Six Reasons to Compete in the Speech Contest
Around the world more than 30,000 Toastmasters compete in speech contests each year. Competition begins with the club contest and winners continue competing through the area, division, and district levels. The International competition has two additional levels – semifinals and World Championship of Public Speaking.
During the month of January over 200 clubs in District 44 are holding their International and Table Topics Speech Contests as an opportunity for members to enhance their skills.
SIX REASON
- “I’m scared. My stomach does flip flops just thinking about competing in a contest but I’m glad I got out of my comfort zone and competed. Growth trumps winning in my book. My confidence has soared.”
- “I’m a bit lazy. I confess I’ve given a speech or two that was thrown together at the last moment. I call it my red light speech. It is written while stopped at a red light on my way to a meeting. The contest helps to motivate me to prepare my speech and it wound up being my best speech ever.”
- “I’m a procrastinator. I often spend time ‘getting ready to get ready’. The contest gives me the structure of having a deadline.”
- “I’m competitive. The contest kicks in my desire for a challenge and I find that my creativity soars in a way that the routine Toastmaster meeting can’t.”
- “I’m a beginner. I don’t feel like I have a chance to win. But when my VP of Education said it was an opportunity to complete a manual speech I was ‘all-in’. No longer was I competing against others because it was all about improving my skills.”
- “I’m a seasoned speaker. Make no mistake, I am still competing but it’s primarily against myself, against my past performances and level of mastery. I am still ‘in it to win it’. But all that is far less important than giving the most and best I can to my audience. I want to craft a message and performance that impacts my audience deeply and provides profound value to them.”