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Interview with LaShunda Rundles: 2008 World Champion of Public Speaking

Andrew Dlugan — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 04:04:16 +0000

LaShunda Rundles was selected as the 2008 World Champion of Public Speaking a few weeks ago at the Toastmasters International convention in Calgary, Alberta.

As reported earlier, LaShunda was one of 10 finalists to compete in the world championship speech contest.

One of my colleagues noted that “she delivered the best speech I’ve ever heard — a speech that moved my soul.”

I am honored that LaShunda made the time to answer several questions about her victory, her speaking career, and her remarkable life story. I am delighted to share this inspirational interview with you.

Six Minutes Interview with LaShunda Rundles

Question: How did you develop a passion for public speaking?

My passion for public speaking began as the youngest in a family of achievers. We all looked for our time to shine. My parents were both educators and rewarded participation in extra curricular activities.

My mother was a teacher and majored in English. She loved poetry and often used recitation as punishment for us. We would have to memorize pieces and learn to effectively interpret the meaning and deliver it to her satisfaction to get off the hook.

I enjoyed singing in the choir and being in church so much as the daughter and granddaughter of ministers, speaking was just something that came naturally.

Question: Several titles are now associated with your name: “World Champion of Public Speaking 2008″, “first woman to win since 1986″, “first African American woman to ever win”. Describe what these accolades mean to you.

The titles are all wonderful. I am proud to represent women, the African American community, and people with disabilities.

However, my favorite title is Dennis’ mom. When he was proud of me, it made all the difference in the world to me. I just want him to know that with hard work and dedication your rewards will come.

If these titles are anything, it is just a testimony of being brave enough to follow your dream. I believe in our life being a legacy. To know at this point that I have done something to leave a lasting name for me on this earth is a breathtaking thought. The individual lives that I have touched are something that I treasure much more than a title. I just want people to be hopeful and I just want life to be happy.

Question: What was the core message in your championship speech? What prompted you to choose this theme?

The theme of my speech was to speak up. People sit in silence so much afraid to express themselves and it often diminishes the quality of their lives and those that they love. The fear people have has to be overcome and the purpose has to be the passion.

I chose this theme because growing up, I saw so many people abused because of their silence. I witnessed people be broken because they would not speak in their own defense. Most painfully, I watched my mother die from cancer. When she began to finally complain, it was too late. I am sure that she had symptoms long before she revealed it to us. She was the kind of person who would grin and bear it. She was so giving that she didn’t ever want to feel like she was imposing on anyone. I believe that her silence allowed the cancer to take [her] life because it was about one month from her diagnosis until her death.

In addition, what I learned from her is that our words make a lasting impression on this earth. Her words still live in me and the values she instilled in me live in me and will live on through my son.

I believe that my victory also shows something else that I believe. I believe that when you can take self out of something and uplift others, you will often be lifted in the process of lifting others. My father passed away when I was very small and my mother worked hard to raise us. I want her to know even in heaven that I appreciate her direction and her unconditional love.

Question: Having gone through six separate speech contests this year, what lessons have you learned from competitive speaking?

The thing I learned most from competitive speaking is that you have to stay genuine.

As you advance you have all of these new people in your life. Some of them do not have your best interests at heart.

I learned so much about defining human emotions and seeing what does and doesn’t work. Through evaluations, I learned so much about writing and really listening.

I also learned about putting filters in place. I actually had someone evaluate me and slam my gestures, my voice, my enunciation, and me referencing my ethnicity. After the tears dried up, I realized that some people just have evil intentions. Your speech can be perfect and some people will find something wrong just to have something to say. I decided to follow my heart and I knew that even if I lost, I was true to what I had to say. Needless to say, my heart won.

I encourage all speakers to really grip this concept. What is right is right. It may not always win but we don’t always speak to win, we should speak to change lives even if it is just one. Hopefully that one may be a judge, but if not, it will still be okay.

Question: What personal goal did you set when you entered the speech contest this year? Were you aiming for the World Championship, or did you have a different goal?

People have asked me if I started out with winning the championship in mind. In reality, after almost losing my life, I set out to fulfill my part of a promise to God. When He brought me from 90 pounds and a feeding tube back to walking around and caring for my son, I knew I had to acknowledge His power.

