Christmas is just around the corner and I was pleased to be invited to attend my friend’s church Pre-Christmas party. Around 20 of us gathered for this special occasion. We had tasty food, great wine, fantastic game and memorable gifts.

Before the party started, there was one leader leading the participants to introduce ourselves. My friend introduced me as a Salsa Guy, because I knew her from Salsa class. That reminded me the opening of Toastmasters Chapter Meeting, while the Sergeant-At-Arms or Toastmasters of the Day inviting the attendees to introduce themselves.
Followed by the introduction, we had a treasure hunting session. Our task was to hunt for nine table-tennis balls, which one alphabet was written on each ball, to form the word “C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S”. I thought it was a very meaningful game. Fortunately, I managed to find a ball with a letter “H”. I was rewarded with a box of Belgium chocolate. I love chocolate…. Thank you!

Sabotage TIME! Knowing that I learnt salsa, and two of my salsa classmates were there, the leader invited me and another lady to perform a Salsa Dance. What? This was similar to what we did in Toastmasters Club … Table Topic Session! I was totally unprepared! I was trained by Toastmasters Program to talk in front of public; however, I was not trained to dance in front of public in my Salsa Class. The butterflies started to fly inside my stomach. Oh, there was a cup of wine! To boost my confidence, I immediately finished the cup of wine and told my partner … “Let’s GO!”

Before I started to dance, I briefly introduced myself and Salsa Dance. I even asked them how many of them knew Salsa. Surprisingly, none of them knew about Salsa. I could feel that they were impressed. The reaction was like… “Hey, this guy can talk in public confidently!” Without further ado, I proceeded with the Dance….

The only regret I had was I forgot to mention about Toastmasters. I should have told them that I’m from a Toastmasters Club and distributed my name cards.

In our life, we really can’t predict when we will be asked out to talk or to perform for a few minutes. Imagined yourself at my situation, if you were not trained to speak in public, would you dare to step out when the leader called upon you? I guessed, perhaps in two years ago, my reaction would be… saying sorry to the leader and remained at my own seat.

I like to ask this question. If you were given a choice, would you want to speak fearlessly or fearfully?