In 2012 Verity Price, a keynote speaker, joined Toastmasters to support her sister who wanted to hone her public speaking skills. Nine years and countless speeches later, Price is the 2021 Toastmasters World Champion of Public Speaking. 

“By the end of this [competition] I realised that speaking could be an Olympic sport,” said Price, over a Zoom interview.

She had spent most of this year locked inside her bedroom, practising her speeches for various contests that would take her to the Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking.

The 46-year-old from Cape Town, still “shell-shocked” after her win, was the sixth woman to win the World Championship in 80 years and the first person from Africa to win.

Toastmasters is a non-profit organisation that teaches people public speaking through regional clubs. The organisation has 30,000 members, with 15,800 clubs in 149 countries. It has been around since 1924.

Previously, Price had won the Toastmasters public speaking competition in the Western Cape. Then in May, with a speech about how her mother had taught her to make the world a better place, she won the southern Africa leg.

Her journey to the world championships was long and “gruelling”. At the semifinals, a panel of experienced Toastmasters selected the eight finalists to compete in the Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking.

Price, who’s a keynote speaker and facilitator, initially joined Toastmasters in 2012 to support her sister, Kaye Price-Lindsay.

“[Price-Lindsay] joined Toastmasters to overcome her fear of public speaking, and I used to go support her. I joined for fun because I was already a speaker. Then there was a club contest and I was quite cocky. [Price-Lindsay] entered and I thought ‘Oh, shame. She’s so nervous and she’s working so hard.’ I entered and then she beat me,” said Price.

That year, Price-Lindsay went on to win the provincial title. In 2017, Price-Lindsay came second in the World Championship.

Price, who has more than 20 years of experience as a professional speaker, said her sister had played an important role in mentoring and helping her prepare for this year’s competition. 

“[When you enter Toastmasters] you confront your insecurities, [you ask yourself,] why am I doing this? Should I have won? Did they make a mistake? I walked that journey with [Price-Lindsay] and she’s been one of my major mentors for this entire journey because she understood the nerves and the self-doubt. It’s also a very male-dominated competition,” Price told Daily Maverick.

In her winning speech, “A Great Read”, Price spoke about how she felt that her life was a failure as a 40-year-old woman with no children, no husband and living in her sister’s spare room. 

At the core of Price’s winning speech is the story of how she was miserable, but her perspective changed when she read a letter by her late father, which implored her to write a new story if she wasn’t satisfied with her current one.

“I consciously chose to speak about my dad, but I wasn’t sure about what. For a long time, I was working on a speech on what an incredible mentor he was to people who worked with him. But it just wasn’t sticking. Then this [winning] speech, one night woke me up and I knew that this is what I have to talk about,” said Price.

She rewrote the speech 32 times. “I don’t know who said this, but it’s a great quote: ‘Good speeches aren’t written, they’re rewritten,’ ” said Price. 

The shift to virtual meetings because of the Covid-19 pandemic made things easier for her. 

“I could practise all around the world. Honestly, if it wasn’t virtual, I would never have competed. Because if it wasn’t virtual, I’d have to get into my car and drive to meetings every evening and that would’ve taken up more time.” 

To gain more insight as to what worked and what didn’t, Price would present her speech to clubs, mentors and coaches. Then she’d ask them to fill in a Google form about what they liked and what they thought needed improvement.

“The hard work was going, ‘How do you make a speech that is internationally relevant and has a universal message?’ At the same time, I have to give it over and over again and take so much feedback and not take it personally and keep crafting and honing my speech; that’s been the gruelling part,” said Price.

Her coach, Lance Miller, said that what won the judges over was Price’s “authenticity”.

Another winning formula was that, “She didn’t preach to the audience, she shared her story. She shared how her story changed her life and that inspires the audience rather than standing on the stage and ordering the audience to do what you tell them,” said Miller. 

The judges for the competition are anonymous and “it’s always been that way,” said Miller, who was the 2005 Toastmasters World Champion.

“It’s good to not know who the judges are. The judges often sit amongst the audience because the whole idea is to connect with the audience and not to connect with the judges,” said Miller.

What they judge contestants on is their speech construction, the value of the message, delivery, vocal variety and stage movements, said Miller.

Winning over crowds with her words and life experiences isn’t new to Price. In 2005, Price, who was a singer-songwriter, started one of the first crowdfunding initiatives in South Africa, “because I didn’t have the money to record an album”.

She crowdfunded her album and sold 2,000 copies in 25 countries.

“After that, I became more famous for thinking differently than singing, and that’s how I became a speaker.” 

With this experience and the new title, Price hopes to start masterclasses for those interested in taking on the Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking. 

“This win is amazing and I can’t wait to share my knowledge,” she said. DM

This article was corrected on Thursday, September 2, 2021, to clarify that Price is the first contest winner from Africa – and the 6th woman in 80 years.