Darren Answers Your Questions! 

Was winning the contest your goal from the beginning?
Did you have three speeches that you were working on from the beginning?
Are you still a member of Toastmasters?
How many times did you practice the winning speech?
When did you join Toastmasters, and why?
Do World Champions win any prize money?
Did winning make you a professional speaker?
Did anyone help you? Were you coached?
What is the best advice you received from the previous World Champions?
I timed your winning speech and it was 7:52. How come you were not disqualified?

Q: Was winning the contest your goal from the beginning?
Unlike many of the champions before me winning the contest was not my initial goal. No one from my district had ever won before, so I did not even fantasize about going all the way. The reason I decided to compete was because of my mentors and the lessons they taught me.

At the time of the contest I was trying to build my speaking career while working as a telemarketer for Bose Corporation. I fully understood that the best marketing tool for a professional speaker is being good on the platform. Since I was working so hard to launch my career, I realized that I was not taking the time to improve the stories I was telling in my keynote speeches. So I figured that if I entered the contest it would force me to work on my best stories - to make them even better.

My district speech was built around the story of my first time onstage at an "open mic" night at a Boston comedy club. For my regional contest speech I combined three stories I had about the release of tension. This included my favorite story, "Valet." I still tell these stories in my professional keynote speeches. They have improved greatly due to retooling for the competition. My goal to improve my stories was met even before I reached the championship level. This is an important lesson for us all.

I believe everyone should compete. The pressure of the contest makes speakers stronger and more confident. Isn't that why we are here? After you compete at the area level, speaking at your club will never again cause you much anxiety.

Once I won the Regional and moved on to the Championship I had a new problem: I had used my best stories. As a result, "Ouch!" the winning speech, was the first speech I ever wrote from scratch. I learned more about speech writing (thanks to my two coaches) in the 77 days prior to the Championship than I learned in nine years of speaking.

Back to the top

Q: Did you have three speeches that you were working on from the beginning?
For each of the top three levels of the contest you must have a different speech. There are judges who have outlines of your previous speeches to ensure that you are not using prior material. Many serious competitors work on all three speeches from the start. But I prefer to focus on one speech at a time. I did not worry about the next level until I needed to.

Back to the top

Q: Are you still a member of Toastmasters?
Yes. My home club is the Early Risers in Worcester, MA. Unfortunately, due to my travel schedule, I do not get to meetings very much. My dues are paid on time though!

Back to the top

Q: How many times did you practice the winning speech?
Let's define practice. I believe you cannot "practice" by yourself. You can only "memorize" when you are alone. We present differently when someone is watching. I practiced my speech twenty-two times (including once at a prison club).

A CEO I now coach recently told me that the best thing I'd taught him was that creating a good speech was "a process." A good example of this is when you see a comedian on television. The five-minute set he or she does has been something worked on for months. That comedian has probably performed that exact set and recorded it every night that week, several times per night. It is very common for a comedian to go onstage at one club, then run across town and perform at another. There were days I practiced at a breakfast club, then went to my day job, left at lunch to practice at another club, went back to my job, and left at the end of the day to go to a Toastmasters club for more practice at night. Three opportunities to practice in one day.

I once rehearsed on a golf course! My speech was about Dr. Robert Goddard, the father of modern day rocketry. I talked about how he was my childhood hero. There is a monument on a golf course in my hometown designating the spot where Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket. I thought it might help if I memorized the speech from "the spot." Memorization is not my strong suit. And though it may seem a little over-the-top, I did everything I could to help me win the contest.

In addition to all the practicing, I did a lot of praying. I did not pray to win. I prayed for inspiration to affect the lives of those in the audience. Some people may think it is hokey, but I firmly believe that the audience can tell for whom you are there: for yourself or for them. If you are always there for them, you can never go wrong.

Back to the top

Q: When did you join Toastmasters, and why?
I joined Toastmasters in 1994. My comedy mentors taught me that "stage time" is essential to one's growth as a comedian. Comedy clubs are only open at night, so I practiced there by night and at Toastmasters' meetings by day. It didn't take me long to discover the power of making mistakes in front of an audience, without a booking agent present. I became willing to take more risks more often, thereby leading to more confidence. Soon after I joined three more Toastmasters' clubs.

Back to the top

Q: Do World Champions win any prize money?
I laugh when I hear that people think World Champions get prize money. There was prize money (not that much) several years ago, but not any longer. And I think the decision to stop was a good one. There is quite enough tension already without the added pressure of prize money. I believe the contest is kept more pure without the incentive of money. Better to have the goal be solely to make a positive "impact on people's lives."

The one thing I did get from winning is more calls for free speeches than ever before! Which, if you know me, equates to more stage time! One of my favorite compliments came from John Greiner, DTM Second VP of Toastmasters International. He heard me speak at a Regional two years after I won. He said, "You were a really good speaker when you won, but you just keep getting better." I believe that is a result of all of the stage time I got AFTER I won. Do you want to be a better speaker? Speak more.

