TOASTMASTER CONTESTS BEGIN!

By Shirley M. Carolan, ATMG

It’s that time of year when Toastmasters International Clubs all over the globe start having their two annual Fall contests: The Humorous Speech Contest, and the Evaluation Contest. The winners at the Club level than proceed to the Area level and compete with contestants from clubs within their Area. Next follows the Division level contest, and finally the big daddy of all, the District Speech Contests.

Right before the Labor Day holiday my club, Tick Talk Toastmasters, Carlsbad, Calif. held it’s two contests. The Humorous Speech contest lived up to its name with some top candidates vying for first place. The winner is Erik Huber, a former navy SEAL, who regaled us with stories from his life.

The Evaluation Contest is more serious. A guest speaker, usually one unknown to the contestants, delivers a 5-7 minute speech on a topic of their choice that they would like to get some feedback on. The participants in this contest get five (5) minutes to assess the speech, and deliver a report using highly technical criteria, and come up with an evaluation of how the speech impacted them, what the strengths and weaknesses were, with concrete suggestions for improvement. Some criteria used in judging the speech are: Body language, vocal variety, clarity, effectiveness, purpose, correct grammar, a clear opening, body, and conclusion with something the audience can take home with them, e.g., What’s In It For Me (WIIFM)?

All evaluators are sequestered as they write up their report. Then, all must hand in their reports and pens to the Sargent @ Arms while the first contestant is led back into the main room to give their report. The other evaluation contestants therefore, have no idea what each Evaluator has to say to the guest speaker and audience.

This year, we had three very three very competent evaluators: Our Club President, Carole Sheckler, a seasoned Toastmaster, Dan McKeon, and a 30 year veteran, yours truly, Shirley Carolan. I was very happy to compete in this contest having been absent during August due to cataract surgery. Even though I have 30 years’ of experience behind me, it is surprising how rusty one can get.

I am pleased to say that I won the Evaluation Contest. I used the “Three P’s” method for evaluating: “Posture, Pausing, and Pacing.” For posture I described how the speaker used his hands, with the no-no fig leaf position, then rubbing his hands together, etc. I complimented him on his pausing and pacing throughout and his excellent slides. Lastly, I gave him three suggestions for improvement: Get a laser pointer for his slides, thus avoiding talking to his slides with his back to the audience, which muffled his voice. Next, to watch his body language, particularly his hand movements which were a bit distracting, and lastly, to watch his grammar, particularly his word endings which were a bit slurred.

Now it’s off to the Area Contest and competing with all the clubs in our Area! What fun! Maybe I’ll see you there?

Shirley M. Carolan, ATMG
Writer ● Speaker ● Artist
artistwithaflair@att.net
Phone/Fax: 760-732-0663
http://www.shirleycarolan.com
http://www.angelscross.blogspot.com
http://www.smcarolan.blogspot.com

Copyright© 2011 by Shirley M. Carolan. All rights reserved. To reprint any part of this article please give me credit and a link back. Thank you.