Two events in one day! Toastmasters from clubs in Division H gathered today for these two events: training and a mock contest. The morning session was the training on Conducting a Quality Club Speech Contest while in the afternoon, we had the Rookies Contest top-billed as Headliners of Tomorrow or HOT Contest.
(photo credits: JD Morales)
Both events were held at the 2nd floor of the Fluor Daniel Office at the Polaris Corporate Center in Alabang, Muntinlupa City.
Role Change
I was supposed to take the role on invocation and opening parts, but I didn't arrive earlier than I expected because of a parking mix-up. I had to park so far away from the building.
Pastor Toto took on the role and I think he did an excellent job. This is especially when there was no sound in the playing of the National Anthem. Toto, well-trained in school administration, managed to lead the audience in singing the National Anthem acapella.
Manning the registration were John Jucar from Fluor Global Communicators TMC and Daniel Gorospe from Microspeak TMC. We had 2 delegates from Omega TMC, Jheng and Rendum rooting for their representative, Gab Achacoso for the afternoon contest. Leah was Toastmaster of the Day.
Two-Part Training
There were two parts in the Conducting a Quality Club Speech Contest training. The first part was handled by Past Div.H Director Raul DTM. He discussed initial preparations or ground work that need to be made before a speech contest.
JD Morales, the President of Sigma TMC set up his camera equipment to take footages as well as photos of the training. Shown behind me at the other table are the members of the Fort Bonifacio TMC.
(photo credits: Cristina Yung)
Here's a photo of Janette Parra, Leah and me during the break.
DTM Janette Parra took on the second part of the the training which discussed on the judging forms, other documents as well as the judging conduct of contests.
Evaluation Mock Contest
After the training, a mock contest was conducted as a workshop/ exercise for the audience. The audience was grouped into two. From each group, two mock contestants for an evaluation contest were selected by each group.
This is the first group. Gelo and I were selected by our group to be the evaluation contestants for the mock contest.
This is the second group. From this group, Leah and Cassy were selected by their group as the evaluation contestants.
As this was a mock contest, we were asked to fill out the actual forms that are used in speech contests. This was for us and the audience to get the actual feel in participating and witnessing contests.
Below, Gelo and I accomplish the contestants forms for our group. It was only a bit later that we realized we were both competing against each other!
After the roles (timers, talliers, judges) have been assigned and the forms distributed and accomplished, the speaking sequence of the evaluation contestants was determined.
Shown below left are the contestants drawing lots with DTM Janette. The sequence was in this order: me, Gelo, Cassy and Leah. Below right, the test speaker, Tzarina delivering her prepared speech for the mock Evaluation contest.
Here's me in a couple of photos, giving my evaluation on Tzarina's prepared speech.
After the evaluation contestants gave their evaluation speeches, the certificates of participation were handed out.
To while away time as the Talliers finalized doing their job or even for printing the Award certificates, the contestants were interviewed by the contest master, James Exequiel.
The question given to me was how it felt to have been featured in the April 2018 issue of Toastmaster Magazine. James mistakenly mentioned the column as "Mentor of the Month". I corrected him, saying it was "Meet My Mentor". The article was written and submitted not by me, but my mentee, Anne.
Finally, the mock winners were announced and I ended winning Second Place! And for that, I received a mock trophy with the words "Humorous Contest". Haha.
Winning First Place was Cassy and Third Place was Leah. We were all "awarded" with mock trophies.
Reflecting on the Mock Contest
Being the first contestant, I was lucky to have seen how the others gave their evaluations. Even if it was just a mock contest, there were some items I missed in my evaluation.
- Commend on the humorous anecdotes that were evenly spaced in the speech - about the speaker's husband, being unemployed, etc.
- Build a connection with the speaker. Her speech resonated with me as I too had stress-related hypertension and how it factored in my retirement.
- Illustrate the recommendation further. I suggested a stronger call to action by being more specific. Rather than answer the question how fellow members can help, ask how can the speaker apply TM benefits to her business? Dealing with clients? Hostile customers? Non-performing suppliers, etc.
I had the above in my mind and some of them on my notes. But then i delivered my evaluation speech WITHOUT notes. Next time, I would create acronyms for good points and opportunity points.
There was actually ample time to prepare. Maybe i could've concentrated more on memorizing the acronyms so i don't forget all that i have written and prepared to say.
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