Silent. Sombre. Serious. Where on earth am I? Is it really…
…Vox? Yes! But it’s CONTEST NIGHT and oooh the vibe is different. No teasing at topics, no jolly jokes, no “all for one and one for all”. People are here to win. Even cheerful VPED, Merrilyn, is solemn. Spook-ee.
The change brings out the best in the contestants. Experienced speakers and evaluators gave highly polished performances, whilst two first-timers surprised us all…
Contest speakers were Rosie Cleary, Stephen Mulvaney. Evaluators were Paul Murray, Maria McMullan, Rosie Cleary, and brave first -timers Jeremy Emmet-Booth and Siobhan McCarthy.
In “Damien”, Rosie urged us to stand against bullying. With many perfectly performed dramatic gestures and props (song bursts, shouts and soapboxes) Rosie conveyed her conviction that bullying is as destructive as torture.
In “Bypassing Burnout” Dan revealed how he nearly reached burn-out once. His top tips to manage stress were cleverly summarised in the acronym T.E.M.P.E.R. Make Time for friends and family; Exercise; have Me time; manage Projects effectively; Emagine the unthinkable and Rest.
Stephen Mulvaney must suffer from “Madness”. He signed up for the ”voluntary torture” that is the 10k run. Hungover and freezing, he ran up hills, crawled through muck, and faced the “wrath of the Sugar Loaf (don’t let that wussy name fool you)” and for what? A new high? Redemption? Or was it just madness?
Topics then, hosted by Merrilyn, as counters collected ballots to see who had won. No announcements until the end of the night and we moved onto the Evaluation Contest.
Barry Lane employed some wizardry in his dazzling test speech “There’s No Place Like Home”. His clever critique of The Wizard of Oz made us both laugh and think. Dorothy, Scarecrow, Lion and Tin Man make a difficult trip in search of courage, intelligence and empathy. Only to find that the Wizard is a load of nothing, a C-list celebrity. “But he performs one great act of redemption…he shows them they don’t need him. Opening someone’s eyes to the gifts they possess, now that’s magic”.
All evaluators recognised the magical impact. Paul likened it to a modern fairytale with its moral that self-belief is all; Maria focused on how it brought us back to childhood and the kid within; Rosie spoke about the analogy with Toastmasters; Jeremy praised its relevance to the audience and Siobhan loved the “aliveness” of the delivery.
And the winners were… Dan for his highly polished, perfectly paced speech and Siobhan McCarthy for her witty and educational evaluation. HUGE congrats to both, to runners up Rosie and Jeremy and to all participants. “It takes courage to get up here” as Rosie said. And a little bit of taking it seriously.
POSTSCRIPT: Dan and Siobhan went on to even GREATER success in the Area Contest on March 20th. Dan WON and Siobhan came an outstanding second in what was only her third evaluation EVER!!
Dan goes on to the Division contest on April 6th and we’re all behind him as he is making his way to UK and Ireland Toastmaster championships.
Fiona O’Meara, Guest Blogger