Stage Time: Does Your Message Matter?

There’s always proof of the value in your message–if you know where to look.
Every year in the Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking, there are tens of thousands of speech contestants, and each of them has a story behind their journey. This year, one story behind a semi-finals speech blew me away. I was inspired.
Picture this: You’re speaking in the semi-finals of the World Championship of Public Speaking. You’re deeply connected to your audience, and you feel more alive than ever before. You’re also getting bigger laughs than ever before! It’s a magical moment. You’re three quarters of the way through your speech when you look to the center of the audience–and you notice that the red timing light is on! You panic, “How long has it been on?” What do you do?
What happened next for the Japan District Champion and EDGE member, Naoki Tamura, is what inspired me. He made a decision–a powerful decision. Naoki chose to enjoy the connection with his audience and deliver his full message, knowing that he’d be eliminated for going over time and have no chance to go on to the contest finals. Indeed, he was disqualified.
He blew me away with that decision. Naoki told us this story at our Champions’ EDGE lunch the day after the contest. I was very impressed. How do you know when your message matters? When you put the message before your own outcome. It matters to you when you put your message ahead of trying to look good. Period.
How do you know when it matters to the audience? Great question. What do they say after you speak? If they’re talking about you and how great you are, that may be proof of your skill, but it’s anti-proof of your message. Proof that you’ve delivered your message is when the audience talks about themselves.
When I was giving my contest speech in 2001 at the M.I.T Humor and Drama Club, a foreign exchange student came up and said, “My grades are bad; my family says I should quit and come home. I heard your speech; I stay.” Wow. When I heard that, my belief in my own speech grew ten times. I still remember her comment twelve years later.
Ray Engan, also an EDGE Member and semi-finalist, gave an inspiring speech about his favorite teacher, Mr. Hubert. Ray’s life was changed forever by one teacher who saw more in shy little Ray and helped him grow his self-esteem. It also had impact because he talked about how other people were trying to de-throne his hero. It was a powerful message.
What got me most excited was hearing the comments Ray received after his speech. “I never heard a speech like that,” one teacher said to him and continued, “You’ve made me want to go back into the classroom and work harder.” Ray also told me that as he gave his speech at local clubs in preparation for the contest, fifty people told him that Mr. Hubert was their favorite teacher, too. The funny thing was, he had only taught at the school for three years. That means Mr. Hubert’s message mattered too.
For anyone who’s ever competed in a speech contest, remember there’s no such thing as a “practice” speech. The people in front of you aren’t just there to give you feedback. It’s not just stage time for you. In front you, every time you speak, are real live people with problems, challenges, and hearts that need healing.
Naoki, thank you for inspiring me to write this article and telling me your story so I can pass along this message. I admire your resolve.
Ray, there may be no more important lasting legacy than inspiring teachers to teach better. You are influencing the influencers.
There are always clues if you know where to look. If your message matters to you and you make decisions that put your message before looking good on stage, you’ll look good when you let go of trying to look good.
Your message matters to the audience when they talk about themselves after you speak and realize changes they need to make because of your presentation. If they are talking about you, it doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable; it may just mean it needs an adjustment. How can you make your message more audience focused?
The red light is on. What are you going to do with your message? What proof have you had from your audience that your message mattered?
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