Olivia Schofield, the 2011 European Champion of Public Speaking, Coming to District 84!

(She Will Present Educational Sessions to D84 Toastmasters On May 7th & 9th! Be There!)

Olivia Schofield

“Can you imagine having a speech impediment and ending up centre stage as a contestant in the world finals of a prestigious speaking competition and speaking in front of 2000 people in Las Vegas?”, asks Oliva Schofield, 2011 European Champion of Public Speaking. “That was me. My speech impediment had made me a thief, a failure and has given me a fabulous future.”

Save the evenings of May 7th and/or May 9th on your calendars! Olivia Schofield is visiting District 84. She will present educational sessions for any interested District 84 Toastmasters on those evenings.

On May 7th, 7:30pm, Olivia will present an educational session at Stetson University in the Lynn Business Center 1st Floor Auditorium. Address: 345 N. Woodland Blvd, Deland, FL.

On the evening of May 9th, the European Champion will present a second educational session. The final details are not available at this time, but will be communicated shortly to our membership.

It's said that “ Olivia shakes up your idea of self and inspires you to break through your boundaries to achieve more than you ever imagined!”

About Olivia

Olivia Schofield is a Londoner, living in Berlin. She studied dance and choreography at The London School of Contemporary Dance, and voice and stage at Arts Educational. Olivia however, had a speech impediment which hindered her stage career.

She retrained, and armed with a first-class honors degree in Communication and Linguistics, joined the BBC, behind the camera. Olivia went on to work for some of the great broadcasters in a variety of organizational and business roles: ITN, Granada Television, British Pathe and Ikono TV. In her role as Business Development Manager at ITN Source, one of the largest archive houses in Europe, Olivia looked after key accounts including ZDF, WDR and NDR. Still, 20 years after giving up dance, her anxiety for speaking had not lessened her passion for performing.

Toastmasters. The nurturing environment immediately appealed to her: a nurturing environment that would unlock her voice.

18 months after joining Toastmasters, Olivia went on to place first at the District level in the international speech competition. She competed in The World Championship of Public Speaking in Las Vegas in 2011 and out of 30,000 contestants; she placed as the top woman and the first District 59er ever to reach the finals.

Olivia says, “Giving a speech is just like creating a piece of choreography: it should have unexpected twists and turns that leave the audience inspired. It took me 25 years to find my voice and another 25 to realize I had something to say!”