Entertaining war of words at Speakeasy Toastmasters contest night

SPEAKEASY Toastmasters Speech Contest Night is an opportunity for members to apply their skills in a competitive arena. This was evident in Speakeasy’s recent Contest Night where emotion, entertainment, enthusiasm and good old fashioned rhetoric were on the menu.

Bobby Buckley was the starter with a powerful speech - “My strange world of cups and mugs”. He reflected on the stereotyping imposed by a teacher in his school days and its impact on the lives of the pupils who were demeaned by his casual cruelty.

Brendan Foley’s speech - “Go left or right” was not a commentary on political trends but an account of his G.A.A. Career. As a forward or a back, he was straight and direct, never going around an opponent when he could go through him. But, alas, his scoring skills always seemed to desert him at the crucial moment. Years later, he discovered why he never hit the target and it was a life changing moment.

Pat Sexton spoke about “A chance encounter” which turned out to be completely different to what he had envisaged. This speech highlighted the danger of rash judgments.

On the other hand, Claire O’Connell gave a talk on self contentment and self acceptance - “The Greatest”. Theresa O’Reilly’s speech “Choices” was a wry look at the very modern addiction of Social Media and the way to overcome it by going “cold turkey”.

The final speaker, Deirdre Linehan gave an exhilarating talk on “Dob’s Army”. She recalled the tension and excitement of The All-Ireland Schools Basketball Final.

In a keenly fought contest, there can only be one winner and Therea O’Reilly emerged victorious, with Bobby Buckley finishing in second place.

The Speech Evaluation Contest was interesting, fascinating and informative. The test speaker was former Club President Pat Duggan. His demonstration speech - “I have a Dream” - followed Pat’s ambition to bring a District Toastmasters Conference to Cork.

Five contestants, Brendan Foley, Claire O’Connell, Bobby Buckley, Pat Sexton and Ray Ryan all presented detailed feedback to the speaker, covering important areas like body language, voice projection and speech structure. Once the judges ballots were counted, Pat Sexton took first place with Ray Ryan as the runner up.

The top two contestants in each competition will go forward to the Area 17 Final which takes place in the Hibernian Hotel on Thursday, April 19.

Meanwhile, the next Speakeasy meeting takes place in the Hibernian Hotel on Thursday March 22 at 8pm.