So one way to overcome the fear was to expand this depository to more than just episodes associated with my wife and dog. But I only had several weeks left before the contest, and the time was too short for me to venture into the unknown world outside of my wife and dog. Everyday experiences and events, books that you read, current events in the newspaper, and conversations with people become good material for table topic speeches. I should have been taking note of them from much earlier on.
So I decided to rely on my imagination rather than my experiences. But again, my imagination was not good enough to overcome the fear. What should I do, then? The answer that I came up with was to give up (!) and stop struggling. Someone told me that the single most important thing to do when making a table topic speech is kakugo wo kimeru, or to make a resolution; in other words, to be determined to speak about something without worrying about the quality or results. I decided to take this advice, but what if nothing came up in my mind on the stage? Well, then I would sing a song. So I started practicing the song, “You Are My Sunshine”! This kind of hirakinaori, or “I’ll-do-whatever-I-can” attitude, brought me a great sense of freedom on the stage and gave me the courage to do anything, including even dancing!
I also want to emphasize that the enthusiastic support from my fellow Yokohama Frontier Toastmasters Club members greatly helped me to overcome the fear. Their “relay messages” via e-mail to give me cheer on the evening before the Division and District Contests encouraged, motivated and enlivened me very much. I would also like to thank the Division D members who gave me tremendous energy.
There is no shortcut to becoming a table topic expert. Although my hirakinaori attitude and strong luck, as well as the support from my friends in the Yokohama Frontier TMC and Division D, brought me this prestigious championship, I’m still in the middle of my challenge to become a good speaker. And this challenge will continue.
Lastly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the organizers of the contests at each level, including everyone behind the scenes, as well as to the wonderful audiences who gave me encouragement through their written comments and warm applause. And I would also like to thank my wife, who somehow doesn’t say anything—neither “yay” nor “nay”—about my involvement in the Toastmasters Club, but looked quite pleased when I brought home the trophy.