Toastmasters of the area compete

During an interesting evening Toastmasters Clubs of Roodepoort (division S) competed against one another for titles on Wednesday evening 10 April.

Florida Toastmasters and Bacon and Egg Toastmasters, the West Rand Toastmasters, Honeydew Toastmasters and Moments to Note Toastmasters Clubs battled it out at MTN Innovation Centre on 14th Avenue, Fairlands.

After the guests were welcomed, the contestants and sergeants, judges, timekeepers and counters were called aside to be briefed for the competition. The international speech contest was held first, whereafter the evaluation contest followed.

Margaret Roodt (Florida) challenged her audience on whether they are drivers or passengers in their own lives, and used a half-empty water bottle and half a brick to demonstrate different people’s perspectives on life. Lydia Strehlau (Honeydew) elaborated on the voices in her head, explaining that they faded but that she is working hard on getting them back, thinking of them as her personal creative forces.

Susan Masuku (West Rand) brought across a strong message, ‘live your life, don’t let life live you’ by telling a powerful story. Khetha Cele (Bacon and Egg) countered the voices in Lydia’s head by speaking about his own, using examples of happenings during his childhood.

Thendo Nekhavhambe (Moments to Note), the last contestant in the international speech contest, had the audience chuckling at her findings after she researched the differences between men and women prior to getting married last year. During the break, everybody still spoke about the ‘boxes’ that men organise with and the ‘connections’ that all women tend to make between situations.

The evaluation contest was meant to single out the best evaluator of the night. Contestants Rezah Williams (Moments to Note), Michael Glencross (Florida), Sharon Baumgart (West Rand), Khetha Cele (Bacon and Egg) and Jordan Stephenou (Honeydew) all gave personal feedback on a demonstration speech delivered by Gavin Polkingthorne. Each evaluator told the audience what they liked about his speech as well as what they found challenging. They also made recommendations for his next speech.

By the end of the night the winners were announced and celebrated.

In the international speech contest, Khetha won with Lydia and Susan taking second and third place. In the evaluation contest Sharon Baumgart won with Michael Glencross and Jordan Stephenou taking second and third place.

Winners of the contest will compete in a following contest between divisions.