What do these seven people have in common? A local government officer, a retail shop manager, an HR consultant, a live events technician, a GP, a teaching assistant and a retired social services manager?
They are all people who enjoy speaking in public! These were the seven contestants in the South East England speech contest held in Marlow on 16 April. They are all members of speaking clubs belonging to the world-wide organisation of Toastmasters International – www.toastmasters.org
A large and enthusiastic audience of 90 friends, supporters and fellow speakers packed into the Liston Hall in Marlow to enjoy an educational and inspiring afternoon, entertained by seven of the top speakers from Toastmasters Clubs in the south ofEngland. They were treated to speeches on topics as diverse as the rescue of the Chilean miners, the power of positive thinking, speaking in extreme situations, overcoming racism, baking bread, the beauty of Uganda and the perils of old (er) age!
The winners of the speech contest were:
1st place – Malachi Talabi with his speech entitled, ‘Keep on walking’. Malachi has been a member of the Croydon Communicators club for less than a year and presented a powerful story of how he had ‘kept on walking’ in spite of several setbacks in his life.
2nd place – John Webber with his speech entitled ‘Alive’. John is a member of the Solent Speakers club inFareham. He described the emotional story of how the Chilean miners were rescued.
3rd place – Robin Poole with his speech entitled ‘Loaf’. Robin is a member of theCanterbury club. He described with great humour his latest passion for baking his own bread!
After the speech contest, another valuable skill learned at Toastmasters clubs was tested competitively. Every speaker in a Toastmasters club receives an oral evaluation – personal thoughts and tips from another member. If you think speaking is hard, try – with just five minutes to prepare – presenting an evaluation of someone else’s speech that provides positive and helpful advice. A brave speaker, Dorothea Stuart from theRiversideclub in Twickenham, presented her speech on decluttering. Seven evaluators then had to present their three minute evaluations to Dorothea. Dorothea had never received so much useful advice!
The winners of the evaluation contest were:
1st place – Chris Boden from Maidenhead speakers club.
2nd place – Rich Watts
3rd place – Faith Warn
Winners from both contests will now compete at the UK& Irelandspeech and evaluation championships at the organisation’s annual conference to be held in Windsoron May 7th/8th. The winner of that speech contest will go on to represent the UK & Ireland at the world championship of public speaking inLas Vegas in August.
In addition to the contests, Amanda Bouch from the Maidenhead Club told a ‘tall tale’, a particular type of speech that has to be highly exaggerated and improbable. Amanda’s tale described how the baby of two professional pick-pockets, managed to steal the midwife’s wedding ring … you had to be there to hear the whole story!!
Another speaker, Trish Weller from theWindsorclub, demonstrated yet another skill, that of the stand-up comic! Trish presented a hilarious five minute spot that would have graced ‘Live at the Apollo’!
The chairman of the contest, Steve Catchick from the Marlow Orators and Maidenhead clubs, was congratulated on his organisation skills for putting together such an entertaining day.
