Creative Competition in Radiosport and Toastmasters Part-7: Content - It's ALL About Content

In Toastmasters speech contests, speech content is of course what it's all about.  Then again, every speech needs a beginning and an ending to the content.  Many would-be speech contest winners do not grasp the importance of a connective speech title.  I remind members of my Toastmasters club (the Alameda Tongue Twisters) "Your Speech Title is your Calling Card - it should connect with me and Grab Me".

If you can work your speech title into the speech content, so much the better.  To win this year's District-57: Division-A contest, I referenced the speech title 3 times; the 3rd time serving as a dramatic bridge to the end-segment of the speech.  Ramona J. Smith won the 2018 World Championship of Speaking with a 2-word speech title: "Still Standing".  Not only did she work the title in throughout the speech she motivated us to say it at the end.  Darren Tay won the 2016 event with a speech entitled "Outsmart and Outlast".  In some way, the speech content should link back to the speech title; unless of course, the content has been designed to purposely contrast with the speech title.

The use of "props", properly done, can add extra dimension to the speech.  Darren Tay pulled out a pair of blazingly white Kalvin Kline underwear and wore it over his 3-piece suit; Ramona Smith came out boxing.  In this year's Division-A contest, my competitor Joseph Stegner smashed several filled wine glasses, adding an element of surprise to the speech; something that can be quite effective. 
I held up a "No BULLYING" sign and ended my speech opening my shirt to reveal a pink "Stop Bullying" t-Shirt.

Content is just as important in radiosport contests but in a different way.  Contest exchanges are meant to be short, direct and succinct.  In Ssb contests, when you speak your callsign, it should be said SLOWLY and SUCCINCTLY.  Like a speech title, your callsign is your calling card.  You should recite it proudly EVERY time you use it.  Foreign stations for whom English is not their primary language should rehearse saying their callsign succinctly and then even capture it in a digital voice keyer, to be replayed the same way every time.  If we can't understand your callsign, we will log it incorrectly and you won't get proper credit for the contact.

With Cw, while it's effective to run at a reasonably quick speed, 38+ wpm is NoT the way to go about it.  As a single-OP, 24wpm is my preferred operating speed.  When running as NX6T, I am encouraged to step it up to 28wpm.  In either case, if a station calls in at less than 20wpm, I SLOW DOWN to match their speed, make the contact exchange and then return to my "normal" operating speed.  While rapid exchange is important, information accuracy is crucial; incorrect exchanges DING these QSOs.

In RTTY radiosport contests, I find it more effective to use lengthier yet succinct exchanges.  Remember that it takes operators a few seconds to tune you in to decode your CQ call properly.  A typical call for me is something like "CQ RTTY RU Test WQ6X - WQ6X   CQ".  If a RTTY contest requires a 599 response, I use "5NN" instead, which separates it from numbers sent afterwards.  If I can't decode your call, I have a button specially programmed to send "UR Callsign Agn?".  While a bit verbose, it guarantees the station understands what I am looking for.  If I JUST send "CL?",  Those 3 letters could be easily garbled on the other end.

No matter what kind of competition you engage in, if the content is lacking, the likelihood of success will reflect that lack.  Content is continuously critical - carry it correctly and you can catch the continuous wave of creative accomplishment.  How does content figure into your creativity quota?