Ep. 271 2024 WORLD CHAMPION OF PUBLIC SPEAKING LUISA MONTALVO

Hey there, Mark Brown, as you and I joke a lot, we have been put out to pasture.

Yes, sir. We're old, we're ancient. I'm a has been.

There are people who are in Toastmasters now who aren't. Weren't even born when you and I won.

That's scary.

Well, we have the privilege today of sitting down with the reigning world champion of public speaking. Oh, my goodness. Let's just dive in.

Anyone can give a presentation. Few deliver unforgettable presentations. What's the difference? You're about to find out. Welcome to the Unforgettable Presentations Podcast with your hosts, world champion speakers and coaches, Mark Brown.

Mark Brown, your life tells a story and there's someone out there who needs to hear it.

And Darren Lacroix. And Darren Lacroix.

Stage time. Stage time. Stage time. Time.

Ready for some powerful presentation, Ahas? Let's dive right in.

And Mark, there's only one way to bring her on. More applause. Hey, champs.

Welcome champion luisa Montalvo, the 2024 world champion of public speaking. Hola, Louisa.

Hola. Hola. Hello, Mark Brown. Hello, John Croy. Lacroix.

Nice. So thankful to have you on with us. Oh, my goodness. Wow, What a story. What a story. Mark, I'm going to let you lead.

Oh, wow.

Okay, cool. First of all, Luisa, how are you feeling now? We're about two months past the World Championship. How are you feeling? Are you still floating in a wheelchair in the sky or what's happening here?

Actually, that's exactly it. It's still euphoric, it's still surreal, and I can't explain it. I was telling somebody recently, I said, even if I were to get dementia or Alzheimer's, I'll never forget the moment that they mentioned my name. So it's been that amazing, that wonderful. I just love it. Absolutely love it.

You know, on social media, I've seen images and promotional posters of Louisa's coming to the podcast or she's coming to the meeting. And you're being called upon to deliver so many presentations now. And that's not to be unexpected for a world champion, but I want to go back to get some of the backstory about Luisa Montalvo and Toastmasters. What led you to Toastmasters to begin with? How long ago was that? And when did the contest become an idea in your head?

Great questions, all of those. In fact, I just recently did a presentation for my district in Toastmasters, District 55. And I started right off the bat telling them, because it was right after I had been named World Champ. And I got up there and I said, you know, I'm mad at all of you. And oh, my gosh. They were like, well, what did we do wrong? I said, you haven't been inviting me. Oh, but now that I win a little trophy, I said, I was the same person I was six months ago, but now everybody wants to listen.

The power of Lucite.

So I shared my story with how I started in Toastmasters, which was back in 1989. I just started working for Abbott Labs there in Austin, Texas. I was hired as a temporary, and three months later, they're asking me to go down to HR to sign paperwork so I can become a permanent employee. And I'm walking down the hallway to hr, which is always a scary thought, and I hear laughter coming from a room. And I'm thinking, okay, people at work. Why are people laughing? Nobody should be happy at work. And I remember looking into the little window of the door where all the laughter was coming from, and there was a gentleman at the front of the room, and it looked like he was giving a speech. And I put my ear to the. To the door and I heard his jokes. And instinctively I told myself, luisa, you're funnier than that. And of course, the sergeant, they were. I didn't know it at the time, they were having a contest. So the sergeant at arms wouldn't open the door for me until after he finished speaking, right? And then I opened the door and I asked the gentleman, I said, what is going on? Looks like fun. He says, oh, we're having a Toastmaster humorous contest. And I said, ooh, can I compete right now? And he says, ma', am, you have to be a member. So I immediately signed up. I was with that club for three years till they disband, and then I didn't look for another club, which I feel really probably was not a good thing to do. I should have continued with ToastMasters, but in 2013, when I moved back here to South Texas, I ran to the library to do some Internet stuff, since I just moved here, didn't have Internet yet. There was that big yellow sign on the door that said, join Toastmasters. Oh, yes, I've got to do that again. And that sign was put up there by my 94 year old mentor, Phyllis Allen, who actually came down to South Texas and was just vacationing with her husband. She's from Des Moines, Iowa. And she said, oh, I'm just going to go visit a couple of Toastmaster clubs while I'm down there. And then found out there were no Toastmasters. Oh, wow. So she started. She chartered five clubs down here.

Wow.

And that's why she's my mentor, my overall best Toastmaster ever. And she's the one that's been kind of guiding me and telling me, you should compete, you should do this, you should do that. And so I just listened to her and do whatever she tells me to do. And she's. She's been right on the money ever since. So that's. That's where I am. And I'm here today because of her.

That's so interesting, because a 20 year gap occurs in your life. 89 for 35 years ago, which, as Darren said earlier, is longer than some Toastmasters now have been alive. And you do it a few years, and then 20 years goes by, all of a sudden you go back to it and your mentor says, do this, do this, instructs you, guides you. And because you listen to your mentor, you find yourself competing in contests. Now, you went back in 2013. Did you begin to compete right away or you just did it? You did right away, right away.

