AIA Toastmasters President’s Opening Address: Giving Voice to Voiceless

The following President’s address was given on the 14^th January 2021. 

Today is AIA Toastmasters’ first chapter meeting of 2021.  Today, we induct our new members.  We welcome them to the fold of Toastmasters.  We give them our commitment to walk with them on that journey. 

We have, among us, many experienced Toastmasters, and I hope I speak for them when I share these thoughts.  In Toastmasters, we are not here to speak; we are here to be heard.  In Toastmasters, we are not here to talk; we are here to communicate.  In Toastmasters, we are not here to evangelise; we are here to give voice to even the least of us. 

We are here to be part of that journey to becoming, not just a speaker, not just an orator, not just a Distinguished Toastmaster; but someone who gives voice to the voiceless.  We are here to be someone who paints, in words, the thoughts, and feelings, and challenges of others, to give form to pain and triumph, to raise each other as merchants hope.  This is not a path of the individual.  This is the pilgrimage of the collective.  We are here to be the sort of speaker who gives form to history, so that long after we have said the words, others can take them and shape a future. 

Over to you, Toastmaster of the Day.