Past District 53 Governor dubbed by Hobo Queen

Karin von Kaenel was officially dubbed by the 2008-9 National Hobo Queen (and current Area A4 Governor) Carmine Coco DeYoung at the Area A4 speech contest on Wed. Sept.30th.

Part of the dubbing process is the awarding of a "hobo moniker" for the honoree and Karin was given the name "Countess Butterfly" due to her background as a statistician and the butterfly logo she had during her year as District 53 Governor.

The picture to the right shows Carmine explaining the award / dubbing process.

Below are pictures of Karin being "dubbed" by Carmine with the ceremonial hobo walking stick.

In the picture on the left below, Carmine awards Karin the Hobo Walking stick which includes numerous butterflies painted on it along with the signature of the Hobo King and Queen. Truly a "one of a kind" memento!

Karin also received a certificate (so she can hang something on the wall when she is out walking with the walking stick) !

Congratulations Karin !

Area A4 contest Tuesday night - 4-1-08

Area A-4 had their contest on Tuesday night (April 1st) at the Stony Hill Fire Dept. in Bethel, CT. The meeting was hosted by Barnum Square Toastmasters and there were six competitors in each category and the results are as follows:

A-4 International Contest Winners:

1st Place:
Nana Danso - Socially Speaking - # 4720

2nd Place:
Pearl Golay - Cartus - # 875053

3rd Place:
Hilda DeLucia - Barnum Square - # 1701

A-4 Tall Tales Contest Winners:

1st Place:

Carmine Coco DeYoung - WestConn - # 0599

2nd Place:

Annie Sorrells - Cartus - # 875053

3rd Place:
Heather O'Neil - Barnum Square - # 1701

Pictures (from top):
Audience, participant Anne Swartout, fast-moving Carmine Coco De Young and Tall Tale speaker Heather O'Neill.

Area A4 / A2 contest scheduled!

The Spring contest for Area A2 and Area A4 has been scheduled!


Date:
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008


Time:
Contestants & role players (judges, etc.) arrive by 6pm
Contest starts at 7pm


Location:
Stony Hill Fire House
59 Stony Hill Road,
Bethel, CT 06801

click here for a map of the location.


We look forward to a fun evening of International and Tall Tale speeches! Be sure to invite your friends and family and come out to support the contestants from your club!

Area A2 & A4 Contest Winners !

On Sept.25th, Area A2 and Area A4 held their TableTopics and Humorous speech contest at the Stony Hill Fire Department in Bethel, CT.

In Area A4 Humorous Speech Contest, Pearl Golay took home 1st place for her speech titled, "A Permanent Crisis" while Shila Ray was the 1st RunnerUp with his speech titled, "Virtues". (Pearl and Shila are shown in the picture to the right ... Pearl is the one on the left.)

In the Area A2 Humorous Speech Contest, Nana Danso (far left in the picture to the right) won 1st place with his speech titled, "The Secret" and Jinghua Xu (far right in picture) was the 1st RunnerUp with her speech titled, "Love is Deaf".

TableTopics winners were Liz Smith (Area A4, 2nd from left in picture) and Kathleen Zap (Area A2, 3rd from left in picture).

Public Speaking won't kill you .... will it?

Pat Wilson-Perkins, Area A4 Governor, (no relation to the person shown in the picture on the right) forwarded an article from msnbc.com titled, "Pulling back the curtain on stage fright ... Does your mind go blank in the spotlight?" by Patrick Enright.

The article is an interesting discussion about the biology of stage fright...

What's really going on when we get sweaty-palmed and sick to our stomachs?
Mary Fensholt, a consultant and author of "The Francis Effect: The Real Reason You Hate Public Speaking and How to Get Over It," puts it succinctly: "The fear of public speaking or performing is more than anything a fear of being eaten." Building on the theories of sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson, Fensholt argues that historically, being intently scrutinized and singled out was a prelude to being eaten by a predator, so human ancestors evolved a strong fear response against setting themselves apart from the protection of the group.

Clearly public speaking can initiate the "Fight or Flight" biology ... even though the audience is unlikely to attack the speaker (at least in the Toastmasters clubs I've been to).

The article includes some ways to minimize or at least manage the effects of stage fright...

While you may not be able to shrug off stage fright entirely, you can minimize its effects. Breathing exercises, visualization, focusing on relaxing your muscles and drinking a glass of grapefruit juice to stimulate the salivary glands all can help with the physical symptoms of stage fright, and, as Somjee
says, "If you can relax your body, your mind simply follows."

The article ends with a great way to put stage fright into perspective...

If you make a mistake, you may be embarrassed, but there are no real predators in the audience.

