Culture Vulture – my 3rd speech at Toastmasters
23-Jul-09. A day I would not forget for a long time to come. You’d remember some of your biggest goof ups well, don’t you?
It was my third(of the 10) speech at Toastmasters today. I messed it up in a very big way. Though the topic had great depth and the concept was to suit the objectives of the third speech, I could not deliver. I was mum and blank and confused on stage. I was in a crisis and I’m out of it losing.
It happens to me sometimes. I go completely short of words, even to express some thing like “I’m hungry”. This was one such occasion.
I could not remember the words I wanted to say – prompts at lack of adequate preparation.
It did not reflect the passion with which I wanted to enact on stage. I could not animate my body, could not modulate my voice. Transition from idea to idea was shaky. There were unnecessary pauses. I could have done most of it well had I completely remembered the sequence of ideas I wanted to present.
All in all, the speech was a mess. I decided to take it up another time. I’m not in a hurry to complete my 10 speeches and apply for the CC (Competent Communicator) certification. The aim I have is to learn how to speak before the audience; Present my point with persuasion and grace, at the same time keeping it fun to listen to. I’ve a long way to go, I realized.
I’m not publishing the speech here yet. Excuse me for that. I’ll update this space after I redo the speech to my satisfaction. Till then, please read my other posts, I’m sure they’re not as dry as this one was till here.
hmm. True, it was not that bad in fact. Its only that I could have done a lot better given the topic and the amount of research and preparation I had done. The script and the PPT were top-class. Its only that ‘it was just not my day’. As one of my friends pointed out, some days we just don’t do well though we might be capable of. But it really taught me something. I decided to take some time and study my own skills well so that I can perform at their optimum and enhance from there on. And yeah English movies and shows like Friends really make a good difference.
The emotional part did not really occur to me, I’m quite balanced there I feel. I know I don’t have to sell my point, I only have to make a point effectively. Good to see your comment Raghu. Thanks for that.
Mate, don’t be too harsh on yourself ! I know it wouldn’t have looked such a flop as you have made it out to be. When it comes to modulation, I find some of the english series like Friends and other standup comedy shows, to be very useful. One might tend to get emotional when speaking on such topics as Culture and this makes you loose focus and perhaps stutter.