The session featured two exceptional young speakers. Claire Xiao is the 2025 Global Youth Champion of Public Speaking, the founder of Future Leaders Gavel Club, and the founder of a nonprofit organization called Courage Canvas which aims to empower youth worldwide through health awareness, communication, and artistic expression. She is also the North American Champion of Evaluation Speech and the North American runner-up in the Table Topic Speech Contest. Anjanna Arvind is the 2024 Global Youth Champion of Public Speaking, a homeschooled seventeen-year-old extremely interested in public speaking, debate and theater, and the co-founder and president of Lead the Future Gavel Club. She is driven by a vision to empower today’s youth and wishes to help young people become more confident and accomplished public speakers.

Both champions began by sharing their personal journeys into public speaking. Claire explained that her most memorable moment was not winning the global championship, but rather her very first contest in her Toastmasters Gavel Club, which was a speech evaluation contest. She admitted she did not prepare until the day of the contest and was very nervous, but she encouraged herself to stick through it and surprisingly won, which opened up new doors and made her realize all the special things about Toastmasters, including the friends and memories you can make along the way. Anjanna shared that she started her public speaking journey at just three years old, always loving the stage and the opportunity to share her voice through public speaking, debate, and theater. She recalled that when she was in fourth grade, she won her school’s Martin Luther King oral contest by advocating against cyber bullying, and that was the moment she realized that public speaking is not purely about speaking in front of people but rather a catalyst to make an impact and create change. Once that realization set in, she was hooked and continued to hone her skills.

When discussing the importance of Gavel Clubs, Claire emphasized that these clubs give youth something most schools do not: a place where your voice is treated as a skill, not just a personality trait. She shared that she was a very shy student herself, and for those who are shy or hesitant to speak, it is very hard to find an environment where you can cultivate public speaking skills. Gavel Clubs are highly structured, with speeches, table topics, and evaluations at every meeting, which allows you to practice consistently and drill the specific things you are struggling with. They also offer yearly contests that provide extra opportunities, and they nurture not just your ability to speak but your confidence and belief in yourself as a person. Anjanna added that Toastmasters has improved her communication and leadership skills significantly, and every meeting provides new opportunities to practice and grow. She highlighted that Gavel Clubs create a safe space where people from different backgrounds can find and share their voice in a nonjudgmental, warm, and positive environment, which has a huge influence on how you grow as a speaker. She also loves the advocacy aspect of the international speech contest, hearing speeches from around the world that advocate for what is most important to people. She shared a touching story about a young gavelier at her club who gave his first speech and his mother cried tears of joy, illustrating how impactful public speaking can be. She also emphasized the importance of paying it forward, which is why co-founding Lead the Future Gavel Club has been so rewarding.

On the topic of handling nervousness, Anjanna was very honest that there has never been a time when she has not been nervous before speaking, and even before this session she felt a little nervous. Rather than viewing nervousness as negative, she shifts her mindset to see it as something positive and channels it to enhance her performance, because she actually performs a little better when she is nervous. She also views nervousness as a sign that she cares about what she is presenting. Claire echoed this by saying that there has never been a moment when she has not felt nervous before a speech, which is why consistent practice is so important to alleviate that nervousness and improve confidence. She gave an example from her first speech tournament where she was very nervous and did not know how anything worked, but after getting feedback and practicing the same speech multiple times, she improved her delivery and connection with the audience, which not only helped her win future tournaments but also made her a much more confident communicator in classroom and meeting settings. She advised everyone to find ways to practice in day-to-day life, whether that is talking to a new stranger or speaking to a teacher you were scared to approach, because public speaking is like a muscle and the more you practice it, the easier it gets.

For writing a speech, Claire explained that behind every successful speaker is a tedious writing process, and she emphasized that a personal story is a key component because it connects you with the audience. Before writing, you should think about personal stories, such as what you have been struggling with, what you have been worrying about, or experiences that have taught you something new. After choosing a story, you need to extract the insight or lesson from it and then think of an outline with an introduction, a body where you tell your story, and a call to action, which is the message you want the audience to take away and what you want them to do. She noted that if you are preparing for a contest, you should look at the judging rubric with criteria like delivery and content to guide your preparation. For choosing a topic, Claire advised thinking about what you enjoy speaking about and what is relatable to your audience, especially if your audience includes adult judges. She recommended avoiding purely informational topics with too many technical terms because the audience might find it hard to relate emotionally. Instead, you should draw from personal experiences, lessons learned, or moments when you felt emotional, and see if you can form a single message or tagline to repeat throughout your speech. Anjanna added that for her world championship speech advocating against violence against women, she chose that topic because she had a personal connection to it and it had the power to be a universal message that could go beyond borders. She did not want to just stick with vulnerability but use it as a catalyst for advocacy on a broader scale, turning moments of vulnerability into something more powerful and impactful.

When asked about her proudest moments, Anjanna named two. First, winning the 2024 Global Championship was incredibly meaningful, but not just the winning itself, rather the whole process. She shared that right before her club level contest she got incredibly sick and could not even say her speech once at home without breaking into a cough, yet she went to the contest and miraculously everything went well, which taught her that perseverance matters. Reaching so many people across the world with her story and message on that final global platform was incredibly impactful and gave her more visibility and opportunities to advocate for youth. Second, co-founding Lead the Future Gavel Club was rewarding because Gavel Clubs had such a huge impact on her life, and getting to give back and mentor the next generation of communicators was very meaningful.

For body language and gestures, Claire suggested watching successful speakers and analyzing how their movements make you feel as an audience member, then incorporating what you learn into your own speeches. She also strongly recommended recording yourself, because there is often a gap between what you think you are doing and what the audience actually sees. By recording yourself, you can notice whether you are doing too many gestures, too few, or if they are not impactful enough, which helps you become more intentional and confident with your movements.

Regarding the mindset of a champion, Claire said that one of the most important qualities a speaker must have is confidence and belief in yourself. She explained that every successful speaker may not have started from confident roots, but they learned that confidence is crucial because if you yourself do not believe in your message, the audience will not either. Anjanna added that throughout her journey, she improved by getting feedback and practicing constantly, focusing on little details like movements and hand motions, and shifting her mindset to make her speech global rather than just for one region. She also noted that her next public speaking goal is to continue her advocacy efforts, reach more youth, and help others grow into their own style of orators on both local and international scales. Anjanna also shared that if she were to give a TED talk, it would be about the power of introverts, because there is a common misconception that introverts are not good public speakers, and she herself is an introvert who wants to break that stereotype and show that introverts can be equally gifted public speakers.

Finally, both champions reiterated that public speaking is a skill, not something you are born with, and they encouraged everyone to never lose their morale after a bad speech because every attempt is an opportunity to learn and grow. Anjanna stressed that public speaking is not an overnight success but something you need to invest in consistently, and she emphasized taking every opportunity that presents itself, whether it is volunteering for a meeting role, speaking at a club meeting, or participating in a contest. She said that with consistency and practice, you will see an effect on your skills, and she promised that if you keep working at it and never give up, you will improve as an orator. Claire added that your future self will be so grateful to your younger self for learning these skills, because public speaking teaches you how to express yourself clearly and confidently, which will help you in future careers when you need to talk to bosses, give presentations, and lead teams. She encouraged everyone to continue pushing themselves because they have great potential and public speaking can open so many new doors and teach you so many new things about who you are as a person.