What a contest......

The Division E Table Topics and Humorous speech contests were held today at the Alice Turner Library.  What a turn out, the meeting room was packed, we even had to bring more chairs in to accommodate the spectators.

Division E Toastmasters is comprised of seven Areas located through out northern Saskatchewan.  What we were entertained with today were Toastmasters that had competed and won in their home club competition.  They then competed with the other clubs in their Area at their Area contest.  They won at the Area contest and now were competing in the Division contests.  The winners today will go on to represent Division E at the District 42 Conference in a few short weeks in Edmonton. What we saw were the best of the best and what a field of communicators were there today.

Jane gets 3rd place

The Table Topics contest ran first with a total of six competitors.  For those of you that have never seen this type of competition, all the competitors are required to leave the room.  They all have the same question to answer so to keep things fair, they are brought back into the room one at a time.  That way they don't hear how the other competitors answer the same question they will be asked.  The question this time was to tell the audience what career they would choose if they could do anything they wanted and why.  This was quite a wide open question and we heard many diverse answers.  However when the judge's ballots were tallied, our very own President (Jane) placed a respectable third place in a very tough field of competitors.  Way to go Jane.

Jane also competed in the Humorous contest.  There were a total of five people in this competition.  We heard about riding the waves of life, how to water ski with Mr. Right.  We were asked if we "Really" listen to the things we say to our children, how important it is to know a few words in a foreign language and how we quickly graduate from pop to beer.  There were many times the audience laughter forced the speaker to take and extra pause before continuing.  Of course, along with the humour, were great gestures, vocal variety and facial expressions.  In most cases, these elements of the presentation added tremendously to the story.  We could put ourselves in the ocean battling the waves before we jumped up on our surf board or how it was important to quickly apply lipstick or was it sun block before Mr. Right pulls us up on our water skis. I think everyone was entertained.

It is unfortunate that Jane didn't place in this competition.  She was up against some stiff competition and I am sure the scoring was very close.  But congratulations must go out to all the participants in both competitions for a very entertaining afternoon  A big thanks must also go to the organiser's for putting it all together.  And a special round of applause to Jane who represented Prairie Schooners with her ever present enthusiasm and never ending smile.

If you weren't there, you missed a great contest and some well crafted presentations.  But there still is an opportunity in Edmonton on November 3rd.  So get yourself registered for the conference.  Maybe I will see you there.