A weekly journal of toastmasters International-Philippines "5 Lessons"

Past VP Education, Queen City Toastmasters Club

CEBU, Philippines - The excitement has certainly fizzled out in Samal Island two weeks after the International Prepared Speech Competition, but much work is cut out for one Toastmaster burdened with the responsibility of representing the Philippines (District 75) in Orlando, Florida this August 2012.

I say burdened with a smile on my face for that one representative, Advanced Toastmaster-Bronze Herminigildo Garrobo, does not consider it a burden at all. Nationalistic at heart, Hermie, as he is popularly called, Mheng to family and close friends and Coach to many of his students, considers it an opportunity to bring honor and recognition to his beloved country.

The international stage is not new to Hermie. In 2009, he won in the Toastmasters International Inter-Regional District Competition with a speech entitled “The Counting Lesson”. That win made him eligible to compete alongside nine outstanding speakers in the World Championship in Public Speaking. This year, he will revisit the regional competition yet again, but with a different lesson in tow, “The Spelling Lesson.”

I wanted to learn from the Champ himself, so I sat down and chatted with him hours after the District Competition. A good friend, DJ, was there and listened to the conversation. For a good thirty minutes, this educator gave me my first five lessons on speech writing and story-telling and how to spell success with endless soul searching.

That he was such a great story teller on stage was mesmerizing to me, so much so that I asked him if he has ever run out of stories to tell. He said he initially thought that he did, but he just had to look at the people closest to him to know whose lives have touched him. He remembered very vividly the story of his cousin, Kweng, which was the major content of his winning contest piece. I learned my Lesson #1 - You do not always need to display the drama of your own life in a speech. Sometimes, stories of people close to you work. Once you have the message, write it down. For him, the challenge was to make a speech better than “The Counting Lesson”, his personal best. I was surprised to know that “The Spelling Lesson” was his first speech after 2009, which took three months to write.

With two more contests in sight, Hermie and his mentors have a lot to do. The speech writing process will never be final until the speech is finally delivered in front of the international audience. I got my Lesson # 2 - Speech writing is never an easy task. Listen to the advice of mentors, but use only those that help you to get your message across.

One thing I discovered about Hermie is that purpose and meaning fuel his every thought, motivation and action. His personal journey – one that brought him from Korea where he is currently residing to the Philippines and back to Korea – was not an easy one. He had to fly in and out of the country a couple of times this year to join the club, area, division and district contests. What kept him sane and grounded through all these was a clear vision of purpose and meaning. Then I understood the gravity of Lesson # 3 - As a speaker, your purpose must be to teach and inspire and only when the audience gets inspired by the life lessons taught will come meaning.

One would think that winning was all that mattered to him, but he proved to me that more than the trophy and the admiration of Toastmasters and non-Toastmasters alike, he only wants to keep sharing those lessons.

He decided to join the 2012 speech contest for one underlying emotion - gratitude. He was grateful for a lot of people who have encouraged and inspired him. He was grateful for Toastmasters for giving him the avenue to keep sharing those stories. Lesson # 4 tells me that winning does not always matter. If you are able to inspire even just one person out of a hundred, you already are a winner.

Now comes Lesson # 5. This last lesson comes as a call to action for everyone - You do not need to be an excellent communicator to bring your message across. What you need at first is do some soul searching to find that message that touched you and that you believe will touch others. Once you do, you must then have the courage to convey it with seriousness and sincerity, with passion and persuasion, and with all your heart and soul. (FREEMAN)