Because I'm competitive in anything and everything I do. You know, if somebody folds laundry, you know what, I can fold it better and faster and easier and with style and grace, all that good stuff.

I have some laundry here if you want to come practice.

And hey, send me the address. I'm on it. I love doing all that, anything, anything where I think I can, I can excel or improve or do it better or faster. But in 2013, just to let you know, the goal I set for myself was I was going to win first place in Humorous Table Topics, Evaluation and International in the same year.

How did that work out for you?

It hasn't worked out. And now, because I can't go back after winning International, but you know what? I have exceeded and excelled where I wanted to. I did with humorous. I did great. And that's probably my love is humorous topics, humorous speeches, but this is actually a cherry on top to where it's allowed me to forgive myself for not being able to complete my past dream. And I'm living this dream right now, so that's wonderful.

I want to jump quickly back to what you said, since I can't compete anymore. We may have listeners who may not understand that last comment, but in a Toastmasters competition, the International Speech Contest, once you win, you never compete again. Now, quickly, I want to jump in here and address our listeners. Viewers, you may think to yourself, I'm not really that concerned about Toastmasters. I want to be a pro Will this call, will this interview be for me? The answer is yes, yes and yes. And you'll find out why. So trust us. Hang in with us, because you're going to learn some principles about speaking and about life, about winning, about losing, and about how you can excel and be unforgettable. Now I've teed Louisa up. Darren hasn't really asked a question yet. I'm going to ask one more question, which she will respond to. I'll take a breath and let Darren take over. Question for you stems from my knowing, Louisa, that this victory in August of 2024 was not your first time on the big stage, because you were on the big stage five years ago, pre pandemic, and you also won a trophy. Please tell us about that journey and how it informed this journey before I turned control over to Darren.

Thank you so much. Mark. Correct. 2019. I had competed the last seven years, and I had told my mentor, Phyllis Allen. I said, if I don't make it out of district this year, 2019, I'm done. I'm not doing this anymore. When people tell you no seven times, okay, you know what? Maybe I need to do something else or I need to shift my perspective. So she. She told me, she said, the reason you're not winning, I know why you're not winning. And I looked at her and I said, wait, you're telling me this seven years later? You couldn't have told me this years ago? And she says, well, you're just so, so focused and so serious, and you're not having fun. And I went, wait a minute, Phyllis. There's no fun in contest. It's con or test. You know, it's a test to see if I'm gonna win. It's not a. It's not a con. Fun. It's a test. So she said, well, you know what? You really should just have fun. And I thought, okay, you know what? I'm gonna have fun this year. And I went up there with the attitude. I was having fun. This is my last year. It was gonna be great. And then I won district, and then I won region, and then I'm in the semifinals, and I'm like, oh, my gosh, why didn't you tell me this before? So I was actually having fun. I got on the world stage, and I remember looking it up, because when I made region, I was proud that I was in the top 144 speakers in the world. And then it went on to semis. I said, oh, I'm one of the top 28. And then I got to the finals and said, wow. Wait, wait, is this really. I had to pinch myself. I'm one of the top eight. Wow. And so when I got up there, one second, I went, in fact, I want to write a book. And I know the title is going to be who Keeps Putting Icing on My Cake? It's just, you know, it's just so many great things that just keep happening. So something just keeps putting icing on my cake. And that's. It's just. It was surreal and I loved it. Then five years later, here I am.

And for context, you said, Wow. 144, 28, 8. We understand now, on average, about 35,000 people globally enter this contest every year. And you were second in the last contest, the last live contest. Pre pandemic, you were second. And we came back live, and we end up in 2014. So just since you've gotten so close, there's a gap between 19 and 14. There's a virtual. And then we went live in Nashville, live again in the Bahamas, and live this past. This past conference in the USA. So the question I have is, between 19 and 24, were you still competing every single year, virtually. And live.

2020, I competed. I can't recall the logistics of it. 2021, I had started to compete. I was going to be in the area contest, and I was in the car accident. And as much as I wanted to, I was in a coma. So it made it difficult for me to remember my lines.

I thought you were competitive. What's going on?

Slacker Details.

A coma.

I've heard all the excuses now. Mark.

Yeah.

You know what? It is what it is. 2022, I. I didn't compete. I had another rough year. I lost my life partner. 2023, I started. I started to think about it and didn't pursue it. And then 2024, I said, it's time to shake it all off and. And go for it. And I. And that's. And that's why I'm here today. It's. It's just been a rocky last five years, all learning, all growing, and. And it's been an experience. So I was really upset with my God back in 2019 for not allowing me to win. And I said, you know what? I know you have a reason for not letting me win. I don't know what it is. I don't understand it. And then right after that, Covid hit, and Aaron Beverly had been asked to tour the world, and I felt so bad for him because we Weren't nobody was able to go anywhere. And I said, oh, that's the reason. And I even called him up. I said, aaron, I'm really sorry you're not going to be able to go anywhere because of COVID He said, Louisa, back in 2016, when I came in second, I was able to tour the world, so I'm okay with it. And I went, wow, great attitude. I absolutely love that about. About him. So I was really relieved. And, and then after that happened, I said, okay, I. I understand now why that happened. And, and so now here I am, 2024, and I'm ready to travel the world and I'll be in Europe for about a month in May. And I'm so excited about that. It's just. Love it, love it. Wow.

