On May 21st, I’ll be one of the guest speakers at the Toastmasters International (Aloha District 49) 2011 Spring Conference. While I’m not a member of Toastmasters International, it is widely known that it’s THE club to join if you want to develop your presentation, speaking and leadership skills. When I was first approached by a client of mine (for whom we did staff training) to speak at this conference, I felt honored, but a little apprehensive at the same time. For me, speaking in front of a group composed of ambitious people who are there because they are actually interested in becoming better speakers was a bit intimidating.  Nevertheless, I’m excited and looking forward to it as a “shared” experience–I’m going to share my “school of hard knocks” perspective on perseverance and learn from them, as well as their other slated speakers. In fact, Toastmasters has already taught me a few things. In perusing their website, I found their “10 Tips for Public Speaking”. Here’s what tips nine and ten have to say: “…concentrate on your message and your audience”, and “…your speech should represent you — as an authority and as a person.” Just the appropriate advice I needed…