Toastmasters 2017

Hello, my dear friends!

This time our task was to evaluate the performances of the best speakers at the competition TOASTMASTERS 2017.

First perfomance:

Manoj Vasudevan, "Pull Less, Bend More"

1. Speech content:

Organization: 20
Support: 15
Cohesion: 10

2. Speech Delivery:

Vocal presentation: 15
Physical presentation: 20

3. General Effectiveness

Amount of time used: 7 minutes
Adherence to time requirements: 5
Creativity: 2


Total points: 87

Second perfomance:

Kevin Stamper, "Speak Up"

1. Speech content:

Organization: 17
Support: 15
Cohesion: 10

2. Speech Delivery:

Vocal presentation: 10
Physical presentation: 20

3. General Effectiveness

Amount of time used: 7 minutes
Adherence to time requirements: 5
Creativity: 5


Total points: 82

Third perfomance:

Simon Bucknall, "What James Bullock Taught Me"

1. Speech content:

Organization: 20
Support: 15
Cohesion: 10

2. Speech Delivery:

Vocal presentation: 20
Physical presentation: 20

3. General Effectiveness

Amount of time used: 7 minutes
Adherence to time requirements: 5
Creativity: 7


Total points: 97
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According to these charts my leaderboard looks this way:

1. Simon Bucknall

2. Kevin Stamper

3. Manoj Vasudevan

I would like to analyze the performance of Simon Bucknall because after his speech, I was shocked at how clearly a person was able to describe the situation from my life.

Organization: The introduction, body and conclusion were perfect. A smooth transition from one part to another allowed us not to lose the meaning of his speech. At the beginning of his speech, the speaker asked the audience a question, and then he began to answer it himself, allowing the audience to delve into the essence of his speech.

Support: The speaker’s speech is based on his real life story, which he commented and explained from different angles. Throughout his speech, he relied on a plot from his school years.

Cohesion: Connectivity was described in the paragraph where I spoke about organization. Separating one part of the speech from another, the speaker made it clear in his voice when a new part begins in his speech.

Vocal presentation: Here I gave the speaker the highest score, despite minor mistakes due to the excitement of Simon. Each emotion was represented by his voice. If he wanted to show anger, then his voice was seething with anger. If he wanted to show the simplicity of some things, his voice was light and gentle. When he read a letter from his parents, his next words were filled with bitterness and anguish. If I hadn't seen his face, I would have thought that he was crying, talking about this situation. But no, there were no tears in his eyes. Great speaker!

Physical presentation: The speaker didn't stand still. He accompanied his words with gestures. His facial expressions fully reflected the mood of speech. He never once averted his gaze from the audience, allowing listeners to imbue the atmosphere and emotions from his speech. In addition, he was neatly dressed.

Amount of time used and adherence to time requirements: 7 minutes. I don’t like long speech, I don’t have the patience to listen carefully to the speaker after five minutes of his speech. But when Simon said the last words, I caught myself thinking that I had never left his words unattended, although he spoke for more than five minutes. I felt a slight annoyance that he had finished his speech because I wanted to listen to him again and again.

Creativity: Here I want to note the letter that Simon showed during his speech. I wasn't sure if this is really the letter that his parents wrote to him in real life, but listening to how he reads these lines from the letter, I believed that he was real. Crumpled, torn, but real letter. And seeing the emotions on the speaker’s face after he read the excerpt from the letter, I wanted to cry.

Have you watched this contest? Who became your favorite speaker?