Vikas Jhingran is Toastmaster's 2007 champ

An MIT doctoral candidate in mechanical and ocean engineering from India has won the first place in the Toastmasters International World Championship of Public Speaking, known as the Olympics of Public Speaking.

Vikas Jhingran, 34, made a speech about finding himself through meditation, and about getting into MIT, the graduate school of his dreams.

Jhingran, a native of Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, won the title, defeating nine other articulate Toastmasters who vied for the title at the Marriott Desert Ridge Resort in Phoenix, Arizona, last month.

The contest was one of the highlights of the Toastmasters' four-day annual international convention held from August 15.

He presented 'The Swami's Question,' a seven-minute original speech before a panel of judges and an audience of 2,000. He compared the contest to a rock concert, with its 30-foot wide stage, two huge television screens, audience in formal attire, and National Public Radio interviews of the contestants.

'It's a big deal -- 2,000 people in a huge ballroom, most of them in formals. The energy was fantastic!' he said.

Toastmasters, which operates public speaking clubs throughout the world, sponsors the annual contest. Contestants are judged on content, speech organization, voice quality, gestures and delivery.

Each year more than 10,000 members of Toastmasters International compete in this contest. The competition begins at the club level with winners advancing to the area and regional contests. It culminates each August during the International Convention where 10 finalists contend for the top honor.

Jhingran used only one prop - the envelope from MIT that was going to change his life. He held it up as he began his speech, asking the audience the question he had asked himself: Would the letter begin with 'Congratulations' or 'You've got to be kidding''

He

said he had no idea he had won the Toastmasters trophy until the announcement was made. 'I got the sense that my speech went well and was very well received. I really connected with the audience. The time just flew by!' he said.

Jhingran wrote and prepared 'The Swami' in five weeks. He was still making small changes right up to the night before the final, he said. A Toastmasters member for four years, Jhingran practiced persistently and yet avoided too much tweaking before the championship, he said.

'Major changes stopped three days before the event so that I had time to absorb the speech. In my experience, you have to know it so well that you can recite it in the middle of the night. At this level, the performance has to be almost flawless,' he said.

His wife was with him at the Phoenix event. Friends at MIT and at local Toastmasters clubs supported his championship journey with their encouragement, ideas, comments and critiques, he said. He had only one regret though about his Toastmasters championship journey.

When he finished 'The Swami's Question' to eager applause, his wife was sure he had done well enough to win, Jhingran recalled. 'She kept asking me to think about my acceptance speech. I wish I had listened to her,' he said.

As world champion, Jhingran may not compete again in the contest.

Jhingran is a specialist in offshore drilling and oil and gas production. He came to MIT in 2004. Since then, he has been steadily involved with leadership and communication programs. He is an advocate of establishing communications courses as part of the MIT engineering curriculum.

He has served as co-president of the Sloan Leadership Club; he co-chaired the 2006 Sloan Leadership Conference, and he taught an IAP course, 'The Charismatic Speaker' in 2006 and 2007.