Kedar Phadke from Margao had a
very simple reason for joining the Toastmasters Club in 2006. He wanted to get
comfortable in public speaking and put forth his ideas in a clear chain of
thought for business meetings with his seniors. However, his journey with
Toastmasters Club gave him the confidence to face a larger audience and that
too with humour as his medium.
Currently, the President of
the Margao Toastmasters Club, Kedar enjoys the monthly meetings. “My main
objective was public speaking and putting my thoughts in a certain sequence. As
I was in IT, I had to give PowerPoint presentations and organise my thoughts to
make the pitch interesting. Through Toastmasters Club, I realised how to fine
tune my speech after understanding the level of the audience and how to make a
speech convincing,” says Kedar.
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In Goa, there are four chapters of the
Toastmasters Club, one in Margao, two in Panjim (ICG and YMCA) and the newest
club at NIT, Farmagudi. The annual Toastmasters Area Level Humorous Speech and
Evaluation Contest were recently held for the four Toastmasters clubs across
Goa. Kedar won the area level contest and will now compete at the Division
level contest in Pune.
“I have not been to Pune for
the Division Level contest before so I don’t know anything about the competitors
but I will give it my best. For the area level contest, I had to speak for
about 5 to 7 minutes on a topic. The topic has to be well researched and there has
to be fun elements besides facts. The audience feedback is also important,”
explains Kedar, who made everyone laugh on a taboo topic.
According to Kedar, a Toastmasters
meeting is a learn-by-doing workshop in which participants hone their speaking
and leadership skills in a no-pressure atmosphere. “There is no instructor in a
Toastmasters meeting. Instead, members evaluate one another’s presentations. Participants
also give impromptu talks on assigned topics, conduct meetings and develop
skills related to timekeeping, grammar and parliamentary procedure.”
The Margao Toastmasters Club
will organise ‘Speakerthon’ on October 17, 2014 at Gomant Vidya Niketan Hall,
Margao. “It doesn’t matter who the audience in front of you is. It shows when
you are most genuine in your speech and not copying anyone’s style,” concludes
Kedar.
