Spencerport resident Karl Scheible won the Area 5 Contest of Toastmasters International for the oral evaluation he presented as part of the Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contest Saturday, October 12, at Ezzy's Restaurant on Buffalo Road. Joan Fox, of Henrietta, won for the humorous speech she presented. The evaluation contest is designed to emphasize the importance feedback plays in the development of a good speaker. The speaker takes away important tips to improve his presentation while the evaluator gets to practice his oral delivery while honing listening skills, looking for various speech qualities. The speech that was evaluated by each of the six contestants was given by Area 6 Governor Debra Cleveland of Rochester, about leadership. Each evaluator had two to three minutes to present an oral evaluation of the speech including content, organization, use of voice including tone, pitch and tempo and use of gestures among other topics. The presentation included points done well and areas for improvement. Scheible and Fox, who represented the Westside Toastmasters Club by winning at the club level in October, competed against the five other Rochester clubs that comprise Area 5. With their win, they went to compete in the Central Division Contest October 26. The Central Division Contest brings together the best public speakers in Rochester and the surrounding areas. Following the Central Division Contest, winners will compete at the District 65 Conference, November 15-16, at the Canandaigua Inn on the Lake, including many communities in the western New York area. "As president, it makes be proud to have two members that have participated in the program so successfully and have achieved distinction," said Nancy Ellen Scott, president of the Westside club. "The goal of Toastmasters is to participate, grow and achieve and both Karl and Joan truly distinguished themselves that day." "I am excited to represent the Westside Toastmasters Club," said Scheible. "We are a small, but dynamic club and I found the Area 5 contest to be very enjoyable. Before now, I have not had the opportunity yet to advance past the Area level so I have no idea what to expect, but I am looking forward to seeing what happens." Scheible lives in Spencerport with his wife and two children. He is president of Flower City Printing in Rochester. The Westside Toastmasters Club is a local chapter of the Toastmasters International organization. Toastmasters is a nonprofit educational organization, that has been devoted to developing people's public and interpersonal communication skills for more than 75 years. Club meetings are held the first and third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. at Brook-Lea Country Club. Anyone interested in learning about Toastmasters is encouraged to attend. For information about any of the Toastmasters contests, area clubs or Toastmasters International in general, go to the web site http://www.geocities.com/roch_toasters/or call (585) 328-3210, ext. 207. |
