During my (now) 10 years in Toastmasters, I actually never competed in any of my club’s International Speech Contest.  Actually I was only eligible to compete in 5 of them as I did not reach the minimum six speeches until after the 2000 contests, plus I was a District 30 officer for 3 additional years.

What made me decide to compete in the International Speech Contest this time is not because I want to test my skills against others or have the urge to compete and win contests.  It is because I want to talk about my travails in Toastmasters during the last three years that lead to my declining involvement in the organization to the point where I was planning to leave District 30 or Toastmasters in general.  My working title for the speech is “In My Own Terms” which summarizes my TM involvement these days (some of the previous entries here mentioned this) as I felt my previous involvement allowed others to control me.

The way I’m envisioning this speech right now would include some comments that may irritate some in District 30 that I’ve had major issues with.  If they have problems with this, well that is their problem and not mine as my other alternatives last year include severing ties with District 30.  I felt I have to tell as many members as I can about what has been bothering me and what I am doing and continue to do to remain involved in the organization.

I will only be competing for North Suburban at their club contest this coming Thursday.  I definitely will not compete or represent the Arlington Heights club as I cannot in my conscience represent the Northwest Division (the current Division Governor there is not significantly different from the previous one).  So if I don’t win this Thursday, I could say that I tried and move on.