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Congratulations to our St-Lawrence Toastmasters member Tommy Lebel for having recently completed his Toastmasters Competent Communicator project.

Toastmasters - Inspire  your audience ribbon

How has that helped his leadership skills? Let’s have Tommy explain in his own words…

So many people are thrown into leadership positions without the basic tool set for truly leading people. Leading people the right way is hard work. It’s also a learnable skill that needs to be sharpened continuously. Toastmasters is a great starting point for that.

Toastmasters is probably one of the top 5 best things I have done to boost my career path. Toastmasters is well known for its public speaking aspect but much less for its LEADERSHIP skills building opportunity.

After four years, I recently completed my Toastmasters Competent Communicator project. That simply means I’ve given 10 speeches at my club, from the simple “Ice Breaker” to the more complex “Inspire your audience” speech. The speaking part is definitely cool. However, what I benefited the most is the increase in self-confidence that came from everything else around those speeches. From the truly awesome and inspiring people I met to the bunch of unexpected challenges.

In 4 years, I went from the “shy awkward nerd” to someone who has been surprised with praises for his people skills. As many other long-term changes, it is subtle and incremental. Meetings after meetings, you chip away insecurities and expand your comfort zone; bit by bit. Compound that over a few years and the change is noticeable and permanent.

The secret with Toastmasters is perseverance. It’s not the 10 speeches per se that create change. Change comes from long-term exposure to comfort zone expansion opportunities. Toastmasters offers plenty.

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Would you like to know more about how Toastmasters can help you become a more effective leader? Then come visit St-Lawrence Toastmasters Club in Montreal.

Here is the programme for the meeting of June 5, 2018.