International Speech Contest
That's how I know I love speaking, because I'm confident enough to compete over and over in spite of the constant losses I've faced. Once you have something set in your heart it's hard for anything to deter you from it. I don't care how many losses I rack up. Even if I don't win anymore trophies, I know in my heart that I'm an excellent speaker. I know that I have a powerful delivery and an inspirational message.
Last year I had the opportunity to see the actual World Championship of Public Speaking live in Las Vegas! I witnessed the world's best speakers giving their best speeches. Trust and believe I took plenty of notes. These speakers are well dressed, polished, and mostly men... The past two winners of the competition were from countries outside of the Americas. As of the past nine years, there has not been a female champion. I plan on changing both of those facts this year. I'll be an African-American female with the title of World Public Speaking Champion!! I dream big so whether I win or not isn't my main focus because as long as the fire burns within, and I have the health to do so, "there's always next year."
I've learned a lot on my competitive journey. I learned that the speech is for the people. The audience needs to relate to what you're saying, which can be challenging on an international level. Your content must resonate with all persons from all countries. You must be careful as to not offend certain religions, cultures, beliefs and lifestyles. You must be politically correct, yet be unique, transparent, and humorous, all while getting your point across, and you only have 7 minutes to do so.
Another thing I learned is that there is a formula that all the winners follow to a T. It's something like, dress extra professionally, grab the attention of the audience, have a "phrase that pays," incorporate lots of humor, get the audience high, crash them down, then take them up even higher, leave them with a strong call to action, restate the phrase that pays, bring it back to the beginning, and have a touching conclusion. That's what I gathered from the competition, from my speaking mentor, and from the dozens of speeches I've watched this past year.
I know I have what it takes to be crowned the World Public Speaking Champion some day. I have the confidence, the personality, the "look," the skills, the experience, and the je ne sais quoi. In my own mind I'm already the world's best speaker. Everyone should feel that they are the best at what they do when it's his or her passion and they've worked hard at it. The thing about passion is that when you have it, whatever you pursue with passion doesn't feel like work. When I wrote my 7th speech (that I'll just so happen to be giving on the 7th of January), I was a bit nervous about my content. But I finished it rather quickly and it turned out great. It wasn't a long and drawn out process and I didn't spend too much time editing it. I've lost track of how many speeches I've written, but now writing them comes so naturally to me (especially when they are 5-7 minutes.
I can't wait to give this 7th speech. It's been months since I've delivered a speech in front of my Toastmasters Club. I miss my club members and they miss me too. I'm also 3 speeches away from earning my Competent Communicator title in Toastmasters International. The goal is to become a Distinguished Toastmaster (DM). That's the highest honor one can receive in the organization.
Who knows, maybe I'll get an honorary DM after winning this year's World Public Speaking Championship :-)
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