About a month ago, a Toastmaster I'd competed against reached out to me and asked if I'd like to deliver a 20-30 minute keynote speech. For me, this was a no-brainer. Yes, yes I would like to! Only one problem. I didn't have a speech that long. I said yes, then immediately got to work building the content for my speech. Then, I got busy. About a week and a half before the … [Read more...]
I got second place—this is what I learned
As a competitive person, second place is pain. If I'm second, I might as well be last. That's why taking second place at the Division level of the International Speech Contest in Toastmasters knocked something out of me. My goal had been Semifinals: and I was stopped two steps short of it. Worse, it was a public failure. I have five videos on this site titled Road to … [Read more...]
Road to Semifinals — Episode 6 (Improving a stale speech)
In this sixth video of the series, I talk about how you can overcome a stale speech—one that you've been working on for a while and is difficult to improve. Give it a watch—a summary wouldn't do it justice. … [Read more...]
Analysis of 2018 Toastmasters World Champion of Public Speaking: Ramona J. Smith
In this video, I take an in-depth look at Ramona's winning speech in the World Championship of Public Speaking held by Toastmasters in 2018. I give over 20 praises and critiques, showing you how you can achieve the same amount of success by following the principles that she does. If you're interested in this topic, it's worth checking out my post on the top lessons … [Read more...]
How to Actually Get Better at Public Speaking and Blow past Plateaus
One of the most common pieces of advice you'll hear for public speaking is: just practice, practice, practice. You'll get better! This advice is spread so much because it kind of works. Yes, by simply going out and speaking in public, you can get better at public speaking. But there are several problems with that. You can actually develop bad habits—practice makes … [Read more...]