October 4, 2012 Theme: Humorous and Table Topics Contest

Guests for the evening, including members from the Saugeen Toastmasters and the Mount forest Motivators, were Dorothy, Marge S, Dorothy D and her husband Gordon, Teresa D, Trudy B, Jason W, Greg S, Gemma and Hank.

This evening was the Humorous speech and Table Topics Contest.

The meeting was called to order in time by Vern, our Sergeant at Arms for the evening, and introduced the chair for this evening, Keith Stoltz.

Keith welcomed everyone to this exciting evening with a few words and witty comments.  He then had our guests introduce another guest sitting beside them.

Up first was the Humorous Speech Contest, Keith asked for the rules to be read by Audrey, our Chief Judge for the evening.

The contestants were Vern, Tony, Apryl and Brent.  Apryl went first with her speech title "Till boating or death do us part", a fun account of her and her husbands' boating experience over the years of marriage.  A new word learned was "onefootitus".....a nautical term referring to the need to always upgrade your boat to a bigger size.  Next up was Vern with his "Animal Antics" speech.  Always full of humor, Vern's facial expressions and animal mimics had the audience laughing throughout his speech.  "Size Does Matter", the title of Tony's speech, was next.  An excellent explanation, with real life examples, that it is the smaller creatures of the animal kingdom that can strike fear in people.  Up last, but not least, was Brent with his speech "I Cannot Take It Anymore".  A fun tale about the trails and tribulations of being a Toronto Maple Leaf's fan.  Not to worry this year Brent.  Like you said in the end, with the NHL strike, the Leaf's may actually tie for first place (with all the other teams).

After the contestants were finished, the judges completed their ballots, which in turn were collected by the Chief Judge and assistants.  In closed quarters the ballots were reviewed.  All the ballots had been filled in correctly and signed.  As well, there were no time disqualifications.

While the Chief Judge and the assistants were working, the contestants were interviewed.  

A fifteen minute refreshment break was taken before the second half of the evening.

Next up was the Table Topics contest.  The rules for this were outlined by Audrey. Contestants for this event were Jane, Tony, Apryl, Keith M and Brent.  The contestants were taken out of the room and one by one were brought in when it was their turn to speak.  The topic for this event was "I Wish I Could" and each contestant did a wonderful job speaking on the topic.

The ballots were collected again, as with the speeches, all ballots were signed and there were no time disqualifications.  The contestants were interviewed again while the ballots were tallied.

Finally, the results.  For the humorous speech Tony came in first and Brent came in second.  For the Table Topics it was Tony again for first, Apryl in second and Keith M in third.

Keith S asked if there was anything for the good of Toastmasters, after which he officially ended the evening.