Page 5 - Voices.May.2016

Interview with Robert Brewer
D7 International Speech Champ

Robert agreed to an interview following his International Speech contest
win at the District 7 Spring Conference: Lead the World on May 7th. Following
Ryan Avery’s example in 2012, Robert very well could be the next 25-year-old
World Champion of Public Speaking! [Editor]

Q: What brought you to Toastmasters? A: My free writing I will look over everything and can
Dad told me about it. Said it would help me usually find a few ideas that can be a foundation
become a better communicator. for a speech.

Q: How has it helped your career? Q: What has helped you most to develop an
A: It has helped me develop and sharpen my award winning speech?
communication skills. More importantly, it has A: What helped me the most with this speech
helped me become a better listener. was not thinking about trying to write a winning
speech but instead focusing on sharing a message
Q: How has Toastmasters helped you personally? that I believe is important. That took a lot of
A: It has helped me grow in confidence. I have pressure off of me by reframing why I wanted
a lot of fun at Toastmasters, in large part due to to speak in the first place.
being around a positive and affirmative group
week in and week out. Q: What is Spoken Word? Please give us a bit
of history about its origins.
Q:What is your process for developing a speech A: I believe spoken word can loosely be traced
idea? back to ancient times of storytelling. It is an
A: I enjoy free writing. I will usually just start oral art form. And it has become popularized
writing about whatever is on my mind at the in America in large part to hip-hop culture (my
moment and see where it goes, often times opinion).
listening to music while I free write helps. After

Volume 2 Issue 11 - MAY 2016 5