SPEAKER_00 0:12

Hi, my name's Brendan O'Sullivan, a Toastmaster from Brisbane, Australia. Welcome to my Toastmaster's World Tour podcast. Please join me as I travel virtually around the world and chat to Toastmasters from different countries and all walks of life. Let's explore! For this episode of Toastmasters World Tour, we travel virtually to Texas, USA, the Lone Star State, famous for cowboys, oil, and Tex Mechs, to chat to the 2024 Toastmasters World Champion of Public Speaking, Louisa Montalvo. Let's take a look at her Toastmasters journey, learn and be inspired.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

Hola, ¿cómo estás? I figured if you're starting with G'day, let me go ahead and start with Hola, ¿cómo estás?

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Muy bien, Ito.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

Ah, okay. Very good. Muy bien, gracias. How are you doing, Brandon?

SPEAKER_00 1:29

Yeah, very well, thanks. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Absolutely. Yes, I'm the uh second generation born here in the United States. My parents were born here in the U.S. My grandparents are from Mexico, which since I live right here close to the southern border, I am actually about 15 minutes away from the U.S.-Mexico border here in Texas. And born and raised here, went to high school, college here, and then I moved uh to Austin, Texas, which is about five hours north of where I am.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

And worked there at Abbott Laboratories for about 25 years, exactly to the day, if I recall. Because numbers are a thing for me. So yes, I started on a Friday the 13th and I retired on Friday, the Friday the 13th, 25 years later.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

So you're not superstitious thing.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

No, oh no, I love Friday the 13th. Absolutely love it. Um, so I did that and came, moved back home to spend more time with my mother.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

So I moved back here to the Rio Grande Valley and been here since I retired. I started getting into dog rescue by accident. Found out it's kind of my passion, which I absolutely love to do.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Wow. What did you study at uni?

SPEAKER_02 2:52

I went for two years. I went into mass communications and from there did not graduate, found out maybe college wasn't for me. Started working, moved up to go to work at Abbott Laboratories, and I retired from there at the age of 53, and I've been having a blast ever since.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Okay. And what did you do at Abbott Laboratories?

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Oh well, I worked, I started from the bottom rung and moved as high as I could. I wound up being in charge of the stock room for Abbott Laboratories. We made over 450 different kinds of IV intravenous bags, hospital bags. And it was a really good company to work for. And uh they judge more on seniority than than anything else, along with you know what you can accomplish, what you're able to accomplish. And luckily, probably about the 12th year in, I started getting promoted up and up the ladder. And I really enjoyed the company so much. So I wound up having one of the cushiest jobs, I thought, which was just uh dealing with the mechanics that were keeping the machines running, being able to run the stock room. So that was fun for me.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

Well, that's important. It's important to enjoy your work. Oh, yes. How did you get into the dog rescue?

SPEAKER_02 4:13

When I retired, moved down here, I got on Facebook, which was kind of popular back about 13 years ago, 15 years ago.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

And somebody had posted, it was a friend of a friend of a friend of mine that had posted, can anybody take care of a mama dog and her six puppies for about a month? And I thought, I can do that. And that just I wound up realizing that I can it's hard for me to say no. So before I knew it, about a year later, I had 89 dogs in my backyard, and I was fostering and taking care of the dogs for a rescue in New York. And then I started transporting the dogs up to New York, and I wound up driving up to New York City, which is a good 2,000 miles from where I am, and doing that about twice a month. And this was helping the dog population down here, and also giving dogs that otherwise would have been euthanized, giving them a home up in New York and New Jersey.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Wow, how kind of you. And you obviously don't do things by halves. That's that's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 5:21

Yes, uh, that was um I realized what an important you know, if somebody else is willing to help you take care of your problem and and just the dedication of all these volunteers that I wound up meeting along the way, because I did that for about dog rescue for about eight years, and you just learned so much and so many good people out there just wanting to help. And that to me was was what was important. And like I said, if they were willing to help us with the pandemic we have of homeless dogs down here in South Texas, I was willing to give as much as I could because they were doing the same, if not better.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

That's fabulous of you. When did you first join Toastmasters and what was your first club?

