Toastmasters hosting a speech contest

By Jami Makan

The local Toastmasters club has invited members of the public to watch an upcoming speech contest.

The club, which is part of the international organization that helps people develop their public speaking skills, holds a speech contest twice each year. The upcoming contest, on Tuesday, February 19 at 7 p.m., will feature three speakers who have already been selected.

“We have three speakers lined up, and they will each speak for 5 to 7 minutes on a topic of their choosing,” said Lisa Boisvert, contest chair.

The second part of the event will feature speech evaluators, who will respond to a “test speech” given by another club member.

The event will take place at Christ Episcopal Church, 382 Boblett Street, and all visitors are welcome, said Boisvert.

Winners of the contest will advance to a regional round of the competition.

Regular meetings of the club occur every Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church.

According to the organization’s website, Toastmasters began as a series of speaking clubs organized by Ralph Smedley during his time working for the YMCA in Bloomington, Illinois. As director of education at the YMCA, Smedley saw a need for men to learn how to speak, conduct meetings, plan programs and work on committees, and he wanted to help them.

The first unofficial Toastmasters meeting was held on March 24, 1905. The first official meeting was held about two decades later. In 1973, Toastmasters began officially admitting women.