Why Sri Lankan entrepreneurs should join CIM Toastmasters

I recently attended an educational meeting on Thursday, 7 April, which was organised by the Club 1290125, Area 3, Division A, District 82 initiated by the globally-recognised marketing body Chartered Institute of Marketing’s (CIM) Toastmasters Club.

This was my first attendance at a Toastmasters meet and I spoke about the Sri Lankan economy when people from the audience were invited to talk about given topics within two minutes. More than the speeches, it affected many other areas of my life; summing it up in one word, I became more confident – and being a budding entrepreneur myself, I bring forward this article for upcoming entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka.

Though I just summed up my speech in a minute and 44 seconds, the confidence I gained is for a lifetime. I should thank the wonderful lady who recommended and called me for this lifetime opportunity, my very good friend Romanthi Fernando, who is also a columnist for Daily FT and a toastmaster also holding the position of VP – Public Relations in the Committee Members’ 2010/11 list of the CIM Toastmasters Club in the above-mentioned district.

Building confidence

I am pretty sure there are many entrepreneurs out there such as myself whose ideas and beliefs are constrained by resources, contacts and other things, but I believe that you believe in the idea and vision you hold about what you are dreaming to start up and I trust that you have had dreams about them for real.

I myself, though constrained by loneliness and resources, believe in my confidence – and for all those who are reading this and who would recommend and tell others about this, I could conclude that you gain and foster confidence and increase your public speaking, networking and socialising skills with CIM Toastmasters.

It all starts with public speaking; open up your mind freely. In fact, many people rate public speaking as being more frightening than death! But you need to remember one thing – what I discovered about overcoming anxiety and growing as a person is that every time you feel anxiety and still do take action, you will build confidence. Trust me, this really works.

Honestly, I believe that’s the only way to build confidence in yourself: doing the things that you fear the most – daring and challenging things – this is how the beginning as well as the journey throughout needs to be for entrepreneurs out there, even myself.

This happens to be one of the most important lessons you can learn as an entrepreneur because you will be faced with scary moments frequently in business – make decisions, hold overall responsibility and be accountable, make the right contacts, cope up with clients and stakeholders, handle the headache of preparing accounts and statements and much more.

So get started and always be on the lookout; appreciate as much negativity as you can, learn from them, neutralise them and turn them into positivity and be ethical and sustainable in all decisions you make because your business initially depends on all your thoughts and decisions.

Below are the reasons why I recommend entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka should join CIM Toastmasters:

1.You speak in public more often

As entrepreneurs, you probably tend to speak in public more often than you even realise and will be required to do so even more in the future to come. Each time you pitch an idea, inspire others to join you, do an interview with the media or meet a new person, you are actually speaking in public.

As we all know, it’s important to build relationships in business and if you can be the person who fearlessly networks with big shots at seminars, conferences and educational events and workshops – such as what CIM Toastmasters Club is doing, wows the media with your eloquence, shows what you got and brings out your hidden inner self, you will rise to the top faster than you could even imagine.

One interesting part in every CIM Toastmasters meeting is called Table Topics. The presenter will call out a short question and then randomly pick on someone from the audience to come and give an impromptu two minute speech about it (this is where I came up as a speaker to talk about the financial and tourism industry in Sri Lanka currently and the potential effect in the country’s economy despite growth in both sectors – this took me a minute and 44 seconds as mentioned previously).

It can be quite nerve-racking to give a two minute speech with zero preparation! I can’t tell you how valuable this skill is in learning how to interact with others, hold a group’s attention and just become a more interesting person! But trust me, when I went up there, it just worked.

If you can’t effortlessly talk with anyone, let’s say for example at a party for about 20 minutes and have them remember you in a positive light afterwards, then you are missing out on valuable opportunities – this is exactly why Sri Lankan entrepreneurs as I recommended need to join CIM Toastmasters as it helps you become more comfortable in those social interactions.

2.Entrepreneurs are tomorrow’s leaders

One of the best things that you will gather when you participate in the CIM Toastmasters Club is leadership. Any toastmasters clubs around the world has numerous positions in the club that need to be filled from time to time – they don’t require a huge commitment, but they do help you practice working with a team. However, coming to the point, the most critical lesson that CIM Toastmasters can teach you about leadership is how to evaluate others.

After every speech in CIM Toastmasters, you will be given an opportunity to evaluate the speaker and give them instant feedback (sometimes in the form of, you guessed it, giving another speech).

One of the most important lessons I learned here was how to mix criticism with praise. Helping someone improve without crushing their spirits is a lesson every leader should know and it’s better to practice it in a safe environment before you need it in the ‘real world’. This is very critical to upcoming entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka as they are the leaders of tomorrow’s business community.