SPEAKER_02 6:13

So the first club was actually Abbott World-class speakers, because I was there working, and they said somebody came up to me and said, Hey, we're starting this club here. Would you like to join? And I said, Well, I can't because I'm working. They said, Well, you can come on your lunch hour, you get paid for it. They said, Oh, I'm there. So actually, my introduction to Toastmasters was when I was walking down the hallway to HR to fill out the permanent paperwork because I was a temporary hired as a temporary. I heard laughter coming from one of the rooms there in the HR building. I thought, well, people are at work, nobody should be laughing or having a good time. Something is awry here. See, something's wrong here. And I actually peeked into the little window, and what was actually going on was they were having a humorous contest. And I am competitive beyond competitive. And I thought, you know what, I want to know what's going on. And I walked in. Well, the sergeant at arms wouldn't let me in because it was a contest going on. And after the speaker sat down, I walked in. I said, What's going on? He said, This is a humorous contest. I said, Can I participate? He says, Ma'am, you have to be a member first. I went, Oh, okay. So I immediately joined. That was back in 1989. Competed for the four years I was in that club, and then they disbanded the club. And I think I made the a mistake of mine that I feel I made was I did not go looking for another Toastmaster Club, and I think I should have. So I took about a 20-some-year break and then rejoined in 2013 after I retired.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Abbott Laboratories is obviously a medical laboratory. And one of my friends who was an area director at the same time as myself, Fozy Daddy, she works at a medical laboratory and she started her own club. So it's interesting that you can have these corporate clubs, which people may not realize.

SPEAKER_02 8:14

Oh, yes, yes, yes. And you know, the corporations want you to improve and better yourself. So if they think that Toastmasters, which is a really great organization, will help you do that, they usually sponsor the club. So that's really good.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Yeah. They sort of get a sense of why you joined, you know, you didn't want to miss out, and it sounded like a bit of fun. But you know, then you've got to keep going, right? What sort of did you expect to get out of it by continuing on?

SPEAKER_02 8:45

You know that I don't think there was any end goal for me. I just wanted to compete because I'd love to compete. And for those that don't know about Toastmasters having that competition every year where it's worldwide now, I didn't know there was a competition that was worldwide. I was just taking the humorous competition to the district level, which is as high as you can go. And then somebody came up to me. In fact, it was my 95-year-old mentor, said, You need to look into the international contest they have every year that involves 150 countries and 33,000 participants. And I thought, okay, well, let's let's look at that. So I started, I started competing in the international contest. And about the seventh year, after losing over 44 contests, I thought, I thought, um, I think I'm good. I'm done. I'm I'm not gonna win. And she told my 95-year-old mentor told me, Well, it's because you're not having any fun, you're too serious, and and you just need to get up on stage and have a good time because people can see how tense you are and how serious you are about winning. And it doesn't look good. And I kind of got after her. I said, Wait, you've known for seven years why I wasn't winning, and you're just now tempting me. And and one thing I told her, I said, Phyllis, it's a contest, not a con fun. Okay, there's there's no fun in a contest, they're tempting me. And she said, just go have fun. So I said, you know what? I'm gonna go have fun. It's my last year anyway, that I'm gonna compete. And that's when I made it to second place on the world stage.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

So it was that's sorry, well, it was that that was 2019. Okay, yeah. So, yeah, I mean, there's that concept of transference, isn't there? If if you're sort of feeling tense, maybe the audience is, and if you're having fun, which really that's what the audience wants to feel, fun, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:47

But uh exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

I get that, and and you know, the fact that you joined what really got you hooked sounds like the the whole competition thing, and that's that's shone through the fact that you made it to as far as you can go. You know, you you've won in uh you know, I sorry in 2024, and you won at the world stage. So uh, you know, congratulations once again. That was thank you.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

Just thank you, thank you, I I realized somebody had notified me that in 2019 that I was the first Hispanic or Latina to make it to the top three. Okay, and and then I thought, okay, well, that's great. I'm happy with second. And I went to Puebla México, where they had invited me to be their keynote for their district conference. And one lady came up to me and told me, Well, you know, congratulations, but good luck on getting first. And I said, Wait, wait, I have to do this another seven years. I mean, aren't you happy with second? I'm happy with second. And she said, You know what, Luisa, if anybody can get first in the world, it would be you.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

