Should you feel yourself completing the post's title and simultaneously finding a pleasurable resonance in your heart, perhaps you should change the station. Wednesday evening saw the yearly Humorous Speaking competition and, Ladies and Gentlemen, the battle for victory was fiercely contested. The nervous energy was raised far above that of a regular Toastmasters evening, and far above that which our three competitors normally feel. Perhaps it was the looming triumph; the confidence boost and the verdict of Funny as reached by a jury of one's peers, or perhaps it was the lure of the trophy itself. The history of man is peppered with tales of competition and the glimmering of gold trophies, but by the closing of Wednesday night an occasion would be marked that would surpass them all. By the closing of Wednesday night, one of the competitors would hold in their hand a trophy of utmost quality and construction.
The first of the three speakers in the prepared speeches section of the competition was Gwendoline Alderton with a speech entitled "How To Say It". Gwendoline took us on the journey of her speech-writing woes as she explored the three avenues of language associated with The Toddler, The Adolescent, and the Adult. In Gwendoline's usual style she delivered a speech that was brimming with enthusiasm and humour. With ease she guided us around the comic facets of our everyday forms of communication, and had us reminiscing the past days of the iconic red telephone box and had us asking the question that our parents seemingly ignored: why was the telephone cord so short?
The first of the three speakers in the prepared speeches section of the competition was Gwendoline Alderton with a speech entitled "How To Say It". Gwendoline took us on the journey of her speech-writing woes as she explored the three avenues of language associated with The Toddler, The Adolescent, and the Adult. In Gwendoline's usual style she delivered a speech that was brimming with enthusiasm and humour. With ease she guided us around the comic facets of our everyday forms of communication, and had us reminiscing the past days of the iconic red telephone box and had us asking the question that our parents seemingly ignored: why was the telephone cord so short?
The second speaker was Sanjit Joseph with a speech entitled "Bingo is the Answer". Sanjit was quick out of the blocks with an audience-grabbing tempo and with all of the poise of a man galloping towards his trophy. Sanjit carried us upon a journey of the ridiculous: the ridiculous ways in which our language, a once renowned arsenal for efficiency and terseness, has been diluted to accommodate the latest trend in managerial verbosity. Do you move forwards with enough bandwidth? It may be ridiculous, but at least we can all join in with Buzzword Bingo to make the fad a little more bearable.
Trevor Springall, the final speaker in the prepared speeches section, presented us with the four quadrants of personal styles with a speech entitled "Colourful Personalities". Trevor's chosen subject of personal styles, and thus the subject of one's audience, was fitting to the occasion, and is one that normally carries an air of academic staidness. Trevor's experience shone through as he took the sedate subject and injected humour in all the right places to grab hold of his audience. He hopped around the four quadrants with quiet ease, stopping just long enough on each to have us laughing at our tell-tale personality traits.
The final competition of the evening was the Table Topics competition and it was
Two minutes is a very short amount of time when you're on to something good. For Adam Shaw the time must have flown by as he stormed to victory. The content of his speech, and that of the other five contestants, is a mystery since your author, Ryan Pearson, was the one listening to his heartbeat in the holding cage. My valiant ramblings of log fires and crisp evenings made it to the silver spot while
