My Toastmaster's Experience (10 years in the Making)

Fellow Toastmasters, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, a pleasant evening!

I am Toastmaster Feliciano Mungcal III, you can call me Sonny, from Tarlac Toastmaster’s Club. I am currently a Senior High School Facilitator at Dominican College of Tarlac.

Would you believe when I say that it took me 10 years to become a toastmaster, myself? Well, let me tell you my serendipic story that was set in the cool breezy summer capital of the Philippines, Baguio City.

It was April of 2010, the summer as I finished my first year in college, I attended a three-day international youth conference in Baguio City. The event was graced by 10,000 youths all over the country and some parts of the world.

One of the highlights featured break-out sessions with different topics offered. I remembered that I signed up for a session/workshop entitled “Speak Up”. My birds-eye view of it is simply a workshop on public speaking.

I was with a companion from our delegation named Quincy when we decided to line up going to the assembly point towards the workshop venue. However, the problem is, as I ask someone in front of me if this line is for the “Speak Up” workshop, we found ourselves lining up for the wrong assembly point. I think we are lost!

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Luckily, two girls beside us are also looking for the same session as ours. We decided to ask around where our session workshop is. Unfortunately, that delegation has already departed to the venue. Well, we could just take another session to attend with. But, it seems that we are unanimously attracted to the “Speak Up” session and we regret if we didn’t push. But, all of us are unfamiliar in the streets of Baguio City – as we are young and coming from different places!

But, we didn’t lose hope. First, we ask for some youth organizers where is the venue of the session we are looking for. Then, we ask locals for directions on how to get there – we took the directions that only requires riding the jeepney, and fortunately, it is just a minutes’ drive. While we are traveling, we had some chit-chat to pass time. The girls’ names are Sarah and Niña, from Bulacan and Cebu, respectively. So, two Tarlaqueños, one Bulakenya and one Cebuana.

Then, we arrive at the venue. As we enter the room, it is just starting and we found good seats inside. Yes, that event is a session workshop about public speaking. But, we did realize that is a sponsorship session – and guess who’s the facilitator – yes, it was Toastmaster’s Club! It was my first time to encounter Toastmaster’s Club.

At first, they introduced themselves, then the Toastmaster’s Club, who are they, what do they do, the frequently asked questions about Toastmaster’s Club. Then, the first part of the session workshop was a plenary session about the basics of public speaking. The four of us are attentively listening with matching taking down notes because we are interested! As we listen, I personally began to mesmerize the beauty of Toastmaster’s Club.

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Then, here comes the second part. The floor was opened for impromptu speeches. I remembered a quote of statement is given then we were given two minutes to talk about it – I remember there is a timer with some light signals if its one minute left, time’s up, so on, so forth.

And here’s the crazy part, the four of us have tried to speak in front and take the challenge of impromptu speech! Yes, all four of us! I think I was the first, then came Quincy, then Sarah, then Niña. During my turn, I do not remember anymore the exact topic and the comment of the Toastmaster fellow. But, what I remember is that I was told that “I was like David and the challenge of speaking in front was like a metaphor of Goliath taking down the challenge!”

After the event, we talked among ourselves that the comment was somehow sugar-coated but it is a great experience. After that, we went to spend some more time before going back to our respective delegations. Years after we had the chance to meet up again. Nowadays, we are connected through Facebook, but we are not that in touch anymore due to other commitments.

So you see, everyone, it took me 10 years to get in touch with Toastmasters again, and today I am happy that I finally decided to be part of it. Once again, I took down the challenge to be part of the Toastmaster’s Club, because that experience 10 years ago has changed my life – and what more today? So, I am now once again taking the challenge and looking forward to what Toastmasters has to offer to me.

Thank you very much and once again a pleasant evening to everyone!

The speech was delivered by the author during the Tarlac Toastmaster's Club meeting on October 3, 2020.