Posts Tagged ‘area 15’

Earlier this month I ran the first of two Area Training days for Toastmasters.

We held it at the Holiday Inn Express in Hull. This is a venue that Hull Speakers use for the regular meetings and makes for a great choice – everything ran really smoothly, lunch was good, and it is easy to get in and out of. Hull is usually a bit of a grim place to visit, but at least the M62 is usually quiet and the drive across Yorkshire and down the estuary past the Humber Bridge is comparatively pretty.

Thank you to everyone who attended and made the day a success. A special thank you to Shelagh, Jane and Michael who presented workshops.

Well this feels a lot more official now.

Last week I had the pleasure of going to Sheffield for the Toastmasters Area 15 International Speech & Evaluation contest. At said meeting I was elected as next years Area Governor. It remains to be seen whether that counts as winning or not ;). Congratulations to Billal, Jane, Gail and Pauline who proceed on to Division.

On the last Sunday of September, we held the Area 15 contest for humorous speaking and table topics. The competition was tough and all competitors did a great job – congratulations to all that took part!

Despite having lost at the club contest, only to win through at White Rose, I somehow came out on top in humorous speaking. Two contestants go through to Division so Jamie will be joining me with a speech entitled “The TM 2 1 3 1” as well.

Chanaka once again stormed through the Table Topics and will be going to the division contest alongside Michael who also gave an excellent speech. I’m also pleased to say Michael took home the Toastmaster of the Year award for his ever-present hard work for the area.

Last month, a paid a visit to one of the other Area 15 Toastmasters clubs, Doncaster Speakers.

Some of the other clubs I have visited have not been able to match the standards of Leeds City, but Doncaster did an excellent job – it was well organised, professional and entertaining. I also came away with a few ideas I’m considering for Leeds.

I did feel a little guilty about cleaning out their awards though – I took home the best table topics ribbon while Anthony, our Division Govenor and Leeds City member took home the best evaluator ribbon.

After the meeting, we decided to get some dinner locally, so wandered down the street until we came across a restaurant named Cactus Jack. It was American themed and did some amazingly tasty ribs – fall off the bone TGI style, but with more flavour! I think next time I visit Doncaster Speakers, it will be more accurate to say I’m visiting Cactus Jack’s, and stopping by Toastmasters on the way…

Recently, I took part in the Area 15 International Speech & Evaluation contest. Having won the speech contest at Leeds City Toastmasters, and evaluation contest at White Rose Speakers, there was no relaxing as I had both competitions to do – not that I’m complaining!

Evaluation isn’t my strong point, so I was quite pleased that I managed to make third place (out of five). I did rather better in the speech contest though, winning by a very narrow margin, but never the less proceeding through to the Division contest at York.

Well done to everyone who took part, it was tough competition indeed!

Regardless of what happens in York, it does mean I have a new trophy to put on my shelf, at least until the Area Context next year.

However, the show was stolen by Erik, who provided Michael with dance lessons.