Monday, November 23, 2009

Back from Hamburg


I am back from Hamburg from the District Conference of Toastmasters held in a chic hotel just off the most notorious streets in Europe, the Davidstrasse, the Herbertstrasse, and Reeperbahn. I did not make it into the Top 3, but my speech went well. Speaking in front of 200 people, it was a good feeling. I was not scared at all; I am starting to suspect some pathology on my part! Exhibitionism? Narcissism? Mania? Actually I enjoyed my speech and had the audience with lots of laughter. The ending was a bit messed up, as my second last line got such a response that the contest chair thought my speech was finished and came up to the podium! So my last line was a bit of a anti-climax. Many including myself had me in the Top3. Everyone agreed that two speeches were a bit better: one had the best content, and the other was perfect in delivery. I was just behind. But, I guess the ending issue got me... The judges are a bit picky on technicalities. In any case, it was an excellent experience to make it to the final stage and compete for the European Speaker. I was not far away and definitely I now know that I can speak and capture an audience of 200 people. There are video recordings. So I might post them, and face the verdict.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

congrats!

You won by just competing....

When will you become World Champion of Public Speaking? And be an inspiration for all people and children who stutter.

And when will you be back on stuttertalk.com?? (you should ask to be on to explain yourself....)

Nishant... said...

Tom...
You are true inspiration to us.Giving speech in front of 200 people is real SCARE thing for us.But you are doing it so we can.
Me too Stutter a lot but getting motivated by people like you and getting better day by day.
best Wishes
Nishant :)