The First Area Contest

It was a March morning when I arrived at Wyomissing Library.  After I had arrived, I found there would only be two competitors.  Brian and me.  Apparently, no one else wanted to or could compete in the area contest that year.

 

This was my first Toastmasters meeting at this level, so I had the chance to meet Toastmasters from many other clubs, including the District 38 Governor.  It was a good eye opening experience because I have never been a part of a networking event like this.  It took me a while to figure out how powerful a meeting like that can be.

 

Then it was time for the speech contest.  I drew the number 2 slot and was glad to see Brian go first.  I figured, “He can set ‘em up and I’ll knock ‘em down.”  He gave his speech and I thought it was better then the first time he gave it. But, I still felt comfortable with my speech.

 

By that time I had changed the name of my speech to “The Curse of the Tolporahn.”  I added details which I believed made the story clearer to understand and more believable.  I had gotten to know the characters as if they really existed and I got to know the story as if I saw it happen.

 

When it was my turn, the butterflies began buzzing so hard, I thought I was going to throw up.  At the beginning of my speech, I felt I was letting my nerves show.  I set up my story and about two minutes into it, a calm came over me.  I told the story as if I where there watching it happen.

 

The speech contest was over and the ballet counters left the room to find who had won.  I was confident I knew who won, so I didn’t think much about the results.  As we had our break, the District Governor came to me and told me how impressed she was that I delivered such a stirring story during my first International Competition ever and she strongly encouraging me to keep competing.

 

After the counters came back in, it was announced that Brian had won the competition and was going on to the Division A contest.  It was after the meeting was over when I got the most encouraging news.  My club president was one of the ballet counters.  Before I left, she stopped me and said.  I’m really not supposed to tell you this, but under the circumstances, I thing I really should.

 

Each judge in a speech competition judges the contestants on a scale that goes up to 100 for a perfect speaker.  There where 7 judges that day which means Brian could have gotten as many as 700 points and I could have gotten as many as 700 points.  When Paula pulled me aside, she told me that I had lost the area speech contest by 2 points.

 

I couldn’t believe it!  Here I am, in my first area contest and I came very close to beating someone who had been in Toastmasters for years and had been in many other competitions as well.

 

I was ready for the next competition.  It was a shame it was eleven months away.