Although speech contests aren’t like typical business presentations they still are very useful exercises. Russ Howser explained it brilliantly in one of his Presentation Dynamics blog posts last year:
“....there are no tires on an American football field. Yet football players often train by running through rows of tires. It would seem a pointless exercise, training for something that will never happen in a game situation, but of course, that’s not why they do it.
They run through the tires because it trains them to stay balanced, to place their feet precisely and to lift their feet when they run. It trains them in the type of skills that ARE directly applicable to successfully running through the jumble of flying limbs and falling bodies that litter the field during the average play.
That’s what Toastmasters does too. It trains speakers to speak with power, flexibility and precision....”
I was glad to see that Presentation Dynamics now appears on Alltop Speaking.
I would strongly agree - when the people going into them take on an attitude of learning and personal growth. Competition can lead to healthy growth.
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