What a Frozen Toastmasters Speech Taught Me

Halfway through his speech at the World Championship, he went completely blank.

Friday night, I was watching the Toastmasters public speaking final on Zoom with my speaking club, and we were down to the last contestant when the unexpected happened.

Silence filled the room. He paced back and forth on stage, trying to recover. The audience sat dead quiet. After what felt like an eternity, he quickly wrapped up with a brief conclusion and walked off.

It hit me hard. This competition runs for over a year with tens of thousands of speakers competing globally. These were the final eight, the absolute best of the best.

And even they can freeze on the biggest stage.

It made me think about when I first started posting on LinkedIn. I was hesitant, nervous, and apprehensive. But to expand your comfort zone, you have to push through the fear of embarrassment and show up week after week anyway.

The best part? When the organizers interviewed the contestants at the end, this speaker got the absolute loudest applause.

The crowd didn't judge him, they responded with pure empathy.

We worry so much about being flawless, but people don't connect with perfection. They connect with courage.

Whatever you're holding back on out of fear of messing up: do it anyway. The room is usually far kinder than you think.