Randburg Toastmasters host a humourous speech competition for their members

The Randburg Toastmasters held their 985th meeting and chose the best way to celebrate it by hosting a humourous speech contest.

Contestants, Kenny Blacklaw, Charmaine Manicorn and the eventual winner, Jarrod Levenstein had the audience laughing throughout the night while polishing up their public speaking skills.

The event was aimed at showcasing the comedic skills of members and further training their abilities to present speeches on a wide range of topics and themes. Levenstein’s speech, The Keys, which was about how important keys are, whether it be keys to start an engine or the key to living a pleasurable life, impressed the judges the most.

Blacklaw’s speech was titled, Avoiding homework, a story about how he tried, by all means, to skip his homework session at boarding school. He told the audience how he laid in bed ignoring every attempt by school staff to awake him from his fake slumber.

Manicorn’s talk, Ver de Terre, which is French for earthworms, was educational as it highlighted the importance of earthworms for soil, and funny as it had the crowd laughing at her experiences with earthworms.

Randburg Toastmasters hold meetings every two weeks and it is a space ‘where leaders are made’, according to Mack Rabapane, the club’s president. He said when someone signed up as a member they were given skills on communication and leadership.

Throughout the night, as the contest chair, Rabapane kept attendees laughing with stories, quotes and puns. A quote that stood out on the night was, ‘Laughter is the shortest distance between two souls’.

Levenstein will now go on to represent Randburg Toastmasters Club in October at the regional Toastmasters humourous speech contest.

For more information on Randburg Toastmasters and their events, contact club vice president of public relations, vppr-2934@toastmastersclub.org