{"id":26371,"date":"2023-11-14T05:30:26","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T10:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=26371"},"modified":"2023-11-09T07:48:01","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T12:48:01","slug":"my-toastmasters-icebreaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/14\/my-toastmasters-icebreaker\/","title":{"rendered":"My Toastmasters ‘Icebreaker’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Earlier this year, I joined the local chapter of Toastmasters International. According to the organization’s website, “Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization that builds confidence and teaches public speaking skills through a worldwide network of clubs that meet online and in person. In a supportive community or corporate environment, members prepare and deliver speeches, respond to impromptu questions, and give and receive constructive feedback.” I presented my first prepared speech last week. Because it’s so closely related to what I do here at Musoscribe, I’m presenting the text of that speech (the actual words I spoke differed somewhat). — bk<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWriting about music is like dancing about architecture.\u201d We\u2019re not sure who coined that clever aphorism, but they had a point: using one art for as a tool to describe another is something of a fool\u2019s errand.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, I was one of those kids who knew exactly what they wanted to be when they grew up. I wanted to be a music journalist. At five years of age, I was paying close attention to the disc jockeys on WSBR-AM in Boca Raton, Florida; when they announced the name of a song and the artist who recorded it, I paid attention. I wanted to know more about the music and the people who made it; I wanted to go deeper.<\/p>\n

I did take a bit of a detour. I grew up, went to college, earning a Bachelor\u2019s degree in Marketing. After graduation, I went on to work as the head of marketing for a string of high tech and industrial companies. I got married and raised two wonderful kids.<\/p>\n

But the flickering flame \u2013 my dream of being a music journalist \u2013 never extinguished. By the early 2000s I was a freelance marketing consultant and web developer. On the side, I wrote a couple of pieces for the online version of Trouser Press<\/i>, an esteemed music criticism publication that I had been reading for many years.<\/p>\n

Not long thereafter, I learned that a music magazine in Boston was looking for writers. I reached out to them, sharing some writing samples. A year and a half later I was Editor in Chief of the magazine. I managed a staff of 50-plus writers, making all the assignments and handling copy-editing for every word that went onto the pages of the glossy magazine.<\/p>\n

This being the 21st<\/sup> century, you can probably guess what happened: the print magazine didn\u2019t last. But by the time it went belly-up, I had developed extensive contacts in the music business: artists, management, promoters, publicists. I started a blog of my own, and it continues to this day. For more than 14 years now, Musoscribe.com has featured new content \u2013 usually 500 words or more \u2013 every business day. For the last five years, I\u2019ve posted new content seven<\/i> days a week. Reviews, essays, features and interviews: at last count I have conducted nearly 1200 interviews.<\/p>\n

One thing that I didn\u2019t<\/i> do was speak in public. But in 2012 there was an event called Ignite Asheville. Ten speakers would take their turn on stage and give a talk lasting exactly<\/i> five minutes, accompanied by a slideshow with exactly<\/i> 20 slides, each of which displayed for exactly<\/i> 15 seconds. I pitched a presentation called \u201cRock Songwriters on the Creative Process.\u201d I made the cut.<\/p>\n

A few days before the event, I wrote about it on my blog. Enthusing about some of the impressive speakers scheduled to appear, I ended with this line: \u201cLet\u2019s just say that I\u2019m glad Ignite Asheville is not a competition event.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon arrival at the Grey Eagle, no one was more surprised than me to discover that it was in fact a competition! The full-house audience would vote. On I went, and if I do say so myself, I did a good job.<\/p>\n

The audience thought otherwise. I came in dead last. And as other speaking opportunities didn\u2019t readily present themselves, that was it for public speaking for me for quite a few years.<\/p>\n

It was six years later \u2013 2018 \u2013 when my first book was published. I scheduled a number of interviews and public appearances to promote it. My first was at a salon, in front of a group of friends and family. I took my place in front of the room, and began to read my prepared remarks. A friend shouted out, interrupting me. \u201cStop!\u201d he cried. \u201cPut down your notes and just talk to us.\u201d After I regained my composure, I did just that, and it went very well.<\/p>\n

All of the subsequent events went very well, too; more than 75 people attended an event at Malaprop\u2019s Bookstore here in Asheville. And I found that I really enjoyed engaging with an audience.<\/p>\n

When my second book came out, I even embarked upon a modest book tour; I organized a panel discussion featuring several of the artists profiled in the book. That event at the San Francisco Public Library was a major success. And I had a lot of fun doing it; I was feeling very comfortable in the front of the room.<\/p>\n

Back here in Asheville, I began doing public lectures on a wider variety of music topics. After holding several successful and well-attended events at Citizen Vinyl downtown, I launched the \u201cMusic to Your Ears\u201d discussion series at Asheville Guitar Bar. For over a year now I\u2019ve held that monthly event, bringing in a special guest to discuss significant music and trends. It\u2019s not a lecture; it\u2019s a discussion. And people like it.<\/p>\n

Last winter I started another series, Music Movie Mondays. Once a month at the Grail Moviehouse in the River Arts District, I host a screening of a music-related film; afterwards, we discuss it. Many screenings have sold out, and they\u2019re a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

I believe that these events are popular because \u2013 in this post-Covid era \u2013 there\u2019s a pent-up demand for events that allow people to get together in the same physical space, interacting about topics of shared interest. Going forward, public events look to be a major component of what I do. I hope that by this time next year I\u2019ll be booked for gigs well beyond Western North Carolina.<\/p>\n

At age five I knew what I wanted to do when I grew up. And I\u2019m doing it. I didn\u2019t expect that speaking would be part of the mix, but it is. I have a lot to learn, and I welcome the challenge. I\u2019m looking forward to this new and exciting chapter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year, I joined the local chapter of Toastmasters International. According to the organization’s website, “Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization that builds confidence and teaches public speaking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26371"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26374,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26371\/revisions\/26374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}