Area Contest Results

Congratulations to all of our contestants for their excellent efforts at the Area International Speech Contest and Evaluation Contest! There was tough competition with highly skilled, experienced speakers in both contests. Darlene placed second and Ellen placed third in the International and Evaluation contest, respectively.

Cheer on CTI at the Area 41 contest

An unprecedented four contestants are moving on to represent CTI Techtalkers at the Area 41 contest on Thursday, March 22. They have all been working hard practicing and honing their skills over the past few weeks since the club contest. CTI Techtalkers, Igniters and Speakmasters club champions are all competing so it should be very exciting.

Evaluation Contest: Ellen and Carole

International Speech Contest: Darlene and Marc

(See pictures below of our CTI Techtalkers winners- special thanks to our guest Spencer for taking the photos!)

Area 41 Contest
Time: 6:30 pm
Place: Student Council Chambers, MacEwan Student Centre, University of Calgary
(across from the food fair - Dairy Queen)

Evaluation Contest Result

Congratulations Ellen on winning the evaluation contest! It was an exciting event, with Carol taking an international phone call on her way to the lectern but still maintaining her composer and taking second place. Special thanks to our test speaker, Keith, who presented an excellent speech for the contest. Also thanks to our Elizabeth, area governor, for making an appearance. I look forward to the international speech contest coming up this Thursday.

Speech Contests

A reminder that CTI Techtalkers has two speech contests coming up soon. The evaluation contest on March 1 followed by the International speech contest March 8. All current Toastmaster members are eligible for the Evaluation contest but to be eligible for the International speech contest members must also have completed at least 6 speeches from the Communication and Leadership manual.
See this link for more information on the contests: http://209.97.192.123/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=52
I encourage you all to participate in one (or both) of the contests or volunteer to help out with the judging!

Fresh start to 2007

January! It's a good time for a fresh look at what we are doing and where we are going. For myself, I find that now is a good time to assess my progress, change a few habits, refresh my spirit, and prepare myself to grow in my communication skills.

One commitment that I am making is to improve my attendance at CTI Techtalkers meetings. I have managed to reschedule my day so that I can attend more regularly. I attended last Thursday and re-remembered how energizing the meetings are. I hope you will be able to come more often too. You bring a special gift to the meeting that enriches us all.

My second commitment to myself is to do more speeches at this club and others. When I did a table topics recently, I realized that my skills are slipping. I will need lots of practice and your very insightful feedback to keep on improving my impromptu and prepared speaking. In return, I offer honest evaluations of your work and encouragement as you work towards your own goals.

Spring evaluation and international speech contests are coming soon. That is a great mechanism to jumpstart improvement. If you would like to really challenge yourself, enter the contest. You would be surprised at how focused your evaluation and speaking skills become as you enter contest mode. You begin to examine the smallest details and finetune your speaking so that you can be the best you can be. If you have questions about the contest or how to prepare, talk to someone who has been in a contest before. For example, Carole, Marc, Val, Wendy, Joanne and Darlene have all reached Area level or above and would be glad to answer your questions. If being a contestant is not your desire this year, there are lots of supporting roles that are very valuable - judges, toastmaster, SAA, ballot counters, timers, calligrapher, contest chairman.

Re-energize yourself. Come to the meetings! See you there!