Gary wins Division J Table Topics Contest

Gary Nicholson won the Division Table Topics Contest held on Saturday 16 March. He was competing online from Fiji, so that’s a major feat! The topic was: “What fictional character would make a good Toastmaster and why?”

Darrell competed in the Humorous Contest but did not place this time.
Gary was also in the Evaluation and International contests but was beaten by three other excellent speakers.

Here’s Division J Director Jacqui’s take on the day:

Division J contest was held on Saturday 23rd March 2024 at the Collective Community hub. The contest officially opened at 9 am but the venue was a hive of activity from 8 am as up to 20 people set up the chairs, the breakout rooms, the catering and the things that make a venue look like it belonged to a successful organisation. There were plants and banners and agendas and the smell of warm buns and coffee percolating in the background.

The contest was opened with the Humorous Contest, and our Darrell was chosen to speak after the eventual winner and before the second place getter. It was a close contest between two hapless lads (Darrell was one), a bullied cat owner, the mother-in-law from hell and a petrified sky jumper. A good time was had by all the audience.

Below: Humorous contestants. Darrell is 2nd from the left.

The Table Topics was next. And our Gary was on first, zooming in from the comfort of his hotel room answering the question, “What fictional character would make a good Toastmaster and why?” He chose Mickey Mouse and won that contest !! Walt would have been so proud ! We were too!

Below: Division J Contestants, with Gary online in the background.

Below: Division J Table Topics winners (Darrell at left standing in for Gary online)

After a lovely lunch, the International contest saw Gary giving his speech about his father’s life in the shadow of a castle and his eventual move to NZ. It was a moving tribute, but it was a close contest. The winning speech about a young Samoan woman’s journey out into the world and back to her forgiving dad.

The final contest was Evaluation. The test speech was about a woman’s increasing Fear of Flying. Gary gave an excellent evaluation but did not place.

By the time we were giving out the awards at around 3 pm, Gary was back at his conference so he will receive his first place award from Darrell (who accepted the award on his behalf) at our next club meeting.

Above: Division J Director Jacqui presents Gary with his Table Topics Champion certificate in person at the club meeting on 19 March 2024.