Toastmasters Project #1The Ice Breaker

Fears and Believes

Mister Toastmaster, Madame GE, Fellow Toastmasters and

welcomed guests...

Is there a better way to describe a person than to present his or her fears and

believes?

That’s exactly what I’m going to do in this Ice

Breaker, my first Toastmaster Project.

But before that, just a little presentation.

My name is Bernardo, you can all read that in my tag at the desk,

but you can just call me Bernie, which I think is more

friendly.

I moved to Canada just over a year ago from Buenos Aires,

Argentina.

So far, I’m loving this country, its people and culture. The winter,

well that’s another topic ...

I am an IT consultant, but after moving here was such a change in my life, I recently decided to also change my career and go

back to study

Ok, enough for a brief presentation, so let’s

go back to the main topic here..

FEARS!

I thought it could be interesting to share with you what are my biggest

fears when talking in public, and maybe that would help

me exorcise them

The first one isFear to forget my

speech, and that is why I have everything write down

here!

I’m gonna read the rest

Fear to be ridiculousFear not to fit.

Fear not to speak english very well, because is my second

language.Fear to speak too soft or too loud, too quick or too slow.

Fear to be judged.

The list is not so long, but fears are a powerful force

in the human mind.

And so are... BELIEVES

I believe that

The Golden Rule

is the basis of all human understanding.

When I studied some philosophy some years ago, I

was surprised to learn that variations of "do to others as you would have them do to you" are the common

ground for religions in all cultures. So I choose to live my life according to this principle.

I believe that

Technology makes us more human.

I remember when I was a small kid this tall everybody was thinking that "in the future we

would all be non-sociable robot-like beings, only talking with

computers" and that technology would change our essence, and

it is the other way around!

If you think of the basic human characteristics, you would find the most successful

technology behind them:

• Curiosity: Google,Wikipedia

• Gossip, procrastinate: Facebook, Twitter

• Books: Kobo, Kindle, iPad

• Music: in our pockets

• Games: lots of devices to play

We invent and use technology to be more

human!

As the geek that I am, I cannot wait to see how

history is going to continue about this

I believe that

We can achieve anything we propose

in this life.

The only three tools we need are:

FOCUSDISCIPLINEPATIENCE

I know, I know, I didn’t say it is easy, but isn’t it great to know that we can achieve any goal we set out to do?

So, one of the goals I set for myself it is to be a good

public speaker, and that’s exactly what I’m trying to do

with this first speech.

I also believe that

The most valuable asset in life is TIME

The time you need to meet great people like

you, experience new things

and have a wonderful time

in this life

Hoping that I didn’t take too much or too little

of the time for this speech,

I really want to thank you all!