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.

Similar Articles You May Like... The Olympics of Oratory: World Championship of Public Speaking Lessons I Learned from Toastmasters Speech Contests Speech Preparation #10: Prepare to Win a Toastmasters Speech Contest Speech Analysis #5: Toastmasters Evaluation Contests Toastmasters Speech 7: Research Your Topic Toastmasters Speech 6: Vocal Variety

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.

Each year, over 230,000 members in over 11,000 clubs in 92 countries around the world have the opportunity to participate in this contest where competitors deliver 7-minute speeches judged on core message, speech development, language, and delivery techniques.

The club contest is the first of six stages which culminate in the World Championship of Public Speaking contest. The 10 speakers left standing have each out-spoken and out-inspired fellow competitors at five previous contests. [Back in May, I bowed out in the quarter-finals.]

Here are the 2008 finalists for the World Championship of Public Speaking. As you can plainly see, there is no single “speaker mold”: they bridge four countries, both genders, numerous ages, and diverse backgrounds.

2008 World Championship of Public Speaking Finalists

Region 1: Rich Hopkins (Provo, Utah)

• Bio and Personal Links
  • Rich took 3rd place at the 2006 World Championship of Public Speaking.
  • It Takes a Village to Build a Champion: Rich’s blog where he is chronicling his journey to the World Championships. (It is featured in the Public Speaking Blogs list.)
• Speech Videos
  • Glorious Victory (Youtube video)
• In the News
  • Provo Man is toast of Toastmasters (Deseret News, June 13, 2008)
• Home club: unknown

Region 2: Robert MacKenzie (Santa Monica, California)

• Speech Videos
  • My Alter Ego (Region 2, 2008) (Review of this speech by Bob Freels)
  • Time (District 1, 2008)
• Home club: Westside Toastmasters (638), District 1

Region 3: LaShunda Rundles (Dallas, Texas)

• Interview with LaShunda Rundles about her Toastmasters World Championship victory
• Region-winning speech title: Dirty Little Secrets
• Home club: Town North Trendsetters (4533), District 50

Region 4: Martin Presse (Wetaskiwin, Alberta)

• In the News
  • Presse competes in speech contest (The Camrose Canadian, August 14, 2008)
  • Camrose man off to ‘olympics of oratory’ (Edmonton Journal, August 10, 2008)
• Region-winning speech title: I Believe in You
• District-winning speech title: Commit to Your Swing
• Home club: Camrose Toastmasters Club (1432), District 42

Region 5: Colin William (West Lafayette, Indiana)

• Home club: Hanna Center Toastmasters (5212), District 11

Region 6: Charlie Wilson (State College, Pennsylvania)

• In the News
  • Local Toastmaster Competes in World Championship (KDKA Video, July 15, 2008) – Charlie is interviewed by Kristine Sorensen and discusses his district, region, and world championship speeches.
  • The Power of Speech (Centre Daily Times, August 9, 2008)
• Home club: ARL/Penn State Pingers (7132), District 13

Region 7: Katherine Morrison (Massachusetts)

• In the News
  • Curry College Professor Recognized as the Best Public Speaker on the Eastern Seaboard (Curry College website, July 15, 2008)
• Region-winning speech title: Stand Up Again
• District-winning speech title: The Challenge
• Home club: Boston West Toastmasters (4735), District 31

Region 8: Henry Flowers IV (Chapin, South Carolina)

• Region-winning speech title: My First Time
• Home club: Richland (2500), District 58

Outside Regions – A: K. Loghandran (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

• Tough Love: Advice from K Loghandran on speech contest success
• Home club: Speakers’ Dream (220), District 51

Outside Regions – B: Jock Elliot (West End, Queensland, Australia)

• Bio and Personal Links
  • Jock has reached the World Championship of Public Speaking on four previous occasions, placing 3rd in 1994.
  • Argent Star Profile for Jock Elliott
• In the News
  • He’s the talk of the town (City South News, July 23, 2008)
• Home club: unknown

Similar Articles You May Like... Interview with LaShunda Rundles: 2008 World Champion of Public Speaking Lessons I Learned from Toastmasters Speech Contests Speech Preparation #10: Prepare to Win a Toastmasters Speech Contest Speech Analysis #5: Toastmasters Evaluation Contests Toastmasters Speech 7: Research Your Topic Toastmasters Speech 6: Vocal Variety

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.

