The Public Speaking Blog

Yesterday evening, I gave my third speech at Toastmasters.

This time, it was the second speech from the Toastmasters “Leadership and Speaking Programme”…

I gave a talk about coming back from Germany on a motorbike. It was a funny trip – I’d overloaded the bike and had no idea where I was heading, so I thought that would make a good topic for my speech.

I started the speech by marching up to the floor with my motorcycle gear on – even the helmet, with the visor down.

However, this time, I found one or two of my jokes fell flat. It’s hard to push on when your best punchline meets stunned silence!

But push on I did, and I got to the end of the story. I was much less nervous this time – I didn’t rush through it, and even found occasion for the odd pause.

At the evaluation, I was pleased to learn a bit more. Apparently, I’d held the helmet and waved it around when it might’ve been better to put it down on the floor.

Still, at the end of the night I was amazed to hear I’d won another blue ribbon! When the votes had been counted, I’d been voted the night’s best speech. The competition had been stiff – Pravin had given a particularly hilarious speech about all the things that went wrong on his honeymoon.

It just goes to show, you never know. This has been a speech I’d really practiced and honed, though on the night I’d had to plough through it, a little disappointed by the response. Clearly, though, it had gone better than I’d thought.