Page 5 - Voices November 2016

Speech Champions SPEAK

Interviews with Heather Augello & Daniel Flood

by Linda Bradley, CC, ALB

The Toastmasters District 7 “Find Your Focus” Fall Conference was held on November
5th at Warner Pacific College in Portland, Oregon. Heather Augello won first place in the
Humorous Speech contest with “We’re All A Little Weird”, and Daniel Flood won first place in the Table
Topics contest. His question was, “The phone rang, and. . .”
To help celebrate their victories, we are going to grill them a little bit and see what it took for them to vault
themselves over the proverbial bar to land in the winners circle.

First, let’s see what Heather Augello has to say:

Q: What brought you to Toastmasters?
H: One of the biggest reasons was that I wanted
to be a writer. Even though I had two essays
published, I became increasingly self-conscious
and crippled by insecurity and doubt. I joined
Toastmasters because I felt it was easier to tell my
stories out loud since the audience for speakers
is more forgiving. People know how terrifying
public speaking is but they have no idea how
gut wrenching it is to put words on paper and
hit send.
Q: How has Toastmasters helped you
personally?
H: I gained confidence in my storytelling and the
ability to accept feedback without feeling hurt
or defensive. I will be speaking at an upcoming
Grand Slam in front of a few hundred people.
I never imagined I’d have the confidence to do
that. Q: As you practiced your speech for competi-
tion, how did you keep it fresh and not sound
Q: What is your process for developing a speech
idea? over rehearsed?
H: I make sure that it will tell “What, Now What, H: I didn’t write out every word of the speech,
and So What.” If the story is only the “What,” it’s just an outline. I changed the wording a little bit
every time I practiced. That way I didn’t stumble
not very interesting. When you add the other or get stuck because I couldn’t remember the
components it shows how the situation, or you, exact word I had prepared. I was able to change
have changed by the end of the story. That’s it up enough to make it fresh each time.
what makes people care.
Q: On the day of competition, what’s your
Q: What has helped you the most to develop favorite way to prepare for your seven minutes
an award-winning speech? on stage?
H: Feedback from my club members. My H: I find a spot to do one of Amy Cuddy’s “Power
husband is my greatest sounding board and Poses.” If you haven’t checked out her TED Talk,
made sure I had enough practice to deliver my I’d recommend it. http://ow.ly/YPk5305XhNL
speech in a conversational tone. A workshop led
by James Wantz helped me understand stage Q: Tell us a little about yourself—what makes
positioning and how to move with purpose. you tick?

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