Strangely enough, I was not as nervous as expected. Of course, this was my tenth speech and yes, yes, a thousand times yes, I’ve gained more confidence each and every time I delivered a previous project speech (or table topic or evaluation for that matter). However this time I should be more nervous. This time I was expected to inspire my audience, doing something I’ve tried to avoid so far: sharing personal opinions and inner thoughts.

All my nine previous speeches have been on - what I would consider - ‘safe’ topics such as sports, objects, events, situations or other non ‘inner space’- invading matters. But now, I have challenged myself to share bits and pieces of myself rather than generic and general information. And you know what? Not only did I conquer a deep, dark and lingering fear, I delivered my best speech ever!

My speech had zero speech crutches (whereas an average of 10+ would be my norm). The flow of words for the first time came from my heart and not from a sheet of paper. Speaking from my own beliefs was easier than I had ever imagined. And to top it off, all the accumulated feedbacks from the past 1.4 years since my 1st speech seemed to merge back into this one speech. Ah, the sweet taste of personal victory. Doing something outside of my comfort-zone and doing it with the best efforts and intentions paid off really well for me and inspired me to do this more often.

With the taste of victory fresh in my mind and heart, I realized that getting to this milestone had been a fun journey as well as the feeling of being surrounded by the terrific and great people of KPMG KL Toastmasters Club. I owe my gratitude to so many of them for their support, help, coaching and mentoring to get me to this point. It’s impossible to thank them all individually but special credits go out to our highly regarded President, VP Education, PR, Treasurer, Secretary and other super-active members, including our external guests and visitors.

Is this the end of my Toastmasters journey, I’ve been asked? At first I thought it would be: "Mission Accomplished". But having done the ‘unthinkable’, it feels only right to continue with the winning streak and elevate myself to new, greater heights.

Contributed by KPMG TMC VP Membership Ivo Ramon.