Tri-County Toastmasters #5682

Virden hosted the Area 1 and Area 10 spring Toastmasters contests on saturday 3-24-07 at the Virden Area Community Center. Two contests were held, those being the Evaluation and the International Speech contests. Speakers from Virden’s Tri-County club and the two Springfield clubs competed in the Area 1 contests, while speakers from two Decatur clubs competed in the Area 10 contests.

Dr. Todd Austin from Virden was the master of ceremonies for both contests. Dr. Ivan Paul, a tenured professor at Quincy University served as the pattern speaker for the evaluation contest. Paul’s prepared speech was called "Destiny". Each evaluation contestant then had 3 minutes to deliver an evaluation of Paul's speech.

For the Speech Contest, each participant had from 5 to 7 minutes to deliver a (serious) prepared speech. John Davidson of the Tri-County club was awarded third place for his speech entitled "Our Country’s First President". Davidson also took home third place in the evaluation contest.

First and second place Area 1 and Area 10 contest winners will advance to compete at the next highest level in the Division C Contests which will be held on Saturday 4-21-07 in Waverly.
Current Area 1 Governor Les Apps, a Tri-County club member from Girard also helped out with the contests.

The Tri-County Toastmasters club will hold their next meeting on Thursday, April 5th at 6:30 p.m. at the Virden Area Community Center at 105 West Jackson Street in Virden. It will be a special 10th anniversary open house meeting. It is open to the public and refreshments and cake will be served.

"This was an awesome opportunity to observe some proficient speakers in action." said Area 1 Governor Apps. "Attending a speech contest serves as a great introduction to what the Toastmasters program can do for people, by turning ordinary men and women into confident speakers that feel comfortable in front of an audience of any size!" For more info about Toastmasters, contact club Public Relations officer Todd Austin at 965-3100.