By Scott Hepner

I was a member of a different Toastmasters Club for about 3 years.

I felt good about the level of ability that I had achieved so I decided to leave the club.

Approximately 4 years passed when my best friend from childhood asked me to be the best man at his wedding.

Of course I said yes! I was honored and thrilled to be part of the event.

As the wedding date approached I noticed some anxiety building around giving the best man speech. I did not want to let my friend down and it had been years since I was regularly speaking in public.

Said another way, fear of failure and embarrassment are powerful motivating forces!

Luckily, I had ample time to knock the rust off. I decided to join Lake Norman Toastmasters to do that very thing. My first speech was version 1.0 of the best man speech in front of a modest meeting’s crowd.

I went to two other clubs and gave the speech there too. One of them was an advanced club where I received an incredible round robin evaluation. Special shout out to Jamie Stamey who gave me the perfect comic-relief joke to include in my closing.

When it came time to give the speech at the wedding reception, I felt confident to make my best friend proud. The speech went great and I received several compliments from attendees.

I knew it must have been good when several of the band members came up to me and said:

“Great job. We see a lot of best man speeches and your’s was great!”

You might not have to speak in public as part of your daily life, but if a time comes when you are called upon, will you be ready?