You and I came to Toastmasters clubs like this paper - full of schedule. We already have much experience in our life, yet we still have one thing in common - we still fear to speak on the stage.

Dear contest chair, ladies and gentlemen, have you ever felt the fear when you stand on the stage facing so many eyes?

I had, and I still have.

When I joined Yu-Life Club in 2020, I was invited to the new member orientation to give a speech.

Raise your hands if you ever attended such a meeting.

You would expect many new faces in the meeting. At that time, I thought I was old, sophisticated and confident enough to do the speech.

I practiced a lot and went on to the stage.

The meeting started, I spoke. I heard applauses. The meeting ended.

Everything sounded wonderful, except that I had so much fear on the stage that I lost my words for more than 10 seconds during my speech.

Terrible moment!

As soon as the meeting finished, a beautiful lady came to me and said,

“It’s normal to have fear. Many people have the same feeling.”

These little words of wisdom made me feel better.

That lady is my Mentor.

Raise your hands if you have a mentor.

My mentor always encourages me to get on to the stage, and this helps me to be free from fear.

Now, I have been mentoring a few members in our club. I still remember last spring. We had a new member. Because of the pandemic, members hadn’t seen each other in person for a while, and our club hadn’t had a new member for a long time. I thought that I should call the new member and talk her.

“Hi, is this Lanlan?” My voice was a little trembling. “Yes”, a very soft female voice from the other side, making me free from fear. “I am Laoxie. Welcome to join Yu-Life Club. How are you?” I said. “Thanks, Laoxie. I am OK. Just stay at home.” Lanlan said. “How do you know our club?” The conversation continued.

It was not a talk of 5- to 7-minute long. It was over 30 minutes. We talked about Toastmasters. We talked about Yu-Life. We talked about career, and we talked about family.

After this long talk, I became her mentor, and I find it is easier to give her feedback. When Lanlan told me she was busy and had no time to prepare a speech. I knew that she had fear and insisted she get on to the stage anyway.

Gradually, Lanlan begins to show her great talent as a public speaker. Her Icebreaker talks about stories connected with the number of her member ID. Her speech contest talks about the tension and relaxation between herself and her children. Each time she brings in vivid life stories in the speeches. She has no fear and moves forward.

Now she is a qualified mentor in our club.

Ladies and Gentlemen, you were all new members like Lanlan and me at some time. Your mentors will help you understand that it is normal to have fear on the stage, and encourage you to speak more.

Once you bravely show up on the stage, you will be free from fear; you will do a great job; you will be the one you want to be. You will know that your wishes are much bigger than the fear. You just do it.

The whole process is like a piece of paper, not the paper full of schedule, but this white paper. When you have fear, you can hardly write anything on it. When you are free from fear, you will draw your own pictures on it, you will shine your stars on it, and you will be great on your Pathways.

Raise your paper, and be free from fear.

Thank you.