About four weeks ago, something happened that definitely wasn’t on my 2025 bingo card: I won the District 30 Toastmasters Championship.
Which means…I’m now a quarterfinalist in the 2025 World Championship of Public Speaking. That sentence still feels surreal.
Why? Because I did this on a lark. I joined Toastmasters just over a year ago. I was there to grow, to learn, and—honestly—have fun while expanding my public speaking beyond what I do for work. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to take part in a contest, let alone get this far.
Plus, like any other contest, the competition gets tougher and more impressive at each successive level. Once I was in, I did not expect to win beyond the first or second round. The odds of reaching the Semifinals are pretty slim, but win or lose, this journey has already been worth it, thanks to the lessons it has taught me. Here’s what I have learned.
It’s Not About You. It’s About Them
A speech can show off your cleverness, vocabulary, or storytelling skills—but none of that matters if it doesn’t serve the audience. A great speech informs, entertains, persuades, or inspires. Ideally, it moves the audience in some lasting way. One man came up to me weeks after first hearing my speech and said, “Your speech made me start thinking about forgiving myself for things I’ve carried for 20, maybe 30 years.”
That? That is the real win. That’s when I knew the speech had done its job.
Brevity Is Not Just the Soul of Wit—It’s the Key to Connection.
Toastmasters speeches have a 7-minute limit. When I started, I crammed in way too much—facts, clever lines, tangents, you name it. Now I know better. You can make one, two, even three points powerfully in seven minutes. But only if every word, clause, and sentence earns its place. Anything that doesn’t drive your message forward? Cut it.
I gave the first version of my speech almost one year ago. It was nearly 1,000 words long. The contest-winning version? Less than 750 words.
Stories Stick. Facts Fade.
You want to change minds? Start by touching hearts. And nothing touches hearts faster than a good story. Sure, you can make a powerful argument without storytelling. But it takes longer, and most people stop listening before you finish talking.
Stories make people feel, and feeling is what drives action.
Write with Your Mouth, Not Just Your Fingers.
Here’s the thing: A speech is not an essay. What reads well on paper often stumbles off the tongue. The only way to fix that? Practice aloud. Over and over. Until your speech flows the way you want it to flow. I didn’t try to memorize the speech that got me to the quarterfinals—but after saying it aloud three times a day for three months, guess what? I knew it inside and out.
Memorization isn’t the goal. Internalization is.
Your Best Rehearsals Are in Front of Real People.
Rehearsing alone helps you polish the delivery. But rehearsing with an audience tells you whether the message is landing.
I tested my speech in front of people at least 15 times. And every time, I listened to the feedback—even when it stung.
Someone couldn’t understand a word? I changed how I said it.
Someone said, “You don’t look surprised when you say you were surprised.” I modified my gestures.
Someone else told me I had too many ideas in my speech. So, I cut ruthlessly.
Each time I made a change, the speech got sharper.
Final Thought: Do It for the Joy
When I entered the contest, I wasn’t aiming for a trophy. I just wanted to get better—and have fun doing it.
That’s still my goal.
I was highly competitive when I was much younger. So, every moment I spend working on my next speech, I remind myself: This, the challenge of saying something that truly matters in just seven minutes, is worth doing only if it is fun.
And if I happen to win again? That’s just the icing on the cake.
P.S. If you’ve ever thought about improving your speaking skills, storytelling, or confidence, Toastmasters is a pretty great place to start. Who knows where a 7-minute speech might take you?
