2020 World Champion, Toastmasters International Speech Contest, Mike Carr: 'Blue' District 55 Winner

This is the speech that sent Mike to the world semi-finals. Two rounds later, he had beaten over 20,000 competitors, to become the Toastmasters' World Champion of Public Speaking. Many congratulations and thank you Mike for allowing me to share your District winning speech.

[@ConfidentPresenting]

Really clever use of language, super pausing, wonderful use of the online medium. You can see why Mike Carr went on to become a worthy world champion.

[@wetoastmasters7263]

So Excellent! Mike's speech is inspirational, emotional, and well-paced; anyone can relate to it, it's a story strung together with one theme, an element of surprise, a blue shirt to match the title, and a call to action - that's why he won.

[@ivanamiranda234]

Absolutely brilliant speech. My favorite--even more than the final winning speech. Congratulations, Mike Carr!!!

[@ashleyching3166]

I enjoyed his semi speech the most!

[@Yash-dh2dz]

We finally have a new champion

[@patrickjumaowino]

I like the way you use the corner of the room to create the illusion of space and size.Genius

[@divinedennis9736]

Thank you Mike Carr for "turning up the volume" on life. 💯🙏

[@bittookumar5456]

OMG, Mike you just nailed it. You were superb.

[@WritingwithPatiyer]

Moving, engaging talk, Mike!

[@chadhamel8303]

Thank you Mike. Beautiful speech, I’m going to share this with my Toastmaster Club in Michigan.

[@bluesplash8407]

So inspiring! #Tmd55

[@adelehauwai3024]

Very creative ... well done! Great gestures, tone, & expressions

[@terrie001]

The winner for this contest is easy to judge. The moment he finished his Librarian speech, I knew it was him. I am just surprised that Yang didn’t get placed second or even third. I feel Carr could have left the last sentence from his final speech. It felt like he was done with his speech already. Otherwise, he knows how to tell a story in an exciting and interesting way that his competitors really need to improve on.

[@ConfidentPresenting]

Kwong Yue Yang is a brilliant speaker and there are some excellent examples of his speeches on this channel, along with two of the other finalists Sherwood Jones and Aaron Samson.

[@terrie001]

Confident Presenting Yang’s humors didn’t turn out as effective virtually as compared to his other speeches you mentioned. Really don’t feel the energy and without the audience laughter, his speech didn’t make me laugh as much as his other speeches (like the four words or fortune cookie). Virtual contest is a different world. I tried it... feel very weird and kind of dumb that I am just competing by myself in my own room. Didn’t enjoy it at all without live audiences. Virtual is not my thing and I am sure many people are looking forward to in person meeting and be done with these Zoom speeches.

[@terrie001]

Confident Presenting also. Did Sherwood Jones went overtime? He is the guy who talked about the “C” word right? I felt he talked way too long but not sure since I didn’t keep track of time.

[@michaelxie4321]

Obviously, Yang lost his energy this time and he looked super tired.

[@ConfidentPresenting]

@@terrie001 I believe it was kwong yue yang who was overtime, but only just.

[@loe3175]

This is probably the best winning speech that I've seen from this competition! It's often recommended to stay away from the three Ds (disease, death, and divorce) in your speech, but he covered two of them and still made this an amazing, inspiring, and and authentically engaging presentation! Bravo! Well written and well executed!

[@suwan1986]

really? i never receive that kind of recommendation to stay away from the 3D, maybe we need to look at the context?

[@loe3175]

@@suwan1986 Your milage may vary. I'm sure not EVERY SINGLE speaker in the universe has heard that, but it's actually really commonly recommended, as those three go-to topics are used, and used, and over-used that the mere mention of the next cancer patient, divorced parents, or dead grandmother story, etc. gets the yawns started before you can win back the audience with (possibly) quality content. But please understand the difference between a general statement and me directing a statement to you personally.

[@CarmelJordan]

Very health felt speech excellent use of the medium

[@sarahalfehaid8724]

Your speech is stuck in my head since the contest... makes me want to sing Blue by Halsey

[@jaison3905]

Mike Carr has a great smile when he speaks that feels genuine.

[@zanzibar_expertguides_orga9180]

I am sorry, there is presentation of toasmaster named scratches,could you send it full

[@ConfidentPresenting]

Hi Kahmis, I only put up videos if I have the permission of the speaker.

[@OutofmyMind_HebrewMinistry]

So inspiring! #Tmd55

[@MrMusicofthenight]

maybe it's my clock, it seems that he spoke for over 7 min 30 seconds! if the timers had taken their job too seriously, it'd have costed us a worthy world champion!

[@ConfidentPresenting]

Not quite, Philip. After rewatching it, Mike's speech started at 0.16 and finished at 7.44. That makes 7 minutes 28 seconds. In the same contest, another brilliant contestant went one second over in the Grand final and was disqualified. As Darren LaCroix might say..."ouch!" The timers are razor sharp.

[@MrMusicofthenight]

@@ConfidentPresenting You're right! My maths is bad! Close call though.