Conquered: Fourteen Speakers, Eight Judges, One Title

The 2019 Grand Slam was the 29th Speaker Slam® event since the first night in 2016, and the biggest yet: fourteen of the year's best speakers on the stage of the Lyric Theatre at the Toronto Centre for the Arts on November 20th, on the theme of Conquered, in front of 600 people. Dan had promised 500 the year before at the Jane Mallett Theatre and delivered; this year the room shouting "SLAM!" was 600 strong. The community showed up in droves and filled the room with love and positive energy, and when the night ran over time, they loved us through it. Fourteen speakers plus seven judges requires a lot of ballot counting.

1st Place: Dang Nguyen

Dang blew the judges away and was crowned the 2019 Inspirational Speaker of the Year. Earlier that year he had won Love Lessons with an emotional tribute to his son, a speech that would go on to reach millions of viewers.

2nd Place: Nesh Pillay

Nesh took second place after entering the Grand Slam through the first-ever Wild Card Race, a week-long public vote held that September. Her story would later become the documentary 50,000 First Dates.

3rd Place: Blake Fleischacker

Blake also came through the Wild Card Race, making the 2019 podium two-thirds wild cards.

4th Place: Mike Shoreman earned an honourable mention, and Shirin Ariff an extra one for finishing 5th and wowing the room.

Judge's Choice: Parul Bansal won the Judge's Choice award from Goalcast and was flown to Montreal to create a Goalcast Original.

Unforgettable Moments

Dwayne Morgan and Adam Roa set the tone with inspirational performances.

Meet the Judges Who Made It All Happen

• Giovanni Marsico
• Adam Roa
• Cyrus Gorjipour
• Salim Sader
• Chris Winfield
• Debra Goldblatt-Sadowski
• Jen Gottlieb

The panel donated their time and energy and stepped up to reward the speakers.

The night closed with a promise: Speaker Slam® would be at the Archangel Summit the following September to see Dang take the stage.

See who competed in Meet Your Speakers for the 2019 Grand Slam.