The District Conference is always full of nice surprises but none more than the one just held in Grande Prairie. Sue Milledge and Spencer Fawkes often come to help our club by judging in our club contests. On Saturday night at the banquet, Spence said he was making a special presentation, called Sue up to the podium in front of 180 Toastmaster friends and got down on one knee to ask Sue to marry him. There wasn't a dry eye in the room. A few men said they weren't crying, their eyes were "sweating". Sue said yes.
The humorous speech contest was absolutely side splitting funny with nine speakers from all areas of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The winner, David Haines, from Division C in Calgary entertained the audience with stories about his latest moving adventure. The lesson was never to allow your friends to label the boxes lest the box with the floor lamp be labelled "stripper pole" or just "stuff". Second place went to Darlene, from CTI Techtalkers, Division J, with her speech about travelling with her Dad. The audience laughed so much that several said their jaws were aching.
Chuck Rose, from Division J in Calgary, came third in Table Topics. The question was "You have just won the Olympic Gold medal. Describe your feelings as the medal is placed around your neck and the anthem is playing in the background." The answers ranged from serious to the sublimely funny. Chuck described how he won the gold for belly button lint picking.
The educational sessions were very interesting. The best part of course was meeting old friends and new. The next District convention will be held in Edmonton in May 2010. Plan to go!
