Evaluation Contest - Sept, 6 2007

Punters sat on the sideline today as three very accomplished contestants vied for the Best Evaluator honor, and the right to represent Triskelions in the district contest. Past accomplishments eviscerated the odds preventing any gain from betting on such a tight contest.

The meeting began with the final arrangements for the contest. Lots were cast to determine the order of the contestants. Ballots were distributed among the three judges. Tracy was selected as timer, and she carefully reviewed the requirements for fulfilling her duties. A point of order was reached to compensate for the absence of our Sargeant-at-arms, an honor system was worked out, and controls implemented to insure fairness.

Nerves started tingling as the contest began. A speech was delivered by an annonymous Toastmaster. We listened intently to the strangers voice, observed his body language, read the audiences reaction to his speech, and made our own internal evalutions of his presentation. Would the contestants observe the same points? What would they say.

At speeches end the contestants were ushered from the room, and given time to prepare their evaluations.

In the mean time Nick treated us to an interview of the annoymous speaker. David Doud's his name. David joined Toastmasters 20 years ago in Germany earned his CTM, and stepped away from the organization. Twenty years on David is now the President of the Pioneer Club, and an Area Governor.

The five minutes were up and one by one the evaluators presented their evalautions. Luayne Trujillo spoke first making many insightful observations. Gary Fuller followed with his own insights. Both Luayne and Gary observed that a story about porcupine quills and a gluteus may have been outside the bounds of the clubs taste. Paul Sadowski wound up the evaluations making a similar observation. The details of each evaluation was similar. Emphasis on the details was all that separated the contestants.

A quick tallying of the votes, and time for two table topics followed. We covered club business, but what everybody really wanted to know was, who's the winner. Having prolonged the agony, and built the audience to a crescendo of anticipation Nick announced that Gary Fuller would represent the club in the next level.

Good luck Gary. Thanks to David for speaking.

Please everyone remember to bring your dues to the next meeting.