我在5A+演讲俱乐部300次会议的主题致辞

产后多忘事，所以趁记忆鲜活赶紧记下。今天是5A+演讲俱乐部第300次会议。6年时光一晃而过，演讲似乎成为了生活的一部分。感谢一路有你们的陪伴和支持。演讲全文如下。共勉。

Marathon

--KeynoteSpeech 300 ^th Meeting of 5A+ TMC

May 24, 2015

Dear fellow toastmasters and distinguished guests,

First,thank you for having me as the keynote speaker. I know we have many more senior,a.k.a. old, members here. I truly appreciate this opportunity, it means a lotto me. Today we’re celebrating our 300 ^th meeting. 300, around 6years. I’ve been with Toastmasters for around 6 years as well. Like the meeting theme, TMC is a like marathon. Besides the passions we have in the first few meetings, we need a lot more to move forward.

I’m not Steve Jobs. But I also have three stories to share.

My first story is about my first Toastmaster conference. How many of you just came backfrom Wuhan Conference? What’s your very first conference? Mine was the 2010Fall Conference in Beijing. As a fresh graduate and a new member of Beijing Lenovo TMC, I could never imagine why people would like to pay around 500 plustraveling and living fees for a conference organized by themselves! Until my first conference just in Beijing… I still remember that moment when I saw allthese big figures! Yingdan, Rebecca, Warrick, Hubert, Lin…The humorous speech champion that year was David Qi. I clearly remember him standing on the stage,confident, humorous, and shining. His speech talked about his TMC stories, andwhen he said, “no matter how awful you speech was, they will say, all in all,you did a good job!” everybody laughed into tears! Wow…I was sitting there,wondering when I can stand on the stage like him! If TMC is a marathon, wefirst of all need a goal. At that time, my role model was David. Some members say I am their role model. I would say, that’s a wise choice… A few years later when I won the national contest, David was also there. He came to congratulate, and Isaid, “I still remember your champion speech in 2010, you were my role model.Thank you!” If TMC is a marathon, we need a goal, no matter how far it is.

My second story was still in 2010 when I was in Lenovo TMC. At the year end, we had a special meeting, everybody stood up and talked about their review forthis year. One of my friends, Norma, some of you may know her, stood up andsaid “I’m a finance person, so I’d use numbers. We had 52 meetings this year, Iattended more than 40, did 5 speeches and 25 roles together. I feel so proud about myself!” Then everybody began to calculating. It was my turn, and I said “Of 52 meetings, I attended 51, and the only one left was due to my sick leave.I feel so proud of myself!” I heard a big round of applause…If TMC is amarathon, we definitely need persistence. After I moved to Shanghai in 2011, solucky I joined this club until today. For the past 4 years, besides the days Iwas pregnant, I attended TMC meeting almost every week, and participated in allspeech contests. I do feel proud of myself, and I know you feel the same about yourselvesas well. Think about the first time you did a speech, and think about all thetimes you spent with this club, isn’t that amazing? If TMC is a marathon, persistence matters, and each step counts!

My third story is about one person, his name is Samuel Ng. It was after a contestspeech, I lost that contest, and was exhausted. I went home, lying on the bed,doing nothing. Then I got a text message from Samuel “Tara, do you have aminutes, need to talk” Thinking about Samuel’s strict face, I ignored him…Around 9 pm in the evening, Samuel called me “Tara, why not reply my message?” I said “Sorry Samuel, I was tired so slept for a while, what’s up?”Samuel said “Tara, in your contest speech this afternoon, you had some wrong pronunciations. I wrote it down. So you grab a pen and let me correct you oneby one…” Then Samuel start to teach me, with his Singaporean accent, which I can’treally understand, like a kindergarten teacher…Each time I talked about thisstory, I came into tears. Not many people will do this for you…If TMC is amarathon, lucky that we’re not alone. Look at all these lovely faces around us,when we are happy, when we are sad, when I doubt ourselves, they are alwaysthere, no matter how awful our speech is, they will say, all in all, you did agood job…

Today,we’re celebrating our 300 ^th meeting. 300, around 6 years, it is thegoal in mind, persistence at hand and friends around that made us here. Of course, it is never an end, but a fresh start. Thank you for all the memberswho make this meeting happen, and really hope we can gather again in our 400 ^th ,500 ^th meeting. Who knows what will we be at that time? For me, maybehave one more child, with the same husband…But I know what’s for sure is, thebest is yet to come…

TMC is amarathon, just like our life. I want to end this speech with Steve Jobs’ famoussaying - keep looking, never settle. Keep looking, never settle! Enjoy thismeeting. Thank you!