And it made me kind of pause, and I thought, okay, well, maybe it's worth going after first place. So that's what I did. And I guess she was right because here I am.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Yeah, yeah, amazing. Let me just share with the audience a little story about how I first met you. I was coming to the 2024 International Convention to watch the World Championship of Public Speaking, and I was on a domestic flight into LA, and the at the start of the flight, the air hostess said, made an announcement, who's going to the Toastmasters World Convention? And like half the plane put their hand, it was just amazing. I was just so surprised that it was, you know, such a huge thing. And so I was sitting up the front, and there was a chap sitting sort of opposite me, and he'd put his hand up. So I then introduced myself and said, you know, I'm Brendan from Australia, and I'm off to support Colin Williams, you know, who was our club mate that we were supporting. And he told me about you then. He said, Well, I'm here to support Louisa Montalvo. And uh he was one of your clubmates, and told me a bit of your background story about how you'd been in this car accident and then you died basically, and you could, you know, you weren't going to walk again. I said, Oh my god, that's amazing. I've got to meet this woman. So, and I said to him, Look, you know, I'm here to support Colin, you know, my club mate. But when I'm not supporting Colin, I'm I'm team Louisa, you know. So I had to come up and say, Look, I'm rooting for you, I love your story. And and then, you know, because it's not just the story, it's your ability to tell it and your ability to deliver it, which was just, you know, blew everyone away and you know, well-deserved winner. Thank you. So so I met you before, just be you might not remember because you everyone's coming up to you, everyone wants to meet you. Uh, but uh, I did actually meet you before you won, and then then of course you won. But do you want to tell us a little bit about the experience of competing on the world stage and winning? I mean, that must have been an amazing feeling.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

It it was the beauty of it was since I had been on the world stage in 2019, it wasn't all brand new to me. I knew the competition was going to be fierce, and it was. And what a lot of people don't realize is in the semifinals, you have 28 of the best speakers in the world, according to Toastmasters International. And so everybody, those 28 participants, put their best speech forward at the semifinals because they want they want to get into the finals. They want to be one of the top eight in the world. So when you go and watch the finals, I know some people were thinking, well, I mean, it was a good speech. It wasn't a great speech that won or that that I witnessed, but if you would have seen the semifinal speech, that one was the one that was pure gold. And for me, it was I had an amazing semifinal speech and Toastmasters International. It used to be used to have to have three different speeches to make it all the way to the finals, and now you just have to have two. So once you once you finish at the semifinal level and you make it to the finals, you have to have a have you have to have a completely different speech. So the speech I gave at the final level was not the speech I had given two nights before at the semifinal level.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

What was the semifinal speech?

SPEAKER_02 15:15

So the semifinal speech was they actually have four different semifinals going on at the same time. So you couldn't watch all 28 speeches. You had to watch eight of the speeches, not uh 20 or eight of the speeches. So the final my semifinal speech was about, of course, uh a really good speech has a good story. Uh my motto is I'm gonna make you laugh, I'm gonna make you cry, and I'm gonna send you home with a message. And if you can put a personal story into that, that's just gold. My personal story was about me being in the sixth grade. I'm ready to sign up for band because I'm going to be a drummer because I loved the drums. And my band director told me I couldn't be a drummer because I was too short and because I was a girl. Uh too short because I couldn't carry the drum out onto the field. And I could since I was a girl, all their drummers were boys. And for I never challenged that because an adult tells you you can't do something. And back then, we said, okay, all right, accepted it and went on. And and at the age of 64, I wound up buying my first drum set, realizing my niece was playing drums, and if she was playing drums, how come I couldn't play drums? It's because I had allowed someone to tell me what I could and couldn't do. Yes, yeah, and that's basically what my story was about. The doctor said I wouldn't walk, and here, and you know, I pushed the chair out of the way on stage and I walked about three steps, and I said, watch me, you know. So it was kind of uh letting the audience know, don't let anybody tell you you can't do something, or rather, don't believe it. Always challenge it, always question it. And if you really want to do something after somebody tells you you can't, you'll do it.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

You'll fabulous message. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 17:19

That's that's a universal message, that's what it was. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

Yeah, yeah. And because it's sort of a general message, it's not very highly specific. We can all apply that to our own sort of circumstances. Exactly. The amazing thing was it was also what a great time to win because it was the 100-year anniversary of Toastmasters, so there was a sort of extra celebration going on. What a great year to win. What was the immediate aftermath like of winning?

SPEAKER_02 17:47

Well, of course, the self-doubt crept in about a minute before they announced the winners. I was on FaceTime Live. Not FaceTime, I was yes, FaceTime live with my best friend and my cousin, telling them I'm not going to win. I did a terrible job. I'll come back next year.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

Terrible job.

