Especially if you’re in Toastmasters, you may wish to challenge yourself to compete in a speaking contest.
Here are a few tips for winners.
- Read the ballot. The judges will score you based on a variety of factors. Why guess at what they are? For example, if you don’t include a summary at the end, the highest score you can earn in the Toastmasters speech evaluation contest is 80%. I’ve seen a lot of great evaluators lose that way.
- Watch videos of previous winners. Look for the World Championship of Public Speaking Finalists on YouTube and see who the judges have picked. Even though I’m not a fan of “poor me” stories, that contest has a reputation for awarding the prize to the biggest victim.
- Which all goes to show, you never know who the judges are or what they think makes a speaker a winner. I’ve lost a few contests to people I thought should never have made it past the first round. And I’ve seen people I thought were easy winners not even place.
Want to win a contest?
Craft an excellent speech.
Begin with a strong beginning and end with a powerful ending.
Be dynamic and authentic.
And then don’t worry about whether or not you actually take home a simulated real gold trophy.
If preparing for and delivering a contest speech made you a better speaker than you were before, you can declare yourself a winner whether the judges recognize you or not.
The only person you ever really have to compete with is yourself.
