As someone who is married to a member of Toastmasters, I've been aware of their Louisville presence and read many of their publications. Most people I know dread having to speak in public, myself being one of them. Reading about the St. Matthews/Lyndon Toastmasters annual Humerous Speech Contest, held yesterday morning at their weekly 6:45 am, meeting brought to mind a memorable college semester that my best friend and I made the ambitious decision to enroll into a speech class together. It happened to meet at around 8 am, which is not an unreasonable time unless you're in the flush of youth and prone to late nights and a bit of partying. Things went well, until midway through the semester when spring fever grabbed hold of us and we started ditching class to go to the beach (we were in San Diego) or head out for breakfast and coffee. Those were the days that we could actually even roll out of bed that early. Needless to say, we did not finish that class.

Now that I've been inspired to traipse down memory lane, I may just be inclined to participate in Toastmasters. Who knows, I might just compete in a Humerous Speech Contest next year. If you are interested in improving your speech making skills check out your local chapter of Toastmasters here.

Photo by Tarsha Stith