Speech contests are your fastest route to your greatest improvement.
David Brooks, 1990 World Champion of Public Speaking

This past weekend, I won the Toastmasters District 21 Speech Evaluation Contest and placed third in the District 21 International Speech Contest.

The accolades are very nice, but they are fleeting in nature. On the other hand, the breadth and depth of lessons learned during these speech contests are long-lasting.

This article highlights just a few of these valuable lessons which apply to all speakers, whether novice or professional.

Note: Toastmasters contests begin at the club level. Winners then proceed through area, division, and district contests. The International Speech Contest continues through regional and world levels. LaShunda Rundles (2008 World Champion of Public Speaking) shares her lessons learned at those levels.

International Speech Contest – 2006

I entered the Toastmasters International Speech Contest in 2006, and was excited to win my club contest and then the area contest. I was pretty happy with this result, particularly considering I beat an experienced competitor who placed second. The top two contestants moved on to the next level.

Happiness morphed into being content and overconfident. I strolled into the contest at the division level and I delivered the exact same speech. The competitor who finished second last time improved his speech considerably. This time, he won and I placed second. He went to district, and I was eliminated.

• Key Lesson — Never get comfortable. Never be content. Capitalize on every opportunity to improve your skills and refine your speeches.

Evaluation and Table Topics Contests – 2007

In both cases, I scraped my way through club, area, and division contests and earned passage to the district contest.

At the district contest, I was confident but not overly so. I prepared as much as possible despite the fact that neither of these contests involve prepared speeches.

I delivered a solid, respectable, safe speech in both cases. In both cases, I was beaten by a contestant who was not only just as strong, but also was much more memorable.

• Key Lesson – Incorporate a truly memorable element in every presentation you give. Your audience will remember it, they’ll remember your message, and they’ll remember you. It is this quality which separates you from your peers.

Humorous Speech Contest – 2007

This was my first time competing in the Humorous Speech Contest. Before choosing my topic, I studied district speeches from previous years.

I wrote a speech which I felt could win the district contest based on my audience analysis. The subject for my humorous speech was Toastmasters itself. The audience would consist of 250 dedicated Toastmasters members attending a conference; I felt my speech would be received well.

The problem was that I didn’t make it to the district contest. I finished 3rd in the division contest where the audience was much smaller. More importantly, the demographics of the audience were different than the one for which I prepared.

• Key Lesson — Every audience is different. Even if you recycle much of your content, insert elements which reflect the unique audience characteristics.

International Speech Contest – 2008

I survived the club, area, and division contests over very tough competition. I advanced to the district competition for the second time. (I previously detailed my first trip in 2007 in the Speech Preparation Series.)

The district contest briefing was held about 5 hours before the contest. During this briefing, we learned the height of the “stage” was only about 2 inches. The audience for this contest was large (about 300 people) and spread around tables in a hotel banquet hall. The consequence of this setup was that contestants were not visible from the chest and below to audience members beyond the front row.

Three contestants featured either sitting in a chair or crouching beside a chair for part of their speech. At these times, they were completely invisible to the audience, and I believe this considerably diminished the effectiveness of their choreographed actions.

• Key Lesson: Adapt to your surroundings. If the room setup is such that your planned speech will suffer, then improvise. If you don’t, the audience cannot see you. If they cannot see you, it will be much, much harder to connect with them.

Evaluation Speech Contest – 2008

This was the third consecutive year that I reached the District 21 Evaluation Contest: eleven contests before this past weekend, and I had won 9 of them. I had not, however, taken the top prize at district level in previous years.

Instead of being content with last year’s second place district performance, I worked hard to hone my skills. I developed a speech evaluation workshop which helped me reflect on my strengths and weaknesses. The speech critiques on this blog allowed me to exercise my speech analysis muscles.

The competition was very strong. When first place was announced, my name was called!

