I really blew it last week. It was my 10th speech and I did it on "The Big Question" as in 'asking the important question'. I thought it would be clever to go around the table and commend my Clubmates for what I thought I knew of one or two of the important questions they have asked themselves.
Well, I assumed a lot.
Sure, I won the Best Speaker award that night, but the next day I received an email from one of my Clubmates who was not impressed by my having used her as an example without having asked her permission, or at least having warned her, initially. I felt awful, but obviously not as awful as she felt. I apologized for my insensitivity and we resolved the matter. This was a real humbling learning experience for me... even though I'm 57 years old, I still make the kind of mistakes that I used to chastise my children for making.
I received some wonderful feedback from a long-time toastmaster who just dropped in to the meeting (she was in our town visiting her brother). She wrote: "Instead of guessing questions that individuals have (I thought this was so clever and would be so entertaining) state the suggested question. Ask how many have asked themselves that question-- that way no one is put on the spot." Wow, this is really something I will take to heart!
