The February 7th, 2012, Park City Toastmasters Club meeting featured our Table Topics Contest. An unprecedented 11 members competed. Third place went to Annete Velarde, second to Cathy Barker, and first to Laurie Banks. Laurie will go on to compete at the Area Contest on March 24th at the Utah Olympic Park where three other area clubs will be represented as well.
A table topics contest involves each contestant being asked the same question and the response must be at least one minute long and no longer than two minutes thirty seconds. Contestants don’t know what the question is in advance and they cannot listen to other contestants response until after they have given their response (contestants wait for their turn in another room). Judges rate the contestants response based on speech development, effectiveness, physical characteristics, voice, and language. If a contestant keeps winning they will go from the club to the area to the division and, finally, to the district level. The district is made up of Utah, Idaho, and parts of the surrounding two states.