So I love the fact that just one simple piece of advice. You're not having fun. Sounds like was a game changer for you, literally changed the game. And I don't know if you know part of my story, but the night before the World Championship, one of my coaches, my other coach, I had Mark and another gentleman named Dave McElhenney. And he said, darren, you're not having fun. And I was just like you, very intense, like, I gotta do everything. I gotta go over my speech. And he said, darren, you gotta remember to have fun. So I wrote myself a note the one hour before the contest. Darren wrote, the five minute before the contest, darren, remember to have fun. Literally, a piece of paper, I put it in my pocket. And then five minutes before, Larry Lanz is up on stage getting tons of laughs. And I'm like, oh, I was supposed to remember something, I pull it out and I said, remember to have fun. And my whole body changed other than that, which is huge, obviously. What lessons did you learn from the year you came in second that maybe helped you in 2024 or any. Any lessons you learned along the way in 2019?

I've been told I'm the most happy, go, lucky person. And I am. Hey, this happened. Okay? No big deal. This happened. Okay, that's fine. And I think after I'd had these little three setbacks along with my mom passing, it just put a different outlook on me that I didn't know I even had within me. So when you start to reflect on different things, I almost, out of respect, didn't think it would be appropriate for me to come back and have more humor like I did in 2019. I thought, you know what? I want to give the world something now that this is a fresh perspective on me. Right now, let me see if I can. If I can do anything with this. Because you're sitting there and you're. I'm questioning my value. I'm like, I can't even walk. What. What I felt. What good was I here on Earth if I can't walk? Because you talk about something slowing you down. It used to take me five seconds to get from my front porch to my car to leave, and here it was taking 20 minutes. And when, you know, you can be. I can be patient with anybody in the world except myself. And I think sometimes we're not patient with ourselves. And I kind of needed the end goal, like, okay. So then it became okay, in six months, you're going to be able to get from your front door to your car in two minutes instead of 20. And so I started making goals for myself and just going and going and going. And I remember before my mom passed, even though she probably was not cognizant of what I was telling her, I said, mom, if I win this year, I'm walking to receive my trophy. I'm not going to be in a wheelchair or my crutches because I worked for this 13 years. And so I'm walking towards my trophy, and that's exactly what I did. So to me, setting goals made it so different this year, because back in 2019, I was like, hey, I'm here for the ride. If I make it, I make it. If I don't, I don't.

Nice.

And in 2024, I was like, out of my way. That trophy's mine. So it was. It was a more focused, I think, more focused ride this year than it was in 2019.

And looking at your speech itself, the development of the winning speech, what are some of the adjustments you made? Or tell us a little bit about the process of honing it. Because a lot of people, they have speech 1.0, but they don't necessarily know how to go to 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, etc. So what advice would you give? Or what. What was your process?

I had started writing the speech probably about four months ago, after I was able to reflect on everything. And, you know, you start with. I started describing the accident. Then I went, oh, no, that's. That's too much. Nobody wants to hear about blood and guts and broken bones. And so it's really fascinating the way you can start thinking, this is what I'm going to say. And then four months later, six months later, you've got an entirely different speech. And in all honesty, I didn't like the speech. I actually. Saturday morning, the day of competition, at seven in the morning, when we're all rehearsing the stage and the microphones, I asked the contest chair, I said, can I change my title? Because I was ready to give a different speech. And she said, I'm sorry, all your power slides say 37 strangers, so you can give a different speech, but it's. Your title's still going to be up there. So I went back to my room, my hotel room, and I said, you know what, Luisa? You're such a hypocrite, because Thursday you're giving a speech telling people, hey, don't listen to when people tell you you can't do stuff. You go out there and do it. And I thought, okay, listen to yourself. You can either tell yourself this is the best speech you're ever going to give, or this is the worst speech you've ever given. And I totally made a mental mind adjustment. And I just started going and going and going over and over and over, making last minute adjustments. And then when I get on stage, I forgot two of the most important parts of the speech. Speech. So when I rolled off down that ramp, I went, well, Luisa, you'll. You'll be back next year. That's all I can say because I did not think I had the winning speech. And I guess because with me ideas, I don't even know where I get the ideas. And I thought, man, I want to have somebody come up and put the paddles on me like they're reviving me. And I said, well, Luisa, you. You can't have anybody. This is a. Your speech is not a duet. It's not a drama or a play. I thought, okay, well, how can I do it to where they don't know it's me talking? I was just going to put my head down and say, clear. Clear. And I went, no, wait a minute. I said, okay, so you're laying there. So I take my hair and I do that. And these were all last minute ideas and adjustments. And by some ironic miracle, it just worked. And one of the critiques I got was, gentlemen said, wow, I don't think I've ever seen a Toastmaster speech start with a ventriloquist act. Oh, I hadn't even thought of it that way. But here I was, grasping at straws, trying to come up with ideas, and that's what I did. And then that speech came out, and it worked. Oh, my gosh. It just. For me, it just worked. So I was. I was kind of impressed with myself. It was pretty good.

