A woman from Furzedown has won the London round of a public speaking competition.

Jo Lightfoot, a performance coach that works with property investors, won the contest which is held by the Professional Speaking Association (PSA) of the UK and Ireland.

The competition, called the Speaker Factor, is usually hosted somewhere in London, but due to Covid-19 the competition is being ran on Zoom.

Jo's success means that in October she will compete with the 13 other region winners from the UK and Ireland in the final of the Speaker Factor.

It certainly wasn't plain sailing for the 40-year-old, who had to overcome a hurdle after being interrupted by an un-muted microphone shortly into her five-minute speech.

Each participant gets five minutes to do their speech and gets judged on four criteria: stagecraft, script, delivery and 'bookability'.

Jo's speech was about how people perform at their best when they reflect, accept and perform in a way that projects their whole self. She does this by using a rainbow analogy which she uses throughout her coaching.

Thankfully it was enough to convince the three judges from her living room in Furzedown.

Speaking to Nub News , Jo said: "Winning the London Round of this competition gives me a great chance to take my 'perform all you are' message to a wider audience - to enable me to speak at a bigger variety of conferences and world stages to other professions who can benefit from my rainbow mission.

"Many people find themselves hiding their true colours because they don't fit the norm, but they can discover how to shine in the world by being and performing all they are."

The MC, Anthony Stears - who is the President of the Professional Speaking Association's London Region - said afterwards that Jo showed magnificent composure under pressure.

"In fact, the interruption seemed to take Jo's performance up a gear to a new level," Stears said.

"Jo Lightfoot proved herself to be a well-deserved winner who will now go on to represent London at the final round of the competition in October where all of the association's 13 regions will be represented.

"Jo really showed her true colours to outshine the competition, and demonstrated a resilient authenticity that grabbed everyone's attention."

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