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A
Humorous Speech Contest Odyssey
Edmond
Shin
It all started with
Project 8: Get Comfortable with Visual Aids. This was on
December 1, 2005. I had chosen the topic of regifting since
there were only 25 shopping days left until that auspicious day.
My club, Flying Toastmasters, told me, “
Edmond
, that is a good topic for the humorous speech contest. You
should enter.”
And that is when my
odyssey began. Dum dum dum. [Ominous music plays in the
background.] Since it was December 1, the next chance to enter
the humorous speech contest would not be until October 2006. So
I waited the whole year in anxious excitement. I planned,
plotted and schemed. Oho! I was going to have a good
time.
October 5, 2006:
Club Speech Contest
The first level of
the humorous speech contest is at the club level. As I am
fairly certain is also true in other smaller clubs, there was only
one competitor. Consequently, I won by default. Other
members at my club gave a lot of helpful advice. We even had a
member who does theatre sports (Improv theatre. Think of Andy
Dooley, the Toastmaster from
Florida
.) weigh in with his thoughts. So far, so good.
Later that
night…
There was a slight
problem. The Area 52 Speech Contest was on October 10 but I
had a midterm the same evening. (Business school. Ick!)
Would I have to wait another year before I could use the acceptance
speech I had arranged? (“I want to thank the little
people…”) A few quick calls later, the Area Governor
changed it to October 12 just for me. I inconvenienced at
least a dozen people. All in a days work…
October 12: Area
Speech Contest
It was the middle
of midterm season, I am a fourth year student, and I had an
interview the next morning. My hands were cold and clammy.
I had not felt this way since my icebreaker two years ago. You
could say I was a little uneasy.
My Opponents
Oh my. There
was a Toastmasters veteran from Richmond Achievers and…oh
no…someone from Sage Toastmasters! I had heard all about
them from Dr. Irene Evans, the president of my club, Flying
Toastmasters, and the mentor for Sage Toastmasters. In one
year, they added so many members they had to split the club into
two: Alpha and Beta. Sage was also featured in the last
several issues of the Link for its accomplishments. In its
first year, Beta had reached Select Distinguished status.
Additionally, Richard, the Sage representative, had placed third in
the Division E International Speech Contest last year. My
heart went pitter patter like a broken washing machine. I was
facing two formidable opponents. Oh dear.
While Pondering
my Fate…
The Area Governor,
Ken, suddenly asked whether I would also like to compete in the
Table Topics Contest, as they needed more contestants. I
pointed to Dorothy, a fellow member from Flying Toastmasters who sat
beside me, and answered, “I volunteer her!” My apologies
go to Dorothy. It was a reflex.
The Contest
I was the last
speaker. The Richmond Achievers contestant spoke: excellent.
Then it was the Sage contestant’s turn: hilarious. My turn.
I stood up, spoke up, and sat down. Then came the
announcements. I had hoped to place in the top three (there
being only three contestants) and I had placed…first? Oh no.
That meant I had to compete in the Division E contest!
October 19:
Division E Speech Contest
What a horrible
time of year to hold a speech contest. It was still midterm
season and I had a killer accounting midterm the next day (diluted
EPS calculations anyone?). I had hoped that there would not be
too many competitors. I walked into the room and am greeted
with, “
Edmond
, you have to get to the front, now! They are doing the
briefing.” I rushed up to the front. Ack! There
were two contestants from each area. All the contestants
looked like speech contest veterans. Furthermore, I was the
shortest one competing.
The Contest
Began
First speaker:
Sylvie. No notes. Second speaker: Richard. No
notes. Third speaker: Barbara. No notes. You get
the idea. The Division Governor, Nes, called me up and
introduced my verbose speech title. The crowd tittered.
“Yes!” I thought to myself. I got up to speak, notes in
hand. I placed them on the stand Barbara kindly lent me.
They flew to the ground. What on earth? The crowd made
sympathetic clucking noises while Nes jumped up to turn off the fan.
I continued with my speech. Rattling off the last few
sentences, I looked closely at the timer. How long had the red
light been on?
Break Time
Someone asked me
whether I went overtime. I blamed it on the audience.
They kept interrupting me with laughter. How rude. Do
they think this is some sort of humorous speech contest? Oh.
Right.
The
Announcements
The Division
Governor announced the winners. I did not place, but that was
okay. I had a great evening connecting with Toastmasters from
other clubs. And, as always in Toastmasters, you get applause.
I love applause. I will try again when I am graduated and,
maybe, employed. I am already plotting my next speech.
October 28: At
Home, Reminiscing and Convalescing.
Congratulations to
all the contestants in this year’s humorous speech contest.
I learned so much by observing all of you. The contest was
better just because you showed your Toastmasters courage and gave it
your best. True, I made many mistakes this time, but I could
not diagnose them without participating in the speech contest.
Just as a doctor cannot diagnose you when she cannot see what is
making you ill, I would not have found areas where I needed
improvement without making mistakes.
I encourage all
Toastmasters out there to get competing. Do not be afraid of
not winning. Toastmasters International is not all about
winning. It is also about making mistakes so we can get
better. So get out there, get off your seat everyone, and make
mistakes. Make many mistakes. Make myriad mistakes.
The more, the merrier. Remember, whatever you do, you will
still get applause.
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