Tall Tales Contest example ... The Legend of C.T. Masters

With the Tall Tales contest coming up, I figured that some other Toastmasters might like to see an example. The speech below was one that I gave in 2004.

Title: My Lifelong Pursuit . . . in a 3-5 minute speech. or, "The Legend of C.T.Masters"
By: Dave Wheeler, WestConn Toastmasters, Club 599

Legend has it that there is an amazing speaker out there.

His BOOMING VOICE can rattle the walls and command his audience’s attention [pause] or he can pull you into his speech with a silky smooth whisper.

A speaker who can make his audience shiver by describing a snowball being put down your back
. . . make them sweat by describing the feeling of sun beaming down on the hot, humid August day.

As an evaluator of other speakers he is always PRECISE, CONCISE, and, simply put, oh so NICE.


I’ve spent ALL MY LIFE searching the ends of the earth for this elusive speaker and 5 years ago I came “this close” to finding him.

Records at various Toastmaster clubs showed that he had swam to Antartica, organized and mentored a new Toastmaster Club and was in the process of carving a fully functional seaplane out of ice for his trip back to civilization.

I immediately spent my life savings to charter a jet and fly to the South Pole but by the time I got there, he was gone.

All I found was some ice chips, a bunch of very well-spoken penguins, and . . . part of his name badge !

I was so close I could almost here the echos of his last speech! But now I had his initials, C. T. M.!

I just HAD to figure out how to find him and hear him speak.

Passion:
Further research found that he speaks with such PASSION and conviction that women, small children and some household pets have been know to get weak in the knees from the excitement.

Based on this ability to touch the hearts and souls of his audience, I knew he would eventually visit the T/M Club at the Mayo Clinic so I went there late last year.

Their club records indicated that he had visited them just two weeks before and his Table Topic speech was so PROFOUND and INCREDIBLE that a young lady passed out even before the yellow light came on.

Luckily, she was scheduled to have her appendix removed that day and when she awoke her appendix had been removed and she had saved $2000 on anesthesia!

I could not find in the club records whether or not C.T.M. performed the operation or just assisted.

Of course I was too late again, but I did find another piece of the puzzle.
He had signed the guest book!

Name:
He signed in as C. T. Masters. Some of the people told me that the C. stood for “Charlie”, others said “Cecil”. The native American Toastmasters called him “Cheveyo” while Swahili tribesmen T/M knew him as “Chumbalumba-ma-hatma-gooby”. His first name remains a mystery, but everyone agreed on what the “T” stood for . . . . . “Toast”.

C.T. “Toast” Masters. I know I was getting close !

Narrowed my search:
Now I’ve looked all over the world to find this elusive speaker and my research has narrowed down his whereabouts. He is definitely in the Northern Hemisphere . . . .In the NorthEast United States !

My search has also shown that often attends Contest meetings! . . . [look at map & Contest page]

He could be in this very room !

C.T. “Toast” Masters . . . Are you out there?

If you are out there . . . . I will find you !