The Person Behind the Toastmaster
I’m Nigel Farnfield, a professional Toastmaster and Master of Ceremonies, a Graduate of the Guild of Professional Toastmasters (GGPT).
My route into professional Toastmastering has been shaped by a career spent working with people, leading teams, organising events and bringing people together.
From senior business leadership roles to many years in hospitality, I’ve learned that successful occasions don’t just happen. They take preparation, attention to detail, good communication and, above all, an understanding of people.
I bring all of that experience, together with professional Toastmaster training, to a role I genuinely enjoy: helping people create occasions they and their guests will remember.
A Career in People, Business and Hospitality
Before becoming a professional Toastmaster, I spent much of my career in senior business and operational roles, working across finance, systems, business transformation and leadership.
As a qualified accountant, I’ve been involved in managing businesses, leading teams, bringing organisations together and delivering change. Those experiences taught me the value of clear communication, preparation, diplomacy and being able to think on your feet.
Alongside my business career, hospitality has been a constant. Since 2016, I’ve been involved in running pubs, welcoming guests and creating places where people come together to celebrate, relax and enjoy themselves.
It’s a combination of experience that I believe serves me particularly well as a Toastmaster. I understand both the importance of professional organisation and the simple pleasure of making people feel welcome.
Why Toastmastering?
Why Toastmastering?
People often tell me I have a knack for bringing people together. I seem to have an ability to put people from completely different backgrounds, with different interests and experiences, in the same room and watch them discover just how much they enjoy one another’s company.
It’s something I’ve noticed in my own life. Many of my closest friends have very little in common with each other, other than me. Yet put them all together and friendships form, conversations flow and, more often than not, everyone leaves having had a thoroughly good time.
I think that’s what has always appealed to me about bringing people together. It’s not simply about organising an event or making sure everything happens on time. It’s about creating an atmosphere where people feel welcome, connections are made and memories are created.
That’s what I hope to bring to my role as a Toastmaster: professionalism, personality and a genuine enjoyment of people.
People may not remember every word you said, or every detail of the occasion, but they will always remember how you made them feel.
NIGEL FARNFIELD