VCU student is toast of town

After placing first in the Toastmasters Area 20 Club Contest for his humorous speech, Paul Story, a VCU psychology major, went on to win the central division speech contest at Saint James Baptist Church.

Story now heads to the district competition, which includes District 66’s eastern and western divisions, slated for Nov. 4 and 5 in Williamsburg.

During the first contest, Story said, he was a little unsure of himself because he competed against professional Toastmasters members.

“I wasn’t sure what kind of speeches they were going to give,” Story said. “My leg was shaking a little bit, but I knew I just had to get through it and hope for the best.”

Despite his nervousness, the audience of fellow toastmasters and faculty laughed frequently during Story’s speech, which gave an ironic twist to speaking rules. Once during his speech, Story took a deep breath and began speaking rapidly to emphasize the overuse of pauses in speeches.

Although Story said knew he had a good speech, he remained unsure how the audience would receive it.

“It was a different type of crowd than I am used to speaking to,” Story said of the area-level contest. “It wasn’t students, and it wasn’t members from our Toastmasters, so it was quite different for me in that I had to adjust – but it was a good learning experience.”

Jacob Leach, VCU’s club president, discussed the reason for his positive outlook on future Toastmasters contests.

“(The contest) was a complete success,” said Leach, a graduate electrical-engineering major, about the contest at VCU. “Everyone I talked to afterward … said it was one of the best area-level contests they had witnessed.”

Toastmasters Gov. Sue Brown of area 20, which contains clubs in Richmond’s downtown area, agreed with Leach’s assessment.

“The speeches were outstanding,” Brown said. “Those in the audience who were attending a contest for the first time really enjoyed and appreciated the efforts of all the contestants.”

On the chance of the area contest returning to the Monroe Park Campus, Brown said she doesn’t know whether she’ll ask VCU to sponsor it again next year.

“VCU has a great facility,” Brown said, “but we also like to try and let other clubs step up and help out if they are in the position to do so. I’ll definitely be keeping VCU in mind.”