Wyoming Toastmasters Contest

This past weekend, on Saturday, I drove up to Cheyenne, WY to watch the D26 Northern Contest.

Classically, the Northern Division contest is held in Casper, WY. Luckily for me, the decided to move it to Cheyenne this time, as that made it doable as a [LONG] day trip.

This is the 5th of the 6 Division contests that I attended this cycle. My Southern Division Contest being the first. At each of the other 4 contests, I wound up being honored to help by being asked to fill a role. In Cheyenne, I was one of the timers. This is a great way to take part in the contests!

The test speaker spoke on a theme that was very familiar! His speech about spices had a lot of similar thoughts to the topic I picked 2 weeks ago for my home club when I was Toastmaster. He did not talk about Pumpkin Spice, but did talk about Salt & Pepper and how the spice trade was an important part of our history.

There were 3 Evaluators and 5 Tall Tales Contestants listed on the ballot. Unluckily, only 2 for each category made it to the contest. However, it was a strong showing, and an enjoyable contest. Great job by all those involved to make an energetic and honorable contest.

I am looking forward to a week-and-a-half from now, at the District Conference, to see the finals of these 2 contest. I have seen all the contestants except one division compete, so I can tell you first hand that this will be an exciting competition. Those competing will have to work hard to take the top places at the District Conference.

It is worth it to go up to see the finals! Even if you can only make it to the final contest Saturday night. See you there!

District Conference - Contest, Education, World Class

Time is running out for Early-bird registration rates!!
Register by this Saturday, October 26, to get the best rate for the conference!

• Evaluation Contest - Do you want to see the top 6 Evaluators of over 100 contestants compete for #1?
• Tall Tales Contest - Do you want to see the top 6 Tall Tales in our region, that have come through 3 previous levels of elimination compete for best in our District?
• World Champ Keynote and more! Do you want to see a World Champion of Public Speaking share some of his secrets and successes - content that would easily cost you two to ten times as much stand alone!
• Education Sessions - Do you want to attend 1 of 6 education sessions, to learn more about Toastmasters in a forum that is hard to find? It could make you a better officer or member.
• Network - Do you want to network and connect with Toastmasters from all over our District and more?
• Toastmasters-plus Do you want to show your support and find out more about opportunities to take Toastmasters to another level?

This is your chance!
All this, and more, is wrapped up into a whirlwind weekend of activity! Most of the key activities are happening on Saturday - opening with the Evaluation Contest and closing with the Tall Tales Contest - with a ton of content in the middle - a Toastmasters sandwich of fun, information and excitement!

You can easily day-trip up for the core content, or chose some al-la-cart. You can also stay on-site, and have more fun, and experience the toppings that happen the night before, and you can even find out if there is something extra on Sunday morning - a secret bonus that we can't tell you about ahead of time!


http://d26toastmasters.org/WP/news-events/district-conference/
https://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=1298764

Join me there! I'm co-chair of room hosts, and will be involved in presenting an education session that you don't want to miss!

Division Contests

2 weeks ago, I not only attended, but chaired the Southern Division Contest.
While I chaired the event, it would not have gone off without some amazing help! Thank-you to all those who helped, especially those I can not name!
A big thanks to 4 key roles:
1) Jennifer Costello, for a professional and entertaining job as Toastmaster
2) Mike Pierson, for his calm and personality as Chief Judge
3) Our Test Speaker - Terry Smith
4) Mary Hooper for Agendas, labels and support
I really appreciate those who were willing and able to change roles as needed to make everything work so well!

I was really very rewarding to see how a number of contestants tuned their performance between the area contests and the division contest. It is tough to see only 1 from each contest picked to go on to the District Level.

Last weekend, I was up in the Lakewood area in the morning, in my role as Secretary of Geocaching Colorado, helping out with a Girl Scout day at Dinosaur Ridge. The fed perfectly into going to the Eastern Division Contest just a few minutes away. I had a feeling it would be good if I could be there. It was very rewarding to be able to be there to see how other contestants approached the 2 contests.

This past weekend, I was able to attend 2 more Division Contests! It was not that far to go to see 2 more division contests: Denver and Metro Division were holding their contests the same day, and the same location! What a great way to have some high energy and synergy, while saving transportation costs!

It is a shame that the more distant Divisions, like Southern, can not take part at this level. There is only one solution: our Southern Division will just have to grow so big, that we will have to split into 2 divisions, and then we can have 2 Division Contests on the same day!

TOPCLASS Toastmasters Open House - Tuesday 10/22/2013 6:00pm

Come join me and the other members and guests at TOPCLASS Haunted Open House!
http://topclass.toastmastersclubs.org/

Toastmasters Open House - 10/23/2013 12:05pm

Entspirational Speakers Open House

Wednesday, October 23^rd

12:05 – 1:00

Breckenridge Room of Ent Federal Credit Union located at 7350 Campus Dr

Guest Speaker: Darryle Brown

A light lunch will be provided.

For more information, please see their website: Entspirational Speakers