I had an eery feeling while reading the following post:

http://mytoastmastersblog.com/2009/04/08/losing-the-2009-world-championship-of-public-speaking-%e2%80%93-part-ii/

It was almost as if I had written it myself!  This is one of those lessons I think you have to experience to fully understand it.

I was recently asked for some tips about evaluation contests at the District level.  Here are my suggestions:

1. Watch your district evaluation contests.  Sometimes districts record these on DVD, or you can attend.  If neither of those are available, asking people who have attended them is a last option.  Ask them what they see.  Districts differ in what is acceptable.  Notes are sometimes ok, sometimes not.
2. Be as natural and fluid as you can be.  Usually this means not using notes and not using the podium.  Sometimes though, a speech is so technical, that you may need your notes otherwise my evaluation would suffer.  For instance if you wanted to quote a lot of the speech.  So, it is a tradeoff.
3. Practice in your club as if this was the District contest.  Become comfortable without notes if that is your plan.  It will be hard to start with, but you will get better.  This will give you the confidence to do it in the higher stress contests.

Interesting post from John Kinde about the recent World Championship of Public Speaking contest.  Think about how to use the current situation for humor.

Toastmasters web site has some videos to train its members on various things, including contest training.

Some really handy contest guides from my home District.