The Arizona Communication Association held a Speech Competition for students enrolled in one of the Maricopa Community Colleges at Glendale Community College on Friday. Three other students and I represented Scottsdale Community College at the event. Aside from class, this was my first big experience with Public Speaking. My topic was “Purpose” and although I was not as polished as some of the other entrants I still managed to pull off a slot as a semi-finalist, got a plaque, a certificate, a book and a check.
The entire event was a learning experience. Stage fright is over rated. I went through three rounds and didn’t make it as finalist, they competed once more. Before it was my turn I did feel a little anxious but let it go by asking myself “Could I let this go…Would I let this go…When?”, which worked great. What I really learned was the importance of practice and polish. My speech was a little clunky and I only practiced it about 30 times (I still had a note card for the quotes I used). Other contestants fit the format really well and I was surprised at the eloquence of some. There was one guy who did a speech on the Photo Radar tickets who had an excellent speaking voice and presentation but ended up getting a little tongue tied halfway through. Chris Johnson, another contestant that is in my class at SCC, ended up being a finalist. His speech was on Bacteria and addressed the topic of how our actions of disinfecting are actually making the bacteria stronger. Another reason to not wash!
Even though my award is a semi-finalist award, I am still going to put it on my wall as a reminder to practice and polish my work more and as motivation to win next year’s competition. I will be using the same speech for my Honor’s project except instead of 8 minutes it will need to be 15 so I will add some to it and use what I learned to make it outstanding. Our instructor might record them so if mine is good enough I will post here for you.
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