Amazing experience of Judging National Speaking Championship

When I first saw the poster of 1^st National Speaking Championship (NSC), I was tempted to participate. I am passionate about presentations. Moreover, I feel expressing a strong content through captivating design and connecting to the audience is powerful. 

Once when I made a presentation (pecha kucha 20X20 format of presentation) about acid attack and violence against women, I saw a few women from the audience getting emotional and shedding tears. We could experience deep and deadly silence followed by sighs. 

Then I have the experience of doing a 'presentation karaoke' which is close to extempore. In this case I did not know what was there on the slide and I just had to come up and speak on the spot according to the slide. Here, I made up my own stories and it was hilarious. I experienced the audience were having a good time as they were laughing out loud. 

The same stage, the same presenter, different formats and content of presentations and completely different impact. All this was quite fascinating. I was making a meaning out of it. A presentation if delivered in the right way to the audience could create wave of emotions. A presentation can bring shift in the way someone's perception if there is a connection with content and if the visual aid is used in appropriate way. 

We can understand a person better through the way they make presentations, the topic they choose and body language and gestures they showcase. 

Due to this undying love for presentations or speaking I wanted to go for this competition. Further I relish being in a creative sphere and in the company of fellow presenters. This gives me energy and I open up. Whenever I am on a stage, any stage and there are people listening to me I feel thrilled. I do feel nervous initially but I really enjoy this feeling. Over the years, I have embraced my nervousness. I have accepted myself and my feelings. 

But I could not participate in this competition. Umes Shrestha Sir, Right-Brain at Empowerment Academy, independent wing of King's College who initiated NSC said, "People like us should not compete. You should either mentor or become a judge for National Speaking Championship." I felt honoured and accepted it as a role of responsibility to be a Judge for a national level competition. 

A part of my identity

In some way I want to be connected to presenting because it makes me happy and connected. Presentations have somehow become a part of my identity and I must preserve it. I like to express myself through writing and I feel I am somehow better at it. But presentations have a special place in my heart. I don't know what goes through a person's mind when they read my writings. But when I present I have a conversation with hundreds of people in the same time and the energy is different. 

Writing and presenting are like two different flavours of my favourite brand of ice-cream.

Judging it for the second time

In the preliminary rounds and we had to judge on the content and delivery. I remember there were some participants who were really smart and I observed the unique style of presenting.

Fortunately, even this year I got a chance to judge the competition. In the first round they were given a topic on the spot and the participants got only 30 seconds to think about it and they were supposed to speak for 3 minutes. 126 students had registered for the competition out of which 40 made it to the preliminary round and we had the responsibility to select only 10 out of these amazingly talented speakers. 

Except a few of them most of them spoke confidently and had the ability to create content on the spot and some were really creative as they used examples, metaphors and stories. A few started out great but could barely speak for a minute. 

I tried to be as fair as possible and made sure I did not favour a participant because I knew them before the competition. I realized that the audience connects to speakers who are real and not an imitation or imposter.

On March 10 this year we had the finale of 2^nd National Speaking Championship and we had not three but four winners. From this it is clear how tough the competition was, everyone there had the hunger, zeal and enthusiasm for presentations.

Glimpse of the winners

Back with a bang

Winner- Radip Tandukar, Lamjung Campus

Radip was among the top ten finalists in the 1^st National Speaking Championship. I witnessed his presentation in the last finale and he was hilarious and also had a significant message in his presentation. He was one of my personal favourites since the first competition.

He was back this year and he was back with a bang.

There was something quite special about him as he entered the room in the preliminary round. He seemed to be quite popular and friendly. He entered the room with two photographers in the preliminary round and even in the finale he was quite popular among the audience as he received more than 20 per cent votes which also helped him secure the People's choice award. And he completely deserved it.

His journey in the National Speaking Championship has been quite inspiring as he persevered and in his second attempt he finally won the National Speaking Championship. He did not only grab the title and Rs 75,000 cash prize but he also won our hearts with his witty and humorous presentations that had a strong message embedded to it.

Aced it

1^st Runners Up- Srija Shrestha, Ace Institute of Management

I got the chance to watch her presentation only in the Pecha Kucha round of the finale and she definitely aced it. She had original ideas and her gestures were to the point. Her slides were worth mentioning as well. After the presentation I had a quick chat with her and I got a sense of how amazing she is not as a presenter but also as a person.

Calm confidence

2^nd Runners Up- Prashansa Rimal, Kathmandu School of Law and Aparajita Jha, King's College

There was a tie in this position as the competition was quite tough. Both of them had a knack of presenting and connecting to the audience in a deeper level. After a long discussion we decided that both of them deserved this place.

Prashansa is one of the firm and confident presenters from the whole batch. I always believed that she was a tough competitor and would make it to the top three and I wasn't surprised when she did. She is a law student and that shows in her content. She gives a personal touch to the ideas and arguments she puts forward. During the finale there was power cut in the middle of her presentation. The audience started going in and out of the hall. Anyone in her position would get anxious. But a person's true self is seen not when everything is alright but when this are messed up. She took the potential drawback as her strength and came out much stronger than before which made her a winner.

Aparajita's presentation about failing to get the scholarship for medical entrance exams thrice gave everyone Goosebumps. Everyone has gone through failures in life and the audience could directly connect to what she wanted to share. Her final presentation was absolutely something to remember for a long time. She persisted and her story is an inspiration especially to the youth, who give up easily. She reinforced the notion, "Never give up".

(From top-left- Radip, Prashansa, Aparajita and Srija) (Photo: Empowerment Academy)

The Real Heroes 

Even though these four got the position in this competition there is no doubt that all the finalists and semi-finalists are speakers with great potential. This championship would not have been possible without the people who worked in the back end to give speakers a spotlight. Whatever reflected on stage on March 10 was a result of the hard work and passion of the duo Umes Shrestha, Abhisekh Maskey and the Unlearn tribe as well as everyone who supported and made this mega event happen.  The event was sponsored by Vespa, Redbull, and Jobs Dynamics.

From left to right: Zaffar Naik, Radip Tandukar, Umes Shrestha

At last…

Overall my experience of judging both the 1^st and 2^nd edition of National Speaking Championship was amazing. The Unlearn tribe, Empowerment Academy felt no less than home to me. I felt like I belonged. To have such a connection with a community is a rare thing for me and I shall treasure this memory for a lifetime. I am grateful to everyone whom I got connected to through National Speaking Championship.

Presenting certificates to the finalists.