SPEAKER_02 18:07

Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, according to me, because you see, here's the thing. I had made three mistakes according to what my speech was supposed to be. The trick is, and my mother taught me that, is never tell the audience or show the audience you've made a mistake because chances are they don't know it. If you don't tell them I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that, or I'm sorry, I don't have a speech ready, but or I just put this together. So, in other words, don't make excuses and don't acknowledge that you're making mistakes. So I I realized when I was rolling down the ramp after the contest, after I'd just given my speech, I thought, well, Luisa, you'll have to be back next year. And so when I was talking to my friends on the phone, I said, Um, I did terrible, I'm gonna have to come back next year. It's okay. I've already got a speech ready that I can work on. And then they say third place and second place, and then they say first place, and they say my name. And, you know, all these years, Brandon, I have been battling with the judges thinking I should have won and I wouldn't win. So I was always disagreeing with the judges. And here they give me first place, and I'm still disagreeing with the judges thinking, are you sure? Wait, what are you did? You just see what I just said? Well, hang on. So it was it was euphoric, and even now, which is coming up on what a year and a half, two years after I've won, I'll be doing a Zoom or a podcast, and they'll announce me as the world champion. And it's it still is so unbelievable to me that I actually achieved that. And that's a beautiful thing, believe it or not. That is a beautiful thing. Uh with Toastmasters, once you're first, second, or third place, all the districts from around the world want you to grace their stage during their district conference. They want a keynote from you, they want a workshop from you, they want just your presence. So luckily, they're able to pay for your airfare and your hotel and your food. And and it's I've last year I was gone for six weeks, and it was it was awesome. I was traveling in Europe and Africa and India. It was amazing because I love to travel, just love to travel.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 20:38

And meeting new people, yes, meeting new people, and they're just Toastmasters is just one big happy family. I just need I just want to meet every member, and it's I'm on a quest.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

You're living the dream. It's funny what you said about how critical you were of your winning speech when you came off stage, and what it reminds me of is when I was running the speechcraft course, I was lucky enough to score an audition with a prestigious Shakespearean company, and I've not done any Shakespeare before. And you know, I had an audition, but I was so busy organizing the speechcraft that I was totally unprepared, so I didn't have time to rehearse properly. And when I went to this audition, of course, part way through I sort of lost my line, so it was completely obvious that I wasn't going to get through because you know you they know every word that you have to say, and there's no bluffing it or there's no sort of improvising, you've either got a down word pat or you've blown it. Whereas with delivering your own speech, and I learned this from one of my club mates, Jeff Roberts, many years ago. People don't know what so if you forget something to say, the audience generally won't know that. So don't beat yourself about it as long as things still work and sort of keep keep going. Just so yeah, what you see's 100% true, and that's that's fabulous advice, I think.

SPEAKER_02 21:58

And you know, the beautiful thing. Part of that was that I had two or three different people give me evaluations and they actually turned it into their little podcast or uh put a video on YouTube and they said, Oh, her use of pauses was brilliant. And I'm like, oh no, I was pausing because I couldn't remember my next line.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

I'm really good with the pauses.

SPEAKER_02 22:23

I'm really good with the pauses because I gotta remember the next line, but it was great. It was great. I absolutely loved it. It's uh gosh, it's so I know a lot of people, well, most people have the fear of public speaking, and I do not. In fact, the more people in the audience for me is better, is better. So I just I feed off of that.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

That's awesome to get to that level where it's not the fear is gone, it's replaced by sort of joy and excitement. I think the thing with the pause thing is body language would surely come into it. So you want to be a bit of a poker player at that point, not sort of uh scratching your head.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

Absolutely, absolutely, I agree. I concur.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

As I mentioned before, like in late September last year, I was organizing a speechcraft course for my fellow skin cancer lecturers. Three of the four had never done any Toastmasters before. So the first meeting was an introductory session. It made sense to me to have a demonstration speech so they could immediately see from the outset what a good speech was like. And I thought, who better to do such a speech than a world champion of public speaking? So I immediately thought of you, Louisa. Then I worked out what time it would be in your time zone in Texas when the meeting.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

It doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

To my tired to my horror, it was 1 a.m. And I thought to myself, oh no, I can't ask someone to come on at 1 a.m. That would be rude. Then I had an idea. I thought, what if she's a really, you know, a night owl? So I reached out to you and said, Hey Louisa, you don't happen to be an extreme night owl, do you? And to my delight, you said, Why, yes, I am. How come? And so I was amazed all the same that at 1 a.m. you were prepared to come on and help out with the demonstration speech. This is it just shows how generous and how giving someone like yourself is. It's you know, and I I truly appreciated that. What were your thoughts when when someone's asking you to come on at 1 a.m.?

