Last Tuesday Coffs Toastmasters held its Speech Evaluation and International club contests. In the Speech Evaluation contest, Bethany Mcalpine from the Mighty Clarence Grafton Toastmasters club came all the way down to be “Test Speaker”. Bethany a 21 year old Uni Student told of her visit to East Timor. Her smoothly flowing narrative, told with expressive voice and gesture, took us via a series of word pictures from Dili airport, through city streets, to her lodgings, and then on a bus journey into the mountains. Through the rich weave of people, places, and conversations ran the theme of poverty like a thread, alluded to in a quiet and nuanced way: the smell of poverty; a young boy stunted from malnutrition; an old man (“he looked like my grandfather”) at risk of dying from lack medical resources. Thank you Bethany, and congratulations for delivering a very fine 7 minute speech without microphone or notes, to a large audience. Bethany says she is “shy” but that her confidence as a speaker in all situations has grown after 3 years in Toastmasters.
During the evening four speakers presented in each of the Speech Evaluation & International Speech Contests. Speech Evaluation 1st place winner Fran Kerkhoff & 2nd Barbara Stewart. International Speech 1st place winner Deebee Bishop & Fran Kerkhoff 2nd will now go on to compete at the Area contests (Coffs, Bellingen and Nambucca Valley) on Saturday, September 3 at Mylstrom Hall 18-20 River Street Mylstrom starting at 9am, all welcome. Details regarding this contest will be on the Coffs Harbour Toastmasters website at https://coffstoastmasters.com.au/
Fran Kerkhoff Barbara Stewart & Deebee