International and Table Topics Speech Contest Summary

Monday 18th February

Hong Kong Toastmasters Club held its inhouse International and Table Topics Speech Contest where once again we had an amazing number of participants ready to take the plunge and show off their oratory skills. We had 5 contestants competing in the International Speech Contest, an impressive 10 contestants in the Table Topics section, 7 judges from and outside the club, and of course our helpers including 2 SAAs, 2 time keepers, a photographer and 2 contest chairs.

International Speech Contestants and titles:

Andrew Yeung- Plus One
Vanessa Lau- A Successful Toastmaster
Aparna Sachar: Never Mind your Language
Diana Lee: Blanket Monopolization
Edwin Lui: 3 I's for Leaders

Truly inspiring speeches with a different theme and story to tell from each of our speakers. Andrew set the bar high with his motivating speech on how to give that little bit extra to take yourself from average Joe to superstar. Vanessa followed with her inspirational speech on how to be A Successful Toastmaster. Her speech also gained her her CC10 which means in her 2 years with HKTMC, she's achieved what she has set out to do. Aparna played with the English language telling us to have fun with learning English. A lot of laughs and thought-provoking moments were included in her speech. Diana's stories of the battle of the sexes had us in stitches as she compared fighting over a blanket to business relationships. Clever, witty and innovative are just a few words to describe her speech. Edwin rounded up our International Contest speakers where he gave us his tips on how to be a great leader comparing various leaders to each other and what makes them stand out.

Table Topics can either make you shrink in your seat or it can turn club members into speaking sensations. Tonight, we had a whopping 10 speakers all ready to tackle an impromptu speech. The theme selected was "Life is a Sport." Using this metaphor, contestants had between 1 and 2 minutes to deliver a winning speech. Contestants could use any angle they wished and to avoid being influenced by other speakers, the contestants were asked to wait outside until their turn to take the stage. Each speaker worked with the theme in a different way which just goes to show the creativity in the club.

Table Topic Contestants: Marcus Chu, Vanessa Lau, Ben Fung, Edwin Lui, Martin Wong, Asta Lee, Philip Ngan, Sergio Aguirre, Aparna Sachar and Andrew Yeung.

A very high caliber of speakers tonight and all should be very proud to have taken part. Big thank you and much gratitude goes to our Contest Chair, Arthur Ting and assistant, Jenny Lam. A contest requires a lot of preparation behind the scenes from inviting judges to marketing and we couldn't have done it without the help of everyone involved.

Place getters in the contests:

International Speech Contest
1st Place: Andrew Yeung
2nd Place: Diana Lee
3rd Place: Edwin Lui

Table Topics Contest
1st Place: Andrew Yeung
2nd Place: Asta Lee
3rd Place: Aparna Sachar

First and Second place finishers will go forth into our Area (G1) contest which is being held on the 24th of March. Make sure you're there to support us.

Sandy Chan
President
Hong Kong Toastmasters Club