Last night, Galway Toastmasters held our heat of the Toastmasters International Speech contest. Clubs all around the world are hosting ther contests at this time. Competition in Toastmasters gives club members the chance to perform to a higher standard, and it also allows us to reach outside of the club, attending Area, District, and Division finals and to conenct with the wider Toastmasters family.
The format of a contest meeting is quite different to an ordinary meeting. Instead of a Toastmaster for the night, we have a Contest Chair. There are two timers, two Sergeants at Arms, a Chief Judge, and members acting as judges sitting in the audience.
We held two contests last night: the International Speech Contest, and the Evaluation Contest.
Our Contest Chair was Cathryn, and our Chief Judge, Margaret S.
Astrid was our Topicsmaster and she gave us some very interesting topics over the course of the night. It was obvious too that she was really enjoying the role. Topics ranged from “what did you do for St Patrick’s Day”, to “what would you do if you met your neighbour when you were on holiday”.
We had two contestants for the Speech Contest: Frank K. and Pat C.
Our test speaker for the Evaluation contest was Liam G. He delivered a hilarious speech on what he called “The New Monastics”, contemporary people in search of spiritual enlightenment, and his experience with them. His speech was evaluated by the evaluation contestants. We had one contestant for that competition: Donal L.
The winners from the competitions will go forward to represent the club in the Area Final, which will take place in Ballina, Co. Mayo on Saturday 9th April.
We were fortunate too last night to have a visit from our Area Director, Ann R., who gave us feedback on the club’s performance in the Distinguished Club Programme, as well as some wonderful pieces of inspiration, based on her own experience in life and with Toastmasters.
The winners from our club competitions were Pat C. and Donal L. and we wish them both the very best of luck in the next round in Ballina.
Find out more about Galway Toastmasters at http://galway.toastmastersclubs.org
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