Ellie Mirman's Startup Marketing Blog

This is my 8th speech from the Toastmasters program. Speech #8 is all about using visual aids... you don't get to experience the live demo I did during the actual presentation, so just imagine me demonstrating each technique - with audience help - after each section.

Hi, my name is Ellie and I'm a recovering perfectionist. For all the fellow perfectionists out there, I want to share my story of how I learned to let go of my perfectionist ways in favor of being more creative.

It's been much too long since I last blogged, and much too long since I did a speech at Toastmasters. So here's me killing two birds with one stone: my second speech in the Toastmasters book, focused on Organization, while also sharing a bit more about me and my family.

Photo (right) shows me on my 21st birthday, where we had 3 birthday cakes. They were all delicious.

Even when my parents lived in a single room in shared apartment, they were hosting big dinner parties for all their friends. They've always loved to host, and I grew up with many dinner parties and brunches and even more dinner parties. The parties were always big, fun ordeals that I never quite saw replicated at my friends' very normal homes. So when I went to college and got my own apartment, and again when I moved back here to my own place in Somerville, I picked up my mom's tradition of playing hostess. My parties are never quite the same big ordeals that my parents plan, but I think I've picked up a thing or two from them over time. And today I want to share with you the 3 steps to hosting a Mirman Family Dinner Party.

This is a piece I prepared for my first Toastmasters speech, presented at the HubSpot Chapter of Toastmasters last week. It was surprisingly tough to talk about myself for a full 7 minutes - both when I was writing the speech as well as delivering it. One of the interesting comments I got from my evaluator is that it was a very intimate, personal speech, which I realize is my way of sharing stories generally, especially on my blog. So here you go, blog readers, my first Toastmasters "Ice Breaker" speech!

Thank you, Mr. Toastmaster and fellow members and guests.

In preparing for this speech,  I thought back to some of the defining moments in my life and found a surprising common thread. I don’t consider myself much of a risk taker. I don’t like to gamble. I don’t really play the stock market. I've never been sky diving and have no desire to do so.

But when I look back at those defining moments of my life, they all involve taking a risk. And I wanted to share a few of those stories of these risks that have shaped who I am today.