By Danielle Kutchel
It was a night to remember for local members of public speaking club Toastmasters, with this year’s annual Area B1 speech contests being hosted by the Cranbourne club.
Like so many events in the year of Covid, the contest was held over Zoom.
Contestants from across Casey, the Mornington Peninsula and Bass Coast faced off on Wednesday 28 October for night one of the contests, Humourous and Evaluation speeches.
Speakers were joined by visitors from across Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.
Lara Beth Poynton and Shondra Renzella of Mornington Peninsula Toastmasters took the evaluation and humorous titles respectively, whilst Lakshini Watson and Debra Thompson of host club Cranbourne were the runners-up.
All four will now proceed to the next round.
Night two will be held on Thursday 5 November, consisting of the Table Topics (impromptu speaking) and International (inspirational) contests.
One lucky participant in the International contest will make it all the way to the World Championship of Public Speaking.
But it’s not about the glory: it’s about testing onself and seeing what you can achieve, according to Toastmasters area director Simon Walliker.
The public is able to watch along this Thursday to get a feel for the club and what Toastmasters involves.
For more information or for membership enquiries, find Cranbourne Toastmasters on Facebook or visit toastmasters.org.au
