Question 2: Is there such a thing as a perfect speech?
The simple answer to this is “no.” It gets harder to say this when you talk about speeches in the upper levels of the Toastmasters International Speech Contest. These speeches are harder to evaluate, especially the winners.
One of my favorite Toastmaster contest speeches available on You Tube was from last year’s International Speech Contest. Robert MacKenzie’s winning speech at Region II. Watch the video.
Robert’s speech is a masterpiece, yet there are a number of things that could be improved. I have posted my evaluation of this speech here.
The last piece of evidence that there is no such thing as a perfect speech is to simply ask the speaker if there was anything that could have been improved in their speech. We are our toughest critics, and sometimes you have to dig deep when faced with evaluating a great speech. The last thing an accomplished speaker wants to hear is “I could find nothing to improve in your speech.”
Posted under Toastmasters
This post was written by john on February 20, 2009
“The last thing an accomplished speaker wants to hear is “I could find nothing to improve in your speech.””
So true! How ironic that the ones who want the most feedback are the ones who are the hardest to evaluate.