SPEAKER_02 24:21

The beauty is I rather you ask me to speak at three in the morning than at nine in the morning because I am not a morning person.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 24:30

Another beautiful thing about it is that I realize now I think I am, and I have no problem with this. In fact, it's an honor. I am forever branded Toastmasters for the rest of my life. So if a club needs my support or thinks that my sheer presence and speech is going to help them get their club or their open house or their podcast or anything, if it's going to help them, I'm here. I like I said, luckily, I retired at the age of 53. So I've got a clean slate. Ask me what day and time you want me there. And if my calendar isn't booked on that day, I'm there.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

Yeah, that's that's just amazing. And you were mentioning about the dog rescue before, and that was the theme of the speech you gave, the demonstration speech you gave at my online speechcraft course. Did you want to tell us a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_02 25:27

Sure. Forgive me that I don't remember exactly what I said at your meeting, but eight years ago, I was in Toastmasters. I was in Toastmasters the last 13 years, but eight years ago when I started with the dog rescue, I recall the lady who was running the dog rescue in New York, New York. She said, you know, I'm coming up on my 10-year anniversary. We're having a big brunch,$100 a plate. I'm gonna have a few speakers. Do you and your little Toastmasters want to say anything about the dog rescue? And I said, sure, I would love to say something. And because I was basically the go-to person here in South Texas for her, I was able to share with the audience. There was probably about I don't know, three or four hundred people in attendance. And the really cool thing about it was as you went into the banquet room, you signed up with your cell phone number. And so after I gave my 15-minute heartwarming, tear-jerking, laughter-rolling speech about dog rescue and thanking everybody there for their support, they asked everybody, you're you've just been sent a link to your cell phone. If you'd like to donate, this is the time to donate. I believe she raised over a hundred thousand dollars. So absolutely. So to know that I possibly helped with that was such a good feeling because you can have a great organization, you can have a great cause, but if nobody one doesn't know about it, two doesn't know what your end goal is, and three, if you're not able to express it in such a way that will get people to want to help you, that was the beauty of a toast matters. I was able to combine my love of public speaking with my love of being able to help rescue dogs. So it was to me a perfect blend and fit, and it was just it was just amazing to have the outcome that we had.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

You you obviously kept into their emotions.

SPEAKER_02 28:02

Absolutely. And I had I had pictures of the dogs I'd saved, and there were I in fact I'm about to make one of my keynotes something with one of the dogs that I actually had saved, and how anybody can be a dog rescuer, anybody can save the life of a dog. You don't have to be a veterinarian, you don't have to be skilled or poised or anything, you just have to be able to want to take care of another animal. And we love animals so much because they love us unconditionally, unlike some humans. And so thank you, thank you. We don't have that much time on the podcast, but um yes, the the love that an animal, a pet gives you is unconditional. And if there's something wrong with us, we can always go to the doctor, or we can take vitamins, or we can watch what we eat. But but animals are at our mercy, most of them, and so that is why I feel it's a greater cause to help help an animal. But it was so beautiful to be able to merge the two.

SPEAKER_00 29:14

Yeah, that's a beautiful story, and it might I add a bonus story because I'm sorry, a lot of these questions are a little bit impromptu, and that wasn't the story that you gave in the demonstration speech. You talked what about one of your dogs that had gone missing, and you were looking for it in the middle of the night in the rain. That was Kelly.

SPEAKER_02 29:35

Yes, that was Kelly, yes, Kelly was a street dog, lived in Donna, Texas, off of the expressway, expressway 493, and and the expressway, and it took me five months to catch her. But every night I took her the fried chicken. In fact, my mom would go with me, and I think that's the one you're the story I must have shared. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

