagues who've been with us for more than 20 years. It was delivered in a minute and a half. My evaluator noted that it was clear and delivered well.

Another is an inspirational speech, 430 words. My teacher said that the speech was entertaining and motivational, borderline inspirational. But at the end of the evalluation, he changed his mind and said that it was indeed an inspirational speech. Again he said that I was good with my facial expressions, my gestures were just right and I didn't look nervous at all.

This is the inspirational speech that I delivered and it's 466 words, delivered in 4 minutes:

When you make a choice, notice that everything in your life follows that choice.

I remember that time when I started taking French language lessons. The course was expensive and most of the people who were taking it either had a French partner, or were intending to move to Canada. You get extra points from immigration if you know the language. I didn’t have the guts to tell my family the real reason why I’m doing it, which was to eventually read Les Miserables in French.

I come from a working class family. My parents worked hard so I can earn a degree, so I can get a job to support myself, get married and have kids. Then do the cycle again.

Thus taking language lessons just didn’t make any sense even though I already had a decent job. I pretended that I too was planning to migrate to Canada. And migrating always made practical sense as it meant better opportunities, a better life.

It was in that class where I met two women, both were strangers to each other but both happened to have met someone named Gio. Gio was organizing a 5 day island hopping camping adventure. They extended his invitation to me. And that’s when I made a conscious decision to try something different. Therefore I went with a group of 15 strangers for a week at the Palaui Group of islands on the northern tip of the Philippines. And it was AMAZING!

I went to other adventures in the months that followed, climbing mountains, exploring beaches, and sampling the local delicacies. I met more like-minded individuals along the way as a different worId, which I never thought existed, slowly opened up for me. I picked up a lifestyle of cheap travel so I can get to more destinations. I learned how to budget for me to be ready for the next trip. I learned how to find my way in a new place. I became confident with myself. I learned to step out of my comfort zone. And for the first time in my life I felt free.

I realized that I was free to choose a lifestyle. And all it takes is to make a conscious choice of trying things out. Forget what other people think. Don’t overthink it! Just do it! You never know what you don’t know. And if it turns out ok, just keep going. If not, then stop. Learn from the experience and do something else. You just need to start doing and that makes looking back even more fulfilling. I chose to travel to as many places across the Philippine archipelago and within two years since I left for Palaui, and I did!

And in those travels, I met my husband. We both have itchy feet.

SpeechCraft: All Hands Volunteer

I am taking the Toastmasters SpeechCraft Course, Monday evenings at Mount Roskill Grammar.

Our homework was to do a persuasive speech. I thought about doing a speech on pearls but realised that I cannot sell it. Then I decided to talk about All Hands Volunteers and persuade the class to join. I looked for some old photos and researched about the organisation, on where they are at now. I enjoyed putting together this speech. I was again very nervous. I used a PPT presentation, selecting a few photos to help visualise the experience. The class was entertained and the teacher said that I did well in helping the audience relive my experience. I didn't look nervous to them. They said i engaged the audience and that i looked calm, and that the message was clear. This took about 4 minutes to deliver. Here's my speech:

13 July 2006, Mayon Volcano started erupting, followed by a quiet effusion of lava forcing at least 40,000 people to evacuate from the 8km danger zone. In my lifetime, this would be the second major volcanic eruption that I have experienced. The first being the Mount Pinatubo eruption back in June 1991.

Mount Mayon is 490km from Manila, where I lived. It’s roughly an 11 hour drive.

8 months since the eruption, I found myself within what used to be the 8km danger zone. There were still remnants of mudflow, charred vegetation and ruins.

That weekend, together with these lovely people, I was there as an All Hands Volunteer.

We took part in Project Sto. Domingo which was the rebuilding of the local primary school.

I had no experience with using a hammer and nails. And the first task given to me was to put up the classroom ceilings. I learned how to use the hammer, and how to avoid hitting my fingers. And got the job done!

It was an early start the next day and this time, it was to do a paint job.

I am afraid of heights and I have never done any painting before let alone painting the roof! Yet there I was, raising my hand, happy to have accomplished something because I just wanted to help. I was exhausted in those two days, and oddly enough, I also felt elated!

I was just there for the weekend, then a month later, I came back with a different set of friends, spending another weekend to help out. There was this incredible sense of camaraderie from working side by side with fellow volunteers and local community members. It was hard work but that experience changed me.

Some of these volunteers have already helped in Project Katrina. There were those who were just passing by, staying on from a few days to a couple of weeks, as they backpacked across Southeast Asia.

Whenever there’s a natural disaster, we’d ask survivors what they needed. We cleared debris, we built simple shelters, we rebuild fishing boats. We get our hands dirty.

All Hands is a volunteer-powered disaster relief organization dedicated to Rebuilding Hope for people impacted by natural disasters all over the world. By giving ordinary people the ability to make a difference, we have enabled over 39,000 volunteers to donate 200,000 days impacting 500,000 people worldwide in the past 12 years.

You never know when the next disaster would strike, but when it does, All Hands will be there. Make a difference! Be an All Hands Volunteer!

SpeechCraft: Journal Writing

I am taking the Toastmasters SpeechCraft Course, Monday evenings at Mount Roskill Grammar.

Our homework was to prepare for a speech on something that you are passionate about. So I wrote about Journal Writing. I had myself video recorded while I was delivering the speech. I was very nervous. I simply read my speech and they said that I had very good facial expressions. They were entertained and liked how I delivered the speech. Here's my speech:

It started as an exercise in school. We had to write a journal entry at least once a week as part of our English subject. Here we practiced our wow words and built on our vocabulary. It wasn’t easy to think of something to write when you’re in primary. I had to be on a lookout for exciting things and write about it the next day.

8^th July 1985

The best part of yesterday was when I eat Max’s pizza

and it was yummy and super duper yummy

and I was thinking… there is salt BUT there was no salt in the pizza

because pizza makers don’t put salt.

This was me writing back in the day. I wrote about things that made me happy. I was 8!

In high school, the focus for journal writing was length. It had to be X number of words per entry. The grammar should be right. OF COURSE I filtered my SCHOOL journal entries BECAUSE… I also kept a journal for myself.

23 August 1993

It's  fifteen days before I turn sixteen. I've been looking forward to being sixteen for a long time, but you know that right? It was always, in my mind, the real age when you stop being referred to as a child and start to grow towards adulthood. I always thought I'd do more after I turned sixteen. But honestly, I think it won't change anything.

A couple of years later, already an adult, I discovered Blogging. So I setup my blog, that’s a page on the internet and used it for journal writing.

24 September 2007

Speaking of, on our journey through life, we really should take only what we can't live without. Otherwise, those that are truly precious will only get mixed up with the non-essential things and if we don't figure out what we really need soon, the precious ones might just disappear in the clutter.

I wrote this after doing some shopping to prepare for a trip overseas. Now, that’s quite an insight.

Journaling is a beautiful and powerful facilitator of self-discovery. It reveals and tracks patterns and cycles. It HAS become a powerful habit which helped me develop a sense of self-awareness.

In the words of Anne Lister "What a comfort is this journal. I tell myself to myself and throw the burden on my book and feel relieved."

Do you keep a journal?