Writing your contest speech...

Michelle Russell over at copyblogger.com wrote an interesting article about writing ... which could very easily be applied to your speech for the upcoming Humorous speech contest.

Michelle's article is titled, "Write with a Knife" and she suggests...

... Write for yourself, edit for your readers ...

1. Find the spine of your content and stick to it
2. Cut the first paragraph
3. Don’t over-spice your words
4. Watch out for “creep-in” words
5. Cut exaggerations
6. Find a more precise word
7. Reuse the leftovers

To learn what she means by each of these suggestions, check our the article by clicking here.

Have you signed up for your club's Humorous or Evaluation contest?

Division B Evaluation and Humorous Contest Results

The results of the 2008 Division B Evaluation and Humorous Speech Contest !

Congratulation to the participants:

Evaluation Contestants
B1 Bob Kirkendall
B2 Stacey Bridgewater
B3 Joe Soucie
B4 Wadia Cowell
B5 Arnold S. Grot

Humorous Contestants
B1 Bob Kirkendall
B2 Steve Barrett
B4 Matt Weston
B5 Michael Aron

Especially to our winners!!!!

Division B Evaluation Speech Contest:
Winner: Bob Kirkendall
1st runner-up: Stacey Bridgewater
2nd runner-up: Arnie Grot

Division B Humorous Speech Contest:
Winner: Mike Aron
1st runner-up: Steve Barrett

A special thanks to:
Aetna, Life & Casualty #3610 for hosting the Division B contest
To Lorie McGee SAA and Sharon Ofori President for all their hard work
To the best Contest Master- Norm Thibodeau!
An excellent target speech by Alyssa "Minervini" Brown
All the contestants for making this an exciting and fun contest!
All the volunteers who helped judge, time, and count; Peggy, Bonnie, Bette, Sid, Bonnie, Calvin, Yvonne, Kevin Finn, Michael O'Brien. And to and Bill Sweeney for your assistance
My fellow district officers - Karin, Marsha, Paul, Rich, Ray, Norm, Doug and Ute for your support and energy.
And to all the members and guests who support the event!

Hope to see everyone at the District 53 Humorous and Evaluation Contests on October 11th, 2008 @ the District 53 Conference in Trumbull, CT. For information on the district 53 conference, visit the District 53 Website.

Thank you so much for making this a successful event!

Judith M. Chambers
Division B Governor, 2008 - 09
District 53, Toastmasters International

Division C Results....

Niantic, CT - On October 15th the Division C Speech Contest was held at the Niantic Community Church. About 50 people attended to see who would represent our division at the District Speech Contest in Fishkill, NY on November 3rd.

The event was host by the Niantic Toastmaster Club. Club President and C3 Area Governor, Lynnea Mahlke and Treasurer and C6 Area Governor, Cate Steel, organized this event. Great job Lynnea and Cate!

We were extremely honored to have Past District Governors, Frank Kane and Joe Zafian and Lt. Governor of Marketing, Marsha Kiley, attend our contest.

The Table Topics Speech Contest was the first event of the evening. All six contestants were escorted out of the room, and then one by one each contestant was brought back in and asked to speak about their 15 minutes of fame. Answers ranged from running with goats and cows, to scooping dog poop from rescued dachshund dogs.

Next up was the Humorous Speech contest. Speakers spoke about The Lion King Movie, motivational myths about money, an infomercial describing public speaking gadgets that every speaker cannot be without, not having to wear a girdle, high school fun and childhood memories.

Let me tell you, the judges had their work count out for them this night. Everyone was FANTASTIC!

At last the results were in and the Contest Master and Chief Judge announced our winners.

Humorous Speech Winners: (left to right)
James Keeny (2nd place), Sreeni Voleti (3rd place), David Thackston (1st Place)




Table Topics winners: (left to right)
Joe Zafian (2nd place), Liz Trendowski (1st place), & Richard Dalkowski (3rd place)

The event ended with a few comments from the Division Governor, Sharon Mercado, and Lt. Governor of Marketing, Marsha Kiley.

