{"id":1143,"date":"2020-06-23T19:51:50","date_gmt":"2020-06-23T23:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/?p=1143"},"modified":"2020-06-23T19:51:50","modified_gmt":"2020-06-23T23:51:50","slug":"the-benefits-of-toastmasters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/the-benefits-of-toastmasters\/","title":{"rendered":"The Benefits of Toastmasters"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ally Bhuiyan, DTM<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ask 100 Toastmasters how they have benefitted from being a Toastmaster, and you will likely get at least 300 different answers.\u00a0 Indeed, the benefits are numerous, but while for some they are quite concrete (\u201cI got a promotion\u201d or \u201cI got a raise\u201d), for many of us they are not.\u00a0 If you are like me, you might use broad generalizations such as \u201cI improved my communication and leadership skills,\u201d or \u201cI met some great people and built my social network,\u201d or simply \u201cI just love learning from others and hearing other people\u2019s stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

To non-Toastmasters, such general answers might not satisfy; they might think that such benefits can be easily found in other ways or with other organizations.\u00a0 However, as with our speeches, the personal stories behind our answers are much more interesting than the answers themselves.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to share the story of my husband, Mushi Bhuiyan, who underwent an enormous transformation after joining Toastmasters, and who serves as an example and inspiration for me on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

About 10 years ago, Mushi was a successful consultant for a large international firm, who worked closely with the management teams in several well-known companies.\u00a0 He thoroughly enjoyed his job, since it involved a lot of travel and dealing with a variety of people.\u00a0 However, he recognized that in spite of his successes, he was consistently being passed up for promotions.<\/p>\n

When speaking with his career coach and HR, he was told that he didn\u2019t possess strong communication skills, and after expressing his desire to improve them, Mushi signed up for a course with Dale Carnegie.\u00a0 The course was fun, and he learned a lot of techniques on starting conversations, getting people to open up, and asking the right questions.\u00a0 But the course was short, and expensive.\u00a0 His company would not pay to enroll him in another course, but Mushi felt he had a lot more to learn.\u00a0 Now what?<\/p>\n

He googled \u201cCheap Dale Carnegie courses\u201d to see if he could find coupons for additional classes and found Toastmasters on the list of suggestions.\u00a0 Mushi jumped in head first and never looked back.\u00a0 He loved giving speeches and receiving feedback; he loved visiting many clubs and meeting new people; he loved the new friends he had made in his home club; he loved that he was able to take on a district leadership role.<\/p>\n

After some time, he was able to convince me to join as well, and later still, we joined efforts with another Toastmasters couple to charter Princeton Manor Toastmasters<\/a> in our town.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, work went on as usual, but along with his newfound love for Toastmasters grew a new distaste for many things corporate.\u00a0 One Christmas, as the proverbial last drop in the bucket, Mushi received a bottle of wine and a fruit basket for his efforts.\u00a0 Did I forget to mention he is a Muslim and doesn\u2019t drink?<\/p>\n

He never did receive that coveted promotion, but it no longer mattered to him\u00a0 He started his own company instead.\u00a0 His self-confidence had grown, and along with his speaking skills came listening<\/em> skills.\u00a0 He felt a much deeper connection to people.\u00a0 He started organizing block parties so that the people on our street would get to know their neighbors better.\u00a0 Once, towards the end of a big potluck, one of the neighbors came empty-handed and looked very distraught.\u00a0 He explained that he felt uncomfortable coming because he didn\u2019t have anything to share with others.<\/p>\n

It turned out that hunger had driven him to check for leftovers.\u00a0 We were shocked to hear that his house was in foreclosure and that he was having trouble putting food on his table. \u00a0It had never occurred to us that people in our reasonably affluent community, people on our own street<\/em>, were struggling with food insecurity.<\/p>\n

Mushi decided on the spot to do something about it.\u00a0 He teamed up with local restaurants to deliver warm meals on a weekly basis to those in need in his and other nearby communities.\u00a0 When it became clear that the need was great, he set up a non-profit organization so that he could solicit funds from generous donors to help increase his efforts.\u00a0 Thus, Urban Food Alliance was formed.<\/p>\n

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Urban Food Alliance switched gears and instead of delivering warm meals, the organization began handing out boxes filled with groceries that could feed families of 4 every week.\u00a0 The lines of people needing help have been growing steadily, and the efforts to help are ongoing.<\/p>\n

Had it not been for Toastmasters, Mushi would probably not have walked this path.\u00a0 Now, he finds fulfillment and purpose in helping others.\u00a0 He can smile at the memory of not getting his promotion, knowing that he has gained so much more instead.<\/p>\n

True Toastmasters may find it hard to pinpoint in 1 sentence how Toastmasters had benefitted them, because they have embarked on a journey of self-discovery and confidence that will last a lifetime.\u00a0 True Toastmasters don\u2019t only help themselves; they also help others.\u00a0 Maybe when people ask us, \u201cHow have you benefitted from being a Toastmaster?\u201d we should respond by saying that the better question is, \u201cHow has the community benefitted from my being a Toastmaster?\u201d<\/p>\n

Addendum: The resources of Urban Food Alliance have been stretched thin during recent months due to the COVID-19 crisis.\u00a0 If you are interested in supporting the organization and helping to feed the hungry, please make a \u00a0donation<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ally Bhuiyan, DTM Ask 100 Toastmasters how they have benefitted from being a Toastmaster, and you will likely get at least 300 different answers.\u00a0 Indeed, the benefits are numerous, but while for some they are quite concrete (\u201cI got a promotion\u201d or \u201cI got a raise\u201d), for many of us they are not.\u00a0 If … Continue reading “The Benefits of Toastmasters”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1143"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1145,"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143\/revisions\/1145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}