Don’t Overlook Toastmasters International!

Over the past few weeks I’ve been building the case for becoming a presentation master as a way to advance your career. In the days to come, I’ll be sharing some of my personal public speaking secrets. But no matter how much you study the art of speechmaking, sooner or later you’ll need to practice what you’ve learned. This is not as easy as it sounds, if your only venue is your place of work, with your boss, coworkers, or customers as your “opening night audience.”

My advice — “don’t practice with live ammo.”

Seek speaking opportunities in front of people you don’t know and may never see again; for example Toastmasters International. You can find local chapters everywhere and learn a lot about speaking from these experts. Then imagine your boss’s surprise when you open your mouth for the first time in front of an important audience and out comes a great speech — talk about job security! 

Dave

Chicago Lawyer Wins World Championship of Public Speaking

CONTACT: Suzanne Frey (949) 858-8255 or sfrey@toastmasters.org
CHICAGO LAWYER WINS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP OF PUBLIC SPEAKING Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. – It was the World Series of public speaking, the Olympics of oratory, the final bout for the heavyweight title of “World Champion of Public Speaking.” Who would win? Recently, a crowd of nearly 2,000 Toastmasters from around the world gathered in Washington D.C. to cheer for their favorite speaker at the Toastmasters International Speech Contest. Edward Hearn, a Toastmaster from Chicago, Illinois, emerged victorious and claimed the title of 2006 World Champion of Public Speaking. His speech, “Bouncing Back,” dealt with the importance of resiliency. He explained, “In life, all of us will have circumstances where life treats us like the toy punching bag I had as a child. It will knock you down. The question is, how will you bounce back?” Hearn is a lawyer and minister who enjoyed speech and debate classes in high school and moot court in law school. Until now, he considered public speaking a hobby. Winning the speech contest was the step he needed to reach his goal of becoming a professional public speaker. Hearn’s theme of “failure is not final” was based on personal experience: It took him seven attempts to pass the bar exam, and he eventually became a successful criminal defense attorney. The speech contest culminated Toastmasters International’s four-day annual convention, held August 23-26, 2006, at the Washington Hilton, in Washington D.C. A panel of 20 Toastmasters judges evaluated 10 contestants from different parts of the world, all of whom had advanced to the finals following a year-long process of elimination, using club, area, district and regional speech competitions. Criteria used in judging included speech content, organization, voice quality and gestures. Second- and third-place winners in the World Championship of Public Speaking were Douglas Wilson, of Sumter, South Carolina, and Rich Hopkins of Spokane, Washington. Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs. The organization currently has 211,000 members in 10,500 clubs in 90 countries. Since its founding 81 years ago in October 1924, the organization has helped more than four million men and women give presentations with poise and confidence. For information about local Toastmasters clubs, please visit www.toastmasters.org.
They are champions: From left: Douglas Wilson placed 2nd in the Wold Championship of Public Speaking; Edward Hearn placed 1st, and Rich Hopkins placed 3rd. Ed

World Champion: Edward Hearn
District 30, Region 5
Speech title: “Bouncing Back”Second Place: Douglas Wilson
District 58, Region 8
Speech title: “Defining Moments” Third Place: Rich Hopkins
District 9, Region 1
Speech title: “What We Knew Then”
 

The winners of the Interdistrict Speech Contests

Contest A; Jock Elliott, District 73

Contest B: Mohammed Ali, District 79