• Key Lesson: You can always improve. Work on your strengths as well as your weaknesses. Hard work and persistence pays off.

As David Brooks predicted, speech contests have been the fastest route to the greatest improvement for me. I encourage you compete in speech contests whenever you can, and reap the tremendous benefits.

Your Lessons Learned?

Have you entered speech contests? What have you learned from these experiences?

Similar Articles You May Like... Interview with LaShunda Rundles: 2008 World Champion of Public Speaking The Olympics of Oratory: World Championship of Public Speaking Speech Preparation #10: Prepare to Win a Toastmasters Speech Contest Speech Analysis #5: Toastmasters Evaluation Contests Toastmasters Speech 7: Research Your Topic Toastmasters Speech 6: Vocal Variety

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.

Imagine yourself speaking at the World Championship of Public Speaking. You’ve written a speech from your heart, and you deliver the best performance of your life. When the winner is announced, it’s you!

Possible? Yes.
You can win.

That which separates those who win from those who do not win is not lifetime speaking experience nor contest experience. Not gestures. Not vocal variety. Not rhetorical devices. Not overall delivery skills.

The most critical discriminator between those who win and those who do not is preparation.

Believing You Can Win

Henry Ford observed:

Whether you think you can or think you can’t – you are right.

If you believe you can win a Toastmasters Speech Contest, then you can win. Believing you can win will motivate you to give it the proverbial 110% (even though that is a mathematical absurdity).

There are no shortcuts. The lessons contained in the previous nine articles of the Speech Preparation Series apply to speeches of all types, including Toastmasters speech contests. So, a necessary first step to preparing a great contest speech is to prepare a great speech. Period.

However, a Toastmaster speech contest is a unique speaking situation, just as pitching a business proposal to angel investors is a unique speaking situation. Both require additional preparation steps which are customized to the situation.

Toastmasters Speech Contest Criteria

To see what makes a Toastmasters speech contest unique, look no further than the Judging Guide set forth by Toastmasters International.

The Judging Guide consists of seven categories totalling 100 points as follows:

• Content (50 total)
  • 20 points: Speech Development
  • 15 points: Speech Effectiveness
  • 15 points: Speech Value
• Delivery (30 total)
  • 10 points: Physical
  • 10 points: Voice
  • 10 points: Manner
• Language (20 total)
  • 10 points: Appropriateness
  • 10 points: Correctness

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that your goal is to attain maximum points in as many categories as you can. Study these criteria and check them against your speech iteratively.

10 Tips for Winning a Toastmasters Speech Contest

Here are the top ten lessons I learned through years of competing in Toastmaster speech contests.

1. Craft Compelling Content

Content counts for one half of the judging points. i.e. content is king. Still, many inexperienced speech contestants sacrifice content in the pursuit of perfect delivery. Don’t make this mistake. Delivery is important, but content is more important.

2. Make it Universal

Once you move beyond the club level, your audience in general (and the judges in particular) almost certainly comprise a broad demographic cross-section. Highly technical topics or those which appeal to only a subset of the audience must be avoided. Winning topics are those which have universal appeal.
e.g. life lessons, love, family, personal development, beating the odds, adherence to a code of conduct

3. Include Humor

You won’t see humor anywhere on the judge’s guide (there is a separate Toastmasters Humorous Speech Contest). Nonetheless, humor is an essential element. Humorous anecdotes or phrases should be used to support your core message.

4. Ask Probing Questions

Because you know your topic so well, it can be difficult for you to analyze speech development and speech effectiveness from the perspective of your audience. When you rehearse, ask your practice audience specific probing questions such as:

• What was the key message? If they respond with something that doesn’t match the message you intended, you have a problem.
• Was the message clear?
• Were there any confusing words, phrases, or parts?
• Did it connect with you? [There is no speech which will connect with every person, but if your test audience is bored, then there's a good chance your real audience will be as well.]

5. Avoid Forcing Unnatural Gestures

With a full ten points for gestures (i.e. “Physical”), it is tempting to force gestures into a speech where they might not belong. To avoid doing this, practice the speech out loud before you deliberately script any gestures. Notice the gestures your body naturally makes, and then work on perfecting the delivery of those gestures.