Back to the top

Q: Did winning make you a professional speaker?
Yes, and no. It was not the winning alone that made me a professional speaker. Although I continued to work at Bose, I had been building my speaking career since 1994. Every year I planned to quit Bose "in January." And each January led to the next. Then one day a fellow employee, Brad Creamer, asked me when I was going to quit my day job. I responded by saying that my job at Bose was my "safety net." Brad looked at me and, without hesitation, said, "You've been saying that for years. Sounds like Bose is your dragnet." That went right through me. He was right. About a month after winning I did quit my day job of eleven years to start speaking full-time.

When I made the decision to go for it, I gave myself one year. My friends asked how they could help, and I asked them to set an extra place at the table because I might not have enough to eat! You see I did not have enough paid speeches in front of me to cover all my bills. I looked at what I did have and set out to speak everywhere I could, putting my book on display and selling it after my speeches. I had been working hard only to make Dr. Bose rich, and it was time to put those hours towards my own career.

Many Toastmasters think that winning the championship equals instant career. Besides "stage time," what I did get from winning was a great marketing tool: the title of 2001 World Champion of Public Speaking. Ironically, even though it seems like the world should now be beating down a path to my door, most people outside of Toastmasters have no idea what all this means. Hopefully we can change that, as Toastmasters is still the "best kept secret."

Toastmasters who want to become professional speakers need experience speaking outside of the group. They must become experts in their field. Both David Brooks, 1990 World Champion, and Ed Tate, 2000 World Champion, spoke for seminar companies before they went out on their own. My professional experience consisted of years of stand-up comedy in New England.

Back to the top

Q: Did anyone help you? Were you coached?
Yes, I had two designated coaches, and a lot of "unofficial" coaches. My first coach was Dave McIlhenny, a Past District Governor and District speech contest winner. I wanted help from someone who had won before. When you want to learn something, who do you go to for help?

Dave guided me through the District and then the Regional contests. I spent many a night in his living room, accompanied by my girlfriend (at the time), Tanya. She was a huge support and possessed great instincts. She listened to me practice many times. God help the spouses who have to listen to contestants over and over again!

At the regional conference Dave introduced me to Mark Brown, the 1995 World Champion. He was giving a workshop at the conference. I remember sitting in the front row of his workshop, sponging up all of the knowledge I possibly could. After winning the contest, Dave asked Mark if he would coach me in "the big dance." Dave was smart enough to know that he had never been to that level before, but Mark had. Dave then took a back seat to Mark, but was still very active in the creation of my winning speech.

Once I won the regional speech and was headed to the Championship, I solicited advice from as many of the ten previous World Champions I could track down. There is no way I would have won any level of the contest without my mentors. I do work really hard on my own, but I would have been going in the wrong direction. Hard work in the wrong direction is a great waste.

Back to the top

Q: What is the best advice you received from the previous World Champions?
I actually studied the tapes of and tried to contact most of the winners from 1990-2000. I was surprised at how accessible they were, and how open they were with their insights. (I did not contact them until I had won my Regional and was going to the World Championship.)

Mark Brown, 1995 WCPS, said something that really hit home. He said, "Darren, I can only answer the questions you ask me." Wow, this was invaluable! Because I valued the Champions' time, it forced me to think through the questions I had so I would ask the best ones.

Otis Williams Jr.,1993 WCPS, said, "Be so good the only question is who comes in second." What I believe he meant by this was that judging is subjective, so you need to be clearly the best in every judged category.

David Brooks, 1990 WCPS, said, "Let no one out-prepare you." Wow, he didn't say I had to be the most talented, he said I had to work harder than everyone else. I believe I did work harder. Now the challenge I face is to bring this concept over to other areas of my life.

Much of my learning came from studying the previous champions on video. The more I watch their speeches the more I learned. Each time I watched, I asked myself questions: How did they do that? Why did they do that? How did that affect the audience?

Want to be a better speaker? You need to be a better student first.

Back to the top

Q: I timed your winning speech and it was 7:52. How come you were not disqualified?
The speech contest is a timed event. Contestants are given five to seven minutes, with a leeway of thirty seconds. Anyone who goes over 7:30 is usually disqualified. In my case, however, there was a timing light malfunction. The contest rules state that if there is a malfunction the contestant will get thirty extra seconds. I was just eight seconds away from losing. The red light did not go on when it was supposed to. I grew up, so to speak, in the comedy club atmosphere. When you go over time in that world, you are done and you'll never be invited back to that club again. I was going by the red light; when I saw it go on I wrapped up my speech. If you watch the end of my speech you can see that I knew the timing was close, so I ended abruptly. I don't know if you are spiritual or not, but I'm convinced there was an angel or two in the room that day.

Back to the top