Gene Witt students show off their public speaking skills

For more than an hour, Gene Witt Elementary student Erin Kokora waited patiently for the 21 students before her to go through an academic version of walking the plank.

What could cause such angst, among kids or adults? Try the 2016 Tropicana Speech Contest on May 12 at Gene Witt.

For many of us, speaking in front of a crowd can be a painful experience. Whether you are 10 or 60, public speaking is something that really doesn't come natural to us. We can talk up a storm in the lunch room, but put more than 10 people in a board room and suddenly our brain starts to melt like cream cheese on a hot bagel.

Imagine the level of anxiety for Kokora, who was scheduled to speak last. Those earlier in the program, well, they could get it over with.

Also in the favor of the early speakers was the fact the hundreds of elementary students in the audience hadn't been sitting still for long. It wasn't the case by the time Kokora came forward.

To Kokora's credit, it didn't seem to bother her much, probably because she had done the work necessary to deliver between two and three minutes of captivating material. She knew that given a fair opportunity, she would have her classmates enthralled.

Then life took one of its aggravating turns. Fair just didn't come into play.

Kokora, whose topic was "Living with Epilepsy," a subject in honor of her sister, walked to the podium and surveyed the situation quickly with her eyes. The shorter speech contestants had a plastic stool they would pull behind the podium and then climb aboard. You know the ones you use to get dishes off those top shelves in the kitchen.

The taller students, not needing the stool, stepped up to the mic and let loose.

Kokora's height, however, was in-between. 

She decided not to use the stool because she would have towered over the mic. Instead, she took her position behind the podium, far behind the podium.

Without the stool, she had to maintain a couple of steps distance back so she could see over the podium. That put her a couple of feet too far away from the mic. To those sitting directly in front of the stage, the podium looked like it had grown a pair of arms. 

Now if this were Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, a team of assistants would have rushed forward, twisting the mic or adjusting the stool to get the necessary audio alignment. But, no, this was an elementary school speech contest.

Kokora forged ahead with her interesting topic. Unfortunately, it wasn't only tough to see her, it was tough to hear her. As a judge, I looked down on my score sheet. Audience Bond, Delivery, Pronunciation, Articulation, Volume, Speed. All important topics for any public speaking contest.

The judges all ruled the same, the final contestant suffered in some of those categories through no fault of her own. Tough darts.

Of anything that occurred during the contest, perhaps the most important, and toughest, lesson was evident. No matter how much work you do, no matter how much preparation, some days will offer challenges that derail our efforts when it comes to public speaking.

The students who finished first through third in the contest, Eva Bouchard (The Joy of FSA Testing), Declan Hudson (All I Need to Know, I Learned from a Dog) and Jarom Su'a (You Too Can Be Awesome), connected with their audience through their words, their eyes, their gestures and with the way their varied their intensity.

A certain amount of acting goes along with public speaking, and certainly, it makes a big difference if the crowd can see the performance. Bouchard, Hudson and Su'a made each person in the audience feel they were talking to them, personally. All three were terrific.

The other contestants were prepared, organized and, to a certain extent, courageous. They made the walk to the plank, or the podium, putting themselves in front of everyone to see. Geez, that's hard. They deserve congratulations for a solid effort.

When the medals were awarded, though, Kokora's name was not called, despite some work that was worthy of special recognition. It wasn't her public speaking day.

In her two minutes, though, it was obvious she is going to be real good at this public speaking gig. She is going to line up with the mic in the future, and she will blow her audience away. Look out, Hillary.

You heard it from the judge.