My knees are shaking. A bead of sweat meanders its way between the ridges of my back. My nails are much shorter than they were 47 minutes ago.
Looking around the packed courtroom, I see lots of faces, but all I can think about is myself. The pounding of my heart is threatening to burst forth from it’s fragile cage.
I am on the verge of performing a speech evaluation. Not just any evaluation. This evaluation is of someone I have just met. In front of people I don’t know. This is the Area 94 Evaluation Contest, and I am next.
There is one more major challenge facing me. I mean major!! This speaker that I am about to evaluate is good. Very good. He won the Toastmasters World Champion of Public Speaking on his first attempt! All I have won is a single club evaluation contest.
Staring out at the sea of faces, I start my evaluation:
My task today is to evaluate Randy Harvey, the 2004 World Champion of Public Speaking. I guess that makes me a World Champion Evaluator!
The instant laughter curbing my anxiety, affording me the freedom to relax. I survived the evaluation. I did more than survive though, I also won that evaluation contest. More than winning, I started on the long winding path of improving my evaluation skills.
I hope this blog proves useful in guiding you down this long winding path. The journey is challenging, the scenery is breathtaking, and the personal growth you will experience – priceless.
Posted under General
This post was written by john on August 26, 2008
