Note from Chris:  I have been super busy the past few months, so I have started to look for people to guest post on the blog. This allows me to continue to bring you useful information on Public Speaking and Toastmasters while giving me some time to work on my free membership site youngprofitpros.com and other projects. This guest post comes from Heidi Taylor. If you are interested in guest posting, contact me.

Public speaking is not a skill which is unattainable; rather, it comes with experience and knowledge of what your audience wants.  It is helpful for many business professionals to ensure that their children get involved with public speaking from the time they are well into junior high.  There are many programs for young children to encourage speech-writing, impromptu speeches, and debates.  If you want your child to be able to speak in front of a committee or large audience, it is helpful to enroll them in these types of programs from an early age.

Once your child reaches junior high, there is a multitude of after-school programs that are academically based.  The University Interscholastic League (UIL) is one of the largest programs within junior high and high schools in the state of Texas, and participates in debates, persuasive speaking, and impromptu speaking, where the child is given a subject and must come up with a speech within five minutes.  While this type of extracurricular program is unique to Texas, many other states participate in state wide debates, and other speech-writing activities.  It has become progressively more important to educate the new generation in terms of public speaking due to the large amount of speaking business professionals have to do on a daily basis.  With the job market becoming even more competitive, it is imperative that the new generation be avid public speakers to be able to impress potential employers, as well as corporate sponsors.

Furthermore, a solid educational background will assist children in speech-writing, not only for these competitions, but also later on in life.  Ardent readers will be better informed, and therefore more apt to create well-written and rehearsed speeches; it is more important now more than ever that your children become well educated outside of school through reading literature and current events.  All of this starts with the parents, when their children are young enough to be conditioned as to how to read and speak in front of large audiences.  If they receive this training while they are still young, they are more apt to carry this with them to adulthood.

Public speaking is a very important skill to have all through your life, and it can make a difference when you enter the job market as to whether you can impress a potential employer with your skills during an interview, or impress an audience during a conference.  It is this fact that makes it so important to establish these types of expertise very early on in life.

This post was contributed by Heidi Taylor, who writes about the online colleges and universities. She welcomes your feedback at HeidiLTaylor006 at gmail.com.

photo credit: bored-now

“In first place representing the Central Division at the District Conference….”

Not me.

“I Am Jack’s Broken Heart” – Fight Club (1999)

 Sitting there after the announcement of the winner, I was surprised. I had just spent the last three hours being told by people that they thought I had won…then the results. I didn’t even place. For the next few hours I ruminated on what had happened. What lines could I have fumbled, what message did I not deliver…then I realized something.

I put too much pressure on myself.

Going up there, I was filled with terror and I found it hard to keep from shaking uncontrollably. I kept asking myself, “Why are you so afraid?” Then when I sat down after the speech, it dawned on me…I had put far too much into this. I had spent so much time thinking about the desire of winning that I forgot about the most important thing – having fun.

Later that night while looking over the video of the event, I learned something. This was a good speech well delivered and other years it might have won. However, what defeated me was me. No other competitor beat me. I beat my self.

I realized that when you are competing in speech contests, you decide the message, you decide the delivery, and you decide how to prepare. No one else decides those things, so in the end, the only person that can beat you is you.

If you don’t deliver a needed message, if you don’t prepare, and if you don’t connect with the audience – these are all things you can control. So why don’t you?

Because the only person that can defeat us…is ourselves.

What do you think?

If you get a chance, check out my new site: http://youngprofitpros.com/

It is a learning resource for young professionals looking to forge their own path in life.

To see my division losing speech, check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtMN-xXpQdM

Read on to learn how you can get a copy of The Finalists: 2008, FOR FREE!

The Finalists: 2008

As we progress through the Toastmasters International Speech Competition season, you might be wondering if you have what it takes to be the next World Champion of Public Speaking. After winning my Area this past Saturday, I started to wonder the same thing. I was nervous, didn’t think that my speech would stand up to the Division competition, and really thought that I didn’t have the energy to modify, practice, and give my speech one more time…then I got an e-mail containing a copy of, The Finalists: 2008 from Rich Hopkins.