Yes, 100%.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

Yes, yes. Oh my gosh. And she was it took me five months. I finally caught her, and it was a crazy story on how I caught her. But somebody called me at two in the morning and said, Hey, that dog you've been trying to catch. I think she was just hit by a car. She's limping, she's there in the empty lot, and I jumped up and ran out there. And of course, it was pouring down rain, of course, it was. But you know, I took the fried chicken with me and I was able to bring her home. And she protected my backyard for seven years. She was such a great dog. But yeah, it was just she was homeless. They had picked up her brother, but they hadn't been able to catch her, and I didn't want her to stay on the streets. So, yep, it was an she's an amazing dog. And believe it or not, you know, it's interesting that you bring this up, Brandon, because before I had my accident, I had called Toastmasters International and said, if I'm competing on the world stage, am I allowed to take a puppy onto the state? And she said, I'll get back to you. And she called me back. She says, Yes, you can, but they cannot be the entire speech, can't be about the dog. I said, Oh, okay, sure. And I was actually gonna take uh a little puppy in the crate, but then I had the accident and I said, Okay, well, maybe I I'm supposed to give a deeper message, and and then that changed me from what I was going to say. But now when people ask for keynotes, thank you for reminding me about that story because I would love to share that story with with everybody. And of course, there's always a hidden message in anything and everything I say.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

Yeah, yeah. I think you should. I was gonna say, I I hope you get to do that, you know. Uh absolutely absolutely powerful speech and an emotive speech. And I don't think it's any accident that you know you go on social media and there's just you know, it's filled with pictures of dogs and cats because they really pull at the heartstrings, don't they? Mm-hmm. They do, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, yep. Will you compete again, Louisa, on the world stage?

SPEAKER_02 32:02

Believe it or not, Brendan, a lot of people don't know this, but once you have reached first place on the world stage, you're not allowed to compete again. I had a feeling that was the case. At the international level of the international speech, I can compete in the humorous contest, the tall tales, the evaluation contest. Okay, I can compete in those, but I can never compete in the international speech contest again, which is fine with me because my goodness, the competition was unreal. And you, what would be more heartbreaking than for you to compete and win and then try to go back and not win? Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 32:38

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go out in the high. That's great. Is that will you compete in any of those other three?

SPEAKER_02 32:45

Yes. Uh actually, I wanted to this year, but I'll be in San Diego, California on February 21st. And that's when they're having that's when my club is having the contest, so I'm not going to be able to compete this year, which is fine. I'll um that's okay. I'll I'll get them next year. I'll get them next year.

SPEAKER_00 33:06

Pardon the pardon, but yeah, competing interests.

SPEAKER_02 33:09

Oh yes, oh yes, yes. Love to compete. And and what I've learned, Brandon, and I wanted to share this with you and anybody else who is listening, is that you have to realize that anytime, and it's not just with a contest, anytime you're competing for something and you don't win, the mistake we all make is we take it personally. And we shouldn't do that because what I say is the judges are they already almost have in mind what they want to see and hear. So it's like going into a store and you've got a black pair of shoes, and you have a brown pair of shoes. They're the same style, they're the same size, they're the same maker, they're the same price. But that day you buy the brown pair because that's what you were wanting. Now, did the black pair, did the black pair do anything wrong? Didn't do a thing wrong. It just you weren't looking for a black pair that day. So I try to tell people when you lose, don't take it personally. And this is with any aspect in your life, it doesn't have to be a speech contest, it could be anything, you know, the relationship or the job or whatever it is. We take it personally, so don't do that. You know, you can cry, cry for five minutes, 10 minutes a week, that's fine, but pick yourself up, get going, and and do it again.

SPEAKER_00 34:31

Very wise, and I think that's the philosophy of a champion, really. That's why you got as far as you got, because you mentioned before you didn't win everything in your whole career, a bit like JK Rowling, but didn't you take it about 16 editors and you know got knocked back 15 times, and then it's one of the most successful books ever. So I think some real lessons there, isn't there? You know, never give up, and yeah, and I think Don't Take It Personally is an excellent message there.

SPEAKER_02 34:58

One thing I realized I was I was having to do was reinvent myself because whatever it was that I showed them in 2019 wasn't what they were looking for. So when I went back to the drawing board to do something, I so I started changing the style because I thought, okay, well, maybe this isn't going to work. What is it they're looking for? So I started coming up with different speeches, different styles. And it just happened to be that the one time that I thought it wasn't going to work, it worked.

SPEAKER_00 35:26

Yeah, well, that's it, isn't it? I think keep trying a bit, keep growing, and keep experimenting and yeah, reinvent yourself. That's the story of a champion, I think. And you are the champion, so taking notes here.

