MOOSE JAW — During its open house meeting at Sask. Polytech in Moose Jaw on Sept. 25, the Big Country Toastmasters club led by Lorna Arnold welcomed guest speaker and former Saskatchewan MLA Glenn Hagel to share his experiences as a fellow Toastmaster.
Background
Hagel opened by sharing his first connection to Toastmasters.
“When I was a young lad growing up in a small village not far from Calgary, one of the things I learned was that the mark of a good life is that, when the time comes, you can look back and see the world you touched is a better place because you were there,” he said.
In his teens, Hagel recalled an influential social science teacher whose class made him proud of being Canadian and inspired him to pursue public office. After graduating from the University of Manitoba, he fell in love and moved to Moose Jaw in 1973.
He said Moose Jaw was the right place to launch his career and accepted a colleague’s invitation to join the Big Country Toastmasters.
“I thought… if I am serious about wanting to be a representative of people, then I better get pretty serious as well about learning some of the really important and valuable skills that you need….”
Flying in formation
Hagel said Toastmasters taught him that public speaking is the second greatest fear after death, and that “Toastmasters teaches you to get the butterflies to fly in formation.”
“I thought what that meant was that the objective… is to teach you how to get rid of the butterflies,” he admitted. “And I tell you now, there is nothing that could be further from the truth. It’s all about getting… that internal energy… and channelling it into emotion that is included in (your presentation).”
The club teaches valuable public speaking skills that include using this energy to build your confidence and to connect with the audience.
“The beautiful thing… is that, as your self-confidence grows, (it) ripples out to other elements of your life without even working on them,” he said. “In my view, (building self-confidence) is the single most powerful element of public speaking….”
Political experience
“I eventually did enter that world.1982 was the first time I ran for public office provincially, and to be blunt about it, I got the snot kicked out of me,” he recalled with a chuckle.
“I didn’t give up on my objective of someday being a public representative and helping to shape a better world,” he continued. In 1986 he got elected, and by 1996 he became the first speaker of the legislature of Saskatchewan elected by a private ballot by all members of the house.
In 1999 he was asked to become provincial minister for post secondary education and skills and accepted the role. He said it was through good fortune that Canada didn’t have a national minister of education which, in 2000, allowed him to chair an international British Commonwealth meeting on education in Halifax.
Hagel said the most significant thing that can improve a country’s standard of living is an investment in education, and he was “tremendously proud” to accept the role.
To save the meeting that involved the future of over 50 Commonwealth countries and involved around 35 national ministers from disaster, Hagel knew he’d have to bend the rules a little bit. He asked everyone to skip their coffee break and requested nobody leave the room until there’s an agreement. Everybody agreed.
“I’ll tell you, what ended up being (the next) four hours were four of the most intense hours of my life,” he said.
When the meeting seemed to approach a consensus, Hagel invited everyone to speak up as he read the 20-point statement line by line. Nobody put up their hand.
“There was not a sound, at which I said, ‘I therefore declare the statement as a unanimous agreement of the Commonwealth countries.’ There was this explosion of applause as the whole room… felt that we had truly done something that, quite literally, could be part of building a better world.”
Hagel said there was one woman in the audience who he’ll never forget.
“(She) came up and said to me, ‘I’ve been watching over the last three days (and) … I’ve been to many, many meetings like this and I want you to know that this was the best job of chairing I have ever seen,’” he recalled. “In my mind, I thought that was one of the best doggone compliments I have ever had.”
Hagel attributed much of his success to Toastmasters. “The skills that I was using at that meeting were skills that I started to learn and practice and build 25 years ago when I would get together once a week around a table in Moose Jaw at a meeting of the Big Country Toastmasters.
“I want to conclude by saying thank you to Toastmasters… and all of those who have been Toastmasters for the past century and those who will be Toastmasters for the next century,” he said.
“Thank you for contributing… a way for people to develop their communication skills and become more proficient in making the world in which they live a better place.”
To learn more about Big Country Toastmasters visit BigCountry.ToastmastersClubs.org or contact Lorna Arnold at 306-690-8739. Meetings are held at the Sask. Polytech campus at 600 Saskatchewan Street West.
