Southern Delaware Toastmasters present speaking awards

At the Jan. 10 meeting of Southern Delaware Toastmasters, President Mike Futty implemented a new procedure, recently approved by the officers, to enhance the club’s regular semimonthly meetings. The 20-plus individuals present were given ballots and asked to judge the speakers of prepared speeches, Table Topics speakers and speech evaluators.

Speech contests are a Toastmasters tradition. Each year, thousands of Toastmasters compete in the Humorous, Evaluation, Tall Tales, Table Topics and International speech contests. Competition begins with club contests, and winners continue competing through the area, division, and district levels. The International competition has two additional levels - semifinal and international. Adding a mini-contest to regular meetings as standard procedure is a way to help members become more comfortable with the whole concept of competition.

Being involved with Toastmasters is more than just showing up at meetings and giving a speech now and then. Participants are part of a fun, supportive group of friends with common goals of self-development. And it’s not all about public speaking, either. Toastmasters is a place where members can hone their leadership and communication skills simultaneously while joining a worldwide network of members who are doing the same thing, one meeting at a time.

For more information on Southern Delaware Toastmasters, contact Sam Slabaugh, vice president of membership, at 302-846-9201, samslabaugh@gmail.com or visit www.SouthernDelawareToastmasters.com. For information about Toastmasters International, visit www.Toastmasters.org.