“And first place and the District 91 Humorous Speech Champion for 2015…Selina Jones”. I gasped and jumped out of my seat as the room applauded. I couldn’t believe I had won!
But actually, I hadn’t won at all. Or rather, I certainly hadn’t won on my own – this was a real team effort, as I think all Toastmaster’s contests are.
A little bit over one year ago, I arrived in the UK. After a life time of being conditioned what I should and should not be doing, I came to the UK to pursue a new job and to build a new life.
Moving from Vodafone Egypt to Vodafone Group in the UK I was appointed to be a service manager, a role where I will have a team to lead, presentations to make, and studies to prepare, I needed to take my personality and my confidence to a whole new level.
I joined Toastmasters back in March 2016, and I was hooked, I originally joined Newbury Speakers club, and soon after I decided to join Ascot Speakers as well.
Following a very successful District 91 Londinium Spring Conference this weekend, congratulations to the inaugural winners of the District 91 International Speech and Evaluation Contests 2016.
1st: Thien Trang Nguyen Phan
2nd: Andrew Osayemi
3rd: Donald Mavunduse
Thein, with her speech ‘Cut It Out’, will go on to represent District 91 at the International Speech semi-finals at Washington DC in August. We wish her every success.
The mystery speaker was Graham Frost with a speech entitled ‘The Jacket That Changed My Life’.
1st: Ga Lok Chung
2nd: Chris Boden
3rd: Meenakshi Nayar
From Samir Malak, Area Director, K35
As we were preparing for the Area Contest, a boy approached me, his face awash with consternation. “When are you going to be finished?” I advised we would certainly be done by 10pm. “But we are having Karate at 8pm in that room.”
“Let me look into that.” I responded, with a smile.
WOW, the Spring conference is less than 4 weeks away!!
Have you bought your ticket?
If you have not bought your ticket, now is the time to buy. So click on this link to get your ticket.
If you have bought your ticket, here are three things you could do:
Don’t miss the interview with the 2015 World Champion of Public speaking, Mohammad Qahtani coming up in the next few weeks. Subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes or SoundCloud and listen to what the workshop presenters have to say about their sessions and why you should attend the conference.
That is all from me for now and I look forward to seeing you all in London on the 7th and 8th of May 2016
Ian Brett, Spring Conference Lead Ambassador