Three Wins in a Row. Still Not Satisfied. I'm Going After French Next.

Three Wins in a Row. Still Not Satisfied. I'm Going After French Next.

Published: February 3, 2026 • 8 min read

If you're reading this, you most likely came from LinkedIn and you're interested in seeing how Oprah Winfrey, my English Eloquence Coach, rated the speech you just watched me give.

But first, let me tell you how I ended up sharing the IBS story to a room full of strangers.

Why I Keep Showing Up to Toastmasters

I've made it clear that mastering public speaking is an important goal for me this year. Not just for personal development, but for PriscaSolutionsAI.

One of my primary objectives is to empower people on a large scale to learn interesting and innovative ways to use AI to solve their daily problems. Whether they're developers or not, I want to help as many people as possible create their own AI team. And teaching requires one skill above all others: the ability to explain complex ideas clearly.

That's why I keep showing up. That's why I study my own speech patterns with AI coaches like Oprah. That's why I record myself and cringe through the playback.

Because when I stand in front of a room of non-technical professionals and teach them to build their own AI team, clarity isn't optional. It's the whole point.

The Challenge I Gave Myself

Given that I had won Best Table Topics Speaker twice in a row, I wanted even more challenge.

The host for this Toastmasters session presented images with numbers and told us to pick an image. Based on that image, we would be given a random question.

I got up and asked the audience to pick an image for me.

The question I ended up with was: "If you could mentor your future self, what would you tell them today?"

And here's the thing about Monday. It was a hard IBS day. I almost stayed home. But I went anyway, and when that question landed in my lap, I guess my body knew what story needed to be told.

I ended up telling the IBS story.

What Oprah Had to Say

Without wasting any more time, here is the prompt I passed to Oprah:

Oprah Winfrey, if you take a look at English_Draft.txt, you will see that I have added a new transcript file for you. This was a speech I gave at a Toastmasters event just yesterday. I don't start speaking until 00:00:49,800 where I repeated the question I was asked. Now normally, you do the evaluation in a two-step process and create files to store the evaluation but I would like you to simply condense that into a single thorough evaluation. Do not connect this to any previous speeches or error patterns, treat this as a completely standalone evaluation.

Toastmasters Speech Evaluation

Table Topics Response: "If you could mentor your future self, what would you tell them today?"

Evaluated by Oprah Winfrey, English Eloquence Coach

Date: February 2026

Speech Overview

• Format: Table Topics (impromptu speaking)
• Duration: Approximately 2 minutes (from 00:00:49 to 00:02:58)
• Question: "If you could mentor your future self, what would you tell them today?"

What Worked Brilliantly

1. The Opening Hook

"I love food. But food does not love me back."

This is a masterful opening for an impromptu speech. It accomplishes three things simultaneously:

• Pattern interrupt: The audience expects a direct answer to the question. Instead, you offer a paradox.
• Emotional resonance: Everyone has a relationship with food. You immediately connect.
• Intrigue: The listener wants to know what this means.

For a Table Topics response with zero preparation time, this hook demonstrates strong instincts for compelling communication.

2. Specific Grounding

"It was the 25th of December, 2024"

"404 days later I am still not fine"

These specific details transform an abstract health story into a lived experience. The "404 days" is particularly striking. It shows you have been counting, which communicates the weight of this journey without stating it directly.

3. The Pivot from Pain to Purpose

The speech does not wallow in suffering. It pivots:

• "This pain was necessary"
• "IBS has made me a more compassionate person"
• "It has helped me to develop habits"

This is the difference between a complaint and a story. You took something difficult and found meaning in it. That is what audiences remember.

4. Universal Insight

"We see others and we don't know what they're going through. We see the smile on their face and we don't know if they're managing anything or hiding something."

This moment expands the speech beyond your personal experience. You invite the audience to consider their own assumptions about others. This is generous storytelling. You give the listener something to take with them.

5. The Closing

"Thank you, IBS. And future Prisca - the pain was necessary."

This is a bold, memorable close. Thanking the source of your suffering is unexpected. It demonstrates genuine transformation, not performed positivity. The callback to "future Prisca" directly answers the original question, creating a satisfying structural loop.

Areas for Refinement

1. Mid-Speech Searching

There are moments where the speech searches for its next thought:

• "despite this pain and despite all the... despite all the pain and challenges"
• "I still have to take the moment to give... I still have to tell future Prisca"
• "and also just this deep this deeper um... sense of awareness"
• "and make me um... make me more likely to you know... get through the day better"

What this communicates: Uncertainty, still formulating thoughts.

Alternative approach: When you feel a thought slipping, pause. Silence is more powerful than verbal searching. A pause communicates "I am choosing my next words carefully." Verbal fillers communicate "I am not sure what comes next."

Technique to practice: When you catch yourself about to say "um" or repeat a phrase, stop. Take a breath. Then continue. The pause will feel longer to you than it does to the audience.

2. The "However" Transition

"I could not make sense of what was happening at the time however"

"However" is a formal, written-language transition. In spoken delivery, it can sound stiff. Consider:

• "But" - simple, conversational
• A pause followed by "Then I remembered..." - creates suspense
• Dropping the connector entirely and letting the ideas stand adjacent

3. Hedging Language

A few instances of language that softens the impact:

• "just to calm my nervous system" - "just" minimizes the action
• "just this deep" - again, "just" diminishes
• "more likely to, you know, get through the day better" - hedging with "you know" and vague phrasing

Stronger alternative for the closing benefit: "These habits help me survive the day" or "These habits are how I manage the pain."