Well, I have two thoughts about that. I go back to what you said. You first were going to describe the whole accident. And for context, you had a very, very debilitating car accident. You were a comatose, you told us earlier, and a long recovery. You're still using a wheat shield to this day. And how long ago was that, the accident?

Two and a half years.

Right. And you, we saw you at a convention effort it took to get out of that chair, to walk to that podium and to get that trophy, and it was moving. But you said when you first began to craft the speech, nobody wants to hear about blood and guts and broken bones. I want to land on that just for a second, because you said, nobody wants to hear it. Which tells me you were focused on what would serve the audience. The lesson for all of us, not just Toastmasters contestants, but for every presenter, is to ask yourself, what does the audience need to hear? Need to know for my presentation to be effective, my point to be made and land with them. So your decision, nobody wants to hear that shows you were concerned about what the audience was going to be, was going to receive. So everyone watching or listening, please take a page out of Louisa's book. Ask yourself, what does the audience want or need to hear and know for my presentation to be effective? Can you see through the eyes of your audience? And that Louisa, I thought, was just gold. The other piece might put Darren and me in trouble. And it's this we often talk about, particularly with contests, freezing the design or saying, okay, here is a speech I'm going to go with. Because we have met individuals, we have coached individuals who want to make sweeping changes one day, two days before I'm going to scrap it. We recommend if you work hard on it and you pretty much have it internalized, you want to go with it. However, you were able to make minor tweaks and adjustments to enhance the presentation in the moment because you felt inspired to make it work. The difference we have noticed with other individuals is, well, somebody said, I should change this. Oh, that guy didn't like that. And they're trying to make individual changes late because one person says, but the lesson I got from you was you felt inspired to make this work more effectively so you would like it more. Yeah, you like it more. You're delivering your speech in the way you want. And for everyone listening, that doesn't apply, only the contest speeches. If you worked hard to prepare a presentation and you feel in your heart this will be better for the audience Then please don't. Don't say Mark. And Darren said, I can't change it. I must freeze the design. I am stuck in that rut. That's not the intent of the lesson. So, Louisa, thank you for both lessons. The audience won't like it. I won't do it. I really like this. I will do it too. Simple but very key lessons. Your thoughts on that, Louisa?

I presented that speech very close to what was the end product at different clubs. And a lot of members came up and said, do you really need to put the God part in it? And I said, yes, because I'm going to keep coming back. I'm going to say what I want to say. And I get it. If the organization or the judges don't like what I have to say, I've tried to be as tactful and honest about what I'm going to say. And by saying what I said, I really didn't want to offend anyone. And that was my whole thing. But I didn't want anybody to come and say, oh, you didn't have to say that part. I said it. And here's the authenticity part of it. I think I said what I want to say. I said it the way I wanted to say it. And if I did offend somebody, I already told them I was going to offend them. So it was a win win, in my opinion. Everything else was. But I had to put that humor and I had to say that just to let people know, look, I'm just up here giving a speech. I've had the worst three years of my life. But Phyllis says, have fun. Guess what? I'm here to have fun. And if St. Peter has an iPad and God's hitting the reset button, then that's what it is. It is what it is. So, yes, that's. That was my take on it. Say authentic.

Appreciate that. Because I would invite everyone watching or listening to go back online. Go online and find on YouTube the video of Louisa Speed. We're not going to parse the whole speech for you here in this program, but if you look at the video, you'll understand she does make references to God and offending not one person, but everyone. And I must tell you a quick personal anecdote. Someone from a foreign country whom I know pretty well contacted me and they seem to be offended because of the God reference. And I kind of chuckled and said, listen, I sent him back a note on WhatsApp. If you listen carefully, she said, my God, she wasn't trying to offend your God or anybody else's God. For her, it was her personal experience. It was where she was at the time. It was what got her through a devastating, horrendous experience. And that's her perspective. And he sent back a thumbs up indicating he got it because he and his family, his friends, they hold God in very high esteem and they thought you were being flippant and glib about their God. I said, no, no, no, no. She said, my God. And she did that deliberately. So if you catch that, you'll understand she's really opening her heart to you and sharing her perspective. And when he had the understanding, it really changed. But that seemed to be a risky decision and you still chose to go with it. So I commend you, Darren, your thoughts.

