090616 Become Hsinchu Toastmaster VPE

20090616
I become Hsinchu Toastmaster Vice President of Education.

I will try my very best to fullfill everyone's potential.
Setting up goals and coach all of them.
Make all of them soar in the coming year. :)

C6 delivered on 090616

Won: the most improved speaker.

Evaluation by Brian:
1. Pause before deliver the speech, to get the ensure that your audience is concentrated on you. At the same time avoid rushing.
2. Maybe change the opening and offer more curiosity.
3. Try to conceal your smile. They are killers when you want to show sadness.

Language:
You don't say "offer companion"; you say "offer companionship."

----Script----

Today I want to tell a story about Paul, one of my best friends, who taught me the importance of offering companion to those that really matter to you in the last week of August, 2006.

August, 2006, in another long, hot summer afternoon, I heard my favorite ring tone ”Por Una Cabeza” (music). I took it, and there came my friend Austin’s voice. “Hey, Paul is dead. You know that?” “Stop kidding. This is not fun at all.” “No, I am serious. He is dead. He passed away this morning. He went to bed then never woke up. Just call his sister to make sure.” Ok, You wanna play. Let’s see. As his sister was my landlady one year ago, sure I had her number. In no time, I started calling. The first. There was no answer. The second, still no. The third, it went through. As I heard her voice on the other end, I knew it was real. She wasn’t crying. Her voice was not sad. It was…desperate. “Hi”; “So it’s real, huh.”; ”I see, when is the funeral?”; “September 1^st, morning, 8 o’clock?”; “I see, I, I’ll be there.”; “I’d love to. No worry. You take care, okay.”; “Yes, good bye, good bye.”

People say that the five stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. To me the first stage was that afternoon. I called all the friends we both knew, hoping someone would wake me up from this nightmare. Maybe it’s a practical joke. Maybe by the day I arrived his funeral venue, he would simply jumped out from the coffin and shouted “surprise” with his mischievous smile. I meant that’s exact what he would do: setting up a party with all the details just for a birthday surprise. However, I did not get what I want from others. No. Either they have their days ruined by receiving the news from me, or confirmed the terrible news.

What happened next was even more dramatic 2 days before the funeral, I learned from the weather forecast that the strong typhoon, Bilis, was about to hit Taiwan exactly on his funeral day, September 1^st. When I was watching the forecast on TV, I thought it’s not him that tried to play tricks on us. It’s me that had been dreaming. However, if this was a dream, how could slapping or pinching never wake me up? I called his sister again to confirm if she would postpone the funeral. The answer was negative. Great! Paul. See! You always refuse to be ordinary. Til’ the end, you still make it special. That’s exactly like you!

That night, something happened. To tell the truth, I thought that wasn’t a dream, and I honestly hoped it wasn’t. I woke up and heard the wind and rain storming outside of my window. Paul was sitting on the edge of my bed. I was so happy to see him and shouted “Hey, so after all, you are still alive.” He smiled with profound sorrow, then shook his head. “So it’s real?” I was almost crying as he nodded. “Then will you be happy if I invite more friends to see you off?” He smiled, happily, then vanished. That’s the time that I was finally starting to believe all this. After all, you know, he told me in person.

On the day we met in the physical world again, he did not jump out from the coffin, shouting “surprise”. He was there, calm as always. Starting from that moment, I missed no important occasion of my great friends, as at least as I thought, he told me in person: he would be happy when we friends went and bid him farewell, wished him Godspeed. After all, maybe that’s what we really need in our life: companion from people that really matter to you. Yes, companion from people that really matter to you.

According to the Japanese Manga “One Piece”, the moment that people really pass away is when the world forgets them. In that definition, Paul still lives with me, every single day. Now the speech comes to the end, and I know my audience is going to clap their hands. This round of applause goes to you. Paul. May this round go to you.

To do list

1. Body Shape.
2. Pronunciation.
3. Preparation.

You win not because you are good, but because you pay more time and effort.

Goals

You know your goals.
Find a place that can meet up with them.
Serve your obligation.
Then change if you have to.

Toastmasters and Speaker Roles

June 2nd, 2009. Today I will be the Toastmaster of the meeting.
I was stopped from being toastmaster and the speaker at the same time for the worry of taking too many roles at the same time.
I thought I shuold be the one that knows the best how much I can take.

I mean, what I really want to say is this...
Only people who go to extremes get extreme results.
Extreme results are what I want; extremes are what I will do.