In the next couple of months clubs will begin contests for the International Speech contact

Now is the time to start working on the best speech of your life. But why now?

You know the saying, practice makes perfect. The more time you have to get your speech ready, the better prepared you'll be when it comes to your club contest.

Once you have your speech ready, arrange to visit some of your District's new or struggling clubs. They're always in need of speakers. You can get different types of feedback from a wide range of audiences.

You can ask the club for a round-robin type evaluation (a Toastmaster could fulfill a project from Facilitating Discussion (formerly The Discussion Leader) by leading such an evaluation.

Make sure everyone in the room knows that you want good, honest feedback and to be candid in their critique of your presentation.

You could ask several questions

• What specific part of the speech did you like the most?
• Which parts, if any, would you cut from the speech?
• Did any part of the speech touch you emotionally
• Was you able to relate to most or all of the speech
• Did the speech end appropriately
• Were you really grabbed by the opening?
• Was it clear when the conclusion started and was it powerful?

By asking these questions and others of your audience, you will find out exactly the sort of informtion you need to improve your speech

Consider providing the club members an evaluation form with all your questions and ask them to hand you their completed sheet at the end of the meeting