In addition, my club had such faith in me and supported me so much while I was in the hospital, I wanted to make them proud. I have the most awesome club and I love them. They are my family. They let me talk about what was going on in my life and I drew so much strength from it, I couldn’t help but try for them.

So it never was about me from the beginning, it was about the collective efforts of all the people who said you belong on this earth and talked me into believing it. I feel that those were the words that gave me the power to fight. So when despair came up against the words of the Town North Trendsetters, there was no contest. My club won, hands down! Recently, they changed our flyers to say “Home Club of LaShunda Rundles…” In my heart I know that TNT is not only my home club, it’s my home.

Question: You are a lupus survivor, and I’ve read that you hope to become the national spokesperson for the Lupus Foundation of America. What would it mean to you to be able to accomplish this?

People who do not understand lupus do not have an idea of what I deal with each day. There are thousands of people living in pain daily.

I want to raise money, awareness, and understanding. I don’t want people to live with the shame that I did for many years wanting to hide it. My skin is not flawless, my scars are many, but my resolve is unbreakable. I want to bring hope to the lives of those that know what it is really like to have a “good” day. As the awareness grows the quality of life for many people will mean many more “good” days and better yet restful nights. In a world of limited resources we have to fight for our piece of the pie.

I lost a friend of mine who was 28 and died blind and in a wheelchair with lupus. If I can help prevent things like that through my voice, it would be a blessing and an honor.

Question: What other goals have you set for your speaking career?

For the long term, I just want to speak and sing to maintain a happy life. I don’t have any visions of grandeur other than to be able to travel and share as much time with my son as I can. I have several projects in the works both written and musically. I want to continue to help people live their best lives and to uplift the kingdom of God. I want to stay as healthy as possible and hope the doctors can advance research to make my life meaningful and long.

Then if I could have my ultimate goal, I can take over for Oprah when she decided to retire. I love the giving spirit in her heart and I believe without a doubt that is why she has been so successful.

I will have to live life in moderation because most people do not realize that I have days that I cannot walk. I still have periods of time when I cannot tolerate food and when the pain brings me to my knees. However, I am the World Champion of Public Speaking and no one can tell me that I didn’t do the work because I did. I believe that it was my destiny and I want to be a beacon of light to everyone who is not perfect. Your destiny is still your destiny. I am living my dream.

Question: Studying other speakers and developing self-awareness are necessary to grow as a speaker. What do you consider your greatest strengths as a speaker? How about weaknesses: what speaking skills or habits are you currently striving to improve?

My greatest strength as a speaker is the ability to stay truthful. I find my message and I let my words guide me from there. Also, I don’t try to become too staged. I work to have a conversation with the audience not a one-act play. I love to make eye contact looking for that one person who needed to hear me that day. I like to make the connection with my audience and laugh with them.

My weakness is timing. I always have so much to say. I am still learning that sometimes fewer words can still bring the necessary message. I guess that comes from growing up listening to ministers all the time. Unfortunately, they didn’t have timing lights in church. It may not be a bad idea though.

Question: What other advice can you give to Six Minutes readers who are striving to become more confident and effective speakers?

To become a better speaker I encourage people to just practice, practice, practice. You have to get comfortable in your own skin.

Also, be open to feedback. I believe that being able to expose yourself to a variety of settings for feedback assures the universal appeal of your message. Assemble a group of honest coaches who will tell you without the sugar coating what works. Don’t be so resolute that you cannot accept honest and reasonable criticisms. After all you are not talking to yourself, but if you don’t have enough care to consider the audience, you will be very soon.

Resources related to LaShunda Rundles

Learning about Lupus:
- Lupus Foundation of America
- Lupus books and other resources
FOX News video: Local Woman Crowned Champion Speaker
Toastmasters International
- Announcement of LaShunda’s victory
- List of World Champions of Public Speaking

Has LaShunda Touched You?

If you experienced LaShunda’s winning speech at the World Championship contest, or if you have a message for LaShunda, please share your thoughts with others.

Have a Question?

