“It Was a Mistake!”
I started my most recent Toastmasters Speech with the declaration, “It was a mistake!” I then went into the standard Toastmaster introduction acknowledging the Toastmaster, my fellow Toastmasters and the guests before repeating once again, “It was a mistake!”
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It worked well to grab my audience’s attention. It piqued their curiosity and suggested to them a story was to follow. We all seem to enjoy stories of other people’s mistakes, if only to learn from them.
And when giving a speech, its important to grab that attention and get it focused on your presentation. In my case I was telling a fable I created about a mouse empire situated on the banks of the Mississippi between Minnehaha Falls and Fort Snelling. This story with a moral was to accomplish the objectives of the third speech from Toastmaster’s Story Telling Advanced Manual .
The mistake, by the way, was buying not one but two pet mice, an actual event of my young adulthood. The story, built off that mistake and took it to another level, creating an empire of mice flourishing in the river gorge where I enjoy frequent walks.
My purpose here is not to retell the story, but to share the introductory device. While I often like to start speeches with a provocative question, designed to draw the audience in, the use of a compelling statement can accomplish the same purpose.
By exclaiming it upfront before addressing the toastmaster and crowd, I was able to use the phrase twice. Once in a loud dramatic manner, and then again with a quieter more intimate voice. The intervening introduction served the role of a pause, allowing the audience to subconsciously wonder what the mistake was.
My evaluator suggested that I could have used even more vocal variety, particularly on the first exclamation. I have taken that suggestion to heart and will work more dramatic vocal variations into my next speech which is coming up in a couple of weeks as part of our clubs Tall Tales contest.
My presentation went well enough to allow me to claim the days “best speaker” award which is never a foregone conclusion in my quite capable club. The days other two presentations were very well done as well.
It’s no mistake to grab your audience’s attention from the get go. When you plan your next talk, consider how you can grab your audiences attention from the very start.
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