Providing constructive feedback and commanding an audience’s attention are indispensable skills that every leader must possess. If you are serious about becoming successful (I believe that you are!) and don’t yet consider yourself a powerful leader, this is one way to make progress – trust me, CIM Toastmasters shapes and fosters confidence in leadership skills and attitude – this, as I said previously, is critical to any entrepreneur.

3.You learn various topics in the business world

The third best thing in the CIM Toastmasters meetings is the knowledge that you can acquire. As entrepreneurs, some who have a fair idea about what business is all about or even some don’t even know how it works, it’s important to constantly keep on acquiring and seeking knowledge, which is priceless.

Any topics and hot trends in today’s business world are all important to know and CIM Toastmasters is all about it. When I first participated, a guest speaker who is the CEO of Bates Strategic Alliance brought in a 20 minute presentation on reputation management and the relationship with public relations, giving out knowledge about how important it is in today’s world and also brought in many practical cases which his organisation was managing to tackle.

This is very important for entrepreneurs, especially some of those I know who even cannot afford higher educational studies such as a degree or a master’s programme. Keeping this aside, isn’t the CIM Toastmasters meeting a wonderful opportunity to learn a new topic or trend on what’s evolving in today’s business world – whether it’s in the Sri Lankan context or international? In my view, it’s a great opportunity.

It’s always best to make use of what is available than forgo and put down your confidence level – it’s time to realise that sometimes opportunities only knock on your door once – so just go and get it!

4.You spend time with the right type of people

I could confidently state that CIM Toastmasters does a remarkable job of putting you around the right type of people – as upcoming entrepreneurs this is a key necessity because you need to blend and mix with the right mix of people who deserve your idea and attention.

One of the most important keys to success in life is to surround yourself with people who are more successful than you are – I am currently gathering many successful executives and individuals. You too need this. As upcoming entrepreneurs, it’s critical to blend with them and learn.

CIM Toastmasters is the kind of group that attracts people who are interested in improving their life and becoming successful – this is clearly stated in their mission itself; it improves your self confidence and boosts you up to help others retain and increase confidence in themselves.

5.Your body language improves

No matter who you are, your body language needs improvement. And as entrepreneurs, it’s important to have recognised and learned this at a very early stage than be late and regret it. Many people are totally unaware of what message they are communicating with their bodies, and how fast people are making assumptions about them – this is proved psychologically. I hope you too might have come across this in your life.

Some recent studies that were conducted elsewhere stated that people form an opinion about you in as little as two seconds after meeting you – isn’t this powerful? So, this is to bring in the importance about how much your body language matters in either your personal life or increasingly in your business environment.

I recently ran through a blog by an upcoming entrepreneur and in an article, he stated that in one such study, evaluations of professors at a particular university were compared with evaluations of people who had only seen two-second video clips of the professors with the sound turned off. Remarkably, 78% of people who only saw the two-second video clips rated the professors the same as the class who had spent an entire semester observing them!

Every part makes a strong message to everyone you meet – whether this could be psychologically conscious or unconscious, your dress, your eyes, your hands, your stride, your expressions, your voice tone and even your posture. When all this is happening, do you exactly know what you are trying to day or how these body languages are being perceived by the person you are talking to or the audience you are addressing?

Conclusion

So as you may have gone through the benefits and the valuable skills that you can acquire when you join CIM Toastmasters, it’s crucial that you think about it. As budding entrepreneurs, it’s important that we keep our spirit alive and keep it going even when things are falling apart.

This is why I encourage anyone (especially entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka) to join. There might be many seminars, workshops which costs thousands of rupees and provide similar classes to executives and entrepreneurs, who sometimes cannot afford it at all.

CIM Toastmasters can offer you many of the same advantages in a non-profit organisation, so I would suggest that you get on the train. I am looking forward to seeing you there! CIM Toastmasters organises socialising and networking events regularly and it’s conclusive that it is a fun club to be in – a top class toastmasters club – so take up this valuable opportunity.

Remember one thing, entrepreneurs: the way to overcome anxiety and grow as a person is right through that fear, so feel the fear and take action in spite of it. Build up and boost your confidence.

(The writer is an evolving Marketer and Strategist and is the youngest Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing globally. He is a budding entrepreneur by nature. He writes various columns in business newspapers and on blogs. He currently serves as an Associate Consultant for a leading brand building organisation in Sri Lanka and is the Founder of Mark & Comm Limited, a boutique think-tank. He can be reached on [email protected]. You can follow him on Twitter on @Thanzyl, Facebook on facebook/thanzyl or visit his blog on www.thanzyl.com.)