Interview With The World Champion Of Public Speaking

From my blog at http://naveen-lifelessons.blogspot.com/nnHow often does one get a chance to meet and converse with a world champion and for free at that.nnPublic speaking is a passion with me. I am a member of Toastmaster's International.nnIn 2007 the world championship of public speaking was won by Vikas Jhingran. He is of Indian descent like me and a role model and inspiration to me.nnRecently I had a chance to listen to some of his speeches and meet him in person at a District conference.nnHe repeated the speeches he made at the District and Regional level. The final award winning speech was screened.nnIn between and before the speeches he talked briefly about how he utilized his unique background to his immense advantage. For e.g. he fully exploited his Indian heritage by using speech topics that his rivals would not have had the opportunity to live and retell,thereby ensuring he stood out. All the three speeches in the world championship contest featured incidents from his life experiences in India.nnHis message to every one in the room was this. Reflect on what makes you unique, value your differences and exploit them to your advantage. Be yourself. Do not simply copy other person's style.nnKnow yourself - was a key theme he stressed throughout his presentation.nnHe shared some world championship secrets with us much to our privilege.nnVikas used the lessons he learned from turning around his academic career from an average student to an A lister who got into the MIT in creating a system that continues to serve him well in academia.nnAfter he made many mistakes and attempted to copy other speakers' styles in his initial stint with Toastmaster's he replicated the model that he had used in academia in his speeches with tremenduous success.nnThe model is this. He found out that the reason he fared poorly in exams was that he was not cut out for all night cramming the day before the exam like others in his circle were. He discovered his strengths and weaknesses and used it to his advantage.nnIn his speaking engagements he does not listen to the two speeches made immediately before his. He also goes into a contest never focussing on the win. nnI was bowled over by it. Not only is he an entertaining speaker with a great message but as was evident he is also the message.nnHe is a celebrity and it was no surprise to see him literally mobbed.nnStill I was able to get a few minutes to interview him.nnQ) How did you discover your passion for public speaking? nnVikas) It was not immediately apparent that I had a passion for it. I was working as a junior engineer and on one occasion badly wanted to make a client presentation. I was told I could not as I did not have good presentation skills. I enrolled in Toastmaster's and discovered within a few months that my self confidence and self image had grown a lot. In conversations with my colleagues I created more favorable impressions.nnSeeing tangible benefits in Toastmasters motivated me to continue participating in Toastmasters. It lead to a virtuous cycle of self improvement.nnQ) How did you go about preparing for the world championship?nnVikas) Mentoring is very important. You cannot go it alone.nnI watched the sppeches of all the participants in world championship finals over the past 10 years.nnI received mentoring support from previous world champions such as Darren LaCroix.nnIt is important to keep in mind that I did not blindly copy their styles.nnI had my own style and picked and choose only those strategies that helped fine tune my style. In all I would say I discarded 90% of what the experts had to say. nnBut the remaining 10% was extremely valuable.nnI also choose mentors who possessed qualities that I admired and which I wanted to emulate directly.nnI worked with Mary Mallowney who is a tremenduously talented writer. Writing is my strength and I wish to improve it.nnI also worked with Dave Safacone who besides being a great writer is also a speaker that was a world championship runner up.nnFinally a tremenduous amount of hardwork. I must have practised my world championship winning speech at least 30 times.nnQ) How has you life changed after winning the world championshipnnVikas) I receive lot more requests to speak. I appreciate the speaking opportunities and meeting new people.nnI am also more well known at MIT.nnMy advisor appreciates my achievement tremenduously.nnMIT has a reputation for engineering. This achievemnt of mine underscores the fact that engineers can be great communicators too.nnQ) What is your muse that gets you the great content for your speeches?nVikas) I am a creative writer and poet. I used some of the material from my poetry for my speeches.nnI also reflect on life experiences.nnDraw on experiences that leave an emotional impact on you. nnBeginning speakers are afraid to use emotions in their speeches. Great speakers use emotions to make a connection with the audiences.nnIn a speech I once made, a girl sitting in the front row was so moved by what I said she started crying. I later walked up to her and thanked her.nnIt is tremenduously motivating to see you make an emotional connection with your audiences.nnQ) Any other words of advice for aspiring world champions?nnVikas) Compete in as many contests as you can.nnFind your own style and then look to experts to refine it. Do not simply copy other speakers' styles.nnFind out what works for you and what does not.nnExperiment.nnFor the world championship speech I used a question to conclude my speech. All others elaborated on what point the audiences should take home in their conclusions.nnQ) Any peculiarly Indian challenges?nnVikas)My pronunciation. For e.g. between using the V and W letters.nnSlow down. Many Indians tend to speak way too fast. Slow down.