The Finalists:2008 is a compilation of the stories of the 2008 Toastmasters World Champion of Public Speaking Finalists and their path to the big stage. The Finalists include:

Rich Hopkins
Robert MacKenzie
LaShunda Rundles
Martin Presse
Colin William
Charlie Wilson
Katherine Morrison
Henry Flowers IV
K. Loghandran
Jock Elliot

Sitting at home fretting about the competition last night, I was enthralled by the stories of each of the Finalists from the 2008 competition. Included among them are professional speakers, performers, and pure amateurs that had the right mix of passion and skill. For some of the Finalists, this was their first trip to the big stage, while for others this was a return to try again. It was truly inspiring to read.

What impressed me the most was the level of self analysis that all of the finalists display. Their story is inspirational to those, like me, who seek the black name badge. I laughed, I cried, and I really connected my fellow speakers. If you are at all interested in the people and the process of getting to the final round of the World Championship of Public Speaking, then you have to read The Finalists: 2008.

Where others would charge $29 or more for a resource like this, Rich and the other Finalists have provided “The Finalists: 2008” e-book in pdf format FOR FREE, so head on over to Rich’s Website: http://www.richhopkins.net/ and sign up for his Champions of Choice Newsletter to receive your free copy of The Finalists: 2008 FOR FREE.

The Toastmasters Word of the Day for November 18th, 2008 is:

Manifesto

photo credit: Janex & Alba

manifesto

Noun
1. A public declaration of principles, policies, or intentions, especially that of a political party

The CEO of our company will be delivering his manifesto today.

To get a copy of my new Special Report, “Make Money? You’re Not a Mint: Suggestions For Earning Money Online and Offline.” Sign up for my free newsletter!. In addition to the report, you will get occasional newsletter only tips on speaking, professional speaking, and special offers. Don’t worry, I don’t sell, rent, or share subscribers.

On Saturday, August 16th, 2008, 10 men and women competed for the Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking. One woman, LaShunda Rundles of District 50 won the trophy, leaving thousands of others to wonder what they did wrong. Of the thousands that competed in competitions around the world to qualify for this event, all but one didn’t win; losing is quite possibly the best thing that could have happened to them.

It is fortunate that the Olympics are occurring the same week, because it allows us to draw many parallels with the championship. Similar to competitors in the Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking, Olympic athletes will spend years trying to qualify at home, scoring in the top positions in semifinals, and attempting to win Olympic glory. However, like in all areas of life, they will at some point fail. It is inevitable, but it is not the failure that we dwell upon, but what that failure teaches us about winning that is important.

I remember losing my area competition this year. Though I had elements of a great speech, I did not connect with the audience. I believed that I was so good, that I didn’t need to worry about the connection. It would just work because I had prepared more than anyone else. WOW, was I wrong.

I learned a lesson that I would not have learned if I had not lost. If I had not failed, I wouldn’t have realized that intellectualism doesn’t connect, that most people like Chicken Soup for The Soul themed stories, and that it’s about the audience…its all about the audience. Your message is not as important as you think.

Sometimes I think that we diehard competitors get so wrapped up in the technical details of speech writing and delivery that we forget what really matters; our energy, our delivery, and our wardrobe are perfect but we left out something…the message. It is only then through failure, that we feel the pain of losing, allow it to temper our resolve, and don’t give up until we have won it all.

Keep losing, keep failing, and above all else…keep trying.

Final Results of the 2008 World Champion of Public Speaking:

LaShunda Rundles
Region 3 · District 50 · Texas, USA

Second Place
K. Loghandran
DNAR District 51 · Malaysia

Third Place
Katherine Morrison
Region 7 · District 31 · Massachusetts, USA

From Darren LaCroix’s blog, here are the winners of the Toastmasters 2007 International Speech Contest:

Vikas Jhingran (Region VII, District 31)

2nd Place Rory Vaden (Region V)

3rd Place Mark Hunter (Australia)

Next year I expect to see my name somewhere in that list.