Recapping Toastmasters' 2023 District 48 Conference!

In April, three of our associates had the opportunity to represent PODS Movers and Speakers at the Toastmasters 2023 District 48 Conference! Sherry Johnson, CI-Pathfinder, Logan Fern, Customer Experience Analyst III, and Nancy Gold, Engineer IV – Systems, participated in three different categories – International Speech, Humorous Speech and an Evaluation contest.

Sherry shared her speech called “Ripple” in the International Speech competition. International speeches are meant to be motivational, and “Ripple” was about the little pebbles you drop in other people’s lives that make a long-lasting impact on them. “My goal was to connect and inspire people to action. After the speech, people came up and shared how it had already driven them to take action, “ said Sherry.

Logan competed in the Humorous Speech competition – which isn’t stand-up comedy but rather a structured story with humorous elements. Logan’s speech took him all the way to first place! His speech brought the audience back to his high school jazz band. While he’s a skilled guitarist, he couldn’t read or write music at the time, so he found himself playing the cowbell for an entire semester. “Sometimes you find yourself in embarrassing moments in life and laughing along and embracing the embarrassment can go a long way,” said Logan.

Nancy gave a short speech as the test speaker for the evaluation contest at districts. During an evaluation contest, contestants must actively listen to the speech so they can provide constructive feedback to the speaker. They have five minutes to prepare and must present their feedback in two to three minutes. “Being asked was an honor. At the district level, only seasoned, practiced presenters are used, so evaluators and the audience observe someone who is comfortable delivering a speech to crowds. This challenges the evaluators by eliminating simple observations and suggestions,” said Nancy.

Have you ever wondered how a champion prepares for his speech? Logan’s method is simple. “Imagine your speech in the layout of your house. Close your eyes, walk through the front door, and put something in the introduction of your speech in the entryway. Then continuing walking to the next room - let’s say it’s the kitchen. In there, you’ll put another aspect of your speech on the kitchen counter and so on and so forth. You always remember the layout of your house, which will help you remember the layout of your speech.”

Congratulations to Sherry, Logan and Nancy for their recent achievements!

If you’re looking to enhance your public speaking and networking skills – Toastmasters might be the place for you! Toastmasters is a public speaking and professional development club open to all PODS associates. The PODS Movers and Speakers club meets at 5:05 p.m. on the first and third Wednesday of every month in a hybrid format in the Excellence meeting room at PCC and via Teams. If you’ve ever been curious about the club, feel free to stop in and learn more!

“These meetings might seem official, but we have a lot of fun and play games! It’s not necessarily all about speeches,” said Logan. “There are a ton of different roles at each Toastmasters meeting and opportunity to take small steps into getting more involved.”

For questions or to learn more about Toastmasters please reach out to toastmasters@pods.com.