Late Morning and 2nd Toastmasters Speech

4W, TE 50frees: Sky's gloomy and I just learned that Reymond's leaving to work in a resto. Good luck!

Today, we woke up really late - 6:30am! The school service was honking outside when we just woke up! Ay caramba. I guess we were just tired yesterday. DH was processing the biz permit while I drove for the extinguishers and prepared my speech.

Yesterday I delivered my 2nd Toastmasters Speech (Organize your Speech) entitled the Devil's Gardens. This is a long-overdue speech that I was ready to give since last October. Too much dilly-dallying pushed back the next session. With the delay, the topic lost much of its novelty to me (it's now the Withered Gardens). You can google for the Devil's Gardens on the 'net to find out what it's all about. Anyway, I'm glad the second speech is over. And I'm very happy. Here are the comments from ATM-G (that's Advanced Toastmaster - Gold) Elaine Aviola who evaluated my speech:

Good Points:
  • "Introduction was intriguing" Well, it ought to be. It talks about a mystery and the devil.
  • "Organized Intro, Body and Conclusion"
  • "Good transitions. Seamless between intro, body and conclusion"
  • "Build up of the story is good - slow and mysterious"
  • "Vivid graphic description of the rainforest. It's like I was there... looking." Yeah, I KNEW they'd love that.
  • "Like a jigsaw puzzle that was solved"
  • "Beautifully written, good delivery of a story" See, that's where preparation in writing is important.
  • "Captured the audience, and gripped them while maintaining the eerieness of the story" I guess telling it like a ghost story helped create the eerie feeling. I loved it!
Opportunities:
  • "Conclusion was abrupt". And yes, rightly so. I forgot 3 damned good lines in the conclusion! Arrgh.
  • "To conclude, refer back to intro". As in "full circle". I love this one. Start with a mystery question, end with a mystery question. Fact or Fiction? Believe it or Not!
From the ah-counter - "No ahs". Wow!
From the timer - "8 mins and 10 secs". Grrr, I overshot again. Gotta learn to shorten my speeches more.

See all my Toastmasters Speeches online here!

Go ahead, post your comment below!