International Speech Contest Preparation

Last week, we prepared ourselves for International Speech Contest. It was very special because we had Dinesh Vashwani, a District Champion, to educate us about how to be good in delivering a speech and tips to prepare for the contest.

But before the eduspeech, we had the prepared speech session

"Magic Words" by Risman

Risman delivered his first speech, titled “Magic Words”. It’s very interesting because he said he’s a full time Dad, and a part time employee in Ministry of Finance. He really respects one of his bosses, regarding him as his idol. When he searched more about the boss’s education, he found out that the boss is a member of a mysterious organization called “Toastmasters”. So that’s why Risman became a member of our club.

Risman wants more challenge and keeps rising his goals. He is a very idealist and just person. He wants Indonesia to have a clean government, that’s why he wants to learn Public Policy Making as his Master Degree.

There’s one sentence he said that really blew us away. “Work hard until your idol becomes your rival”. It’s a really a “WOW” statement. We can’t forget that.

"My Adventure in Europe"

Arya delivered his AM2 of Storytelling, telling about his trip to Germany, Switzerland, and France.  He tried to communicate with the native, even though he’s not good in German and French, but he kept on trying, forgetting his shame. He also tried to say hi to the pretty girls there, although they responded coldly or looked at him like he’s a strange person. All in all, Arya was glad he was “crazy enough” to try to communicate, even with his minimum language ability. Without that, he won’t have interesting experiences and stories to tell. He said, sometimes we must forget feeling shy, or else everything will be boring.

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In Eduspeech Section , we had the owner of KidzUpfront, a public speaking and presentation training institution for students that mainly focuses on building confidence. He is also the District 87 Champion of International Speech Contest in 2012.

He had to try for 4 years to win the District Contest. The first time he lost the District Contest,  he was devastated and stayed under the shower for 1.5 hours, still in his contesting outfit. Now that he thought about it, it’s really a waste of water.

Dinesh said the best experience is on “keep learning to win”. He tried, lost, and tried again and again and again.

The tips that he gave was:

1. Tell the speech for the audience. Don’t speak for yourself, speak for them. Find out their age average, and speak according to their needs.

2. You need to also have a very structural draft. Be very prepared. Tell personal stories.

3. Be unique. Do actions that differentiate you with the other contestants. Last year’s World Champion, Dananjaya Hettiearachchi brought rose, pulled the petals, and threw it to a dustbin. It was really a memorable act.

4. Don’t quote famous people, quote someone close to you. Say “my grandma said…..” or “my first love said….”. Audience love that. It’s something new for them.

5. Also, rehearse your speech. Rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse. Stephen Fernando, said Dinesh, rehearsed 78 times minimum before a contest. His excuse was, “I’m old, I could easily forget my speech”. Dinesh thought it’s just Stephen’s way to be humble.

6. Take the Storytelling advanced manual. Because all the speech in the contest are stories.

7. Watch as many Toastmasters champion speech videos that you can find, and make it your routine.

The most important thing Dinesh said was this:

If you join the contest just to win, you’ll never win. But if you join to keep on learning, learning non-stop, then you’ll win.

Bonus: Dinesh's Winning Speech at District 87 Contest 2012:

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Favorite Prepared Speaker and Table Topics 

Best Evaluators of the Night

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Tonight at Mots:

Mock Contest time! We will practice for Table Topics Contest and have an evaluation session by all.