The Speaking Husky Videos

One reason The Speaking Husky was created by me, Bill Boulton, is to help you know that you are at minimum a good public speaker! The videos on this page are in chronological order. Hopefully, they demonstrate that in public speaking practice doesn’t make perfect, but practice does make improvement! 🙂

I also started The Speaking Husky to help you and me become better speakers and writers. I hope that you both enjoy and benefit from watching my videos. If the videos don’t load, please reload your page. I welcome your feedback and suggestions for my speaking. Please contact me through my contact page. My comments about each speech are posted below the video section of this page.

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2005 Rehearsing in My Living Room for a Video Tryout for Monster.com’s Making It Count Program My speech covers depression, loneliness, Jim Morrison, The Doors, and being what you were created to be. I even read William Blake’s poem Mary!	2007 Speaking at Kevin Bracy’s FIRSTEP For Speakers Conference In a brief humorous speech, I talk about something I can be… An Ego Maniac With an Inferiority Complex!
2007 Speaking at the Toastmasters District 77 Division A Toastmasters Humorous Speech Competition I prefer storytelling and humorous speeches. The topic of this humorous speech, A Tale of Two Cities, is stereotypes.	2008 My Third Place Speech at the Toastmasters District 77 Division A International Speech Contest My speech is about the “mental germs” of resentment and denial.
2009 Speaking for the South Huntsville Mom’s Club It was fun to speak about health and fitness with these cool Moms! I discuss how I became interested in Health and Fitness, and give some exercise tips.	2009 Piece of the Puzzle Speech—Hi-Noon Toastmasters What’s one of the best ways to have a positive impact on the world? Put your piece of the puzzle where it’s supposed to go! Is it possible to be Enlightened at Toys R Us? Yes, it is!
2010 Toastmasters Speech—I Worked for John and Yoko Ono Lennon I didn’t really work for John and Yoko. The speech is a humorous look at a medical condition I share with the late John Lennon, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.	2011 Meet The Beatles In Speech 01 A Speech I Gave at the Area Two Toastmasters International Speech Competition I discuss a speech I made in High School to make three points: 1. Everyone is at minimum a good public speaker. 2. The basics of public speaking are easy. 3. Practice makes improved speakers.

2005 Rehearsing in My Living Room for Video Tryout For Monster.com’s Making It Count Program—Strengths and Suggestions For Improvement

Suggestions for Improvement— I’m not completely comfortable even in my own living room. Lighten up! 🙂 Some of this is serious subject matter, but I could have smiled a bit more. My discomfort can also be seen in my use of gestures to the point of distraction. Many of the gestures are very quick and unnatural. My eye contact should be held for a few seconds longer.

Strengths—I’m enthusiastic, energetic, speak from the heart, and care about what I’m talking about! I speak in terms the audience can understand by using contemporary musical artists as examples. The message is very positive! I use humor. The William Blake poem Mary, is extremely appropriate for this audience. Why? Because the poem discusses individuality and being true to oneself. Something that High School Students and perhaps all humanity sometimes struggles with. I use the word incendiary, and I love that word! 🙂

2007 Speaking at Kevin Bracy’s FIRSTEP For Speakers Conference—Strengths and Suggestions For Improvement

Suggestions for Improvement— Whoa…had a touch of nerves at the beginning. This is the first time I had used a mike and spoken in front of several hundred people, so that’s understandable. There’s a name for people who never feel anxiety before making a presentation—Public Speaking Sociopaths. 🙂 Some of my gestures are very quick, and not 100% natural. I spoke a bit fast. This was a tightly timed competition, but I should have cut material so I would not need to deliver the speech like I was on speed. 🙂 I should have allowed a few more seconds for my laugh lines. I made eye contact with the entire room, but should have held it for a second or two more with each section of the audience. My smile, where did it go to? I believe the smile is one of the most underrated tools of a public speaker. After the line about Madonna, I was hesitant and a bit uncomfortable for a second or two. The material was funny, but maybe I thought Madonna was in the audience and I had offended her. After all, I am an Ego Maniac With An Inferiority Complex. Lesson for me and all speakers—Only use material you are 100% comfortable using in front of the audience you are speaking with.

Strengths—This is a well written speech. It’s a funny speech! I spoke in a strong voice. Sections of the speech showed strong stage presence and strong stage confidence. The presentation has a strong hook/catch phrase. The hook = EMWAIC = Ego Maniac With an Inferiority Complex.

2007 Speaking at the Toastmasters District 77 Division A Toastmasters Humorous Speech Competition—Strengths and Suggestions For Improvement

Suggestions for Improvement—Start out strong! The first two or three words out of my mouth should have popped a bit more. My overall eye contact was very good, but—I should have looked at the center of the room a bit more and held my eye contact with each person for a second or two longer. Give the audience a few more seconds to enjoy the laugh lines.

