I used to think that it is a no-no for a person to deliver the same speech twice in his life – EVER! It's like using the same word twice in a sentence. It would be disrespect to the audience, and the speaker will tend to slack down. But I’m wrong.

After delivering my first speech on Tuesday, I received so much good comments that I don’t know how to deliver something better in such a short time (Saturday). I don’t have enough time to prepare for another topic, and yet I don’t want to bore my listeners with the same speech. I consult my club president, and he just tell me, “Don’t worry, you are speaking to a different group of people, just treat it as another speech”.

And he’s right, when I get my FUD away (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt), I sat down, read through all the comments given to me on Tuesday, and modify the script again, adding in more vocal varieties and gestures. When I presented on Saturday, I can really feel it that I actually improved a lot. Even though there are pauses and jerks, but the difference is quite significant.

Yesterday, I agreed to do an assignment for our Club meeting. But I didn’t have enough time to prepare the script that my speech went hay-wired. I tried to pull out, but there are just not enough speakers as other members chicken out the last minute. So, I have to do it. The points are there, but the way I delivered it is like putting in the wrong ingredients into the soup at the wrong time. I can’t forgive myself despite the fact that the evaluator has passed me.

I can’t sleep properly and today I decided to look back at the script and write everything over again. Instead of moving on to the next project, I’ll really like to redo the same assignment with a totally different way of delivery.

Lesson learn:

1. Despite having hundreds of articles on the same topic all over the world, we have to customize our speech to suit the needs of our listeners.
2. Delivering the message twice is never wrong. Just be sure that your next delivery is better than the previous one.

Hopefully this will be the last time I regret delivering a bad speech. In the future, I will make sure I prepare well before agree to present on stage (unless it’s the Table Topics session).

Labels: Toastmasters