One of my new initiatives this year is to expand my social circle by getting involved with various groups and activities. Last year I tried to start this by meeting with the Lions International, but while that is a great group with many redeeming aspects I need more. My sister was the one to suggest joining a business group which I put off for too long.

After spending a couple of weeks searching for a Toastmasters group to attend I found Desert Voices. They meet on Mondays at 7:30pm at the Burton Bar Central Library in downtown Phoenix. I decided it would be perfect as I wanted to work a little later yesterday to catch up on somethings and then I would miss all of the traffic since it goes in the opposite direction as that time of day. I also found Carly’s Bistro for a quick bite to eat.

At first I have some trouble finding the meeting room as they are tucked away into the corner. Once I get there I am impressed with the amount of activity going on. There are 9 members and 4 guests, including me. I am greeted by Fadi Hattendorf, who is the President of the Club. She welcomes me and introduces me to a few of the members. There seems to be a bit of a rush to get setup as a few members will not be there and their positions are hastily filled by the ones who have shown up.

I had read about Table Topics on another Toastmasters website and knew that Guests were encouraged to participate. I didn’t know that it would be at such an early point in the meeting but before I knew it I was being asked to stand in front of the group and talk about something scary I had experienced in the desert. They also give the group a word to use during your speech and tonight’s word was Hoodoo, which has 2 meanings: as a noun it is a rock formation created by sediment building up over the ages, as a verb it means to bring bad luck or misfortune. I already knew I was going to talk about Moab as it is one of my first desert experiences and I have so many stories about the place. It also fit in well with both aspects of the word of the night as the rock formations are all over the area and on more than one occasion I had experienced bad luck while there. I chose to tell the story of a bike trip around Porcupine Ridge since it was one of my most favorite rides and it would be an entertaining story for everyone. It was easier than I thought it would be and I enjoyed myself immensely.

I may return to Desert Voices as they were a very fun group to be with and I forgot all about the stresses of my day.