Stellenbosch student inspires people at Toastmasters

Zimbili Sibiya, a student at the University of Stellenbosch, joined the Stellenbosch Toastmaster club about a year ago, at the age of twenty. She went from nervously reading her first speech from her notes, hardly ever looking up at her audience, to being flown to Durban to compete in a Toastmaster competition.

Her story behind her success journey at Toastmasters started when a spark in her ignited as she watched the Jim Carey movie called, “Yes Man.” She realised how often she said no to opportunities and how this was limiting her growth in life. This realisation put her on a mission of self-development and she started exploring meditation, among other things, as part of her self-reflection process.

At this stage she had no idea that public speaking was going to play a major role in her personal growth, until she met Ragmah Abrahams from the Stellenbosch Toastmasters club. She listened to a talk Ragmah gave about Toastmasters and Zimbili was invited to attend one or two of these meetings as a guest. It is generally accepted for people to first visit a club meeting as guests before signing up as members. As a visitor at these meetings Zimbili decided that she absolutely loves the vibe of the club and the exciting learning opportunity it offers. After receiving a sponsor AND a mentor, she was officially signed up as a member of the Stellenbosch Toastmasters club, which takes place every third Thursday of a month in the local library in Plein Street.

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Skills

From here, learning the skills and confidence to be an influential public speaker took her self-development journey to a higher level. The motivational speaker, Les Brown, is a public figure who inspires her deeply, for two reasons:

• He is fun to listen to.
• And he makes serious life lessons seem light.

As a new member of the club, the first speech you do is called your “ice-breaker”. This is the speech where you introduce yourself to the rest of the club, just to get a feeling for what it is like to talk in front of an audience. Zimbili’s topic of her speech was, “From kaalvoet to stilettos.” This was an explanation of the journey through different stages of her life. At the time of this speech, she didn’t realise that this theme was also referring to her next twelve months at Toastmasters.

She started with her first speech feeling nervous and highly intimidated (“kaalvoet” stage). She continued with her monthly speeches, practicing different objectives as outlined by the competent communicator manual of Toastmasters. During this time she unleashed her potential and won the Toastmaster of the evening award numerous times. But, the most exciting time came when she did exceptionally well in the Division R’s Humorous contest in September this year. As a result, only a year after joining Toastmasters, she is being flown up to Durban in October 2016 to compete at a District contest (“stilettos” stage).

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The Title Of Her Speech For The October Contest Is, “My Special South Africa”. She Chose This Topic Because She Wants To Focus More On The Positive Energy Of The Country, But Without Ignoring Reality. She Chooses To Shine Light On The Unique, Special And Lighter Side Of South Africans. This Speech Also Reminds Her Of Why She Is Motivated By Les Brown’s Approach In His Motivational Public Speaking. It Is

• Fun to listen to.
• And it focuses on the lighter side of something that is generally considered very serious.

Zimbili Sibiya, a Stellenbosch University student at the age of twenty one, is living the reality of her ice-breaker speech, “From kaalvoet to stilettos”, all because she made a choice to say yes to an opportunity to join Toastmasters.

The Stellenbosch Toastmasters club is very proud to see her shine and wishes her all the best for the upcoming contest in Durban.

Belinda Gantz

Vice President of Public Relations – Stellenbosch Toastmasters

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