Ottawa’s Michelle Weger took home the top prize at an international speaking competition in Toronto.
Weger, who has narcolepsy, won the Inspirational Speaker of the Year award presented by speaker development agency Speaker Slam and accepted the prize alongside her service dog Quinn.
“It felt like time stood still,” Weger told CTV Your Morning Ottawa on Thursday.
“It felt like five seconds where I was hugging my husband, and when we watch back, it was only one. It was a moment of magic that we got to have, the two of us in that moment, before I went on the big stage and celebrated with everyone.”
Weger says family and friends from Ottawa made the trip out to Toronto to watch her compete, and ultimately, win the competition.
“Everyone deserves family and friends like that,” she said.
Being able to compete and accept the award alongside Quinn made the experience all the more meaningful, Weger says.
“It was very special to be the first competitor, not just to win, but at all with a service dog, especially being someone with an invisible disability, having narcolepsy,” Weger said.
“It made it all the more special to be able to represent our community like that.”
While Weger took home the top prize, she says the road to the award was far from straightforward.
“So, I actually should have been out of the competition in the semi-finals,” Weger said.
As Weger puts it, she finished in fourth place during the semi-finals when she needed to place at least third for a chance to advance. While she was facing elimination, Weger wasn’t ready to call it quits.
“I really felt that I had a message I needed to share to be able to help other people, and so I wrote to the organizers and asked, ‘is there ever a chance for fourth place to be in the playoffs?’” she said.
“They said ‘one per cent chance,’ and that one per cent happened, and I went on to win the entire thing.”
Even after earning the title of Inspirational Speaker of the Year, Weger isn’t slowing down. She plans to continue speaking and is hoping to speak at more corporate events in the future.
Weger says her service dog Quinn got to celebrate in her own way.
“I promised Quinn that if we won, she would get an entire fish, and so she got her fish.”
This year’s Speaker Slam’s Grand Slam finals were centred around the theme of “Legacy,” and Weger competed alongside 13 other speakers for the top prize which included the Inspirational Speaker of the Year title, a $5,000 cash prize and a book deal with Lucky Book Publishing.
