Toastmasters: Nerdy by Nature

#3 in the Toastmasters series

Who attends Toastmasters?

I came from a business school background, where I can look back and realize that there was a pretty narrow view of success, competency, leadership. I learned about Toastmasters mostly through my Presentation Skills class, and in anticipating what kinds of people I would meet, I thought about the B-school prototype,

My reasons for joining Toastmasters are pretty simple - get more comfortable with public speaking and hopefully make friends along the way. I didn't consider how much I'd learn about so many topics because many members are fundamentally really nerdy folks.

So far, I've gotten to sit through really granular, deeply informed presentations on esoteric topics like Nordic folklore, to astrology, and AI from someone who is in the forefront of the field.

I've also been thinking about the spectrum of socially awkward to socially adept as I get to know the folks in my club. There are also members who present as really confident adn savvy, and they like Toastmasters to hone their skills, and some even go down the competiton route.

Forgive the generalization, but there tends to be a strong correlation of nerdiness to social awkwardness. But against the dimension of age/experience, I think this transforms as these extremely nerdy people rise to the tops of their fields. And Toastmasters is a training ground to nurture that transformation of confidence.

I'll also make a

Here's the thing: I live in an extremely nerdy area. The people here are not just smart, but there's a very specific energy of intellectual curiosity. There are tons of excellent universities, leading tech companies that recruit the best minds in the country and abroad, and while educational and professional pedigree is not a signal of intelligence, it does breed a really healthy culture of nerdiness. This is a population of people who have been deeply passionate about their areas of interest. And their interests can be incredibly esoteric. I've met people who are completely unfettered in their pursuit of interests. One person is a dedicated storm chaser and has been traveling internationally to chase storms. Another has focused his career in reducing bovine methane (cow farts) through developing feed from seaweed. There is an incredible level of focus and granularity in these interests, and it makes for an incredibly intellectually vibrant place.

There's a pretty wide spectrum of socially awkward to adept. Forgive the generalization, but tends to be a strong correlation of nerdiness to social awkwardness. And Toastmasters is a place for people to fundamentally overcome this. On the other end of the spectrum, there are members who are really confident speakers and Toastmasters is a place for them to hone skills or even compete.

I've been in the Bay Area for about 10 years, and this is the first year I've started to really consider myself a Californian. It became official when I realized I was saying 'freeway' instead of 'highway', but the transition was already a few years in the making. I realized