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I just won my speech contest; can you give me any advice on what I should do next?

1) Only focus on one speech at a time and give the best speech you can at each level. If you are at your club contest, don’t think about making it to area, think about sending the best message you can to that audience.

2) Take a look at Speaker Leader Champion: Succeed at Work Through The Power of Public Speaking. In the Appendix we offer tips and strategies from 10 World Champions of Public Speaking on how to deliver the world’s best speech.

3) Stay in touch with us here at www.RyanAvery.com and sign up to receive weekly articles. I write articles every week that focus on how to improve your communication skills, deliver stronger speeches and develop messages that matter to you.

4) Research our database of articles at www.howtobeaspeaker.com. There are a TON of resources on there that you can check out, read and watch on ways to improve your speaking.

5) A must read, for any leader, speaker or one looking to develop a powerful message is James C. Humes “Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln.”

6) I recommend picking up the last 25 years of Toastmasters speeches by Bill Stephens Productions to watch 1st, 2nd and 3rd place to see what the difference was between them. When I competed in 2012, this was one of the best investments I made.

7) Practice, practice and practice! Good luck with your competition! Remember to take Randy Harvey’s advice, “Speak from the heart and the world will listen.”

Can I use one of your blog articles or videos for my school paper, newsletter, article, website, etc.
If you are using content owned by AveryToday, Inc. you may use it for non-commercial use only with the proper citation. (Please include in legible print: This content was originally posted at www.RyanAvery.com; All rights reserved AveryToday, Inc. 2014). For commercial use, please contact me at ryan@averytoday.com to see what your needs are and how we can partner together.

What books do you recommend to be a better speaker or leader?
Make sure to check out these books here: 7 recommend readings for speakers. I am also going to create a page soon titled “Ryan Avery’s Library” and talk about the books I have read and recommend. Stay tuned for that!

Can you give me advice on how you manage your time?
I manage my time in three ways; Personal, Partner and Professional. I spend my personal time in the morning and take at least five minutes of alone time everyday, I read every day and I make sure I do at least five reps of some physical activity a day. The mornings are best for me to be productive so I usually wake up at 5am and work from 5am to 8am on creating content. I spend the day building relationships and I usually only take meetings on Fridays. I would recommend creating a schedule that works for you and that you can stick to. It is hard to manage your time as an entrepreneur but we must master this skill if we want to accomplish anything of great feat!

What WordPress theme do you use? 
I use Brandon WordPress Theme.

Who is your favorite speaker?
I admire the work of Seth Godin, Brendon Burchard and Nancy Duarte.

Do you offer coaching sessions?
I do! I am limited with the amount of clients I can take on each year but if you are interested you can email me at ryan@averytoday.com.

Are you married? 
I am married and have been with my wife Chelsea for over seven years. We met when I was a teenager and am the luckiest guy on the planet! She has a great blog called TheNewWifestyle.com I would recommend checking out!

How old are you?
My birthday is in May (1987).

Where are you from?
I was born and raised in Humble, Texas a suburb of Houston.

Where did you come up with your World Championship speech title? 
It took me 26 versions until I came up with the World Championship speech Trust is a Must. A lot of practice, a lot of embarrassing speeches and a whole lot of mistakes along the way helped me get to that title. This is where it all started.

I want my school/organization to have you speak but they don’t have a budget, what should we do? 
I give about five talks a year to organizations for free and they usually are Toastmaster related. I support Toastmasters, as they are an organization I am still a part of and believe in. There are many ways you can bring me to speak to your school or organization by getting a corporate sponsor, purchasing bulk orders of my books, selling a ticket price at the door or teaming up with another school or organization. Email me at ryan@averytoday.com to see what your needs are and let’s start the conversation.

Are you still in Toastmasters?
I am still in Toastmasters and I am a DTM. Because of my travel schedule it is hard for me to go to regular meetings but I give back and participate in Toastmasters by going to conferences and helping the club I started “Competitive Speakers” remain successful.

Can I send you my book/writing to read and can you provide me with a testimonial?
Thank you for thinking of me. Right now, to honor my other full-time commitments I do not have the time to read anything else at this time. I hope you understand. I know how impactful it is to write content that can help others live a better life and be more successful. Please keep using your voice, story and spirit to make a difference in the lives of others.

Can I send you my speech via video for you to take a look at? 
I get a lot of requests to take ten minutes to look at videos but truthfully it takes a lot longer than that because I want to provide quality feedback. Right now, to honor my other full-time commitments I do not have the time to watch speeches at this time. Please keep videotaping your speeches because it is the best way to improve. Watch yourself and let others see the video. You will grow leaps and bounds if you continue to record your speeches and watch them.

Have a question that was not answered here? Let me know! Email me at ryan@averytoday.com and I will get back to you! Thank you!

Also, check out my top seven articles for being a better speaker, leader and champion found on this page!