FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Laura Byrnes, vice president public relations

Marion United Toastmasters
352-816-1264
MarionUnitedTM@gmail.com

MARION UNITED TOASTMASTER WINS DIVISION SPEECH CONTEST

(OCALA) Oct. 6, 2009 – Marion United Toastmasters club Vice President of

Public Relations Laura Byrnes has taken first place in the Division Humorous
Speech Contest held Oct. 3 at the Olive Garden in Ocala. She will go on to compete
at the District 84 contest on Nov. 7 in Daytona Beach.
Byrnes, a PR consultant with Byrnes Communications, joined Toastmasters in
April. Her speech, “I Will Survive,” recounts the trials and tribulations of surviving
renovation of an 80-year-old bungalow.
Second and third-place winners in the Humorous Speech contest were Bill
Powers of Gator Toastmasters in Gainesville and Rick Lee of the Easy Speakers
of Belleview.
Louise Venne of Gator Toastmasters won the Division Speech Evaluation
contest and Fabian Perez of the University of Florida’s Talking Gators club placed
second. Venne’s district contest is set for Nov. 6. Both humorous and evaluation
competitions take place during the District 84 Fall Conference.
Individual club winners competed at the area level last month to earn berths at
the division contest. The division includes 20 clubs in 10 counties. The district
covers north central Florida, including Jacksonville, Tallahassee and Orlando.
Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization that teaches
public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs. The
organization currently has 250,000 members in 12,500 clubs in 106 countries
For information about local Toastmaster clubs, visit www.toastmasters.org or the
Marion United chapter at www.MarionUnitedToastmasters.com.

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