你想走入英语演讲的奇妙世界，并在这里拓展人生吗？

你想与国内最棒的英语演讲者交流，组建自己的社交圈吗？

你想表达自己的观点，畅所欲言碰撞年轻激情吗？

来参加 外研社•英语演讲沙龙

        2014年，外研社主办全国英语演讲大赛已逾12年。12年里，大赛探讨了成百上千个话题，上百位专家学者与选手对话，而获奖选手也走过了世界许多的地方。但大赛的收获与积淀并不止于此，因为曾经参与过大赛的学生数量已经上百万计，而因大赛结缘的精英学子也散布在世界各国各地。为此，主办方特别组织举办“英语演讲沙龙”活动，一为大赛精神延续，关注时事，启发思考；二为集结演讲同好，交流思想，巩固友谊。

        新学期伊始，“外研社•英语演讲沙龙”隆重推出第一期。本期沙龙活动的讨论主题为：“Why do we attend speech competitions？”在参加比赛之前，你是否考虑过这个问题呢？

        本期沙龙中，主办方特邀三位往届优秀选手作为主持，与大家共同讨论这个话题。他们是

2009 “CCTV杯”全国英语演讲大赛一等奖获得者 李亿	2012“外研社杯”全国英语演讲大赛冠军 刘姝然	2013“外研社杯”全国英语演讲大赛一等奖、写作大赛亚军 鲍天宇

针对这一话题，主持人已经率先提出了他们的观点：

李亿：As a retired contestant, this question really recalls my years’ memory on my journey of public speaking.

I joined the contest simply because I just wanted to have a try six years ago. You will never know until try. I was always willing to try and fail and try again no matter how crazy it may sound to other people, no matter how and what anyone else thinks. Public speaking is a brilliant platform for me to discover my potential and test my persistence.

Which brings me another reason is I intend to improve myself by public speaking. How many times you heard you can’t make it and it has never been done before? I love someone says no one has never done this before because when I do it then I will be the first one that has done it. I always listen to myself and say yes you can.

And most importantly, because of my passion, I am passionate about public speaking, I enjoy the moment when I am on the stage and it allows me to inspire the people, to change their minds and to encourage them to make a difference. And as a consequence I make an impact. You have to think outside of the box. After all, what is the point of being on this earth if all you want to be is liked by everyone and has nothing original.

I know people say the distinction between the stage life and normal life, but for me only when I do public speaking on the stage could I discover the real myself. In a word, I speak not for the award I want, but for the man I want to be.

I love public peaking not because what it is, but because who I am when I do it.

And ladies and gentlemen, you are not what you speak, you speak who you are.

刘姝然：I believe there are always three clandestine personalities living in every experienced speaker´s heart: the capability of moving the audience, like music does, now he is Mozart; the capacity of persuading the people, like the ancient greek politician does, now he is Cicero; the dangerous gift of brainwashing the public with an overwhelming conviction, like the fascist and militarist, and now he is Hitler. In a word, he has a strong eagerness of influencing people.

But as young and inexperienced as we are, we all harbor a strong desire of building and enriching our mind and will . We step on stage, in order to explore and encounter a better self, because we can never know our true potential unless the destiny and situation has pushed us that far, and squeezed every essence of our wit and valor. This is our Savage Garden, our aesthetic aspiration, our rendezvous with the soul.

鲍天宇：If you want a simple answer to this question, I would say that my living conditions in college are unimaginably low, and this is the only time of the year when I can enjoy comfortable hotels, cozy beds and great food. If you want something further, I would say an English speech competition is the paradise for boys, for girls takes up most of the participants.

However, when I make a deep reflection on my experiences in FLTRP and other speech contests, I am surprised that cannot find a direct answer to this question at first. 6 months ago, I decided to take the first step on the path of FLTRP competition simply because it is a competition. I can get what I get in every competition, namely making new friends with my tough competitors. But even on this level, I believe it’s worth it, for such friendships are actually changing the route of my college life in a positive way. They recommend more competitions and more opportunities to meet even higher achievers and it is a continuous process for resources to be gathered around these high achievers. This is the Mathew Effect.

It is when I step further that I discovered a new world in speech competitions. For the first time, I knew that public speaking can also be a sophisticated subject, with plenty of experts working on it even for their life. Before, I could only feel enjoyment or inspiration from others’ speaking styles, but now I try to understand why they adopt such styles and make basic analyses on the essence behind their styles. It’s a wonderful world awaiting me.

It is also at that time that I realized that what I learned is rather limited. For every impromptu speech, there is a desperate need for numerous quotations, examples and facts. It is the real time for our knowledge to be utilized and connected to our thoughts and minds. Also, speech competitions prove to be the catalyst for me to learn more. Lots of students say that we can be excellent learners only when driven by competitions.

Therefore, the beauty inside a new world of public speaking, the opportunity to learn more and utilize my knowledge, as well as the connection and friendships for distinguished minds are the reasons why I still have the desire to participate in speech competitions.   

      “外研社•英语演讲沙龙”将采取在线互动的方式，欢迎广大在校学生与英语演讲爱好者参加。参与者将获得与历届优秀选手网络、见面交流的机会，拓展知识视野、探讨演讲技巧、结交演讲好友，并有机会获得演讲资料与神秘礼品。

参与方式：

方式1. 申请加入英语演讲沙龙qq群，群号为222380123，注明参加意愿、个人姓名、院校

方式2. 加关注并@大赛官方微博“外研社杯英语演讲大赛（http://weibo.com/espeaking）”，发私信或留言说明参加意愿，请留言中注明个人姓名、院校和qq号，通过审核后，管理员将添加你到qq群

方式3. 特定时间（稍后公布），大赛官方qq群，三位主持人将等你到来！

参与要求：

1. 广大在校学生与英语演讲爱好者

2. 在线发言中围绕主题进行讨论，可以有备而来（准备提纲、视频或音频）；可以现场即兴发挥

3. 鼓励大家有备而来，像三位主持人一样有理有据，发表观点、阐释独特见解；主办方将在发言中择优进行奖励，并在其中选择表现优秀者邀请进行线下见面活动等

特别奖项：

1. 意见领袖：提出的观点引发最多回复的

2. 水军提督：回复数量最多的

3. 民间高手：评论形式或内容最新颖的

4. 交通协管：转发次数最多的

特别奖获得者将有神秘奖励奉送，并通告展示

后续活动：

1. 所有参与者发言将被保存，从中择优刊发在网站，并制作成电子书发给所有参与者

2. 将定期对优秀发言集结出版，以个性化方式设计印刷

3. 将举办线下沙龙活动，外研社邀请主持人与部分踊跃参与者面对面交流

      话题每周总结一次，3月份整月跟进，欢迎不同风格、不同形式来鸿，大赛官网将以新闻形式追踪报道沙龙活动最新进展，你准备好了吗？快来在新学期一开始就加入英语演讲的队伍、锻炼提高自己吧！

更多详细内容，请登录演讲大赛官方网站：www.espeaking.org