Swedish Coach Anna Frummerin knows how to deliver a speech.
On 3 March 2021, Anna Frummerin won the “Toastmasters International Speech Contest” in her local Bangkok Advanced Toastmasters Club where she is also the Vice President of Education. Then she went on to the Area Contest on 21 March. In this contest she won the 2nd place. That meant that she could now go on to compete in the Division Contest on 3 April 2021. This time, whe won the 1st Prize!
Anna Frummerin then finally entered the highest level in the Toastmasters International Speech Contest, which is the District Contest covering Clubs in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. This took place on 30 May 2021. And again she won 1 Prize!
I had the pleasure to sit and talk with Anna Frummerin, a Certified Life and Executive Coach, Action Learning Team Coach, Facilitator, MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator) Practitioner with experience from working in the corporate sector for more than 20 years.
Anna is passionate when it comes to empowering, motivating and inspiring women. She gives it all to help women to become stronger, more confident and more successful in life. She’s married to Anders and the couple has a daughter and a son. Since 2016 the family has resided in downtown Bangkok.
Not too long ago, Anna joined the Bangkok Advanced Toastmasters Club and she quickly became its Vice President of Education. It’s with huge enthusiasm she talks about the club. My questions were.
Anna, when did you decide to become a member of Toastmaster Bangkok and what was the reason?
“About 2 ½ years ago, I visited one of the Toastmaster’s clubs in Bangkok, but at that club and at that moment, I felt it was not my thing. The clubs are all a bit different. 1 ½ years ago a friend of mine advised me to go and see another club, Bangkok Advanced Toastmaster Club, and immediately after having entered I felt, here I belong. It was such a welcoming and friendly atmosphere and the people I met there were like me, working and wanting to improve their career prospects. I listened to some speakers that evening and they were all on the same wavelength as me and the contents in their speeches had the same interests as mine. I was now sure, here I would fit in.”
Anna, did anyone inspire you to go to a Toastmaster meeting?
“Yes, as mentioned before, a friend of mine said she had just become a member of Toastmaster. She was convinced that I really would love it.”
So, let us know how is your experience so far?
“I must say, that joining Toastmaster is one of the best things I have done in my entire life. It has really helped me to think on my feet (impromptu speaking), to become a confident speaker and to build my leadership skills. I have challenged myself to go outside my comfort zone and I have been participating in Public Speaking Contests and I won the grand finale. To be able to get to the final I have been participating in three contests before. I won at club level, second place at area level and first place at division level. I’m proud and humble to call myself the Public Speaking Champion of South-East Asia today.”
“But, this is nothing I could have done by myself. The key to my success has been all the support around me: my mentor, my friends all around the globe and my friends within Toastmasters. My mentor is a strong leader that has the ability to challenge, give honest feedback and support you through the whole journey. I could not have wished for a better mentor than Mr. Arnie S. Aniel, he’s the best of the best.”
During all the years Anna worked in the business sector and as a coach, she has been looking for ways to improve and Toastmaster has helped her in many ways, to pitch her company and its services and she has become a better communicator, found new and better ways to structure her workshops and training sessions and last, but not least, to think more strategically.
“I wish that everyone could get this education at an early age. It doesn’t make any difference if you are a CEO for a big company, an entrepreneur or the boss at home, you will benefit from what Toastmaster teaches you, you will get your voice heard when you speak up and who doesn’t like that?”
I have had the pleasure seeing Anna practicing for her contest speeches and her final speech and she has impressed me. To make a speech in public or like today on Zoom is not easy. You have to memorize as you can’t have a “Cheat sheet” and you also have to act, to catch your audience’s interest.
I agree with Anna that Toastmaster can be the solution for us who are a bit shy and don’t like being seen in the spot lights, so Anna’s advice is: become a member today, it’s never too late.
What is a Toastmaster club?
When you hear the word toastmaster, most people will probably think of a wedding or a big event. But there is also a non-profit educational organization named Toastmasters. This organization was founded 1924 by Ralph C. Smedley and its main office is located in Englewood, Colorado, USA.
