Imagine this Madam Contest Chairman, ladies and gentlemen I was 22 years old and flying along at 40miles per hour, my skis were slicing through the sparkling water,  and then I broke the most important rule of water skiing – Stay on the skis!. 30 years ago this mixture of youth, speed and rule breaking [...]

An elderly man meanders through the antique shop. He pauses, his  lean hand carefully traces the outline of an aged writing desk, caressing the grain as if it were an old friend. His fingers linger on the dove tail joins, and without seeing, he recognises and appreciates their fine craftsmanship. He moves on. He stops [...]

  FAINTLY WRITTEN –Mark Hunter. When something is faint, almost imperceptible, it may be easily dismissed as being unimportant. However, the thing of which I speak tonight ladies and gentlemen, while not being easily seen, has great power.   It is has the power to give purpose and direction to our lives. Without it, we [...]

Literature is literally littered with lively legends. Amongst them rides Don Quixote – the Man of La Mancha. An idealistic knight who fought for the rights of others and dared to dream the impossible dream. Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, while I dare not sing that song for fear it could be your nightmare, I [...]

This speech was used in the 2001 World Championships. Since then it has under gone many iterations, and was used successfully in the 2009 Semi Finals of the World Championship of Public Speaking (Connecticut – USA).   In this speech, there are in fact three stories used. Some experts could say, use only one story [...]