My First Competition – Part 2

I was nervous the night of my first speech competition.  I had prepared, but I still had many questions, being new to this who competitive speaking thing.  The other two speakers where well seasoned Toastmasters, so I probably didn’t have a chance from the start.

 

I pulled speaker number three out of three speakers that night.  Being new to the competition, I was glad about that.  Since then I actually realized there is a better position to speak when it comes to competing.

 

I really can’t remember what the first speech, John’s speech, was about, but the second speech was about how the speaker, Brian, had gone through depression and then figured out how to get out of it.  Both speeches where inspirational in nature; they where completely different then mine; but, when it was my turn, up I went.  Even while I was giving my speech, I felt rushed.  I needed to get through the speech in less then seven minutes and thirty seconds, and there was a lot to tell.

 

When I sat down, I was sure I had not won.  The other two speeches where so well polished that I didn’t think I had a chance.

 

The second half of the competition was the evaluation contest.  No one had volunteered for the evaluation contest, so the three speakers where all drafted.  The year before I had actually entered the evaluation contest and froze like a Popsicle.  I had promised myself that I would never compete in another evaluation contest, but there I was, competing in the evaluation competition.

 

I did much better that time.  I really didn’t care where I placed.  I was proud that I had given the best evaluation I had ever given.

 

At the end of the contest meeting, the winners where announced.  I came in third for the evaluation contest; although I wasn’t surprised.  I was not surprised by the results of the speaking contest either.  I came in third again.

 

The surprise came later on when I was told that the first place winner, John, would not be able to make it to the area contest.  At that time, Area 13 was small enough, that each club needed to send two contestants.  Because, John wasn’t going, I was able to go with Brian.

 

First thing I did was make sure I learned from my mistakes.  I felt rushed, so I needed to make some tough decisions and cut some lines that I felt where important.  But I needed to rewrite some of the speech so it still made sense.  I was told by several people that I needed to add more inflections in my voice as well.  I concentrated on those two aspects of speaking and then I was ready to compete on the area level.