Posted by Dorothea Stuart
At the weekend Toastmasters from across the UK and Ireland gathered at York for the White Rose Conference. The events included the District 71 Finals for the Humorous Speech and Table Topics (impromptu speaking) contests.
Our London Champion Bob Ferguson, Excalibur Speakers, Area 47 won the Humorous Speech Contest. In second place was Chris Billington (Windsor) and third Brian McLoughlin (Mullingar).
Bob's humorous take on the perils of modern technology clearly went down well with the judges as well as the audience as a whole.
Bob is pictured here relaxing after the contest, and getting ready to enjoy the Table Topics Contest on Sunday morning.
If you haven't already read them you might want to go to the Top Tips Bob gave us for entering Toastmasters contests.
The Table Topics contest was won by Kevin Walsh of Fermoy Toastmasters, Division A in Ireland. Kevin did an excellent job tackling a familiar question about time travel and which era he would like to return to. He talked about the possibility of going back to the Renaissance but opted in favour of modern times and the medical advances that meant that he survived infancy.
The contest was a high standard and all the contestants gave us effective and in some cases extremely humorous two minute speeches.
Kevin Walsh picture here with Michelle Reid (Oxford) placed 2nd and Michael Dunkel (Woking) place 3rd.
Thank you to Julie Kertesz of Lewisham Speakers for the photos.