6. Avoid Forcing Unnatural Vocal Variety

Don’t write a speech, and then say “I need to insert loud elements, soft elements, high pitch, low pitch, fast pace, and slow pace using the words I’ve written.” Rather, apply vocal variety naturally to enhance the words. If the resulting speech is still vocally flat, then perhaps you need to rewrite sections.

7. Improve at Every Level

As you progress up through the Toastmasters speech contest levels, competition becomes increasingly stronger. While good speeches may win at the club level, they may not win at area or division. Don’t relax and think that your victory at one level will earn you victory at the next. Solicit feedback and improve your speech at every level.

8. Seek Magic Moments

Assuming your competition is as prepared as you are, the judges will be faced with a difficult decision: how to distinguish between two comparable speeches? The best way to distinguish yourself is to incorporate at least one utterly unforgettable moment. It might be a prop. It might be a gesture. You might sing. You might have a particularly effective method of interacting with the audience. Your speech needs some quality that no other competing speech has.

It may not be enough for you to leave the impression “That was a great speech.” Instead, your goal should be to have the judges thinking “Wow, did you see that?”

9. End Positive and End Strong

You can take your audience for a ride on an emotional trampoline, but always end with a positive emotion or a feeling of hope. Judges are human. Humans like to feel good. The last impression you leave before the judge marks the ballot should put them in a positive frame of mind.

Your conclusion is always an important speech element, but its importance is heightened in speech contests because it is the last thing spoken before the judges switch their attention to the score sheet. Equally important, a strong conclusion will increase applause from the audience. In turn, this will have a positive effect on judges.

10. Don’t “Try” to Win

As you stand ready to deliver your first words, the right frame of mind is critical. For example:

• “I have seven minutes to deliver an important message to the audience.” The focus is on the audience and the message.
• “I have seven minutes to impress the judges and win the contest.” The focus is on you and your ego.

Adopt the former frame of mind. Your passionate performance will propel you to victory.

Conclusion of the Speech Preparation Series

This concludes the Speech Preparation Series. I hope you found it interesting and valuable. I welcome any feedback you have on individual articles, or on the series as a whole. Please share your own advice for speech preparation.

Remember: Proper preparation prevents presentation predicaments!

Prepare well. Speak well.

Similar Articles You May Like... Speech Analysis #5: Toastmasters Evaluation Contests Interview with LaShunda Rundles: 2008 World Champion of Public Speaking The Olympics of Oratory: World Championship of Public Speaking Lessons I Learned from Toastmasters Speech Contests What can Mickey Mouse Teach You about Public Speaking? Toastmasters Speech 7: Research Your Topic

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.

Many of the techniques described in this series of articles were honed during several years of attending and competing in Toastmasters Evaluation Contests. In both 2006 and 2007, I reached the District 21 finals, taking 2nd place in 2007. [Update: I won the District 21 Evaluation Contest in 2008.]

This article, the fifth in the Speech Analysis Series, inspects Toastmasters evaluation contests from several angles:

• How does the contest work?
• Why should you attend?
• Why should you be a test speaker?
• Why should you compete?
• How can you win?

Why have Toastmasters Evaluation Contests?

The official contest rules (PDF) state the following motivation for annual evaluation contests:

1. To encourage development of evaluation skills and to recognize the best as encouragement to all.
2. To provide an opportunity to learn by observing the more proficient evaluators who have benefited from their Toastmasters training.

How a Toastmasters Evaluation Contest Works

Each evaluation contest follows a simple, standard agenda:

1. The contest begins with a short speech given by a test speaker.
2. Contestants watch and listen to the test speaker. Most critique the speech with the help of an evaluation template.
3. At the conclusion of the speech, contestants are ushered out of the room.
4. They are given five minutes to review notes. At the end of this period, their notes are gathered.
5. One at a time, contestants are brought back to the room to deliver a two- to three-minute evaluation, with their notes (if desired).
6. Judges score each contestant. Scores are tallied to determine the winners.

The contest cycle begins each year at the local club level. Winners then proceed to area, division, and district level contests.

