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...]
Road to Semifinals — Episode 5 (Getting back into an old speech)
Fifth video of the series where I document my attempt to make it to the Semifinals of the World Championship of Public Speaking. Summary I'm back after a long break after getting married! In this video, I talk about the 5-step plan for how to recover your passion for an old speech: To summarize the plan, you need to break it down into small pieces, then get … [Read more...]
Road to Semifinals — Episode 4 (Topic selection and outlining)
Fourth video of the series where I document my attempt to make it to the Semifinals of the World Championship of Public Speaking. Summary I finished selecting two topics: Being unique Be more adventurous Both are cliche topics, but high level speeches in Toastmasters commonly are. It's not really about whether the audience has never heard your point before. … [Read more...]
Road to Semifinals — Episode 3 (Research results)
Third video of the series where I document my attempt to make it to the Semifinals of the World Championship of Public Speaking. Summary I finished the research that I've been doing for a few weeks. In this video, I give 4 major insights from my research. However, I wrote an article with 16 tips! I advise you read that. … [Read more...]