Any thoughts on that decision? Did you get any warnings from people or.

I did. People told me, don't spend that much time on that section. And I recall going back after winning and somebody probably. I don't know if it was your friend or not, Mark, he said, I demand that this video be taken down because of the way she references God. Now here's the funny thing, and not so much funny, here's the way I see it. You know, when you're in Hollywood, they say even bad publicity is good publicity because people are talking about it. So with my speech and mentioning God, maybe they're sitting at dinner and they said, hey, do you hear that speech? She's talking about God. And this is, so what have I started here? People are now sitting at the table. And if you go back, I mentioned God in my speech eight times. If you go back to my 2019 speech, I mentioned Jesus, I'm wearing a rosary around my neck. So in all the subliminal ways that I can, it's out there now, how you perceive it, how you receive it, totally up to you. And to me, it was worth the risk because that is all I do. I take risk after risk after risk. And if not, if I'm not taking risks either one. Nobody remembers my message. Nobody. Nobody remembers my speech and nobody remembers my name. That's it. To me. To me. I mean, let me put that out there before somebody comes at me for saying what I said. But that's me. That's me. And I always, always have the audience in mind. And I'm always trying to be tactful, which I think is what makes the difference between saying something that you think is going to offend and how your audience is going to receive and perceive it.

Yeah. And again, if you're listening to this. And you have a different perception of God, we encourage you to stay true to yourself. Yes, like Mark and I are believers, but we also know the power of the authenticity. So when you're talking about yourself and your beliefs, it's different. If she started preaching or trying to convince you, that's the different. But I also think it's more convincing anyway when we're not preaching, when we're just telling our story to get more people asking questions, maybe curious, maybe call us or send us an email on the side, hey, tell me more about your beliefs or something like that. So please understand the depths of what we're saying. Stay true to you. And that's what she did. But because of people's perceptions, they're gonna see it how they wanna see it. Now, this is a random question, but did you get any, let's just say really wacky advice, like feedback along the way? Because for everyone, Mark and I preach that we need to go to qualified coaches. Mark and I are qualified. Well, that's because we won. However, we've also spent 30 years coaching people, so we get it now. I got feedback from well meaning people who had more experience in 2001 than I did. Way more. But they weren't qualified coaches. So for us, as a speech deliverer, we have to be careful who we listen to because there's wacky advice out there. And yeah, just because they say it doesn't mean it's true. Any interesting feedback or.

That's really a great perception you have there, Darren. And let me tell you that since winning the contest, I've had numerous calls, messages from members wanting me to coach them. And I tell them, just because somebody plays the piano beautifully doesn't mean they can teach you how to play the piano beautifully. I said, now I have been to the finals twice. I did place, so I can kind of tell you, and this is what I tell them. If you're. If you want me to help you or work with you, you have to have the thickest skin. Because I am not here to make you feel good. I am here to tell you, you know what? That speech that you're working on, trash it. It's no good. There's nothing you could do to save that speech. And that's the kind of person I am. Because I don't want to waste anyone's time. I don't want them to be disillusioned thinking, hey man, this speech might work. No, it's not going to. It will never work. And that is just me. I'm not certified. I'm not qualified. Maybe I'm not anything. I am just giving you my opinion. Now, has anybody ever come up and told me, don't say this, don't do that? Absolutely. And I think the beauty of me is that I will ask the question, why are they telling me this? Is this something that they take personally? Because a few years ago, I made a speech about a political figure, and few people came up and said, I didn't like what you said. And I have to go and turn it back on them and say, what didn't you like? Why didn't you like it? Oh, well, because I idolized this guy and be, oh, okay, so it's you. It's not a problem with what I said. It's where you perceive this person to be. And you know what? To me, if we can't laugh or joke or. Or look at things in a different light, what good is this with any of it? So I have gotten really, I don't want to say crazy, because you know what, people? This is what I love about Toastmasters. People care about you so much. People cared that I had worked so hard to get where I got that. They didn't want me to blow the chance by saying something they thought might be offensive. And I love the members for that because they're looking out for me. If they didn't care, they wouldn't have said anything. But they cared, and they know how much this meant to me. So they said, hey, maybe I should mention this. And I just have to listen to why are they saying it? And in the end, my mom would always give me the best advice. She said, you know what, Luisa? You can beat a situation. You can ask everybody for their advice. They're going to give you the best advice on refinancing your house or a marriage. But in the end, you're going to do what you want to do as well said.

Now, here's a question for you. Because we're learning today that Luisa Montalmo has a pretty strong personality. And we have encountered contestants in the past who are aware of, as Darren says, more experienced, distinguished Toastmasters, been around 25 years, who will tell them, well, you shouldn't say that or you should say this. And because they want to defer to the wisdom of the ages. Sorry, the aged, right? They want to defer to. They'll say, okay, I'll do what they say. And what I often say is this. When it happens, remember this. Most. Most people, meaning well, are telling you say this or do that, because that's what they would do if they were in your situation, but they are not you. How do you encourage young, inexperienced contestants to, quote, unquote, hold their ground and follow their heart when they feel they need to respond to what someone with experience tells them? How would you advise them about that, Louisa?

