The influence story #1 | Karen Knight

I was terrified to speak to more than three people. My colleague that time lit up when I asked about all the ribbons and the picture frame on her wall. She told me it was from Toastmasters and all about it.

I fell off, I was down and I scrambled

It was around St Patrick's day, the theme was Ireland when I visited a club for the very first time near my home and the Table Topic I got was 'Irish Music'. I was excited, I could talk all about it. I could talk about the Chieftans, and all the other bands; when on stage, all I could see were eyes. Thousands and thousands and thousands of eyes. There were 15 people and my throat closed up, I got a massive big knot in my stomach and my legs started to shake and I was shaking so bad that I literally fell off my high heeled shoes. I was down and I scrambled my feet, I mumbled out something. To this day, I have no idea what it was and I went back to my seat. I had decided that I will never put myself through this ever again. This is not worth it.

Most clubs in Canada evaluate Table Topics. The table topics evaluator came forward and spoke about everyone and then she said, "Karen, I want to congratulate you on your courage and getting up. It was obvious from the words you spoke, you had the knowledge and passion for Irish music." I thought, yeah, that's really true. "Next time you come out, take a few really deep breaths and that will help calm your nerves and stop some of the shaking. Let's congratulate her, she stayed up there for almost two full minutes most people would have run from the room so well done!" and she went on evaluating further.

I stayed, because she influenced me

I was sitting there thinking how could anyone find three honest good things about this speech where I fell down and that's when I decided, OK, I belong here. I have something to learn here. That was 23 years ago.

I remember clearly, her name was Holly Fredrickson. I can picture her, she had red hair and a long green dress. If she hadn't said that or if she had done some sort of whitewash or whatever, I wouldn't have stayed and I wouldn't have come back. She is the reason I am in Toastmasters. I stayed because she influenced me.

- Karen

About Karen:

Karen Knight, DTM is a Past District Director - District 21 (Canada) and an avid Toastmaster since 1995. She has recently received her second DTM title and has finished the Competent Communicators manual at least 10 times. She is extremely amiable and a fantastic storyteller. She told me lots of stories about different influences. I thank her and take this opportunity to publish these stories through this blog.