Just Do Something New

I competed in the Toastmasters Evaluation Speech Contest several months ago. And let me tell you - it was frightening experience! All I could think was ‘what have I gotten myself into?!’

Going through that first speech contest was frightening for two main reasons:

First, I’d never done a speech contest before. Actually, I’d never done any contest before. And novelty is frightening because it’s extremely uncomfortable and you’re at risk of failing, or at the very least, looking stupid.

Secondly, I had no idea what I’d be saying in my speech! You see, the way an evaluation speech goes is that someone comes up to give a speech, and then you’re given a few minutes to prepare your evaluation of that speech. A lot of fast thinking is needed. But wait - what if I don’t have any good ideas?! What if they speak to fast and I dont take good notes?! What if they speak fine but I’m too jumbled and unstructured? What if I take good notes but I hurry and can’t read my handwriting? So many ifs!!

Those were the things that frightened me.

Obviously, people have different ways that help them through such frightening situations. How did I get through mine? I tried my best to three things - before, during, and even after each contest.

Before the contests:

I prepared as best as I could by addressing my greatest fears.

Remember that I’d never done an evaluation speech contest before. So I went on Toastmasters and YouTube to watch videos of the same contest. Remember, novelty is the problem. So my aim was to try to be as familiar as possible with the process, and with the actual speech itself. .

In particular, cause I knew that my note taking skills could trip me up, I read about tips on how to take structured notes during an evaluation contest.

This preparation helped because it moved the whole experience out of a black box, and into a grey one

During the contests:

I had to remember to stay calm. This wasn’t much of an issue at the club level because I went first. I also went first at the area level. At the district level, I went 5th.

Let me tell you…the waiting is frightening.

But the best remedy for waiting is to do something else. So in that last contest, we all started chatting in the waiting room. We chatted about toastmasters, about work, about pets, about not knowing how to cook. It was beautifully distracting. Not dwelling on the contest got me well and truly calm.

Finally, after the contest:

Even for the one I didn’t win, I patted myself on my back. ‘Adiya, congratulations for doing something new’.

Honestly, doing something new is part of life. It expands your horizon. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that if you’re not doing something new at different points in your life you’re not really living. Talk to that stranger! Go on that trip! Eat that weird dish on the menu. Ultimately, just do it!