From Christopher Hall, Area 34 Governor
On Thursday 15 April the London Toastmasters Area 34 competition was set in the daunting surrounding of London Business School's largest lecture theatre.
The result: a resounding victory for the smallest club the in the Area: Tube Talk with Ola Aralepo winning the International Speech Contest and Iain Duthie winning the Evaluation Contest.
Runners up were Kenneth Adjei, City Speakers for the International Speech Contest and Rosalind Oakley, Holborn Speakers for the Evaluation Contest.
Ola and Iain will represent Area 34 in the All London Contest Finals on Saturday 24 April 2010. The winners from the All London Finals will compete at the UK & Ireland (District 71) Finals at The Land of Heart's Desire Conference, Sligo, May 14-16 2010. (Keynote speaker World Champion of Public Speaking, Darren LaCroix - watch him on video below)
The photo shows from left to right Rosalind Oakley, Grant Hammond, Iain Duthie,John Bennett, Ade Adewunmi, Christopher Hall (Contest Chairman), Ken Adjei, Hilary Briggs (Chief Judge), Ola Aralepo, Dominique Fourniol.
It's impressive to see two winners from one club. Perhaps Tube Talk's focus on member retention, with an exceptionally high membership re-newal rate compared to all other clubs in London, shows the value of continuing membership of Toastmasters. How do they do it? We could all learn from them.