From this organization you can learn public speaking and leadership skills. Toastmasters operate clubs worldwide for the purpose of promoting people to become confident and professional speakers. Throughout its history, Toastmasters has served over 4 million people in 145 countries.
Toastmaster International uses a local based structure with each having around 20 to 40 members and meetings are hold weekly or every second week. Every club operates as a separate entity, but has to follow a set of requirements leading to chartered status for them to be accepted and recognized as official Toastmaster clubs.
Every meeting presents organized speeches given by experienced members/speakers who are able to give feedback.
Toastmasters International places a large emphasis on building public speaking and the leadership skills of its members. The meetings are concentrated and based on the following themes:
Public speaking, Impromptu Speaking, Communication, Leadership, and Confidence.
In Thailand you will find the club named Bangkok Advanced Toastmasters Club at Novotel Bangkok Sukhumvit soi 20 and another one at The Tawana Bangkok, Lower Lobby, Cavern Room on Thanom Street Surawong. Here you don’t only practice and learn how to speak confidentially, but you also meet other people and like-minded fellows from all over the world. There are currently 30 clubs in Thailand and another 4-5 are coming soon.
Who can become a member in a Toastmaster club? In fact the answer is EVERYBODY, whether they are business professionals, executives, entrepreneurs, teachers, parents or college graduates or simple someone who has the wish to become a more confident and more talented speaker.
—
Anna’s speech for the final competition 2021.
ANNA THE WINNER!
I had my biggest fight in my life year 2010.
Do you know who was on the other side in the ring?
Contest Chair, Fellow Toastmasters, Ladies & Gentlemen, the opponent on the other side of the ring was my husband!
Yes, you heard it right. My husband, the same person that had been my best friend, lover and co-fighter during 8 years. The one who was supposed to be my referee and also my coach.
We had big and small punches, simple and complicated punches, life changing & life-threatening power punches.
How did we end up here and like this?
I still remember the very first time I laid eyes on my “husband to be”. We were working for the same company. One day, the CEO called a man up on the stage to receive an award. Up goes a confident, sexy man with thick dark hair and sparkling blue eyes. He delivered the most impressive speech I had ever heard. (Lucky him)
A couple of weeks later, we met at a party and there was no turning back, we fall madly in love with each other.
Within 6 months we had bought an apartment, I got pregnant, and the man of my dreams proposed to me in the most romantic way possible, on a top of a mountain in Spain. Not the common fairy tale.
After 8 years things started to change. My husband changed and I changed. My husband had become someone I didn’t recognize anymore. All the sweetness, romance and caring was all gone!
The life had turned into an ultra-rapid pace and I felt overwhelmed and lost in life. I didn’t know the Anna anymore.
The fights were too heavy for both of us and we decided to look for help to understand how we had changed during the past years and to be reminded, who we were, when we first fell in love with each other.
Do you know what I discovered?
My biggest opponent wasn’t my husband, but myself.
My inner voice continuously spoke to me: “Who do you think you are? Do you think you are good enough? Do you think you are somebody?”
Those voices left me with self-doubt.
I needed to take time out, a break, time to think. Was this really the kind of life I wanted? Was I the person I wanted to be? Was my marriage the marriage I wished for?
Asking myself these challenging questions allowed me to get to know myself better and deeper.
It actually made me realize that I was fighting myself and the person I really wanted to be at that time.
With my husband’s support and my loving children and some real self-reflection, I transformed into the person I want to be and today I’m back to the Happy Anna.
Nowadays we are stronger as a team and we know today, after 19 years together as a couple, we can win any fight.
I know who I truly am; I accept and believe in myself, and I express it to the world. I am what I am….
I’m not anymore Anna, the fighter; I am Anna, the winner!
Ladies and gentlemen, I have had my fights in my life, and you have your fights in your life.
What I need is self-awareness, acceptance and belief that I can win all fights in my life.
How can you win the fights in your life?
With the punching gloves or with your self-love?
(That’s the question?)
—
Anna would like to express her gratitude to her mentor Arnie S. Aniel, who has been a true supporter and who believed in her, encouraged her all the way to the happy end.