So inexperienced speakers or people that get advice, I would almost do a, what I call maybe a 50 50, which is, okay, I might X out this because maybe they've got a point, but I'm for sure gonna keep this of me. And then someone else says something, well, you know what? Okay, that might be right. But I really feel I'm gonna keep this other section that I feel strongly about. So it's okay to take advice and listen to people and recreate and recraft and actually what I did for the 11 years after I joined in 2013 is I had to reinvent myself because whatever I was doing at contests wasn't getting me placed, it wasn't working and it wasn't winning. So it helped me grow to be the speaker I am today. The problem now is now that I have the trophy, I can say whatever I want.

Nice.

I'm kidding. No, I'm not. But anyway, the thing is, listen to the advice. Try to be open minded when somebody gives you advice because there's a reason why they're saying what they're saying. And even though, like I said, people told me, can you leave the God part out? I went, no, because it's my view, my experience, my perception. And if it's going to hurt anybody, it should only hurt me. And that's. And, and you know what, here's the thing. I believe when I say stuff, I am giving my audience credit to know that they're intelligent enough to receive it the way I want them to receive it. I've gotten critiques from people that say, well, you know your audience. I said, you know what, really? Do I need to draw that much of a picture? Do you feel my audience is not intelligent enough to grasp that? I think they are. So I give my audience a lot of credit when it comes to the level of intelligence when I speak to them. Because I'm thinking everybody's going to get it and they're going to get it.

Yeah, we try to help people. And again, whether it's a contest speech or a keynote speech, we try to encourage people. You are the CEO of your presentation, you're the CEO of your speech. And when you get feedback, you have to put it in one or two buckets. Bucket number One is, here's what I thought and felt when you said this. Here's what I thought and felt. Everyone is qualified to tell you thought and felt. Here's how to make it better. That's the other bucket. That's coaching. That is where you have to be careful. So you have to discern between the two. Because if enough people are saying I thought this or I felt this when you were telling the story about, let's say the what are the clear.

Oh, yes, the paddle.

When you were talking about that, I thought this. Well, if a lot of people thought this, then it's our job to say, okay, is that what I want them to think? Or do I have to change it or clarify it or maybe pull back? Because our whole goal is to affect their thoughts, but we have to understand that what we think and what they're thinking about what we said can be completely different. So it's our job to kind of figure that out. So we need the thought and felt from everyone, even if they've never ever coached before or never ever presented, they are a valid thought and felt. And we have to gather enough intel to look for what's commonality. Well, if everyone was confused or 70% of them were confused, well, guess what? It's confusing. I need to clarify it.

Exactly, Exactly.

So quite the. Quite the experience. How'd you feel when you were. When you were up there and they. They called your name?

I was actually FaceTiming my best friend and my cousin because they were watching everything back there in South Texas.

Live stream.

Yes. And I had already rated the speakers. And then I realized there were three disqualifications, which I don't think that's ever happened. I could be wrong, but I don't think I've ever heard of three disqualifications. And so I had everybody ranked and I didn't have myself ranked because I knew the mistakes I made. The one thing my mom taught me is never let them know you made a mistake. Because 99% of the time I recall I was in ballet class, I was 10 years old and I was there with everybody else. And we're all supposed to do a Cheney turn in a line. And I thought I was supposed to go to the left and everybody shinee turned to the right and my mom is sitting there in the audience and our neighbor told my mom, oh, look, your daughter has a solo. So it looked like I had a solo because I went the wrong way and everybody else went the right way. But then do you know what I did when I realized I made a Mistake. I did this. I shook my head, which meant I just told the entire audience I made a mistake. Had I not done that, people would have thought I was the star. But as soon as I admitted to the audience I made a mistake, everybody knew that I made a mistake. And my mom was smart enough to correct me at the age of 10, says, Never let them know you've made a mistake. So at the end of my speech, I know I've really messed it up. And I'm like, claire, are we clear? Clear. And I'm smiling and I say, thank you, contest chair. And I roll away. And I said, I'm coming back next year because I'm not winning it. And so I'm on the phone with my friends, FaceTiming, and I told them both, I said, I'll be back next year. And for all the times that I thought I should have won first and I didn't, I always disagreed with the judges. I thought, man, those judges, you know, I knew I won. Why didn't I win? But when they mentioned my name again, I disagreed. I. Are you sure? Can we, can we count the votes? Because I wanted to come back later and I was just. I was in total shock. Grateful, but in shock. So great.

That's interesting. And the fact you were thinking to yourself, well, I'm talking to my friends now. It's not going to happen. And Louisa, who? What?

What? Wait, wait.

