Club International Speech and Evaluation Contest

On February 1st, members and guests braved snow and wind to attend Lambs to Lions Toastmasters'  annual International Speech and Evaluation Contest at the Mississauga Central Library.

Tiffany, the chair of the International Speech Contest segment, began the meeting by welcoming everyone and explaining how the contest would run. Speakers had 5-7 minutes to give a completely original prepared speech.

The first contestant, Clark, gave a speech about the benefits of collaborative teamwork in getting work done. Jocelyne, the second speaker, gave a speech about her mentor's lasting influence in her life.

Tiffany concluded the Speech contest segment by interviewing both contestants while the judges scores were collected and tallied.

After a quick break, Pearl, the second chair of the meeting began the Evaluation Contest Segment. With a brief overview of the contest procedures, she called on the target speaker. Amel, the target speaker, gave a 5-7 minute speech titled "Follow your Heart: Don't Close your Eyes."



Amel, the target speaker at the Evaluation Contest.

After the speech, contestants were given a few minutes outside the meeting room to prepares their evaluation remarks while Pearl interviewed Amel about the content of her speech and her reasons for being a target speaker.

The contestants- Kenny and Parimal- were then called in one after the other and gave their 2-3 minute evaluations of the speech. After the contestants were interviewed it was time to announce the winners.

For the International Speech Contest, Jocelyne won first place with Clark coming in second.


Jocelyne, the first place winner of the International Speech contest with Area Governors Rajan and Odecca and Club President Bhushan. 



Clark, the second place winner of the International Speech contest with Area Governors Rajan and Odecca and Club President Bhushan.

For the Evaluation Contest, Parimal won first place with Kenny coming in second.

Parimal, the first place winner of the Evaluation contest with Area Governors Rajan and Odecca and Club President Bhushan. 

Kenny, the second place winner of the Evaluation contest with Area Governors Rajan and Odecca and Club President Bhushan. 

Both Jocelyne and Parimal will represent the club at the Area Contest on March 12.

2014 International Speech and Evaluation Contest Invitation

Table Topic Ideas: The Impromptu Debate

Due to a last minute agenda change at our January 18th club meeting, we lacked a prepared Table Topics Master. Thankfully, club member Jocelyne stepped up and provided just what we needed to keep the meeting going- an Impromptu Debate Session.

First, she divided the meeting room audience into two teams and then provided topics like "Should cell phones be banned from cares?" and "Should the death penalty be abolished?" With such interesting topics, the audience participated enthusiastically.

Since this impromptu debate session was such a success, here are some very basic guidelines if you wish to hold or participate in such a session during a future club meeting.

For the Table Topics Master/Debate Master
As the one who will run this sessions, you'll need to

1. Find and supply suitable debate topics. Topics can be current issues or even questions about general philosophies and ideas. The topic must be interesting and appropriate to the audience.
2. Decide which team is "For/Affirmative" and which has the "Against/Negative" stance on the given topic.
3. Keep track of the time for this session. If possible, give the meeting timer a guideline to follow.

For the Table Topics Speaker/ Debate Participant
No matter which side of the debate you have to speak for, the content of your debate speech must contain three parts.

1. Assertion: The major point of your argument
2. Reasoning: Explain why you believe your position is right
3. Evidence: A fact relevant to the topic that supports your reasoning.

If you wish to argue against the opposing teams' statement, take the main point of their argument and show that it doesn't make sense.

Of course, there are many more rules and guidelines on how to run a debate session. If you're interested in learning more, have a look at the Debate Handbook provided by Toastmasters International. You can read one of the older versions of the Debate Handbook here.