Tullamore Toastmasters

The competition meeting on the 20th of February was chaired by Des Doyle. The first order of business for the night was to vote in new members. This was handled by our president, Jennifer Dillon. New members voted in were Des Doyle, Mike Keenan, Eileen McGrath, and Conor McCarthy.

Then, after a short topic session from our Topicsmaster for the night, Phil Newton, came the International Speech Contest. There were two entrants for the Contest, first Mike Keenan, with a speech entitled “Speaking the Music of Life”, then Timothy Green, with a speech entitled “She Sells Sea Shells on the Sea Shore”. After the Contest, there were a few more topics while the ballot counters totted up the results from the judges, and then a break for coffee, biscuits, and a chat.

After the break, there were a few more topics and then the Speech Evaluation Contest. Our guest speaker, Francis Keenan, VPE of Athlone Toastmasters, gave a poetic speech entitled “Wisdom”. The three contestants, Mike Keenan, Timothy Green, and Eileen McGrath, took notes on the speech, then went outside for five minutes preparation time (while Phil Newton engaged the audience with a few more topics). At the end of the five minutes, the contestants had to give up their notes. Then each contestant entered the room one at a time, receiving their notes back as they came in, and evaluated Francis Keenan’s speech, giving him feedback on where the speech was strong and where it could be improved.

After a final bout of topics, the winners of the two contests were announced: Mike Keenan won the International Speech Contest and Timothy Green won the speech evaluation contest. The winners will go on to represent the club at the Area Final.

The area final will be on Monday the 7th of April. The venue has yet to be confirmed, but will probably be the Prince of Wales Hotel in Athlone.

Note: One of the requirements of the International Speech Contest is that the contestant has already given six speeches in Toastmasters. Mike Keenan had achieved this, even though he’s a new member, as he is also a member of Athlone Toastmasters. This requirement does not apply to the Speech Evaluation Contest or other contests. This was, in fact, the first evaluation Eileen McGrath had given. This is the third year running in Tullamore Toastmasters where a new member has given their first ever evaluation as part of the Speech Evaluation Contest.