Miri Convention - Day 2

Congratulations to Siew Weng Yue for getting through the early morning run-off and being eligible for the District level competition tomorrow!

You're the BEST!

As for the International Speech Competition Runoff A (which was the one I was in), the competition was a true show of talents among the various divisions.

The final 3 from runoff A are:

1. Iin Haryani

2. Stephen Fernando

3. Bhavna Sutrisna

CONGRATULATIONS, wishing you all the best for the final round tomorrow!

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My Story

I rested and went through my speech in the morning, choosing to stay in rather than go for the Opening ceremony. Despite being scared and worried, I went up and did as best as I could, with the thought of speaking from my heart.

Out of 7 contestants, I was 6th. When it was my turn, I went up in my White jacket and told myself, 'SMILE'.

I delivered the speech with as much gusto as I can summon.

People commented that my speech was 'powerful'.

And you wonder (I wonder too), what was the missing winning element (it's evaluation time). With the help of fellow caring toastmasters, we analysed my speech and came up with the following reasons:

a. The content and speech title did not connect very well.

b. Not enough humour.

c. The content could have been with more solid information.

Lessons learnt from this experience:

• Talking in a large auditorium is VERY different from talking in a small hall.

• Use of PERSONAL experiences are more effective than using another person's story.

• Even when using a headset microphone, THROW your voice - because throwing your voice and NOT holding back, will help you to express yourself much better.

• Having more than 3 experienced toastmasters to review your speech would help to avoid more than 50% of mistakes and improve your content.

• When we write a script, we are attuned to the speech personally. Just as how we can't see certain flaws in ourselves, we may not be able to see the flaws in the speech that we wrote. Hence, we need the comments from others to suggest and point out the improvements we can make to our speech.

This has been my FIRST experience on a district level and the support and encouragement I have received from fellow Division A members as well as other toastmasters we've met here in Miri, has helped me to stand tall and be proud that I have completed my speech at district level!

A very big, heartfelt, THANK YOU to all of you who shook my hand and told me 'all the best' at least 10 times during the past two days (you know who you are).

We shall all moot for TM Siew during the Table Topics Competition! Enjoy yourself and do your best!