Page 24 - Voices Oct2014 .pub
P. 24
rren LaCroix—Continued from page 5)
Public Speaking. Unfortunately only one person great messages on mentoring , motivation, or goal
can win that every year. Anyone who is serious setting, and yet they never gave them outside of
and wants to be a professional, could become an Toastmasters. If you are going to work that hard on
accredited speaker. In fact, I’ve been inspired to go a speech, give it outside of Toastmasters to help
“you have the for my accredited speaker people. I don't want to help you get a trophy in
privilege of 2000 this year. It's another feather
in the cap if you want to be a your office. I want to help you help people. It did
lives for 7 minutes. professional speaker. It's a change my focus after I won the championship.
Humor, laugh and get rich, humor in business was
What will you do g r e a t c r e d e n t i a l t h a t my topic for years. After I won the world
with that?" Toastmasters offers. Go for championship, my co-author, Rick Siegel, who is
the accredited speaker. Put
also a business mentor from the National Speakers
the energy and effort into that as opposed to Association, kept telling me, "Darren you’ve got to
winning the world championship. create a product on speaking. You won the world
I changed in the 77 days between my semifinal championship, that's what people want from you."
speech (at that time called the regional speech), to At that time because I had seen so many horrible
the world championship. I worked so hard. I was presentation skills trainers, I thought “I don't want
willing to be uncomfortable. I got coached. I'd to be in that category!” He kept saying over and
never been coached in my life before in speaking. I over, "You've got to
really evolved because I was so hungry. create a product, you've “Our stories don't
got to create a product. have to be
If you really want to compete think about the Use what people want
message. My coach, Mark Brown, the 1995 World
Champion, said to me "Darren, you have the to know from you." sensational, they only
privilege of 2000 lives for 7 minutes. What will you Honestly, just to shut have to be sincere."
him up, I created a
do with that?" That's a different perspective. product called Speak Mark Brown, 1995 World
Champion
Sometimes we seem to forget that we have the
privilege of 7 or 10 minutes in our own Like a Champion. So I
Toastmasters club in front of 10 or 20 people and thought, “okay, I'll create this little product and
at an area contest of 50 or 100. So we have a shut him up!”
privilege when we take the platform, and if you are A couple months after I won, I was invited to speak
going to compete remember that privilege. I coach in Kuching, Malaysia for a Toastmasters
a few people, but I try to coach people not to win convention. I'd never been out of the country in
the contest. I coach people to go from good to my life, and people came up to me and bought the
great. In that, if you become really hungry and you product because they saw it there. They bought
want to get better, care about your message. the educational tool before I even took the stage.
If you focus on becoming better, more effective, It was just an incredible dawning, a marble head
more confident, more powerful, more clear with moment. “Whoa this IS what they want!” I made a
your –message, you are more likely to win. But the pact with myself to continue to try to give people
winning is the side affect, rather than the one what they wanted. Help people in the areas that
motivation. There are some people who compete they come to me to learn how to be better at.
who keep coming back to me to learn more. I Rick showed me that sometimes our true value is
basically fired them because their intention was to right in front of us and we cannot even see it. I
win. They worked so hard on great speeches, with (Continued on page 32)
24
Public Speaking. Unfortunately only one person great messages on mentoring , motivation, or goal
can win that every year. Anyone who is serious setting, and yet they never gave them outside of
and wants to be a professional, could become an Toastmasters. If you are going to work that hard on
accredited speaker. In fact, I’ve been inspired to go a speech, give it outside of Toastmasters to help
“you have the for my accredited speaker people. I don't want to help you get a trophy in
privilege of 2000 this year. It's another feather
in the cap if you want to be a your office. I want to help you help people. It did
lives for 7 minutes. professional speaker. It's a change my focus after I won the championship.
Humor, laugh and get rich, humor in business was
What will you do g r e a t c r e d e n t i a l t h a t my topic for years. After I won the world
with that?" Toastmasters offers. Go for championship, my co-author, Rick Siegel, who is
the accredited speaker. Put
also a business mentor from the National Speakers
the energy and effort into that as opposed to Association, kept telling me, "Darren you’ve got to
winning the world championship. create a product on speaking. You won the world
I changed in the 77 days between my semifinal championship, that's what people want from you."
speech (at that time called the regional speech), to At that time because I had seen so many horrible
the world championship. I worked so hard. I was presentation skills trainers, I thought “I don't want
willing to be uncomfortable. I got coached. I'd to be in that category!” He kept saying over and
never been coached in my life before in speaking. I over, "You've got to
really evolved because I was so hungry. create a product, you've “Our stories don't
got to create a product. have to be
If you really want to compete think about the Use what people want
message. My coach, Mark Brown, the 1995 World
Champion, said to me "Darren, you have the to know from you." sensational, they only
privilege of 2000 lives for 7 minutes. What will you Honestly, just to shut have to be sincere."
him up, I created a
do with that?" That's a different perspective. product called Speak Mark Brown, 1995 World
Champion
Sometimes we seem to forget that we have the
privilege of 7 or 10 minutes in our own Like a Champion. So I
Toastmasters club in front of 10 or 20 people and thought, “okay, I'll create this little product and
at an area contest of 50 or 100. So we have a shut him up!”
privilege when we take the platform, and if you are A couple months after I won, I was invited to speak
going to compete remember that privilege. I coach in Kuching, Malaysia for a Toastmasters
a few people, but I try to coach people not to win convention. I'd never been out of the country in
the contest. I coach people to go from good to my life, and people came up to me and bought the
great. In that, if you become really hungry and you product because they saw it there. They bought
want to get better, care about your message. the educational tool before I even took the stage.
If you focus on becoming better, more effective, It was just an incredible dawning, a marble head
more confident, more powerful, more clear with moment. “Whoa this IS what they want!” I made a
your –message, you are more likely to win. But the pact with myself to continue to try to give people
winning is the side affect, rather than the one what they wanted. Help people in the areas that
motivation. There are some people who compete they come to me to learn how to be better at.
who keep coming back to me to learn more. I Rick showed me that sometimes our true value is
basically fired them because their intention was to right in front of us and we cannot even see it. I
win. They worked so hard on great speeches, with (Continued on page 32)
24