You said earlier, Louisa, you, you omitted two key parts of your presentation. You won the contest in August. We're recording this towards the end of October, two months later. And Darren, neither Darren nor I had any idea you omitted anything. Only now did you admit to omit. Right? And as you said earlier, nobody needs to know. You and your God know what you left out, but it didn't make a difference here because the judges thought you had the skills, the goods, the message to have an impact. And surprisingly, you won the contest. You had to give your speech, you honored your mother, which was very, very moving. But were you thinking before the contest, if and when I win my next steps will be, or did that did not even cross your mind?

You know, we prepare, or I did years, years to get where I got to in August. And what a lot of us, I feel don't do is to prepare for the winning part of it because we are so focused on winning and getting there that we haven't even thought of the actual win and the ramifications is going to have in our life after. So I remember the contest was over or the convention was over. On Sunday, Monday I fly back. Tuesday I have to go to Office Depot because I've got to buy a planner because all these people are talking about dates and appearances and. And conferences and podcasts and everything and being the person that I am, where if I want to get up because I'm retired, if I want to get up at 7 in the morning, then go back to sleep at 10, I'm going to do it. If I want to sleep till 10 and then get up, I do it. But now, now I'm on a schedule. Now I'm checking the calendar. I actually know the day and date and the year we're in, because before, when I was retired, it didn't matter. So I don't think we. We put enough into what happens when you win. And it's almost a shock. And don't get me wrong, I will take this shock any day and every day, but it's something that we don't prepare for, or I didn't prepare for. I'm so grateful that I had previous contest winners that reached out and said, hang on, it's going to be a bumpy ride and we are here to help you. Excellent. Wow. But you know me. I think. You know me. I'm like, hey, you know what I think? You know, I think I got this. Ramona Smith, you know, I think I got this. It's been amazing. It's, like I said, euphoric. It's one of the best things. I hope and pray because I look at your faces and you've got this. You've got this look on you that says, man, I mean, you forever, until the day you die, will be called world champion. And you carry that with you. And it's. I don't. I hope it's something that never goes away. And like I said, even if I have Alzheimer's and dementia, later on, they're going to say, hey, I'll be babbling. Then I'll go 20, 24.

I plan on being called that even after I die. Just saying, there you go.

Yes, I will do that. I will do that. Yes.

Here is one more question that's maybe a little bit different, because in recent years, we have had winners in their 30s, a couple in their 20s, and here you are, formally retired now, going to the office of store supplies, ordered by a calendar for a new part of life. So here we are. And I can. I can. I can understand. We're both in our 60s right now, and when you may think, well, you're slowing down, retiring now you have a New release on life in terms of your own personal, spiritual, emotional and physical energy. What has this win done for Luisa Montalvo?

Great question.

What has it done for me? I already had an agenda. I had already set goals for my free spay neuter clinic or dogs. I had given myself as much time as I needed to recuperate and be able to start walking again. However, Louisa opens her mouth on the stage and says, oh, by next year, I'll be back and I'll be walking. I'm like, I got off the table and I went, what have you done? So it has made this win, has made me accountable for something that I was probably putting off. I had almost admitted defeat, and so it's inspired me now. And I'm thinking, hey, okay, Louisa, you're going to be in Europe in May. You want to be in a wheelchair? You want to be walking? I said, no, I want to be walking. So now I'm thinking of that. And I said, oh. And then by Philadelphia, I don't want anybody coming up and said, well, I remember you said, oh, my gosh, okay, fine. Get rid of the crutches, get rid of the wheelchair. I'm walking. So it's. You would never think an organization or the members would have you be accountable for again. Again, I'm concerned for what the audiences heard and what they're going to see. So the end result is I have to be true to the audience and I have to make this come to fruition. And so I will be walking in next August in Philadelphia. So that's kind of what this has done for me, and it's made me be accountable. Then, as much as I don't like doing that.

One last question along those lines, and once again, I'll return control to Darren. And it's this. A young or would be Toastmasters World Champion approaches you with their dream, with their goal. But then they ask a different question. Louisa, two months in, how do you see the responsibilities of being a world champion to the organization and beyond? How would you respond to that question?

How do I see the responsibilities? This. Just today at one of my Toastmaster meetings, I reminded our members that 100 years and two days ago, one person, if you think one person can't have effect on the world, one person had the idea of helping others become better speakers, that this is the organization that needs to be commended. Because in 100 years back, 100 years ago, women were not allowed into the organization. This year, not only was the international club president a woman, but the people on State first Second and third were women two years running. Not only, not only was first place a woman, she was an elderly, a senior, disabled, minority female. Wow. What that shows you the ability of how an organization is able to grow and accept and adapt to change. And that's when you know you, you've hit something really, really good. So if, if somebody young comes up to me, the first thing I'm gonna throw at them is I'm 65. Okay? At 65, people are, I don't know what, sitting on the front porch crocheting. I have no idea. One, I don't know how to crochet. They're also gossiping about the neighbors. I can do that. I don't like it, but I can. But, but you're, you're. Your personal goals are limitless because the last thing you can have an excuse for is my age. I can't walk. I'm physically whatever. I'm. I'm a woman. Nope, nope. Can't use, use those. You can't use those excuses anymore. So whatever. When, whenever someone even young or even older comes up, to me, one age is just a number. Whatever you think you think you can do, go do it. And the problem that we have, Mark, is that we limit ourselves. My goal was to win district. That's all goal was. I didn't have a, oh, I'm going to go to the world stage. I didn't. We don't dream big enough. That's what it is.

