International Public Speaking Competition

By Krijn Dijkstra - Public Speaking Award 2005 runner-up and audience prize winner

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I couldn't believe my ears when I heard that I could go to London, being the runner-up in the BBC Public Speaking Awards. This report shortly describes my experiences during this wonderful week.

Everything started on Monday morning, at Schiphol airport. I there met Sara, the winner of the national competition, and Hans Kräwinkel, our 'accompanying adult', who both accompanied me in my trip to London. It was the first time I flew, so I was already amazed by seeing the clouds from the opposite direction. We arrived a little too early at our hotel in downtown London, so we took advantage of this to visit the British Museum.
That evening, an introductory meeting had been planned. Here, we had the opportunity to meet all the other participants. Directly, there was a very nice atmosphere: Everyone introduced himself to one another, and I really had the feeling that the other participants were nice people. After having dinner I had a beer with Boris, from Bulgaria. As he was talking about girls all the time, and told me he loved romantic music, he later that week got the nickname 'The Romantic Bulgarian'.

The next day we prepared for a mock debate. We all pretended that we were MPs of the parliament of Alocos (an fictive island, well-known for its export of goose feathers). We were divided in three parties, and we all had to think of a solution to the question whether Alocos should adopt English as a second official language.
In the afternoon, we went to Shakespeare's Globe, which was very interesting. Afterwards, we had the opportunity to visit some hot spots of London. As we went in a small group, we had the opportunity to get to know each other much better. We visited the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and the Big Ben. We also wanted to visit Buckingham Palace, but our guide, Tada (Thailand), had some problems reading the map. We had been walking for about an hour, when we discovered that we had been walking in a circle: Tada had held the map upside down! Although we had terribly tiresome feet, we had had a very nice day.
In the evening we would go to the play 'The Woman in Black'. Although we had only 45 minutes before the play started, some of our group wanted to go back to the hotel to change shoes. When we entered the hotel, we agreed that we would act very quickly, and that we would gather in the lobby in 10 minutes. However, some were not that quick as we expected, so we had only 10 minutes left to get back to the play! We literally rushed through London, jumped in the metro, but fortunately sat down in our theatre seats right in time.
Then the play started. I guess that you don't think you can scream of terror in a theatre, but believe me: you can… This play was so frightening that the whole theatre was screaming and some didn't even dare to go back to the hotel by metro! I have never seen such a magnificent play, and I really advise you to go there!

On Wednesday we first visited the offices of HSBC, the main sponsor of the competition. We had a very nice view on London from one of the highest buildings of the city. Then, the time came to 'play' our mock debate. Although the Alocosian Parliament was not organised in a very high degree (bribery was not uncommon), we had a very nice debate (one of the main arguments to come to a decision was our empty stomach, though ?).
When we came back in the hotel, we got company from our fellow countrymen: Maite and Geert, the winner and runner-up of the Speaking Competition, joined us, accompanied by Ingrid de Beer. I was very happy to see them, because I'd already had a lot of email contact with Maite and Geert was one of my classmates. That night we went to the famous musical "The Phantom of the Opera", and it was really WONDERFUL!!! I have been listening/watching with goose-flesh all over, and the songs are still in my head at this very moment.
When we came back, I practised my speech just one more time in front of Geert and Maite, which caused some hilarity because my gestures were a little exaggerated… However, I could go to bed, replenishing for the big day.

Thursday was the big day of the International Public Speaking Competition. Being only a little nervous I delivered my speech about the poor Brazilian sugar farmer José-Maria Hendriquez, who wanted to get rid of those unfair trade barriers. According to my supporters, I did it quite good; I didn't make it to the finals, though. Yet, this competition wasn't even the most important thing of this week. I have met so many nice people, and had such a wonderful time, that I didn't bother too much that I didn't make it to the finals.
That evening was a wonderful night as well. We were trying not to sleep at all, and had so much fun with everyone there (especially some drunk Americans, confirming all prejudices ?). The whole night long we had been dancing, talking, singing, discussing, playing games, and The 'Romantic Bulgarian' was singing serenades for beautiful girls.

I just want to conclude that this week has been one of the best of my life. I really liked my fellow Dutch: Sara, Maite, Geert and of course Hans Kräwinkel and Ingrid de Beer. I've met wonderful people from all over the world, did wonderful things and as I am typing now, I'm still smiling for everything I experienced there. I'm envying the lucky ones who can go to London next year, and I really hope that you will have such an amazing time as I had!

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