You may have noticed that a side panel with my Toastmasters speeches has vanished. That is because I am no longer preparing them in the same way. And they had been there a while anyway and were pretty old.
I use
d to write my speeches in full and learn them almost word for word. But that is not what public speaking is about. My personal challenge is to present a confident speech by learning it from a few words written on a card as a prompt. That is what I am doing now in preparation for next Tuesday when I go to Cambridge Speakers’ Club. I am going to speak about a holiday I once had where I met lots of interesting people. All I need to do is remind myself of some of the facts, so it isn’t a difficult topic.
The delivery of Dan Hannan’s powerful speech – which has had more than 2 million hits on YouTube – demonstrated the amazing impact a confident speech can have. It is a skill I would love to excel at. And I know it takes practice, and then more practice.
I think I need to work on improving my eye contact. I concentrate so much on remembering what I have to say that I forget about everything else that is important, such body language, the pauses – and smiling!
Wish me luck.
Good luck, indeed, Ellee!
Do you really need luck, Ellee? I am sure your expertese will carry the day.
Happy Easter to you!
If you fail at the Toastmaster’s there’s always the Crumpetmaster’s the following week. Trust me – the secret’s in the jam.
Best of luck, Ellee. Do one like Dan Hannan!
Good luck with the speech. I definately think speeches without full text, and ideally a little bit fluid to suit the audience mood, are 1000x better. Dan’s speech could be used as a textbook in my opinion, we need him in Westminster.
David T Breaker
http://newsjunction.co.uk
Good luck Ellee, I know you can do it 🙂
Of course, good luck, Ellee. Smile and wow them!
Thanks everyone, I’m quite looking forward to it. My husband has reminded me of my first two speeches and how I looked out the window the whole time!
I must say I really enjoyed making this speech. I think I have turned the corner regarding my confidence.
Glad you’ve conquered your lack of confidence Ellee… You’ve always been an interesting and thoughtful speaker with excellent delivery. Just the dash of confidence and the bounce that comes with it will ensure the audience gets carried along with you. Enthusiasm for your subject always shines through and wins people over. Remember everyone wants a speaker to succeed even if they don’t agree with their views.