Sunday, September 22, 2013

The Fall 2013 Club Contest

On September 21st, an excited group – of contestants, judges and club executives- gathered on the top floor of the Mississauga Central Library and talked in hushed whispers while people filled the meeting room behind them. At 11:30, the group entered the room and the Lambs to Lions Toastmasters club officially began it's annual 'Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest'.

The Contest Chair, Jocelyne, prepped the audience for the Table Topics Contest with a brief overview of Toastmasters' contests. Rajan, the Area Governor, then went over the contest rules and requirements.

In the Table Topics contest, contestants have 1-2 minutes to talk on the topic or question given to them. But they only get their topic right before they move to the front to speak.

On this particular Saturday, contestants had to speak on the topic of 'Participation'. All four contestants filled their allotted speaking time with personal experiences, interesting thoughts and ideas.

After the judges submitted their ballots, the club took a quick break to socialize before starting the next contest segment- the Humorous Speech Contest. Contestants have 5-7 minutes to make the audience laugh with an original and well-structured speech.

Elizabeth, the Humorous Speech Contest Chair, introduced Robin- the only contestant- to lively applause from the audience.

After the entertaining speech, the contest chairs deftly began the awards ceremony. Amidst loud applause, the contest chairs announced Maha as the winner of the Table Topics Contest and Robin as the winner of the Humorous Speech Contest.

Both Maha and Robin will represent the Lambs to Lions Club in their respective categories at the Area Contest on October 17th.