And the Winner is...

Wednesday, March 28
Toastmasters Area Speech Contest


The following are observations from the Areas D40 and D41 Toastmaster's Evaluation and International Speech Contest held March 28 at the Caltrans building in downtown Los Angeles. Toastmasters @ Metro Club President Falan Guan won the Area D40 International Speech Contest and took home the top trophy. She will be competing in the District 52 contest on April 26.


Frank Clarke, ATM Bronze

Hear Ye!! Hear Ye!! Attention fellow Toastmasters -- there's a new champion in town.

Our own President Falan Guan won the Area 40 International Speech contest with an excellent presentation!!

Falan's next challenge is to win the Divison contest to be held in April at the Cal Trans new building.

Myself, Falan, Kathy Hendry, Bertha Bruner, and Gayle Anderson attended the Area contest last night to encourage and support Falan. We all had a great time and even won raffle prizes (I won a new book about Billy Crystal).

Congratulate Falan and let's all encourage her in her courageous journey. Who knows -- Falan's "dream" is beginning to blossom and with her marvelous delivery style and the content of her speech MTA may have the next Toastmaster International Champion!!

Kathy Hendry, Sergeant at Arms

I offer this to perhaps supplement Gayle’s excellent observations of the evening. (I haven’t seen her observations, but I know she was paying attention last night….)

I counted 40 people, 5 of whom were us, the Metro contingent. 2 Contestants, 1 judge, 1 ballot counter, 1 photographer. That’s a statistically significant 12.5%. Contests for 2 areas were held within this event, Areas 40 and 41 with a combined total of 10 contestants. 6 for the evaluation and 4 for the International Speech. Our Club fielded 2 contestants; again, statistically significant at 20%! I was the only female competitor in the Evaluation group, so I’m glad to have jumped in at the last minute, if only to represent the distaff side.

The turnout was greater by a magnitude of something, so there wasn’t enough food for everyone. Thank goodness we got there early. The contest chair offered a partial refund to anyone who didn’t get fed.

There were several dignitaries in attendance, from the Area level to Division Governor. Competitors ranged in experience from newbies Falan and Area 41’s Tom Polansky at 1-1.5 years to a couple of real veterans with 20 years plus! 4 out of 5 of us won prizes in the raffle; maybe the 5th didn’t buy any tickets???

When the winner of the Intl Sp Contest was announced, well, the room erupted in delighted applause. What a terrific feeling to have a club member attain such recognition, and on her first time out!

I have been to other contests, so I can say from experience, that the support from this audience for all the contestants, and their appreciation of all those involved in putting on the event, was as heartfelt and well-expressed as you could hope for. We learned much, had a wonderful time, and encourage all our fellow members to make every effort to attend such an event as soon as possible.

Speaking of which, the District 52 spring contest will be held in same location (Cal Trans building right downtown) on Thursday, April 26. The Division D Conference, which includes a contest, will be held at the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn in North Hollywood on Saturday, May 19; the Regional is in San Diego and even International Conference will be “close by” in Phoenix, AZ. Anybody for a road trip?

Yea Falan!

For additional comments and photographs from the contest click here.

Who will carry the flag?

Tuesday, March 13, 2007
10 attendees

For those in attendance at last week’s meeting (03/06), seeing video of winning speeches from a recent Toastmasters contest was inspirational. It also served as a springboard for two members on Tuesday. Thanks to Frank Clarke (ATM Bronze), members and guests were witness to the best presentations our organization has to offer. and Kathy Hendry (Sergeant at Arms)Club President Falan Guan have decided to take the plunge and enter an area speech contest.

Let me offer congratulations and wish them the best during the contest. Like everyone’s first speech in the club, it takes courage to take that first step. As Falan mentioned, “being the President, I feel that I should set an example for other members by participating in contests”.

The video contained speeches from the contests’ top speakers that took place in the Los Angeles Area. Frank and Club Treasurer Gene Hargreaves detailed how the contest works as well as evaluation materials gave members.

Members were then treated to two prospective contest speeches. After drawing numbers to decide who would present first (as may be the case in the contest), Falan Guan presented “I Have A Dream.” Originally delivered (Project , ) the speech was delivered with an elegance and soothing manner that has become her trademark.

Kathy presented her (). Originally delivered () the speech had an energetic opening and plenty of give and take with the audience. Her role was that of a salesperson and the subject of the sale was cleverly kept from the audience.

After each speech an open forum gave both speakers valuable feedback that could improve the presentations.