Contact me anytime,
or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Author of this article: Andrew Dlugan
Category: Interviews, Speech Contests
Article tags: LaShunda Rundles, Toastmasters, speech contest
© Six Minutes, 2008. | Permalink | 7 comments so far

Interview with Nancy Duarte, Author of slide:ology

Andrew Dlugan — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:26:50 +0000

Last week, I reviewed slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations, an exciting new book destined to become a classic reference for presentation skills.

slide:ology is the product of Nancy Duarte and her design team at Duarte Design (the firm who designed visuals for Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth).

I admire Nancy’s creative approach to business (check out the “organization” tab on the Duarte site) as much as the expertise she shares in slide:ology (the book) and slide:ology (the blog).

For these reasons, I’m delighted to feature Nancy in the first of an exciting new series here on Six Minutes: interviews revealing insights from fascinating individuals in and around the speaking industry.

Six Minutes Interview with Nancy Duarte

Question: You revealed that the verbs which you most identify with your life’s mission are “conquer and liberate.” How do these verbs connect with your goals in writing this book or with your plans for Duarte Design?

When I set out to write the book two years ago, it was like a burning passion inside me. It was difficult to explain why I felt an urgency to write the book… but I did. My family was supportive and let me write (conquer) in the evenings and weekends.

It’s a well known fact that presentations are incredibly ineffective. We can keep complaining about the putrid output or stand up and say “enough”. I got tired of people blaming the tool and not owning the responsibility for the really bad presentations getting delivered every day. I knew that compiling years of experience could raise a new standard. The current way we use slides inhibits our ability to communicate effectively. All this is happening during an era when we have the most exciting innovation in all of history. I want those stories told well and indelibly.

I used to feel guilty about my verbs. When the verbs are combined, it makes me sound like I spend my weekends pillaging or something. I’m actually very caring about my clients and staff. At Duarte the verbs manifest in the culture and structures I put into place. I work hard at creating an environment where creative people feel supported and safe (liberated, per se).

Question: Consider a traditional organization still stuck with the Death by PowerPoint status quo. How would you recommend changing the environment so that higher presentation standards can flourish?

One of the most popular questions I’m asked is around this topic. Corporate citizens are afraid to be different and afraid to put a new stake in the ground and be different. People don’t know if they’ll be able to buck the collective system and still have a job the next day. Corporate-wide change is tough to tackle and can seem daunting. But the most important first step is to address your own presentation communication issues. Work hard on your content development and communication skills. If you can have the guts to change yourself and stand out among your peers, others will follow.

Question: I shared your preparation time estimates (36-90 hours for a 30-slide presentation) with one of my co-workers. His reaction was disbelief: “What? I don’t know anyone who has that kind of time.” What would you say to him?

Many of the principles in the book can improve many of the common run-of-the-mill presentations that people give internally every day. Your friend can apply these principles relatively easily to his next presentation, still spend the same amount of time he usually does and he will have a much better presentation than before reading slide:ology. But I guarantee that if he was gunning to win a one hundred MILLION dollar project or give the keynote address at an event with 15,000 people attending he’d kick in some hours. It’s all relative to how high the stakes are. Low stakes, low effort. High stakes, high effort. The farther folks work their way up the corporate ladder, the more care and planning needs to go into their communication and presentations. The time estimation in the book was a guide for when the communications are critical, not when they are common.

Question: One of the themes present throughout slide:ology is that of continuous refinement toward an end goal. (e.g. from idea to sketch to final image) The same process of gradual improvement over time holds true for speaking skills. As a speaker, what is one skill that you are currently working to improve?

There are two development areas I’m hyper conscious of right now. First, my gestures feel HUGE to me but are pretty wimpy. When on stage it feels like I’m as flamboyant as Dolly but in reality I’m pretty closed in. The other area I’m working on is relaxing my freakin’ forehead. When I am thinking through something, the muscles between my eyebrows contract creating a huge crevice and I look angry. My kids call it my butt head. It’s gotta go!

Question: As a final bonus for Six Minutes readers, can you share a public speaking tip that isn’t related to visual presentation skills? Perhaps a favorite delivery technique or tactic for rehearsing?

I still use 3×5 cards to practice my material. Once the content is final and slides are designed I rehearse the content using index cards. After the first run through, whatever points I miss get jotted onto a 3×5 card. I run through the presentation over and over until I don’t have any more cards in my hands and can still make all my points. There are still times when I bring the cards with me though just in case.