Yesterday evening, Toastmasters from three area clubs—Agvantage, Town and Gown, Co-operators—met for the Area 66 Evaluation and International Speech Contests.

Speech contests are a Toastmaster tradition. Each year, thousands of Toastmasters worldwide compete in the Humorous, Evaluation, Table Topics and International Speech contests. Competition begins at the club level and winners progress through the area, division and district levels. The international competition has two additional levels—semi-final and international.

Exciting. Nerve Wracking. Challenging. Nail Biting.

The tension in the room was palpable as we listened to nine contestants throughout the evening. Each speaker brought a different energy to the room. The audience responded favorably to speeches about nicknames, world citizenship, Olympic mittens, lactose intolerance and the road to publication. And we listened attentively to well-delivered evaluations by new and seasoned toastmasters.

Blake Kurisko won the Evaluation Contest and I won the International Speech Contest.

Special thanks to our host, Cooperators TM, for staging a well-organized contest.  We appreciate the contributions of contest chair Glen Oxford, Chief Judge Eric Maginnnis, Division W Governor Moustapha Oke,  and Area 66 Governor Mark Hofstee.