Speech Contest Participant!!??!!...Who Me!!??!!
by Ed Meissner ACB, CL
December 21, 2009
I was asked to participate in a speech contest even before I had given 6 speeches. I wasn’t ready, but once I conquered my terror with the help of several individuals, I found out it wasn’t as bad as I feared. Then I started asking a lot of questions. So what do I get out of it, and what do I have to offer that could possibly help all those experienced people that were obviously heads and tails above me in terms of talent, and experience?
I learned a lot that day. There are a number of benefits to just attending or even participating in a speech contest. Contests are a great way to challenge oneself to higher levels of achievement. Contests are educational, but also a lot of fun and are conducted in a mood of celebration.
By attending a contest:
- You will get to hear different points of view on life.
- You get to watch the more experienced toastmasters at their best. By simply noting down your thoughts in an evaluation format you can leave with a list of what they did well. You will want to incorporate these tips into your own bag of techniques, and perhaps something that you could improve on. If you know how they can improve, you may also want to include the improvement into your bag of tricks.
- You become a little more familiar with the criteria that the judges use to judge a contest. These are things which you work on improving constantly in each of your Toastmasters speeches. You will find that this list is something to keep in mind as you work on your future speeches.
- You will meet toastmasters that you did not know before, so contests can be great networking opportunities! People have found jobs through their Toastmasters contacts. Other people have met people that they end up collaborating with at contests.
- You have a great opportunity to meet very experienced toastmasters. Many of them may be Distinguished Toastmasters (DTM). If you ask, one of them could become your mentor. Toastmasters employees, and even the presidents of organizations seek people who can mentor them. Toastmasters are some of the most helpful people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Toastmasters is an organization that strives to set it’s members up for success, and does a great job of it.
- You will also get the chance to talk with the contestants. Ask them how they came up with their ideas. Ask them why they presented their ideas in the way they did, and the benefits to that method.
By Participating in a Contest
- If you are filling one of the helper roles, you get all of the above benefits. You are also getting an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to put on a quality contest.
- If you are a Judge at area or higher-level contest, you will gain experience on the judging criteria, how to properly apply them, and learn what the contest rules are. By taking a more in-depth look at these criteria, and having to apply them to other people’s speeches, you should then be able to internalize these criteria and improve your own speeches.
- As a speech contestant you will be giving your best effort. If at all possible, have your speech evaluated by your Club, and as many DTM’s several times before the contest to improve until you know it is your best. This experience will change the way you write and present your speeches. It will provide you that step up to the next level in your own development to becoming a great communicator.
- As a table topics or speech evaluation contestant, if your speaking order is early, you will have the opportunity to see how other people think on their feet and answer the same question. Hopefully this will provide you new ways to think through and answer table topics questions. This experience will be translated into an improved ability to think on your feet, answering those everyday questions that come your way. You will also become a more interesting person to those that you communicate with on an everyday basis. For speech evaluations you will began to look at others’ speeches in new ways and hone your observation skills. You will learn how to apply the speech techniques mentioned in the evaluations to your own speeches to improve your communications skills.
Contest season is just around the corner in early February. Start working on your contest speech today. The next speech contest will feature Tall Tales and the International Speech Contest.