And for context, for those who are not Toastmasters, district is level four of a seven level competition that takes place over six months or more. So if she wanted to get level four and win that, she went all the way to level seven. And just one quick follow up question. Personal goals for you as a world Champion and your impact on the Toastmasters world going forward. What are your plans? What do you hope to achieve for Toastmasters in your role as World Champion?

Someone advised me not to waste time with a Toastmasters meeting, that I should maybe just do conferences or contests, but I'm retired. And if I have time and there's four people showing up to one of your meetings, if I can influence or help any one of those, I'm there. I'm there. And one of the crazy things was they said, hey, can you come to our meeting? We're celebrating, I don't know, our hundredth session or something. I said, sure. And I wrote everything down. And then it. I don't know where it wound up being, but it was my 2am I forgot to ask what Time there is.

Yeah.

That's how we learn.

I am retired. And did it hurt me? No. Sometimes I'm up till 3 or 4. No big deal. And if I go back and I read the. The chat on the Zoom, and if one person and. And I know they say if you can change one person. No, I want to change everyone's life. I don't think one person is enough. So one person will say, you really inspired me, or, I was almost going to quit Toastmasters, or I. I was struggling with this, but now you know, I can do this. That's what I want to do. As a world champion, I'm not out here to make a lot of money. Although that wouldn't be bad if I could spend that on my spay neuter program. I'll do that. But if I can influence and show people that they are actually more than what they think they are, I'm set.

Nice.

So, Luisa, how would people reach out to you? What platforms are you on? How can people find you if they want to invite you or connect with you or interview you?

I do have an email, which is mantalo luisayahoo.com however, because I'm retired, I'm terrible at checking my emails. So if you're on Facebook and you want to reach out through messenger, you'll see me. I'm there with my family, my mom, my brother in the background, and then I'm holding the trophy. But there I'm on Facebook. I just started kind of doing LinkedIn because I think LinkedIn is more a business environment, people looking for jobs, and the last thing I want to do right now is work, because I did that for 35 years. But if somebody's having any kind of celebration or get together and everything and they're looking for some kind of speaker, look me up. I have no problem doing that. I love it.

Which. Which cities are you off to? I know I get the privilege of sharing the stage with you in Denver and Tate and I. What other cities are you headed to?

Denver, I believe, is gonna be my birthday weekend. Before that, I do Nashville, and then after Denver, I do Germany, and then after Germany, I'm doing Morocco, Africa, and then after Morocco, Africa, I'm doing Chennai, India. And then after India, I get to come home, so.

Excellent. One of my favorite spots. Been there three times. You will really enjoy them, and they will enjoy you. And you thought you were going to retire. Hopefully you will not be retired after all this travel. And just remind those who are listening who's trying to reach out to you online, the correct spelling of your first name? Luisa.

L, U, I, S, A.

There's no O. No letter O. It's not an A. It's Luisa Montalvo. Did I say that correctly? Montalvo.

Yes. Beautifully. Beautifully. Better than.

Excellent.

Mark, do you have any highlights?

Yes. One of my jobs is to kind of recap the wisdom you've dropped on us today. And I love the first one was up front. Listen to your mentors. They have your best interest at heart. Learn to have fun in contests. And I would dare say you also mean when you present. Have fun. Darren teaches people to do that. Have fun. And every chance you get, keep putting icing on the cake. If you're going to compete, compete. When it's the right time, look at your life and decide. Ask. Does the audience really need to hear this? If you think nobody wants to hear it, they probably don't. Be willing to take risks, but always keep the audience in mind and be tactful when treating delicate content. Be open minded to suggestions and criticism, but always follow your heart and be prepared for the ramifications that follow a win of any kind. Louisa, thank you so much for sharing this wisdom with us and your audience. And I'm eager to hear 10 months from now the journey that was yours during the year when you were the reigning world champion. Daddy, want to bring us home?

Yeah. Let us know if we can help in any way. You have questions, thoughts, concerns, like we've, we've lived it. We don't have all the answers, but please reach out. We're, we're, we're thrilled to help and thrilled to have you here with us. Luisa Montalvo. I can't say it nearly, I can't say it nearly as good as Mark, but thrilled to have you here. Thanks for spending 59 minutes with us. You're gonna change some lives, no doubt. Keep doing being you and living the way you do. Clear. Watch out, world.

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