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Club Contest evening
The November 2011 meeting was the clubs first contest evening in a few years. Despite a relatively poor turnout it it was a successful evening. A special thank you goes to Philip Pearce and Kenneth Maxton from the Ipswich Speakers Club for officiating at the contests.
Three contests took Place and all were very close, with an extremely high standard being exhibited.
Topics Contest
In the Topics Contest Tamasin, Neil and David all waxed lyrical for 3 minutes on the subject of XXX. Everyone performed well but in the end David was the winner by a Narrow Margin.
David Winning the Topics Contest
Speech Contest
There were only two entrants in the speech contest. Neil gave a
fascinating insight into the real story of a car called Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang on which a famous kids Movie was based. James
gave us some insight into how eating frogs for breakfast can improve
your time management skills.
There was much deliberation between the judges but finally James was
announced as the winner by a bare whisker.
James in full flow
Evaluation Contest
Finally in the evaluation contest David gave the target speech in
which he explained, with great humour, how to use martial arts in
everyday situations.
He set the three entrants Tamasin, James and Neil a tough task in
evaluating an excellent speech. All three gave a good account of
themselves but in the end James put his experience of previous contests
to good use and came out as the winner.
Neil having his say
Club Success in National Contest
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At the National Contest held in Edinburgh on 15th April 2011, Club President, James McGinty, won the UK Topics Championship.
James has had a very good year on the contest circuit. An outline of his achievements can be seen below.
- Topics
James Won this event with a 3 minute mini speech on "The Jewel in the Crown" Always keen to avoid being conventional james avoided the obvious subject of India and exhorted the audience to become a shining example to all around them. He went on to win at the District Final which qualified him for his second Topics National Final which was held in Edinburgh in April 2011. The topic was "Rubbish" but james was the exact opposite and was proud to bring the National Winners Trophy back to Colchester.
- Evaluation
In the Area Evaluation Contest James gave some very sound advice to the target speaker. He offered helpful hints on voice and gestures as well as praising the speaker for the many good traits he exhibited during the target speech. This was good enough to give James a solid victory and move on to the District Final, where he gave a good account of himself and placed second.
- Speech Contest
James Was disappointed to be placed second in the speech second, but this was still good enough for him to go through to the next round. James Again placed second in the District Finals, thereby missing out on a third appearance in the National Final.
- Topics
- Area AGM
- Annual Report
James gave the report on Colchester Speakers Club and remarked at how well the club was doing and that membership was on the increase. He also volunteered the clubs services to host next years Area Contest on February 14th 2012.
- Area President
The final business of the AGM was to elect the Area President. In a unanimous vote, James was elected to take over from the outgoing President, Keith Dickerson.
- Annual Report