Gideon Dhinakaran and Kerry Thompson were winners at the Nowra Toastmasters speech contests held at the Worrigee Ex-servicemen’s Club on Wednesday, February 15.
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Gideon was judged the best of the six entrants in the speech evaluation contest and Kerry’s speech was judged to best of the four entrants in the in the international speech contest.
Kerry was also placed second in the evaluation contest.
Wolfgang Suehrer was placed second in the international speech contest.
These contests provide an opportunity for Toastmasters to test their skills in speech making and evaluation against those of other club members.
Winners go on to compete at higher levels within Toastmasters - potentially at an international level.
Penny Espinoza, an audiologist, gave the target speech for the evaluation contest. After she had given a highly informative talk about the hearing mechanism and causes of hearing loss, the contestants were taken out of the room to prepare their presentations.
They were then allowed back in, one at a time, to present their evaluations. This procedure ensures that contestants do not have an unfair advantage in hearing evaluations made by other contestants before they present their evaluations of the target speech.
The skills that Toastmasters learn in providing positive and helpful speech evaluations were very much on display in this contest.
In his winning speech in the International Speech Contest, Kerry Thompson told the inspiring story of Oskar Speck (1907–1995).
Speck was a German adventurer, who paddled a folding kayak from Germany to Australia over the period 1932-1939.
After he arrived in Australia, he was welcomed by police, and interned for the duration of the World War II. Speck later worked as an opal cutter at Lightning Ridge and an opal merchant in Sydney.
The winners and second place-getters in the evaluation and speech contests will compete at the Area 30 contests that are to be hosted by Nowra Club on Sunday, March 5, at the Worrigee Ex-servicemen’s club.
The contests are to begin at 2pm (briefing of judges and contestants is at 1.30pm). Members of the public are welcome. Entry fee $15 per person.
Nowra Toastmasters meet regularly at 7.30 pm at the Worrigee Ex-servicemen’s club on the first and third Wednesday of each month.
Anyone who would like to learn more about the club is invited to attend a regular meeting free of charge, to decide whether they wish to join. Contact information is available at Nowra Toastmasters Club
