Ice Breaker Speech: My Journey and Why I Joined Toastmasters

This speech was delivered on July 17, 2014  by Ian Buenaventura.

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Freud once said “If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore.”

He must be talking about someone delivering his icebreaker speech.

So Ladies and Gentlemen watch me, watch my skin, watch my stage fright ooze out at every pore.

This is why I joined Toastmasters. I am here to put myself in a situation that forces me to face my fear of stage fright and to expand my identity and grow as a person.

I am a shy person, An introvert. Sometimes, I am afraid of people or awkward conversations.

But then again, as an introvert, I am a very curious person. Very observant. Sometimes i become too analytical. I often portray the role of an observer. I examine people, faces, gender roles, lies, emotions, and mostly people’s lives so much that I forget to live it myself. Like it is for most people, my greatest strength is also my greatest weakness. A duality that always complement each other.

And this is me struggling to find the proper words how to fully express myself. I feel like I know so many things and I want to talk about all of them.  I find myself struggling to explain myself in simpler terms.

The first time I sent my Icebreaker to my mentor Ms. Gege Sugue, I sent her a composition of philosophical pondering, musings, and stories that allude to my own. I realize that I was using these ideas as a way to hide myself. I can only imagine the reaction on her face, her bemusement. I was expressing myself while not expressing myself, telling my stories while not telling at the same time. Something I imagine as a fear or refusal of opening up.

This is why the Icebreaker is a very difficult task for me. It’s supposed to be the simplest yet I find it the hardest. Perhaps this is the sample template in which you make reference to when you see someone who isn't willing to fully show what he is really like or someone, who thinks too much and soon forgets what simple is like. Ironic because I revere the simple.

Being clever and logical means I can argue about almost anything and be right all the time but this is no argument, this is Toastmasters, this is me presenting myself bare and being open to criticisms.

I had given it a lot of thought and I guess that is the problem.

So have I got you sufficiently befuddled? Does this dense curtain hide the real me? Still do not have any idea who I am? Well that’s the biggest clue. It takes a while to get to know me. To thaw the ice. To break through the surface. Perhaps words will never be enough and It’s going to take more than this Icebreaker to reveal the fullness of who I am. I ask all of you to be part of my journey. To watch me unfold the curtains and expel not just the fear through my pores but I hope along with that sweat will be bits and pieces of who I am until the point that I can share you all the stories of my life.