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practicing it as much as possible both at home can be friendly, and I like it when everyone does
and in front of friendly Toastmasters. I was their best. The judges will decide who wins each
invited to be a guest speaker at Flying Toasters! prize. Letting the competitiveness take charge
and practiced in my own club New Horizons. makes the experience more like a job versus a
I used the repetition method to memorize my joyful journey of discovery.
speech, which has the potential to sound flat, This time I was the third and last contestant
but I was careful. As I walked on my treadmill, which is a good speaking position. It did mean
watching the timer, I knew how long each the entire contest would take place before
section would be. Once I had the speech down, I would give my speech, which felt like an
many miles later, the words were ingrained and extremely long wait. I did get a chance to relax
committed to memory. and enjoy watching everyone else including
fellow International Speech contestant Ann
February 27, 2021 - Area 63 & 65 Contest: Kroetch and Evaluation contestants Ralph
Road of Second Chances Galantine and Penny Jahraus. It was wonderful
The previous year when I first saw all those to have members from our club support us in the
smiling faces at the in person Club Contest, the audience, including Maren Zieba, Leela Seeber,
reactions were wonderful and the energy boosted Jordan Burnett-Rainey, Marianne McIntosh, and
me up. Since I was doing the same speech this Joe Harper. They may have been only names on
year I could recall exactly how that felt. Even a black screen, but I knew they were there.
though I was disappointed that I didn’t go to the The first sentence of my speech was crucial,
Area level previously, the memory of that Club “Did you ever have a moment in your life when
Contest success was useful now. Psychologically the world seemed to stop?” Once I said those
this helped me. In the Zoom environment, 15 words correctly, I knew the rest would flow.
everyone is muted and screens are dark to save At one point I said another phrase too fast and
bandwidth. Even though I practiced on my own jumbled the word order but kept going. I was
and with my mentor on Zoom, I was doing a surprised by the mistake as it was a new one. All
whole “new” speech. I wasn’t sure if five weeks that adrenaline pumping through my system
was enough time. To keep my mood light, I hung did funny things including twisting my tongue.
a big smiley face under my tablet as a reminder A new gremlin afoot.
to have fun. When I finished, realizing no major mistakes
were made, the time qualified, and my internet
Competitive Fun didn’t fail, I felt great! I was also physically
Everyone who competes in these contests is shaking and it took a while for my heart to leave
attempting to win the top spot. Competition my throat. When my name was announced for
VOICES! | MAY 2021 9
