Meetings and Schedules
Victoria In-house Table Topics Contest 2008 Announcement
By Jennifer Yung, VPPR of Victoria Toastmasters Club
Feb 21, 2008, 15:26

Dear fellow toastmasters, guests and friends,

What a memorable evening! The in-house table topic contest held on 19 Feb was professional, fun-filled and mind-provoking with the question, "The Change That We Seek."

The Chief Judge, our former VTC president 94-95, Rose Allender remarked on the contestants' performance:

"All the contestants are excellent speakers. I would have thought any one of them could have represented our club in the Area Contest. They all gave a very good performance. I congratulate all of them for the courage shown by participating in the contest". You would have missed a lot if you weren't there - Rose gave us an educational mini-lecture on how to give a good table topic speech - judging criteria, importance of value or message of a speech, pausing for a few seconds before delivering the speech etc. We thank you, Rose, again for making this event a huge success!

The exciting moment came with the announcement of the 1st place winner - Charlie Lang; 2nd place winner - Roy Low; and 3rd place winner - Asta Lee! Congratulations!

With the president's "Kung Hei Fat Choy" wishes, the aromatic daffodil emitting fragrance of hope & joy for the Spring festive contest season, the MC began, "Most of us will never be champions 'cause there is only one champion tonight. It is not a question of me being better than anyone else. It is only a matter of me being better than what I was yesterday," the 8 contestants lined up to recite the slogan "Let's participate, let's perform, let's play!"

The contest began with Brian telling the audience about the changes he made physically - didn't you notice he had lost weight, very good attempt indeed! Eva captured the audience's attention with her change from working in a bank to studying for a degree of Music in UK to accepting a teaching role in HK - to achieve her dreams! Asta's speech on her perception of life as she described about her father's illness, 'it is we who should change, our attitude towards others, instead of trying to change others' - true! Angela appeared to be very happy 'cause her message was on her transition to enjoy life more! Helen's thought was on some of her childhood dreams not having been achieved .... Charlie was articulate as usual, the one with the best opening and conclusion, his message relating to how we change when we are offended, our emotional changes, and how to master our feelings ... Lorna paused with the word "we", then immediately grasped an idea on environmental issues that we should pay heed to ... Roy was philosophical and gave a valuable message on how humans seek to be constant, correlating to Yin & Yang -- so sophisticated that I was lost ...

The interview session could have been considered as another table-topic session, with more fun and elaborations on contestants' thoughts on the question, ending with the contest animal Charlie's inspiration on persistence.

We are indebted to Neil Sy, District Lieutent Marketing Governor, as a visiting judge. His enlightenment and feedback to the three winners was much appreciated. His remarks about how to make a stronger conclusion and deliver a message was well received. We are also grateful for the members/guests/friends' valuable comments.

It's unfortunate that Charlie will be away in India on the Area Contest date - 29 March - at CUHK. Let us give our encouragement to our two club representatives - Roy & Asta - and wish them every success in the Area Contest!

Warmest,
Jennifer Yung
(MC, TT contest)
(VPPR)
VTC

See photos from the contest.

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