Introducing the incoming team

Here they are folks! Your incoming Division E team - taking office from 1 July 2016.

Top row, L-R: Queenie Lin (Capital), Area E1 director; Alice Chu (Business Breakfast), Area E2 director; Steve Preston (Progressive), Area E3 director

Second row, L-R: Shagen Ganason (Harbourside), Area E4 director; Norbert Lee (Assurity Testmasters), Division E director; James Callinicos (Pipitea), Area E6 director

Third row, L-R: Viv Sutton (Turbine Talkers), Area E7 director; Jeffrey Ng (Victoria University), Area E9 director; Mark Thompson (Wellington Professional), Area E10 director

Division E is distinguished!

When the dashboards ticked over this morning, they showed something very exciting - 14 distinguished clubs in Division E! That's 40% of the division's club base, which makes us a distinguished division!

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Division E is the third distinguished division in New Zealand for this year - after Division H (south Auckland) and Division F (Northland).

Those 14 distinguished clubs also translate into distinguished areas. Areas E3, E7 and E10 are all distinguished, and area E1 is select distinguished.

Division E Distinguished status, 14 June 2016

Congratulations to all the members, clubs and area directors whose hard work has generated this achievement! Stay tuned - there'll be more good news to come before the year is out...

Area contest reports - E2, E6 and E7

Area contests are an exciting time when members from different clubs get to meet, greet - and of course, compete. This month we have Area contests in the arts of prepared speaking (the International speech contest) and evaluation (the Evaluation contest). Three Areas have already finished their contests. See below for the results!

The winners from these contests will go on to compete in the Division E conference on 9 April. Will you be there to find out who is the best in Wellington? Registration details are here.

Capital Breakfast club hosted the Area E2 International speech contest on 17 March, a bright-and-early event which saw three speakers from the breakfast clubs compete for the E2 title. The audience enjoyed stories of gliding, entrepreneurship, unlikely friendships, introversion, technology, and self-acceptance. The morning ran smoothly thanks to contest chair Max Fuhrer. After a short break to enjoy the club's customary hospitality with excellent coffee and baking, the winner was announced - Anna Cramp of Capital Breakfast.

Area E2 International speech contest. (L-R) 2nd place Tony Henderson-Newport, 1st place Anna Cramp, 3rd place David Coxon, contest chair Max Fuhrer.

For the Evaluation contest, E2 headed off to Business Breakfast Club on 22 March. The club did a great job of hosting the contest, and again coffee was plentiful, as were the very welcome danishes and muffins. Contest chair Paul Mulrooney ensured everything ran to time, as speakers were challenged by Mary Clarke's emotional test speech. Steve Preston of Business Breakfast took the Evaluation trophy for E2.

Area E2 Evaluation contest. (L-R) Contest chair Paul Mulrooney, 2nd place Tony Henderson-Newport, 1st place Steve Preston, 3rd place David Coxon, Area Director Amanda Hillock.

In E6, contest season kicked off with the International speech contest, hosted by Statistically Speaking on 16 March. The audience learned why cellphones are gossips, why procrastination is inevitable, and why personality types are important in political candidates. Ably chaired by Michael Challands, the contest ended with Roberta Eykholt of Police Toastmasters awarded the trophy.

Area E6 International speech contest. (L-R) 3rd place Urwashi Singh, 2nd place Tracy Wilkinson, 1st place Roberta Eykholt.

The E6 Evaluation contest on 21 March headed back to Roberta's home club, Police - Division E's newest club. Hosting an Area contest is a huge achievement for such a new club, and all the club members did superbly well in their various contest roles, to their credit and that of their mentors. Contest chair Stu Taylforth did everything by the book as he led a contest that included a thought-provoking test speech from Kinnie Vermeulen, followed by three evaluations. After a round of insightful interviews, the first place trophy was awarded to Peter Scholtens of Statistically Speaking.

Area E6 Evaluation contest. (L-R) 3rd place Kathy Murphy, 2nd place Brittany Chellew, 1st place Peter Scholtens, Area Director Owen Winter, contest chair Stu Taylforth.

Area E7's contests were both hosted by Turbine Talkers on 17 March, in the club's large and convenient venue at St Matthew's church in Brooklyn. Contest chair Rose Wyse skilfully handled all the ins and outs of two contests. The International speech contest was a treat, with five speakers variously uplifting the audience and tugging at their heartstrings. After hearing about the joys and terrors of grandparenthood, bike riding, jury service, special friendships, and the haka, it was time for a tea break before the Evaluation contest.

Well fed, the E7 audience returned to enjoy Rana Ghosh's informative speech about gliding spiders, followed by analysis from six evaluators. Contest results were the final order of business: the Evaluation contest was won by Deborah Lambie of Turbine Talkers, and first place in International went to Ella Kahu of Island Bay.

Area E7 Evaluation contest. (L-R) 3rd place Mark MacCallum, 2nd place Antony Zogg, 1st place Deborah Lambie.

Area E7 International speech contest. (L-R) 2nd place Deborah Lambie, 1st place Ella Kahu, 3rd place Steve Preston.

Congratulations to all the winners, and well done to everyone who took part! Tune in next week for the next set of contest results. If you're wondering when your contest is, have a look at the Area contest calendar.