Competition night results

Last night was one of our annual competition nights and (as usual), the night was very entertaining and a little but educational.

There were two flavours to the competitions last night, the first being the humourous speech category, and the second being a table topics competition.

Humourous speech contest

We started the evening with the humourous speech contest, which is a great way to get everyone in the mood for the evening. This year we were spoilt for choice, with six Ipswich Electrifiers members putting themselves forward as competitors.

First up was long-time member Christopher, which gave an engaging and very funny speech that was loosely based on the tales of a historical trickster who very nearly met the king back in the 1930s.

Andrew Laws then told us a tale of how he lost his teeth and the funny side of dentistry.

Rob Southen was up next, and engaged the audience with a very funny story about a very long-running joke he has been engaged in with one of his friends.

Peter talked about the impermanence of existence. Club president Andrew Halligan explained in comical detail how modern Father Christmas uses technology to do his busy work.

Phil McSweeny gave a playful and hilarious account of a terrible stay in a hotel (that he refused to name!).

Every speech given was of a very high quality and although the humourous speech competition is not a stand-up comedy affair, the mood in the room was similar to that of a comedy club. As ever with Toastmasters speeches, there were also serious moments and the occasional opportunity for deep insight and careful thought.

Table Topics contest

For many Toastmasters the Table Topics session is their favourite part of any meeting. Contestants are given a topic to speak on for two minutes.

At a ‘normal’ Toastmasters meeting, each speaker is given a different topic. But on competition night every speaker receives the same topic, and each contestant has to wait outside the room while their fellow Toastmasters give their speeches.

This part of the competition is always fascinating – every contestant responds to their prompt in a completely different way.

Table Topics is a great opportunity to really get your brain working as you conjure up a response to a prompt with zero notice. This can lead to sometimes surreal and often incredibly funny speeches, and last night was no exception.

Competition results

Humourous Speech competition

Winner – Rob Southen

Second place – Phil McSweeny

Third place – Andrew Laws

Table Topics contest

Winner – Andrew Laws

Second place – Karen Bellemy

Third place – Christopher Brown

The winners will go through to the area contest, and if they win there, the next stage will be the area contest. Winners of the area contest automatically go through to the world final in California!

Last Updated on October 22, 2023