Renaissance Speakers’ Serena McCullough won the District 52 Speech Evaluation Contest at the Fall Conference.
Serena faced tough competition from the four other Division winners in the contest which took place at the Castaways’ Restaurant in Burbank.
At the beginning of this contest, a five- to seven-minute test speech was presented by a Test Speaker in front of the packed banquet room. At the conclusion of the test speech, all five contestants left the room and had five minutes to prepare their evaluation using materials of their choice.
After five minutes, the contestants turned in their notes. The first evaluator was called back into the room and delivered a 2-3 minute evaluation in front of the audience which included the anonymous contest judges. Each of the remaining contestants repeated this cycle. The judges then use ballots to pick the winner!
Serena did all the right things: She identified many of the Test Speaker’s strengths, she suggested a couple of ways to make the speech even better, and then nicely summarized her presentation, all the while being positive and encouraging.
But wait, there’s more: Later that evening, Serena was officially introduced as one of the District’s newest Distinguished Toastmasters (DTM) and was awarded the much sought-after gold medallion. Distinguished Toastmaster is the highest recognition a member may receive in Toastmasters.
Not a bad night for one of our hardest working club members!
(Photo by Elizabeth Gilbert: Contest Master John Keesee, Serena McCullough, and District 52 Director Janet Walters)
Jeff is a two-time Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) and the current VP Public Relations of Renaissance Speakers.