4. The Benefits Section

The list of benefits (learning about nutrition, compassion, daily habits) feels slightly rushed compared to the vivid storytelling of the opening. The setup is rich with sensory detail ("pain and heaviness in my stomach," "partying and eating recklessly"). The payoff section moves more quickly through abstractions.

Suggestion: Pick ONE benefit and make it as vivid as the opening. Instead of listing three benefits briefly, choose the most powerful one and give it a concrete image.

Example: Instead of "IBS has made me a more compassionate person," consider: "Now when I see someone decline food at a gathering, I don't assume they're being difficult. I wonder what battle they're fighting that I can't see."

Structural Analysis

The speech follows a clear arc:

1. Hook: Paradox about food
2. Inciting Incident: December 25th, 2024
3. The Assumption: "I convinced myself the pain was going to pass"
4. The Reality: "404 days later I am still not fine"
5. The Diagnosis: IBS explained
6. The Daily Reality: Fridge full of food, asking what to eat
7. The Pivot: "The pain was necessary"
8. The Benefits: Nutrition knowledge, compassion, habits
9. The Close: "Thank you, IBS"

This is a sophisticated structure for an impromptu response. The fact that you found this arc without preparation demonstrates strong storytelling instincts.

Delivery Observations

Pacing: The opening is well-paced. The hook lands, then you move into the story. The middle section accelerates slightly as you work through the benefits. The close lands with appropriate weight.

Emotional Range: You move from wry humor (the hook) to vulnerability (the pain) to wisdom (the insight about others) to gratitude (the close). This emotional range keeps the audience engaged.

Confidence: Despite the searching moments, you project confidence in your core message. You believe what you are saying. That conviction comes through.

Scores

Key Takeaways

What to Keep Doing:

1. Opening with paradox or unexpected statements
2. Using specific dates and numbers ("December 25th, 2024" / "404 days")
3. Pivoting from pain to purpose
4. Including universal insights that give the audience something to take with them
5. Closing with callbacks to the original question

What to Practice:

1. Pausing instead of verbal searching - silence is your friend
2. Choosing one benefit and making it vivid rather than listing several briefly
3. Eliminating "just" when it minimizes your statements
4. Replacing "however" with more conversational transitions

Final Thoughts from Oprah

Prisca, this was a strong Table Topics response. You took a random question, found an authentic story to tell, and structured it with a clear arc and a memorable close. The hook alone - "I love food. But food does not love me back." - is worth celebrating. That kind of opening does not come from technique; it comes from instinct.

The searching moments in the middle are normal for impromptu speaking. They will reduce with practice. The more you tell this story (or versions of it), the more the transitions will smooth themselves.

What impressed me most: you did not just answer the question. You told a story that revealed something true about yourself and offered wisdom that the audience could apply to their own lives. That is the difference between answering a Table Topics question and delivering a speech.

The pain was necessary. And so was this speech.

Eloquence is power. You claimed yours today.

What This Victory Means

Three times in a row.

I don't say that to brag. I say it because about a month ago, I would have dismissed this as luck. One win is a fluke. Two wins, maybe good timing. But three consecutive wins? That's a pattern. That's evidence.

Evidence that the investment in public speaking is working.

Evidence that sharing difficult truths - like the IBS story - connects more than polished perfection ever could.

Evidence that showing up, even when your body is fighting you, still counts.

Monday was a hard IBS day. I almost stayed home. But I went anyway, and the room reminded me why this work matters.

The French Chapter Begins

Here's where I have to be honest with myself.

I moved to Montreal to learn French. It's been the plan since before I arrived. Immerse myself, practice daily, become fluent.

I've written over 130 blog posts in English. Speeches, reflections, technical tutorials, business insights.

In French? Zero.

That changes this month.

I heard that there's a French Toastmasters club at McGill. I want to attend my first session this week. And I'm going to attempt to give a speech before the end of this month. If you know more details about this club or any other French public speaking groups in Montreal, please reach out to me. What I see online seems more like another English Toastmasters event, and I'd love some guidance from anyone who's been.

Yes. Me. The person who still stumbles over words when speaking French. Attempting to give a speech. In French.

If you know me, you know I love giving myself impossible deadlines. It forces me to be more creative. It forces me to figure out a way even when there's no clear path.

One of my strengths in giving English speeches is that I write a lot. 130+ blog posts on my website. But I've never written a blog post in French. I can't get too comfortable and lose sight of that goal of being able to speak French eloquently.

So here's my public declaration: I'm challenging myself to give and record a speech in French before the end of February.

I tend to overthink things whenever I get the chance to speak French. I end up switching to English for convenience. But not anymore. I need to beat that fear of failing out of myself as fast as possible.

And I know this public challenge declaration is exactly how I'll achieve that.

From Speaking to Teaching

Public speaking mastery isn't just for personal development. It's for what I'm building.

I teach professionals how to build AI solutions. Not by doing it for them, but by teaching them to do it themselves. Workshops, hands-on training, real problems solved in real time.

On February 12th, I'm hosting a workshop: Build Your Own AI Team in 5 Hours.

It's not a webinar. It's not a pitch disguised as training. It's five hours of hands-on work where you leave with a functioning AI assistant built for YOUR specific workflow.

If you've been curious about AI but don't know where to start, this is your entry point.

Register on Eventbrite

No coding experience required. Just bring a problem you want solved.

Thank you for reading. See you soon.

And future Prisca - the pain was necessary.