Again, your results may vary. (Especially if you are asked to speak at the lunch meeting of Predator Toastmasters.)

Click here for a sidebar to the article listing celebrities who have battled stage fright including Rod Stewart, Carly Simon and Barbara Streisand.

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 !

Welcome New Area Governors for 2007-8

Welcome to the 2007-8 Area Governors who will be starting (officially) on July 1, 2007 !

Mike Ruppert, Area A1
Dan Legg, Area A2
Ozgur Turkman, Area A3
Pat Wilson-Perkins, Area A4
Janice Parker, Area A5

We appreciate that they have stepped forward to serve the clubs in their area and we will be working together to make 2007-8 the best Toastmaster year EVER !

Congratulations New Area Governors !

Dave Wheeler
Division A Governor, 2006-8

More Club Contest Winners ... BI Toastmasters

On 3/16/07, Steve Rock wrote:

As the Vice President – Education for BI Toastmasters (#7386) it is my pleasure to inform you of the result of our Tall Tales Speech Contest, conducted 3/15, and International Speech Contest, conducted 3/8.

Tall Tale winners....

^{1st Place – Jaime Navarro}

2nd Place – Jinghua Xu

3rd Place – Nana Danso

International Speech Contest winners ...

^{1st Place – Nana Danso}

2nd Place – Andre White

3rd Place – Zhanna Yuabova

We look forward to seeing the winners at the Area A2 / A4 Contest on Wed. March 21st at the Wooster School Library. Contestants should arrive at 7pm for briefings so the contest can start at 7:30pm.

Note: if the first place winner cannot compete, the next place winner can take his / her place. Please encourage all contestants to come prepared to speak ... you never know when someone's schedule will change and you will have an unexpected opportunity to compete !

Barnum Square Toastmasters - Speech Contest Results !

Speech Contest Season is underway ... and we have some results & pictures!

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark.Frohlinger
Subject: Barnum Square Toastmasters - Speech Contest Update

Our last meeting featured our local Speech Contest in preparation for the coming Spring 2007 Speech Contests for all Toastmaster Clubs and Areas in District 53.

All the contestants who participated performed exceptionally and their speeches were thoroughly enjoyable as well as motivating. Those who will present at the next level will proudly represent Barnum Square.

The following is a listing of who presented, the titles of their speech as well as in which realm they spoke. Also included, thanks to Gail and Phil Palermo are pictures taken during the meeting.

In the future, please consider participating in such a wonderful experience and enter a future contest. Thank you and enjoy your day and weekend to come.

Barnum Square Speech Contest Summary-

Tall Tales

Richard Smith KILLER - First Place

Pat Wilson-Perkins TRAUMA ROOM 2

Tom Shaw DAMNED NATION DAILY

International

Liz Smith FA BAFF - First Place

Gail Palermo ORDINARINESS

Area A3 Contests... set for April 4th

From Dave Wheeler, Division A Governor:

Since I have not gotten any responses the email I sent out last week, I made an "executive decision" and scheduled the Area A3 contest in conjunction with the Area A1 / A5 Contest on April 4th. (I have already discussed the subject with Area A1 & A5).

We want to make sure we give all the clubs in Area A3 the opportunity to participate in the Spring contests ! They should also be aware that each area will have their own trophies so while the contests are being run together, the competitions will only be within each Area!

On 2/27/07, Roger Brown <rogerbrown@mac.com > wrote:

Good Morning Dave.

The Area Contests should start real soon now. And it

looks like Division A is nearly ready for the march to the

final 6 speakers in D53.

Area A1 Tall Tales and International Speech Contests

Wednesday, April 4, 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

at Dyson Bldg, Ulrich Conf Rm Marist College,

3399 North Rd (Rte 9), Poughkeepsie, NY

Area A2 Tall Tales and International Speech Contests

Wednesday, March 21, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

at Wooster School Library, 91 Miry Brook Rd, Danbury, CT

Area A3 Tall Tales and International Speech Contests

Wednesday, April 4, 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
at Dyson Bldg, Ulrich Conf Rm Marist College,
3399 North Rd (Rte 9), Poughkeepsie, NY

Area A4 Tall Tales and International Speech Contests

Wednesday, March 21, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

at Wooster School Library, 91 Miry Brook Rd, Danbury, CT

Area A5 Tall Tales and International Speech Contests

Wednesday, April 4, 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

at Dyson Bldg, Ulrich Conf Rm Marist College,

3399 North Rd (Rte 9), Poughkeepsie, NY

Division A Tall Tales and International Speech Contests

Wednesday, April 11, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

at Wooster School Library, 91 Miry Brook Rd, Danbury, CT