INTERNATIONAL SPEECH & TABLE TOPICS ™ Contests
District 45 Spring Conference 2015

May 15-17, 2015
Radisson Hotel
Manchester, New Hampshire, US

Two speaking-contests were conducted by
District 45 of Toastmasters International.
The District comprises
all of Vermont, New Hampshire, & Maine in the US, and
all of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, & Nova Scotia in Canada.

 

INTERNATIONAL SPEECH Contest

Saturday, May 16, 2015
I won 3rd Place for my speech,
Good Enough for Greatness.

This contest was an intensely-close race – with no less than 5 of us contestants really bringing our “A”-game, and the rest very close behind. Wow! Indeed, the Top 3 sequence could have gone in any order – and many people who came up to me afterward were thinking that I was the one who won (until the results were announced). All of the speeches were so well done.

The biggest – and most important! – “prize” for me was sum of the numerous people who came up afterward with tears, hugs, and gratitude for my sharing such a moving speech. That truly blessed me in a way that I shall not forget. I am the one who is grateful to have been able to have that effect for them.

For my first run up to the District level, I had achieved my goal for this year – i.e., to place at District. I am quite happy and honored to be in the same Top 3 with my two good friends who placed 1st and 2nd.

1st place: Joe Grondin (center-left) – 2nd place: Dan Bell (center-right).
Standing on the far right is District Governor, Patricia MacNevin.

 

TABLE TOPICS ™ (speech) Contest

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Although I competed and did quite well, I did not place in the District 45 Table Topics ™ contest.

The Table Topics ™ question presumed that every contestant shared a common childhood experience. Not directly having that personal experience in my own life, I still found a fun and creative way to answer it with an off-the-cuff mini-speech. The question asked,
What childhood toy did you want that you never received?

The Table Topics ™ contest was truly fun, and the other contestants gave some fantastic replies!

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Overall, it was both an honor and an amazingly fun & educational experience to have been able to compete at this District-level in both the International Speech and the Table Topics ™ contests. Yes this was a blast of a fun time indeed!