NightVision ToastMasters

Hear Ye!!!  Hear ye!!!
The time is fast approaching for our club’s spring contest!  That’s right - the battle to end all battles… the clash of the Titans… the Grand Prix of public speaking…  Ok, you get the idea. :-)  And it’s all happening this Thursday!

The contest will have two parts: International Speech, followed by Evaluation.  If you scroll down to the bottom of this email, I’ve included some additional information.  Winners will have the opportunity to advance to the area level, on March 30.

Good luck to all the contestants!  And to all the contestants — have fun!

Cheers,
Peter

Contestants
We’ll start with the International Speech contest, and our contestants are:
- Carmen
- Garrett
- Sinisa
- Selma

And then we’ll have the Evaluation contest, and our contestants are:
- Carmen
- Sinisa
- Jenny

An Important Note To All Contestants About Timing
Please be aware that time limits are inflexible during a contest.  You must not speak for less than the minimum minus 30 seconds, or for more than the maximum plus 30 seconds.

Supporting Roles
Supporting our contestants, and without whom this contest would not be possible, are all the other roles.  We’re also very fortunate that Toastmasters from other clubs have agreed to help.  We have:

- Chair: Peter
- Chief Judge: David Melles
- Judges for the International Speech contest: Jenny, Robert, Norman, David Melles
- Judges for the Evaluation contest: Garrett, Robert, Norman, David Melles
- Guest speaker: Lorrie
- Timer: Annie Wang
- Ballot Counter: Nancy Lima
- Contest Interviewer: Chelsey
- Calligrapher: Carmen

If you don’t have a role yet, it’s not too late — we still have the following roles open:
  - Humorist
  - Snack organizer

What is the International Speech contest?
Each speech should be 5 to 7 minutes.  Any topic at all, so long as it’s original.  Can be funny, serious, whatever.  It should be the best speech you can give, and it must be original.  The reason this contest is called “International Speech” is because it’s **the only one** of the five contests that goes as far as the World level.  Each August, winners from the eight Regions and the Overseas clubs (9 contestants in all) compete at the World Convention in the World Championship of Public Speaking.

What is the Evaluation contest?
A guest speaker gives a speech which all the evaluation contestants are to evaluate.  The contestants are then taken from the room and given five minutes to prepare their speeches and make notes.  Then, their notes are taken away and they are brought back into the room one by one (at which time the contestant gets their notes back) to deliver their oral evaluation of the target speech.  Each evaluation should be 2 to 3 minutes in length.

(These speech contest descriptions were borrowed from <http://www.faqs.org/faqs/toastmasters-faq/part5/>.)