Many years ago, someone suggested to Ms. Hen that she join Toastmasters to help get over her fear of public speaking. She had never heard of the organization, but she learned about it, and joined a club in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at MIT, to help her when she finished graduate school. She didn't last long at the club at MIT, because she was still afraid of public speaking, and the other people in the club were incredibly talented public speakers, and she was a little intimidated.
Years later, she started working at Massachusetts General Hospital, and she decided to join the Toastmasters club there, because she wanted to learn to be a better public speaker to help her writing career. She became more consistent going to this club, and she was offered to take over an officer role when someone dropped out. She said yes, and she has helped the club since.
A lot of people don't know how to explain Toastmasters, and some might think it's a cult, or it's for people who have social anxiety, but it's not. The purpose of Toastmasters is to help people become better communicators and leaders. There are prepared speeches at every meeting, that are usually five to seven minutes long. There is also a Table Topics section that helps with impromptu speaking. Members can take different roles at a meeting such as the Toastmaster, who runs the meeting, the Grammarian, who comes up with a Word of the Day, that people are encouraged to use, and who also keeps track of filler words such as um and uh, and a Timer who keeps track of the time of everyone's speeches and the meeting. And of course, there are the evaluators who critique the speeches, which is important, because people want feedback.
Ms. Hen was discouraged when her Toastmasters club had to have meetings on Zoom last year. She didn't think doing a speech on a computer had the same effect as in person. She initially thought there would be something lost, but people can learn how to speak effectively on Zoom, and meetings are run the same way.
Ms. Hen decided to do a speech for Toastmasters last year about Amelia Earhart, in costume, and in character, because she has had the costume for a long time. The members of her club were so impressed, that she was encouraged to do a series of speeches on the same subject. This gave Ms. Hen something on which to focus her attention during the dark days of the Covid pandemic, and it brought her joy, and she made herself laugh. She learned a lot about Amelia Earhart, and found her way back to being a performer again.
The President and the Vice-President of Education were so impressed by her speeches about Amelia Earhart, and her also her work as Vice-President of Public Relations, that she was encouraged to become the President of Toastmasters General. At first, Ms. Hen was reluctant, because she never thought of herself as very presidential, but she said yes, and she is the current president. She was given the gavel to preside over meetings by the last President, and the club is running well.
A lot of members have other things happening in their lives, because most people work at the hospital, and are stressed out, since the world is strange right now. Ms. Hen benefits from Toastmasters, and it has helped her to be a better communicator and leader. Ms. Hen knows that Toastmasters can change people's lives, but it's a process and it takes work, like most things that are worthwhile. She is a hen who is willing to work to be better at what she does, and Toastmasters helps her on her journey.
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