ADreamRun

“And that is the end of the contest season for this year…” These were my thoughts when the results of the Table Topic Contest were announced at the Division G Contest and Conference Sangamam 2023.

I was a contestant in both International Speech Contest and Table Topic Contest

The ISC results were already announced and I was not in the top 3. Then when the Table Topic Contest results were announced, my name came first as the 3rd place winner in this contest. I was extremely thrilled as this was my first podium finish at a Division Level Contest in my 10+ years in Toastmasters. I had come first in Club Level and Area Level Contests several times before but always returned home with a participation certificate at the Division Level contests. This year was certainly a dream run because I made it to the Division Level Contests in all 4 contests, Humorous Speech Contest and Evaluation Contest in the last season, International Speech Contest and Table Topic Contest this season.

The learnings that I got in my journey to the Division Level contests were truly priceless, where I learned a lot from my fellow contestants, the experience in the bigger stages, the feedback from the audience and most importantly from my Mentors during each stage of the contests. For someone in the 40s and more than a decade old in Toastmasters, there should be a compelling reason to keep renewing the membership in Toastmasters, and I found that in contests Each contest season is a new experience where we get to try something different and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t

As long as we enjoy the journey, winning or losing is insignificant. I am also glad to be mentoring a lot of my mentees and other contestants in various contests, delivering educational sessions on how to prepare for each of the 4 contests. All these experiences made me discover new things and all these have been a huge bonus for me

The best thing about Toastmasters is that it does not limit ourselves to the learnings that we get

Toastmasters has been such an important catalyst in my professional and personal space, I have been able to inspire a lot of people to join this wonderful platform and create magic in their life. There is only one thing that I keep reiterating to them, to be consistent and committed.

Through this newsletter, I’m glad to be sharing my dream run in the last 1 year across 2 contest seasons about my experience and the learnings that I got. One thing is sure, I will come back with new ideas, new plots and new scripts in the next contest season and I am sure it is going to be an even more action-packed journey

Cheers, Rakesh Menon, DTM

Coimbatore Toastmasters Club