The most excited moment has come, a day which I long-waited for, a day which I was going to present a 5-7 minutes speech which was under weeks of preparation.

There were a total of 6 contestants for the international speech contest. I was pretty satisfied with the number of participants. It used to be only 3-4 contestants in the past. I always stressed to my club members, joining a speech contest is the fastest way for us to master the essence of public speaking skills. And I believed the members were somehow “brainwashed” by me and took their courage to join this contest.

When it was my turn to speak, I could feel that the atmosphere of the room was a little bit strange. Everybody looked very serious. I hardly found a smiling face. I started off with a funny dialogue between me and my mum. I was expecting at least 2-3 big laughter, and it turned out to be only 1 small laughter (I think only 10% of them laughed).

Anyway, I carried on with the speech. My mind went blank in two occasions, however, it was a very short moment and it didn’t appear to be too obvious. Step-by-step, I was approaching to the end of the speech and finally, “Contest Chair!”. I went back to my seat. Somehow, I was not very satisfied with my performance. I think my emotion was affected by the “serious” atmosphere. I had a feeling that I might lose this time.

I started to blame myself for not practicing more a few days before the contest. I didn’t expect that I was so “negative” thinking on that day. What’s happened? The audience’s reponse… I was affected by the audience’s response.

Then, I started to recall the thought that I always convey to my member. Joining a contest is not about winning, it’s about the experience you gain and it’s about the improvement that you’ve made. By thinking this, I started to feel better.

Until the moment when the results were announced, my anxiety was totally disappeared. I was once again emerged as the champion in my club! This is my 2nd champion trophy in the International Speech Contest at Club-level.

When I walked back home, I thought of the atmosphere during the speech contest. This kind of unusual incident might happen again in the future, I thought. So, what should I do in the future if the same thing happens again?
1) Look at people who are with smiling faces.
People who smile to you will give you encouragement to move on.

2) Concentrate on the speech and try not to have negative thoughts.
Whenever negative thoughts start flowing into your mind, it will attract a lot of negative incidents. So, try your best not to think of any negative thing while you are delivering your speech.

3) Smile to the audience before delivering the speech.
Let the audience feel comfortable with your smile. Influence your audience with you smile before you first utter a single word.