In which I illustrate that half of success is showing up
I was woefully underprepared for my Toastmasters Club's "humorous speech" competition today. I'd sketched out the outlines of my speech, but hadn't really had time to practice it or flesh it out. And I'd actually intended to bow out of giving a speech, but my fellow club members persuaded me to give it a go. Then I won the contest by virtue of being the only entrant. So, I'm going to represent my club at a local competition in a few weeks.
Then I gave an impromptu table topics speech that was substantially funnier than my half-prepared speech, so I'm going to use that material in my reworked speech. So when I do go to the local competition, I will actually have something funny to say.
Actually, the experience was very much like workshopping the first draft of a short story, except with the added adrenaline of being entirely unsure whether I could bring my speech to a successful conclusion.
Then I gave an impromptu table topics speech that was substantially funnier than my half-prepared speech, so I'm going to use that material in my reworked speech. So when I do go to the local competition, I will actually have something funny to say.
Actually, the experience was very much like workshopping the first draft of a short story, except with the added adrenaline of being entirely unsure whether I could bring my speech to a successful conclusion.