PDS staff members Trisha Brush and Christy Powell won their respective speech contests on a recent Saturday and will be advancing to the next level in Lexington in March. Both are members of the Northern Kentucky Toastmasters club that meets at PDS at noon on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month. This club is part of Toastmasters International.

According the Toastmasters International, more than 30,000 Toastmasters compete in one or more contests each year. Competition begins with club contests and winners continue competing through the area, division, district and all new region quarterfinal levels. Region quarterfinal winners advance to the International competition, where they will compete in the semifinals for a chance to take part in the World Championship of Public Speaking®.

Powell competed in the Table Topics contest. This contest challenges participants to answer a question with an impromptu speech of 1 to 2 minutes. All contestants answer the same question and don’t get the hear the previous contestants answers. Powell was excited to draw the first position in the contest so that she was able to hear the other contestants answers.

Brush won the International Speech Contest. In the International Speech Contest, contestants have to create and give an original 5 to 7 minute speech on any subject they choose. Unlike the Table Topics contest, contestants are able to watch all other speeches in the contest. Brush gave a speech about gratitude.

If Powell wins the Table Topics contest in March, there is one additional level in April with contestants from Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia. The International Speech contest that Brush is competing in continues to the World Championship of Public Speaking in Denver this August.

Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs. Headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, the organization's membership exceeds 357,000 in more than 16,600 clubs in 143 countries. Since 1924, Toastmasters International has helped people from diverse backgrounds become more confident speakers, communicators, and leaders.

Christy Powell, a PDS senior GIS programmer, competed against contestants from three states on April 30th in the Toastmasters District 40 Evaluation Contest in Dayton, Ohio. The purpose of the evaluation contest is to provide feedback to speakers. At the end of the competition, Powell brought back top honors for her skills.

Powell remembers a time when speaking in front of a group of any size for any purpose was difficult. "When I started my career, I would be nervous, shaky, and sweaty having to give any presentation. I joined Toastmasters to be better at presentations."

Although speech and evaluation contests were not her primary reason for joining Toastmasters, the contest in Dayton marks the second time she has competed in a district-level event. To get to that level, Powell competed in and won three levels – club, area and division.

The club level contest takes place during a regular club meeting. Powell belongs to two clubs – Pioneer Toastmasters which meets in Covington and Northern Kentucky Toastmasters which meets at PDS. Clubs typically have between ten and 20 members. She won the evaluation contest in each club, but chose to represent Northern Kentucky Toastmasters at the next level.

At the area level, the winners from the club contests compete against contestants from up to six clubs in the same geographic area. In this case, clubs from Kenton, Campbell, and Boone Counties were represented.

Powell won both the speech and evaluation contests at the area level. Following the area contest, the division contest had contestants from Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. At the division contest, Powell finished first in the evaluation contest and second in the speech contest.

Powell has used skills gained from Toastmasters in speaking situations for PDS. She has presented about the LINK-GIS website to groups of varied sizes and skill levels. In addition to Powell, six other members of the PDS staff are members of the Northern Kentucky Toastmasters club.