SPEAKER_02 35:40

Good, good, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 35:42

I saw that you recently spoke at an event titled 18 Steps to Write a Winning Speech with the 2024 World Champion of Public Speaking, Louisa Montalvo. Are you able to share a bit of some of that?

SPEAKER_02 35:56

Absolutely. Over the four years that I competed in 1989, and then the 13 years that I competed starting in 2013, there were little things that I realized uh any judge looks for. And if you want to write the winning speech, the 18 steps that I've put together, and there's really more than 18, but people say I need to write a book, so it's obviously going to be a part one and part two on the book that I'm on the books that I'm writing, but it's just tricks and tips that I've learned along the way that can help you become a better public speaker and be able to write the winning speech. One of the the I think it's step number 14 is when you walk on stage, are you exuding confidence? Are you walking with good posture? Are you smiling? Are you dressed properly? Did you brush your hair? Did you brush your teeth? Are your clothes ironed? Your shoes and socks match. Because I tell everybody that without you even knowing it, the judges, you haven't spoken a single word, but the judges are already judging you. So that's something that you can take control of that. And if you're competing, whatever if you're competing in the speech contest with Toastmasters, most of our speeches are five to seven minutes. So cut your speech down to six minutes so that you don't go overtime because you might forget part of it and then try to catch up and then get back on track. And just the year I competed, two people, two contestants had made it all the way. I can imagine practicing a speech for almost anywhere from half a year to a year, and getting really good at it, and getting up on stage, and then going over by three seconds and getting disqualified, which is what happened in 2024. If I'm I'm sure you remember, there were they said, excuse me, can the judges please meet out in the lobby? And gosh, about a hundred people stood up and walked out. And two people were disqualified for going overtime, and one person was disqualified for not following one of the rules in the rule book, which is cite your source. She failed to cite her source for the song she sang.

SPEAKER_01 38:19

Yes, I remember.

SPEAKER_02 38:21

And right off the bat, you've got three people that have been working a good part of their life, and then in an instant it's gone, and it and then it could have been avoided, and that's it. And and those are just two of the steps that I talk about. But there's 18 different steps that I put together that I think that if anybody's going to compete, it's worth going over and looking at and saying, okay, did I do this? Did I do this? And it's kind of just a checklist just to help you get to the world stage.

SPEAKER_00 38:51

That's awesome. Thank you so much for sharing that with us.

SPEAKER_02 38:54

Absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 38:56

So, how many clubs have you been a member of, Louisa?

SPEAKER_02 39:00

Well, there was the Abbott Labs, that was the first one. And then there are three clubs down here in the valley. And at one time I was a member of all three. And that was just basically helping them with their the population of the club. And then other clubs now from around the world saying, Oh, would you be our honorary member? Of course. I believe I'm a member of Mache. He's in Poland, Poznań, and I'm a member of his club because we became really close when I was in Poland visiting. And he said, Would you like to be a member of our club? And I'm a sure. I don't know how many meetings I can make, because his meeting coincides with or conflicts with one of the meetings I go to here locally. But whenever I can, I do try to attend one of his meetings. And other people have asked me, and I always say yes.

SPEAKER_00 39:52

So I'm just generous in giving.

SPEAKER_02 39:55

Well, I'm just here to help. And and you know what is it when it really doesn't take any effort on not that much effort on my part, I don't see why I wouldn't do it.

SPEAKER_00 40:05

So what I'm interested in is obviously Toastmasters has a set program, and this meetings are going to be somewhat standard around the world, but of course, each country is sitting there with its own native language and culture. And having visited clubs around the world, I'm wondering if you've noticed any differences between different club meetings or the experience in other countries.

SPEAKER_02 40:32

This may be shocking to you, Brandon, but every single country that I've visited, we're talking, I don't know, maybe just ten. It's not a lot because I know a lot of other speakers have visited more countries than I have. Every single district that I've been to, of course, when I was traveling, I was fearful of me going. One, I went by myself, two, I'm still in my wheelchair. Three, I don't know anybody where I'm going. I don't know anyone. They're just come and we'll take care of you. And that's exactly what every district did. They took care of me like I was their grandmother or their baby sister or their best friend. And that's to me what has been constant in every single district I've visited is Toastmasters, the family is just all the members are just so welcoming and just so kind. It's I don't know why we're the best kept secret, but we are. But we are.

SPEAKER_00 41:35

I love that. And brave of you to head out, but I'm glad that to hear that you were looked after so well.

