Spoke At Lions Club Last Night

I spoke at a Lions club in Agincourt last night and it was a good time. The mostly retired crowd was surprisingly responsive and enthusiastic for the 30 minute motivation speech I did. Speaking at external venues is a great way to really test your skills developed at Toastmasters and of course there is the lost of the safety net members usually feel when at their own Toastmasters clubs. But that's the ultimate test since we are all developing our skills for the outside environment anyway. If we never test ourselves outside of Toastmasters, how do we know for sure that what we are learning within our clubs is working?