After a long time I got slots for my project-3 “Get to the point”.Before a long time I have thought to speak about blogging;But since I had tasted some success with my time management methods, I got tilted towards it.
Preparations:
I have always wanted to prepare my speeches atleast one week in advance.But I failed to keep up with that aim and I started collecting quotes only two days before the meet. I sat for the script on thursday night.(This week I have been very clumsy…. :(…).
The clock stuck eleven when I started my prepartion;I got imbibed in it and enjoyed each and every minute of the preparation. In 10 minutes I have decided the structure and it took me 40 minutes to sette down with the introduction. Since introduction should have a personal touch and ear catcher(eye catcher is a misnomer and I have been using it for a long time…thanks to Nina Mam for giving this phrase:)). I have considered almost 5 introductions and settled with an eclectic choice of humour filled introduction.(I missed to bring out the humour at real time…).
I had no difficulty in carving the body since it’s from my own experience. Once I typed it I did some re-arrangements and in two hours time I have prepared a script which looked good since I have placed ample challenges for all my weak traits.(Voice modulation,effective pausing.)
I thought of rehearsing it unfortunately it took me another thirty minutes to reduce the introduction from 2.5 minutes to 1.5 minutes. So i didnt practise it in full swing,just read it aloud and it took me nearly 8 minutes.Since I have already lost about 2 hours of my sleep I preferred to continue the preparations in my dreams 🙂
My lesson 1 with toastmasters is to prepare for six minutes and present it in seven minutes. But I betrayed it and hence faced the repercussions.
I left early from office to make a good rehearsal at home. I reached my room by five but felt very jagged and low in confidence mainly because of loosing a considerable amount of sleep last night (Yet another betrayed rule of Peerless Inc.!)
Some how I made some rehearsals but it doesnt please me.When I was about to start karthick rang me up and expressed his wish to come to the meet. It was already six by that time anyhow prefered to go late rather than turning down his interest.
Performance:
The prepared speeches were on when I entered the hall; Ravi was my evaluator(peerless choice!) .When it was my turn i got slided away from the track right from the first word. I gave a plain introduction(OOPS thats enough to bring my confidence down ..I have almost worked about an hour for this one minute and how in earth I can err !!!)
I missed all my strengths in the speech. I missed out on the voice modulation which I considered very vital to the take the message to all the ears around.Though I messed up with all those things I managed to make quick transitions to cover all the five points I have planned. When the green flag was on I was in my third.Somehow I managed to cover up the fifth point and turn it as a conclusion (I started starving for words when the red flag was up.) I was curiouson giving it a completed speech look though I am incomplete. (Of course I have succeeded )
I was very much dejected since I failed at almost 90% of my personal goals associated with my speech. I will repeat this project.I am very proud to be a toastmaster. In my second project I have explored about sleep which regularised my irregular sleeping habits and now its time. And every time I complete a project I add to my repository a topic to speak with confidence .
My mistakes:
1.I should have had enough sleep and enabled myself to be frolic and on time.
2.I must ensure enough rehearsals and should prepare the speech for 6 minutes.
3.Must get it reviewed from senior toastmasters and mentors so that there will be a remarkable improvement in its quality.
These are the things I swear to do before my next speech. I will write a separate post on the proceeding’s of the meet.