Toastmasters Bug

My toastmasters bug is biting me again.
Went for a meeting that day,
they invited a special guest, the lawyer who beat me at the last contest, to talk abt his contest experience.

He is a very impressive speaker,
strong, calm and charismatic,
and you know by listening to him,
that he has a lot of intellectual and spiritual depth.

And he is VERY into the art of speaking.

I was late and sat at the back as I wasn't feeling well,
and when he talked abt pockets of energy in the crowd,
he pointed out that i was a pocket of energy but i wasn't feeling well so the energy is low.

What impressed me was his audience awareness.
I wasn't sniffing at the moment he pointed out energy so he must have been watching us while he was speaking.

I should learn that.
Watch the audience as much as the audience is watching you.

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After that he talked briefly about the last contest where he got 1st and where i was 2nd.
When he discussed abt the "good, bad and ugly" of contests,
of how he has seen contestants disappear from the scene completely after losing,
I recalled how it was quite painful to lose.

After the high, it comes down with a thud and it took a few days to get over the entire experience.

And this coming from someone who joined completely for fun in the beginning.

But now that it's done and over, there're no hard feelings,
just lessons learnt.

He was the last contestant to speak during our contest,
and I was the 2nd last.
And he mentioned that he could hear the tremendous crowd support i had while waiting for his turn. (He used it to motivate himself further!)
Though he didn't hear my speech,
he was sure that if i went after him that day,
i would have won, and gone on to Macau.

Since the speaking sequence was done by balloting,
it dawned on me that God probably had a hand in it.
And i wonder why God didn't put me in as the last speaker.
Why didn't God want me to win?

As soon as i asked the question in my head,
the answer came to me.

if i had been last speaker,
i wouldn't have heard his speech,
as i would have been waiting in the holding room.

And if i didn't hear his speech,
how then can i learn from the best?

And if i had won,
it wouldn't have been justified.
He was the better one that day,
and he should have won.

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the next contest is in March.
this time it's a real speech contest,
not an evaluation one.

i haven't done a speech for 6 months,
it's crazy.
but i'm itching to do one again,
and join the contest for fun.

Was talking to AP during the break,
and he asked me how to think abt topics to talk about.

"Talk abt something you're passionate abt," I said, "Even if it's a boring topic, just being passionate abt it makes you an engaging speaker"
"I'm just enjoying life lei, not really passionate abt anything. I used to be stingy, but now i'm just enjoying life."
"what made you change your outlook?"
"my mother passsed away recently, and that got me thinking."
"You have a speech right there!"

"i was thinking of talking abt emergencies. There was once i worked in a hospital and they had a power failure in the middle of a brain surgery, and i had to work under pressure to bring the power up."

"You have another speech right there!"

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now i'm brainstorming on what to talk abt in the contest.
I guess the guideline is,
if i have 7 minutes to share with the world,
what will I say?