It was an absolutely amazing evening! The speeches were phenomenal, the food was delicious and everyone in attendance had fun! What a night!!!!

Hope to see you all at the Fall District Conference in Fishkill, NY to support and cheer on our Division C winners, David Thackston (Humorous) and Liz Trendowski (Table Topics). For more information about the conference, click here.

Watch out NY, because Division C members are the Champions of the World!!!!!

Division A Contest Winners !!!!

On Wed. Oct. 10th, the Division A 2007 TableTopics and Humorous speech contests were held at the Wooster School Library in Danbury, CT.

Representatives from 4 areas were on hand for a lively evening of incredible displays of impromptu speaking as well as some truly entertaining humorous speeches.

The winners included...

Tabletopics Contest

1st Place Kate Zap,

2nd Place, Liz Smith

3rd Place, Pat Hendrickson

Humorous Speech Contest

1st Place, Nana Danso with his speech titled, "The Secret"

2nd Place, Pearl Golay with her speech titled, "A Permanent Crisis"

3rd Place, Adam Izzo with his speech titled, "Barbecue"

Shown in the pictures here are....

Top picture (from left to right).... Kate Zap, Nana Danso, Pat Hendrickson, Pearl Golay and Liz Smith.

Bottom picture (left to right)... Kate Zap and Nana Danso.

It was a great evening and a lot of fun for everyone who was able to attend. Special thanks go out to WestConn Toastmasters who hosted the event and provided refreshments!

See you at the Fall Conference on Nov.3rd! Let's Cheer on Kate & Nana !

Division A Fall Contest set ... Wed. Oct. 10th!

Where:
The Fall contest for Division A will be held on Wed. October 10th at the Wooster School Library, hosted by WestConn Toastmasters.

When:
Contestants and Judges (at least one from each Area) should arrive by 6:45-7pm and we will start promptly at 7:30pm.

Why:
Because Toastmaster contests are an incredible opportunity for contestants to push the limits of their speaking skills and an even bigger opportunity for attendees to witness (and learn from) some of the best speakers we have in our Division. It is also a LOT OF FUN !

Hope to see you there !

Dave Wheeler, Div.A Governor, 2006-8
divA@district53toastmasters.org

Area A1, A3 and A5 Fall Contest set for Sept.25th!

The Area 1, 3 and 5 contests (Humorous and TableTopics) will be held on Tuesday, September 25th from 6-9PM. Contestants should arrive at 6pm (or slightly sooner) for briefings.

The Contest will be located in the Ulrich Conference Room in the Dyson Center atMarist College. Directions to Marist are at http://www.marist.edu/welcome/direct.html

Contact your Area Governor if you need more information...
Area A1, Mike Ruppert, areaA1@district53toastmasters.org
Area A3, Ozgur Turkmen, areaA3@district53toastmasters.org
Area A5, Janice Parker, areaA5@district53toastmasters.org

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Each club can send up to TWO contestants from their club to the area contest for each contest! That means up to 4 people total from each club could participate in the area contest !

Area A2 & A4 Fall Contest Schedule

On Tuesday, September 25th, 2007, Areas A2 and A4 will hold their combined Fall Area Speech Contests. The speech themes are HUMOROUS and TABLE TOPICS for the Fall contest.


It will be held at the STONY HILL FIRE HOUSE, 59 Stony Hill Road, Bethel, CT 06801. The contest will begin at 6:30 PM all participants are to arrive by 6:00. You can download a flyer in PDF format by clicking here.


A few volunteers are needed to serve as the JUDGES that evening. If you are interested in volunteering as a Judge, please contact your Area Governor (Pat Wilson-Perkins in Area A4 or Dan Legg in Area A2).


Reminder.... Clubs can send TWO Contestants for each contest (4 total participants) to the Area contests this year ! Don't miss out on this great opportunity !