SPEAKER_02 41:40

My gosh, yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 41:43

You're also the owner of The Need to Speak. Could you tell us a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_02 41:49

Well, actually, I will tell you right off the bat that I have fallen off the the I don't know how to say it, uh lost some drop the ball on that one, is more what I needed to say. But I started doing something, I started a company back, gosh, maybe 10 years ago. People were coming up to me and saying, Oh my gosh, you speak so well, and you should start a company and you should be offering your services. And I did, but I didn't really pursue it the way I should have. And now I believe it's uh what is it, the imposter syndrome, I believe, that we talk about where it was going, oh, oh yeah, you're great. And I'm like, no, I'm not so I I started that. I haven't actually gone full throttle on it. I think now maybe I will start to do that. So this is it's funny, I guess, how they say affirmations. You keep telling yourself, hey, maybe I can do this, I can do this, I can do this, and then before you know it, you're doing it. So thank you for reminding me that I need to pick up the pick up the ball on that. But it's it's it's something I would love to do. And I was just having a really good conversation with my roommate who I'm so blessed to have because she watches my dogs while I leave because I've got four dogs and she's got her three, and it's just a big party here all the time. But the one thing that she was telling me was we we it's it's so easy. She says, What is stopping you, or why aren't you doing what you could do? And I said, I don't know. She says, Well, what would be the reason you would do it? I said, You know, if you would have asked me a 15, 20 years ago, here's a million dollars, Louisa, what are you going to do with it? Oh, I would say, Oh my gosh, I'm gonna buy a big house, I'm gonna buy a really nice fancy car, gonna go shopping. And that was maybe 15, 20 years ago. Right now, if you were to offer me a million dollars, I would start my own spay and neuter clinic to get rid of the overpopulation we have here of dogs. So now I'm thinking, okay, if I write this. book or a few books or if I start my business then I can get this money and I can save dogs here in South Texas. And so that's that's kind of going to kind of going to be the the the reason that I I do anything if it's business wise or if I charge for keynote speeches. So that's the whole idea behind that.

SPEAKER_00 44:24

Sounds like your focus I mean most of us are are thinking those things houses, cars, what can I do to make my life better, but it sounds like your whole focus is turned around 180 degrees and to what can I give and what can I do to make a difference in the world. So that's a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_02 44:40

Thank you. Thank you. Anything else you'd like to share Louisa You know if if it was I don't want to say if it was easy because for me it kind of was easy for me to win the world champion because I had told myself well if I win I win I don't I don't if it takes me 20 years it takes me 20 years. I wasn't on this I've got to win I've got to do this so I would love for everyone to be able to experience what a beauty it is to have an organization back you the way Toastmasters International backs you because it is I don't know of any other organization that I can think of right now that is in it for the member. And and it's such a good script that the clubs follow and it's such a good I guess curriculum that you follow to actually become a better public speaker that I think this is what I love and I would love for everybody to experience some form of winning because it is it is so awesome. It is just you know it's and you know what you can win in the sh in the form of being a leader in Toastmaster because they've got programs for you to be a better leader and a better speaker and a better contestant and a better listener. So it's it's just different aspects. And I think that is just what's so beautiful about the organization. I wish everybody gets to experience something almost equivalent to what I experienced. That would be great.

SPEAKER_00 46:37

That's a fabulous message and and once again thinking of other people how much joy they can get out of it rather than yourself that's a beautiful thing. Well here we have it ladies and gentlemen we have the world champion of public speaking who still suffers from imposter syndrome so it just shows you that we're not imposters. We've all got to start at different levels and give things a crack I think and you never know where you'll end up I certainly don't see you as an imposter I see you are the best in the world and undeservedly so and as an audience member it was an amazing speech. So congratulations once again thank you so much for coming on the show it's been such an honour and such a pleasure thank you so much Brendan I appreciate it anytime.

SPEAKER_02 47:18

Whether it's one in the morning or three in the morning just call me okay sure okay thanks for listening to today's show.

SPEAKER_00 47:31

One of the key elements of Toastmasters is evaluations. This is how we grow and improve both by encouraging comments for things we got right and points for improvement. We all learn and benefit from these evaluations not just the person being evaluated so any feedback in the comments is greatly appreciated. If you have a Toastmasters story you'd like to share or would like to be on the show I'd love to hear from you. You can reach me at Toastmasters World Tour at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening to the