Voices of Aaron Toastmasters

The Icebreaker speech is your first Toastmasters club speech.

Don’t Panic!

Here are some tips to help you with your Icebreaker.

This speech is designed to do three things:

1. Introduce you to the club
2. Get you started speaking in front of an audience
3. Give the club a general idea of your speaking skill level

Most people write their icebreaker and give a detailed historical account from beginning to end, somewhat like an autobiography. This is fine.

But if you want to shake things up a little, you can try narrowing down the topic a little. Here are some ideas:

1. Try telling us about all the pets you’ve had since you were a child, and maybe one or two facts about them.
2. Perhaps describe your previous speaking experience and what led you to visit Toastmastes (for example, maybe you gave the toast to the bride and groom at a wedding and got your words mixed up to everyone’s amusement, or maybe the critical presentation that determined whether your new client accepted your bid was a smashing success).
3. Maybe some recent event in your life affected your family or friends, or even yourself, for better or for worse. You can tell us the background, the event, how it affected you and where you plan to go from there.

Also, your speech doesn’t have to be serious. You can insert a lot of bad puns, crack a few jokes, nearly anything goes. Enjoy it and have some fun!

Remember, you have four to six minutes to deliver your Icebreaker speech, so practice it a few times with a stop watch. It’s common to talk at a comfortable pace for the first several minutes, and then rush through the end when the timing lights go on. By practicing with a stop watch, you can see where you are during your speech and start learning to pace yourself.

Again, this is your first speech, so it doesn’t have to be perfect. Relax! If you forget a line, or need to use notes, or need to stop and do some deep breathing, that’s perfectly okay. As club members, we’ll be there to encourage you and applaud you when you’re finished. Once you get through your speech, you can sit down and breath a sigh of relief.