Strengths—Funny, well written speech! I appear confident and natural. The stereotype accents, “hillbilly southern” and “surfer dude” are delivered very well. The speech makes a positive social point in a humorous way. I am enthusiastic in the delivery of my presentation. My gestures are much more natural than in my earlier speeches. Progress is being made! 🙂

2008 My Third Place Speech at the Toastmasters District 77 Division A International Speech Contest—Strengths and Suggestions For Improvement

Suggestions for Improvement—Pop the opening! As I did in my previous speech, I played like the horse Secretariat and came out of the speech a touch slow. Winners of the Toastmasters International Speech Competition often exude massive energy. There are portions of this speech where I believe I should have showed more enthusiasm. This doesn’t directly apply to this speech, but I believe I should work to 100% apply what I am talking about in this speech! 🙂 As I did in the 2007 Humorous Speech contest, I should have allowed a few more seconds for laugh lines. I had an eye block or two in this speech. (Only public speaking fanatics and FBI profilers would ever notice this!) By eye block, I mean I completely closed my eyes and that closing my eyes had nothing to do with a point I was making in my speech. This could indicate the way I handled low grade anxiety on this particular night. (Everyone in the human race has slight anxiety tics like this.) It could also mean I had something in my contacts or the lights were to bright! 🙂

Strengths—I did a better job of making eye contact with the left, right, and middle part of the audience. My gestures were natural. Good enthusiasm when I imitate the voice of a “serious doctor.” I think my analogy of mental germs is a very good one. My delivery is very smooth. No filler words are used. At the end of my speech, I created a great laugh line by riffing off the answer an audience member gave to a question I asked.

2009 Speaking for the South Huntsville Mom’s Club—Strengths and Suggestions For Improvement

Suggestions for Improvement—Mid-presentation, I went several minutes without asking questions of or involving the audience. Nothing major, but I believe I should have reengaged the audience sooner. I occasionally lost eye contact with the audience. I did what I call playing to the balcony. That’s fine if there is actually a balcony! 🙂 My enthusiasm was very good, but I could have cranked it up another notch or two in portions of my presentation. I might have overused the phrase, “Before I forget…” For a few seconds near the end of the speech, for a total of four or five seconds, I completely turned my back on the audience to get a book and to put a book back. It’s only four or five seconds, but this should still be avoided. My focus should be on 100% contact with my audience. I used a few “advanced anxiety tics”—Hand rubbing and eye blocking. (I completely closed my eyes and closing my eyes had nothing to do with the point I was making in my speech.) As I mentioned in the suggestions for improvement of my 2008 Toastmasters International Speech Competition Speech, probably only Toastmasters fanatics and law enforcement profilers would notice this. 🙂 My movement around the room could have been more purposeful.

Strengths—My opinion—Very good speech! My energy level at the beginning of this speech is much better. I smile more during my presentation and have a pleasant facial expression most of the time. My personal stories, and questions I asked the audience helped build a strong rapport with this group. My speech and the questions I asked this audience, stimulated them to ask questions. By the end, I had stimulated dialogue between the group members. They were giving each other tips and planning exercise classes! I did a better job of holding my eye contact longer in this speech. While my movement could have been more purposeful, I believe my moving around helped keep the audience focused in a distracting environment. I did a good job staying focused in a distracting environment too! 🙂 I used some wide gestures that included the entire room. Good idea! I used a few visual aids. Good! During the last 14 minutes of my presentation, I took questions from the audience. I believe this is a great idea for many presentations!

2009 Piece of the Puzzle Speech Hi-Noon Toastmasters Club—Strengths and Suggestions For Improvement

Suggestions for Improvement—This is something I did that I believe many speakers do. I toned down my energy level for a small audience in a small room. The problem is, I toned down too much! This speech could have used more enthusiasm. I didn’t come out strong on the first few words of this speech. I turned my back on the audience to get my puzzle and put my puzzle back. I should have positioned the puzzle where I wouldn’t need to do this. At one point, I looked for the audience in the balcony. Well…there is no balcony in this room! I think this speech would have been more effective if I had involved the audience more. I need to work on some funny lines to use when audiences don’t get my jokes. All master comics have these lines! 🙂 Acting out the parts of Sarah, Tim Bob, and Homer Mae would have made the speech stronger.

Strengths—Excellent eye contact. Very well written speech with a great message! Interesting concept for a speech. I asked the audience a question and I got them involved very early in the speech. The story I wrote to show how the actions of one person can potentially change the world for better or worse is very visual and easy to follow. It is written in very descriptive language that creates a movie type landscape in the mind of the audience.

2010 I Worked for John and Yoko Ono Lennon Toastmasters Speech—Strengths and Suggestions For Improvement

Suggestions for Improvement—My gestures are a bit tight and awkward in a few places. I believe this was a very good speech, but it would have been even better if I had involved the audience more! Ask questions, interact, keep the audience active in the speech.

Strengths—My energy level and enthusiasm level are much better than in my Piece of the Puzzle speech. I had a good friendly opening to the presentation. I delivered my story of working for John and Yoko deadpan. Very good attention grabber! (Did this dude really work for John and Yoko? I think I’ll listen to find out.) The speech provided useful information to the audience, and to anyone who has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. (ADHD) When I read Dr. Hallowell’s definition of ADHD I did a good job of maintaining eye contact while reading.

2011 Meet The Beatles in Speech 01 A Speech I Gave at the Area Two Toastmasters International Speech Competition—Strengths and Suggestions For Improvement

Suggestions for Improvement—The speech would have benefited if I had opened with a higher energy level. I raise my voice briefly, but the first few minutes are the public speaking equivalent of an athlete warming up. I smiled in this presentation, but could have smiled more. I asked the audience several questions, but believe I could have involved them more in the speech.

Strengths—My speech is delivered with confidence and authority. I made very good eye contact with the entire room, and I did a better job of holding the eye contact longer with individual audience members. This is a well written speech, that uses a story to help make its points. Stories are easy to listen to aren’t they? The presentation offers several practical and easy to apply ways to improve public speaking. In my biased opinion, the speech achieved its purpose of proving that everyone is at minimum a good public speaker! 🙂