Recently I competed in the Toastmasters International Speech Contest at the Area level. After all of the speeches, the Contest Master interviewed each of the contestants and asked me, “why do you compete?” I had to think about my answer, and it felt odd. That’s probably because I have more than one answer, and I […]
Category: Contest
Toastmasters D22: Jim Key’s awesome contest training
This last weekend, Jim Key visited the Kansas City metro here in District 22 and delivered what many agreed was an amazing session on Toastmasters Contests. In Jim’s presentation, YOUR Speech Contest Advantage, Jim provides his patented contest prepadvice, and some important specifics that many speakers forget (or ignore) when their preparing their speeches. Below […]
Winning the Toastmasters Speech Contest
A few years ago, I wrote a post about contest speaking called Why you won’t win your contest. This included many of the things I see speaker do at contests all the way up to the World Championship. Since that post in 2011, I’ve seen a few more examples and even competed myself. Instead of […]
Toastmasters: Winning your Division Contest
It’s been nearly two months since my area contest win, and yesterday I competed in our Division Contest. I was representing my club in the International Speech Contest category. Again, I told the story from my club and area contest, about my experience joining the US Air Force after graduation from High School. I did […]
Toastmasters: Winning your Area Contest
Just one short week after my club contest win, I competed in our Area Contest. I was representing my club in the International Speech Contest category; I did not compete in the Table Topics category. I retold the story from my club contest, about my experience joining the US Air Force after graduation from High […]
Toastmasters: Winning your Club Contest
My club held our International Speech and Table Topics contests yesterday (Thursday). After my District win in the Fall Evaluation Contest, I decided to pursue the International Speech trophy this spring, but not table topics. My speech was titled, Things aren’t always as they seem. It was a story about my experience joining the US […]
Winning the District Evaluation Contest – Toastmasters D22 Conference
What does it take to win a District Evaluation Contest? Before I answer, let’s back up a bit. This year was rare for me. For the first time in over six years I found myself eligible to compete in our District’s fall contest season, including the humorous speech contest and the speech evaluation contest. I […]
Toastmasters: Don’t overdo it
As the Toastmasters contest season is progressing, I’ve seen some speakers do a few things that may have cost them the win in their club contests. Of course, one or two corrections won’t make you world champ, but if your making some of these mistakes, you won’t even be club champ: 1. Don’t add words. […]
Toastmasters: Prepping for your contest
This is a follow-up to my previous post, Why you won’t win your contest, which is getting more attention as the Toastmasters contest season begins. Recent experiences have taught me a few things that may help you see more success as a contestant: 1. Get feedback at every level. Ask someone, in advance, to give you an evaluation. […]
Toastmasters: Why you won’t win your contest
Have you been practicing? Working on your contest speech? Did you manage to win your club, area or division contest? You probably did it one of two ways. Either you are beyond awesome, which means you aren’t even bothering to read this anyway, or you did it despite a few minor imperfections. If you were […]