Contest Season (Part 1)
It's the most wonderful time of the year.. for Toastmasters!
What's Contest Season all About?
Every year starting in January Toastmasters clubs put on Speech Contests. Winners at the club level proceed to the Area Contest, winners at Area proceed to Division, and winners at Division proceed to District. The International Speech winner at District has a chance to make it all the way to the World Championship of Public Speaking in August.
What I've learned about Competing
I've competed in Evaluation, Table Topics, Humorous Speech and International Speech Competitions. Competing is an opportunity to hone your speaking at a higher level than you're used to. You prepare more diligently, you look for more feedback and you try out more ideas until you stumble upon something great. You polish up your skills and look your best. You have a bigger audience than you're probably used to at regular club meetings. You even spend longer planning a good title. I've seen many speakers go from good to great because of a competition.
The highest I've achieved is 2nd place at Division. So close! The hard lesson I had to learn about competing is that only one person can win, so you'd better get comfortable with losing. My first loss was tough. After months of preparation, coaching, editing, I gave the best version of the speech I could. I felt there was no way I could lose! And yet- I did. I went through stages of disbelief, frustration, and blame. I blamed the Chairperson for saying my title wrong or the room for being too cold. I blamed myself for not practicing more and for not being better. I was down for about a week. I thought, maybe I'll take some time off from Toastmasters- this isn't fun anymore. My coaches urged me to write about my impressions of the contest. Through writing I recognized all that I had gained through competing. More importantly, I realized I had done my absolute best. I just wasn't the winner this time. Thankfully I didn't end up skipping my Toastmasters meeting that week, because seeing my friends at the meeting was just the thing I needed. The next time I lost at a contest, it still stung.. but not as much. Each time after that has been easier to take. The opportunity for growth far outweighs the potential for a disappointing loss.
What's Contest Season all About?
Every year starting in January Toastmasters clubs put on Speech Contests. Winners at the club level proceed to the Area Contest, winners at Area proceed to Division, and winners at Division proceed to District. The International Speech winner at District has a chance to make it all the way to the World Championship of Public Speaking in August.
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| Aaron Beverly, World Champion of Public Speaking 2019 |
What I've learned about Competing
I've competed in Evaluation, Table Topics, Humorous Speech and International Speech Competitions. Competing is an opportunity to hone your speaking at a higher level than you're used to. You prepare more diligently, you look for more feedback and you try out more ideas until you stumble upon something great. You polish up your skills and look your best. You have a bigger audience than you're probably used to at regular club meetings. You even spend longer planning a good title. I've seen many speakers go from good to great because of a competition.
The highest I've achieved is 2nd place at Division. So close! The hard lesson I had to learn about competing is that only one person can win, so you'd better get comfortable with losing. My first loss was tough. After months of preparation, coaching, editing, I gave the best version of the speech I could. I felt there was no way I could lose! And yet- I did. I went through stages of disbelief, frustration, and blame. I blamed the Chairperson for saying my title wrong or the room for being too cold. I blamed myself for not practicing more and for not being better. I was down for about a week. I thought, maybe I'll take some time off from Toastmasters- this isn't fun anymore. My coaches urged me to write about my impressions of the contest. Through writing I recognized all that I had gained through competing. More importantly, I realized I had done my absolute best. I just wasn't the winner this time. Thankfully I didn't end up skipping my Toastmasters meeting that week, because seeing my friends at the meeting was just the thing I needed. The next time I lost at a contest, it still stung.. but not as much. Each time after that has been easier to take. The opportunity for growth far outweighs the potential for a disappointing loss.
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