Im happy to be here tonight to share with you the vision for all of us here as toastmasters.

But first, let me tell a story of myself. 20 yrs ago, in my 1st year of university life in Penang, I had to make a presentation on micro organism as part of my coursework. It was the first public speech and I was trembling from fear almost to the stage of panic attack. I wish you were there to witness it, you would probably have seen how pale was my face, as pale as a zombie, except it was a trembling zombie. What I wanted to say in my introduction was I would like to talk about micro organism but I said I would like to talk about micro orgasm. The whole audience burst into laughter. That night, I was so embarrass. I was so heartbroken. I was so devastated. 10 yrs later, I had the chance to attend a toastmaster meeting and I would not forget what I saw that day. I witness the most eloquent speaker presenting her speech. She spoke with ease, her voice so captivating, her speech was mesmerizing and she was also very mesmerizing. I was so impressed by her performance that I kept thinking her performance. But then it dawn on me that one day I could also be like her. Fellow toastmaster, have you got the same experience, that youve seen a great presenter before, and how you wish one day you would also be like that person? Thats probably the very reason why we have come to toastmaster. We sacrifice our time to come TM because we want to fight the fear of speaking in public. We sacrifice our time to come TM because we want to be able to speak off the cuff. We sacrifice our time to come TM because we not only want to learn how to craft a great speech, also how to deliver a great speech. But there is something I must say to you. It would be fruitless if were here but we are not taking up any active role. It would be fruitless if were here but allow ourselves to be on auto pilot, like a drifting wood, not knowing where it will land. It would be fruitless if we are here, but without a vision.

________________________________________________________________ And yes, Ive a vision tonight. Ive a vision tonight, that one day everyone of us, including even the most nervous speaker in this room, will be transformed into the most eloquent speaker. Ive a vision tonight, that one day everyone of us here will attain the status of cc, acs, dtm. Ive a vision tonight, that one day, a few us will be the champion of the yearly held international toastmaster contest. ________________________________________________________________ Make no mistake, we can only achieve our vision if we commit ourselves to the following: to attend every meeting to volunteer for various roles in each meeting to set goals to complete our projects on time. ___________________________________________________________________ So fellow toastmasters, we cant wait for another 5 years to realize that weve not progressed much. Now is the time, now is the time, that we must all rise to the challenge, allow our speaking skill to develop to the fullest and realize our vision.