Theocratic School Talks, they were the worst ! hated doing them, did you ? (page 3)

tinkerbell82

oh i hated hated HATED giving talks!! i would nearly always throw up on talk day before meetings! my parents enlisted me in the TMS when i was four (a little ambitious, yeah?) and i CLEARLY remember my first experience as a householder. My mom says i was a big ham as a kid and VERY dramatic, and the sister giving the talk with me (i'll call her lisa, i can't remember her name really) kept cracking up at me when we were practicing. we practiced that thing for EVER. I cant remember exactly what the theme was, but in the beginning Lisa would ask me, 'Now, Brooke, do you know who Moses is?' and i was supposed to say, 'oh, yes, wasnt he the one who freed the slaves from egypt?' But i was all into it and trying to be a little actress so it came out more like 'oh YES, WASNT HE the ONE who FREED the SLAVES from EGYPT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?'. then the rest of the talk was something about how we today can really learn from Moses' example because blah blah blah, and then at the very end Lisa would say, '...and Moses - now, you remember Moses, don't you?' and i was just supposed to say yeah, and that was pretty much it.

SADLY, on talk day we wereboth a little nervous, and right before we went on stage, Lisa told me 'OK, brooke, now dont make me laugh or we'll blow it.' But i didnt know what 'blow it' meant. That threw me off, and i kept thinkign about it, what could it possible be, i thought it certainly had to do with blowing up a balloon or a whale's blow hole but i couldnt fathom how either one would tie into our talk. Anyway, ti was all going very well, and then we got to the last part, lisa said, 'now, you remember Moses, dont you Brooke?' But i got confused, and i said my favorite line again, 'OH YES, WASNT HE the ONE who FREEEEEED the SLAVES from EGYPT??????!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

DEAD silence for like ten seconds. The Lisa LOST it. she explodes out laughing! i was horrified - i leaned over to her (and the mic, apparently) and said 'Lisa, dont laugh, i think youre blowing it!!' at which EVERYONE erupts into laughter, and i apparently start cracking up and slapping my knee which just sets everyone off even more, and we had to be ESCORTED off stage. needless to say i didnt give another talk for quite some time after that

Skeptic

The TMS was one of the few good things about being a Witness for me. When I first joined the school, I was very nervous about giving talks. After making a complete embarrassment of myself during a talk and finding that it didn't matter, I have not been nervous since.

Brothers have it easier than sisters since we don't have a householder. We can make our talks in point form, which makes them much easier to give. I loved giving talks on short notice. One advantage of short notice talks is that everyone knows you did not prepare for the talk, so they have no expectations.

The TMS made me a good public speaker which has helped my career. It has helped me make presentations to co-workers and upper management. It helped me teach night school, and it now helps me make presentations to clients.

I have many pleasant memories of the TMS.

Yizuman

TMS

Yiz

Nosferatu

I was pushed into the TMS by my bible study conductor. I hated giving talks. I prepared like hell for the first couple, but after that it became a breeze because I knew what people liked to hear. I was applauded a couple of times for my talks. I probably could have become an elder if I got baptized.

I still have a couple of my old talks stored on a computer at my mother's place. I should try and dig them up for the hell of it.

Betsy

I never minded giving talks, I was even on the "fill-in" list for when someone wasn't there. I was always jealous of the brothers though since they got to do the bible reading and basically just read scriptures, while the sisters had to develop a whole talk every time. My Dad was the worst. As a MS he sometimes had parts on the Service Meeting and we'd just sit there and cringe as he misprounounced words. Poor guy, now I feel so bad that he had to go through that for an organization that's lied to him his whole life.

Betsy

Jomavrick

Personally,

I really enjoyed giving talks. It was tremendous training for research, putting together information in an informative, instructional and interesting way. Also the learning speaking skills in front of an audience is something that I have used a lot in the business world. Mind you it is generally a difficult thing to do, I just loved the challenge and took a lot of pride in improving my personal skills. You know it is one of the things I am truly most grateful for that I was (forced) to engage in that activity because I am still benefiting and using what I learned.

ISP

i had a nightmare of turning upto the hall and finding out that I had a talk that night! It happened once. I used to alwys check the notice board when I went.

ISP

ikhandi

I didn't mind giving talks but it was impossible to work on every speech counsel point in one session. Even if you did your best it was never good enough, you would always have something else to work on. Sometimes I would be working on the same point for two talks. I hated that. Let me stop griping. It did make me a better public speaker.

logansrun

I absolutely, unequivecally loved giving talks, demonstrations, etc. It was my forte. There's something empowering about standing before an audience and speaking -- it gets my adreneline rushing. It's the thing I miss most about being a JW.

Bradley

run dont walk

Even though I hated doing them, I have to admit it did make me a better speaker, and better to socialize and speak to people.

I have never seen such a wide variety from one extreme to the other on a topic before.

Some loved it, some truly hated it. bizarre !

Great answers everyone !

Theocratic School Talks, they were the worst ! hated doing them, did you ?

Share this