Motivation on the Run

Yesterday morning I answered the telephone at work and a voice on the other end said something about Toastmasters and a speech contest. Since I was about to leave for the weekly Toastmaster meeting, and we were holding our contest at noon, and I was the Toastmaster for the contest, I thought I should hear what she had to say.

Shirley was calling on behalf of an organization that sponsored speech contests for high school students and it followed the Toastmaster contest rules and forms. She said they recruited Toastmasters to judge the contest and asked if I would be willing to be a judge that evening at 6:00. I couldn’t resist the invitation and told her I would see her in a few hours.

You see, I had been calling all over the south side of Houston and Clear Lake the last week, asking people to come to our noon meeting and judge our speech contest, so I knew the hardship she was in. Three people graciously agreed to judge our contest, so how could I turn down this request for my services. It seemed only right.

Was I ever in for a treat as I became the one receiving the favor. There were five high school students giving four to six minute, prepared speeches, on the stated topic of American Enterprise. Their ages ranged from fourteen to seventeen and all I can say is they were fantastic. They trooped to the front of the room and delivered the speeches like seasoned pros. I was to find out later … they were.

The contest was a little different to Toastmaster’s contests in that the participants were only introduced as speaker #1, speaker #2 and so on until #5 spoke. As they were introduced, they appeared through a doorway and walked to the stage and began their speech. Our only criteria for judging them was the content and quality of their speech and the only personality that we knew about, came through the presentation. I understand the need is to insure fairness and it produces those results.

After the contest completed and the places were awarded, everyone adjourned to the breakroom for refreshments, complimented by conversation. I sat down at the table with a man and three of the contestants and discovered that the three were sisters, and the man was their Dad. We spent about twenty minutes visiting and it was such a joy to have that time with these young ladies. They were polite and articulate and I worked to steer the conversation to find out more about them.

I discovered they were a family of nine children, stretching from age three to seventeen. They lived west of Houston and were avid speech and debate pros having participated in contests for many years. Seasoned pros, as stated above, turned out to understate their credentials in the area of speaking.

I was inspired by their passion for speech and debate and their participation in events all over the area, as well in a club they started three years ago which is a part of the National Home schoolers Association. In fact, their club is hosting a speech and debate contest next week, with contestants from all over Texas coming to compete. With ten different contests, and a restriction of participation in a maximum of five (which they were all doing), I think they will do just fine, thank you very much…

What impressed me the most about the speakers and the speeches? Eye contact. One of the hardest things to coach speakers on, is maintaining good eye contact with the audience members. That was not an issue with any of the five contestants last night. They were expressive, prepared and seemed to very much enjoy the time in front of the audience. They looked me and the others in the eye, and delivered home runs.

Hope, Joy, Ura, Anna, and Grace will do well in life. They were inspired and were inspirational at the same time. When you are around young ladies of the caliber I met, you gain hope for the future. Not all are like the ones I wrote about earlier in the week.

There is definitely hope for the future and leaders to be made. Yes, I was inspired …