A report from Ed Oberhofer, Postprandial’s VP of Education:

It is my pleasure to announce and congratulate the winners of our club contests held on September 16th..

The Evaluation Contest was won by Mark Emblidge.  Ed Oberhofer was the runner-up.

The Humorous Speech Contest was won by Dave Pope.  Kate Flanagan was the runner-up.

All the contestants gave very high caliber presentations, and I am sure Mark and Dave will represent us well at the Area level and beyond.

Their next opportunity will be at the Area 6 contest on Saturday, October 3rd at 6:30 PM at Cerame’s Italian Villa in Winton Place Plaza. Please consider attending and lending Mark and Dave your support. Here’s a flyer with complete details.

It was a night of firsts: Our first meeting of the new Toastmasters year, our first reports from the new Executive Committee, our first new member of the year (Congratulations to Erin McCormick!), and our first taste of Sanibel Cottage as a temporary replacement venue.

A special shout-out to Matt McDermott, who delivered one of the best icebreaker speeches we’ve seen and took home the prize for best speaker. Way to go, Matt!

Here are all the contest results:

Table Topics

Runner-Up: Mark Emblidge

Winner: Melinda Yoder

Evaluator

Runner-Up: Gil Stern

Winner: Mark Emblidge

Speaker

Runner-Up: Tom Weymann

Winner: Matt McDermott

Kelly Roland writes:

Many congratulations to David Pope and Gil Stern for their stellar performances in the International Speech Contest and the Evaluation Contest!  Dave has now won at the Club, Area and Division levels and will be competing for Postprandial at the District Conference in Canandaigua on April 18^th.  Gil won for his outstanding evaluations at the Club and Area levels, and took 2^nd place at the Division.  He too, will move on to the Districts.  We are proud that the Postprandial tradition of excellence in speaking continues to thrive! CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU BOTH!

Gil and Dave

Area 6 Governor and Postprandial member Kate Olsen organized and hosted a great Area 6 contest. The room at Napa Gino’s was full and our newest Postprandial member, Diana Robinson, was Contest Master.

First up was the Evaluation Contest and Linda Olson from Speak Up Toastmasters provided the evaluators with a wonderful test speech. The evaluation contest had two participants. Gil Stern, of Postprandial, evaluated Linda’s speech first. Straight out of the gate Gil wowed us with his exemplary use of the sandwich approach to evaluation. His vocal quality, vocal variety and a spectacular evaluation without notes made it easy for the judges to mark their ballots with high marks in every area. The evaluation contest’s second evaluator was Nancy Hines of the Toastitarians. Postprandial’s Gil Stern  brought home first place and advanced on to the Central Division Contest. Congratulations to both Gil and Nancy Hines!

The International Speech Contest had three participants. Postprandial’s Dave Pope spoke first and showed the crowd how an International Speech is done right. I still have chills from witnessing his terrific orchestration throughout the speech. From beginning to end the words, gestures, vocal variety, and mannerisms captivated the audience. Paul China of of B&L Visionary and Shirley Malone of Toastitarians were the other participants, and second and third place respectfully. Dave Pope brought home first place and he advances on to the Central District Contest along with Gil.

Other Postprandial members joining Kate, Diana, Gil, and Dave for the evening were Al Turof and his lovely wife Sue, Nancy Scott as Chief Timer, Drew Martin as Assistant Timer, Sudipta Das as Teller, Kelly Sauke Roland as Closer, and Ed Oberhofer as Judge. I was able to sit back and enjoy the night along with Gloria Langston, soon-to-be Postprandial Member Glenn Burdett, Dave’s wife Allison Pope, and Dave’s father Daniel Pope.

Get out your calendars and ink in the evening of Friday, April 3, when the Central Division Contest comes to Napa Gino’s!

Don’t forget to get your speech date for your Communication Achievement Award (CAA) nominations.  The first date to speak will be March 18th. Get with Paul Lozito to book your spot on the Matrix. Contact Melinda Bessey if you have any questions regarding the requirements for this prestigious award. Let’s make this another great year filled with nominations for great communicators and leaders in our area.

Our own Kate Olsen, Area 6 Governor, hosted the humorous and tabletopics speach contest on October 3rd at the Perinton Recreation Center. The place was packed, and it was great to see such a large turn-out. Along with Ed Oberhofer and Kelly Roland as contestants, Postprandial was well-represented: Dave Pope was the Humorous Contest Master, Gil Stern was Chief Timer, and Paul Lozito was Chief Teller (vote counter). Filling other roles were Ray Mulgrew as assistant Teller, and Melinda Bessey and Tim Gribbon as Judges. Ed Oberhofer and Kelly Roland both took Second Place in their respective contests and thus will not be heading off to the Division level contest on October 24th at Paychex.

I highly recommend attending and especially volunteering to help in a role at events like the Central Division Contest, which offer both a chance to see great contenders from several areas as well as excellent growth opportunities for speaking and leadership. Seeing the fresh approach offered by speakers outside your club can always provide a lift in your own speaking.

What a truly great contest night for Postprandial. We had five Humorous contest participants and six Table Topics contest participants. The entire evening was exciting. 

Ed Oberhofer and Kelly Saucke Roland

Here are the results: