Accountability: The Fall and Rise of Speech 2

Hello!

Last night I delivered my second speech to my Toastmasters organisation. To say I ballsed it up would be an understatement.

The activity called for planning and organising a speech with a strong core throughline and multiple examples to illustrate my point ending with a strong powerful conclusion. The speech I delivered was not strong enough and the conclusion limped across as opposed to striking my audience.

So what happened?

I had over-planned and under prepared simultaneously. I had so many examples to illustrate my point, however I hadn't prepared how I was going to link them well enough. My speech was muddy and when my mind went blank as I approached the front of the audience I was in trouble. I started sweating profusely, I went red, my hair stuck to my brow, distracting me further. It was not a good speech.

Despite having a relatively strong opening I mumbled, stumbled and squandered the potential of what I had to say. When I finally sat down upon receiving the confirmation I had matched the time allocated for the speech I wanted to melt into the chair, through the floor and never darken the Toastmasters door again. This was compounded following two excellent speeches including an 'Icebreaker' which I had so eloquently completed in the previous session.

During the intermission I received feedback and spoke to my evaluator who had asked me what I thought he should comment on. Straight out the gate I told him I thought it went poorly but then I began to think. This was only my second speech, if I'm going to stumble, it should be at this point. I need to grow into this organically to be a great speaker.

I was given helpful tips by other Toastmaster members and although I felt downheartened about my performance I was determined to not let it keep me down. I volunteered for Table Topics and threw myself in to that, and would you look at that....

I won Table Topics this week. Even in my stressed and critical state I thought I had redeemed myself, ever so slightly.

I'll be giving Toastmasters a miss for the next few sessions, however I plan to return soon and improve.

Thanks for reading!
AT