It’s official! Gibsons mayor, Bill Beamish, and Sechelt mayor, Darnelda Seigers, have issued proclamations declaring February as Toastmasters Month.
Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs with more than 300,000 members in 149 countries.
There are four Toastmasters clubs on the Sunshine Coast (Beachcombers, Morningstars, Coastmasters and Sunshine), each using Zoom to support online meetings.
February starts an exciting time for Toastmasters as it is the beginning of contest season.
First up is the Area 63, Sunshine Coast, speech contests. The contest will be chaired by our eloquent area director, Michael Gurney. The three contests that Michael will be hosting are: Humorous Speech Contest, International Speech Contest and the Evaluation Contest.
These will be held Feb. 19 at 1 p.m. via Zoom. Everyone can attend and support their favourite contestant.
Those who capture the imaginations and earn the highest marks from the judges will move on to the division level of competition, being held in March. Here, the contestants will be challenged with competing against higher calibre speakers, all determined to move on to the district level competition.
The Toastmasters District 96 Conference will be held April 22 to 24, where each contestant will be up against the top speakers in each focus – Humour, International and Evaluation Contests.
Be prepared to be educated, inspired, awed and to laugh out loud with the exceptional quality of speeches and engaging performance. After months of preparation, hard work and numerous revisions, a winner will be crowned in each category.
For those entered in the International Speech Contest, they will have the opportunity to go on to the World Wide Speech Contest takes place at the 2022 International Convention in August.
Come and celebrate Toastmasters Month with us. You can contact any of our Sunshine Coast Toastmasters clubs to attend a meeting and see if Toastmasters can be your vehicle to increase confidence, upgrade your communication skills and discover your full potential.