Why You Should Attend a Toastmasters Evaluation Contest

If you are truly interested in improving your speech evaluation skills, I encourage you to attend one or more contests, even if you are not a Toastmasters member (generally speaking, contests are open to the public).

• Contests are entertaining.
• Contests are inexpensive. Generally, a nominal fee is charged to cover the cost of refreshments.
• You can learn from the test speaker (often quite experienced).
• Contestants are generally quite proficient in the art of evaluation. This is particularly true at higher levels of the contest.
• The variety of approaches and analytical observations will surely complement your existing evaluation skills. My eyes were opened the first time I attended a contest outside of my club; the observations made by the contestants were very different from the status quo for me.

Why You Should be a Toastmasters Evaluation Contest Test Speaker

A few years ago, I was invited to be the test speaker for a nearby club contest. Prior to this, I had never visited that club. After delivering the test speech, I then listened with fascination as the five contestants evaluated my speech. I learned a great deal from this process.

• The breadth of comments was much wider than you can get from a single evaluation (or even from a self-evaluation).
• Receiving multiple evaluations really puts a spotlight on any glaring areas needing improvement. When four of five evaluators suggest you have a weakness in a certain area, then you really need to listen with open ears.
• As with areas needing improvement, multiple evaluations will also highlight your strongest skills and techniques.

One word of caution – I don’t recommend being a test speaker if you are a very inexperienced speaker. While some people crave as much feedback as possible, others are not yet ready to be reminded that there are so many things for them to improve. It can be a very humbling experience.

Why You Should Compete in a Toastmasters Evaluation Contest

I recommend that you compete the next time you have the opportunity to do so.

• You will have fun!
• The added pressure of a contest (and perhaps a new venue) forces you to step outside your speaking comfort zone. By doing so, you will grow, not just as an evaluator, but as a speaker as well.
• You might win!
• Whether you win or not, you will learn new techniques from the other contestants.
• Generally, each level that you advance brings a larger audience.
• Stage time, stage time, stage time.

How to Win a Toastmasters Evaluation Contest

If you have dreams of winning, then you must familiarize yourself with the judging criteria:

• 40 points: Analytical Quality
• 30 points: Recommendations
• 15 points: Technique
• 15 points: Summation

Based on my own experience and from conversations with other contestants, judges, and spectators, I think the most common reasons for not winning are:

1. Contestant delivers great “praise” and “areas for improvement”, but neglects specific suggestions to improve. This contestant will score well on Analytical Quality (40 points), but poorly on Recommendations (30 points).

• Tip: Remember the meat, vegetables, and cheese from the sandwich technique.

2. Contestant fails to watch the clock and does not have time to summarize — a potential loss of 15 points.

• Tip: Don’t try to cover everything. Use the five minutes with your notes wisely to pick out only your best points. With my speech evaluation form, I typically capture about twice as many things as I can describe in a 3-minute evaluation.

3. Contestant covers only the points mentioned by other contestants. It is possible to deliver a good (or even great) evaluation, but still score poorly because you will invariably be compared to other contestants.

• Tip: Hone your speech critique skills. Try to avoid the obvious elements of the speech which all other contestants will notice. Instead, aim to analyze elements many will miss.

4. Contestant has marvelous analysis, but poor evaluation delivery. They score low on the 15 points for Technique.

• Tip: Based on my personal experience, I think delivery tends to be weighted even higher by most judges. Particularly at higher levels when many contestants are very strong, the contestant with the most dynamic delivery often wins.

How about you? Are you an evaluation contest champion? A veteran competitor? A first-time contestant?

Share your evaluation contest experiences and tips in the comments below.

Good luck, and happy evaluating!

Similar Articles You May Like... Speech Preparation #10: Prepare to Win a Toastmasters Speech Contest Interview with LaShunda Rundles: 2008 World Champion of Public Speaking The Olympics of Oratory: World Championship of Public Speaking Lessons I Learned from Toastmasters Speech Contests Speech Analysis #4: Evaluation Forms, Tools, and Resources Speech Analysis #3: Modified Sandwich Technique for Evaluations

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.