Area Conference

On April 9th Budapest was host to a very successful Area Conference. Attended by more than 100 people at the Beke Hotel it was a truly memorable occasion featuring wonderful competitions in English and German, as well as great workshops that in all respects lived up to their billings.

International Event

Impressarios for the day were Club Presidents Hans Peterson (Budapest Toastmasters) and Daniel Szentimrey-Harrach (Budapest Morgan Stanley). Their double-act and running commentary was very entertaining. Other Clubs to show up in force were the German language speaking club, Vienna Rhetorick, lead by Christian Biever, who also gave a memorable Keynote speech, and the Bratislava Toastmasters Club, lead by Olga Durakova, who gave an excellent workshop on online marketing for Toastmasters clubs. We extend our heartfelt thanks also to the other workshop presenters, Mary Murphy, Imre Remenyi and Charlie LaFond. The other clubs represented were Vienna Toastmasters, Vienna Speakers and Vienna International. Yes “international” was very much the theme of the day!

Bratislava

We were very pleased that Bratislava was able to join us in such great force for the conference. Although Bratislava, being “undistricted”, are not officially part of our area, they have taken a dynamic role within our region and have organised many events. It was therefore only natural that we should reciprocate and warmly welcome them to Budapest. In this spirit of cooperation our Budapest club invited Bratislava to nominate one contestant in each of the categories to represent both of us jointly in the competitions. Our representatives were, therefore, Andras Baráth and Katarina Kultanova for the International Speech contest, and Peter Fekete and Michael Ulicny for the Evaluation contest.

Congratulations!

Congratulations in the German contest to Otto Schwere and Markus Albrecht who came first and second respectively in both competitions! Warm Thanks to our great Contest Master Leo Ziegler. The Bratislava-Budapest connection did well. Katarina and Michael came first in both their respective categories. Morgan-Stanley also featured prominently with Steve Nelson coming second in the International speech contest.


Wining streak!

The winning streak did not end there! The Division Contest was held inn Nuremberg on Saturday 30th April and once again Katarina won. This time Michael came second in the Evaluation contest, and Steve third in the International speech contest. This outstanding performance means that the joint team of Budapest-Bratislava is represented at the District Conference by Katarina to be held in Lisbon on 20 to 22nd May.

Katarina’s speech

Katarina’s speech is a sensitive and insightful exploration of what motivation really means. Exploring her own experiences and Indian mythology she advances the thesis that motivation must come from within and cannot be whipped up from external influences. She delivers her speech with both drama and passion, and we wish her all the best for Lisbon.

The Nuremberg conference

The Nuremberg conference was a lovely occasion drawing together participants from Southern Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. It was a delightful event led by Morag Mathieson (Division Governor), Tara Majumdar (Contest Chair), and Margaret Jankowsky (DTM), who gave an Educational workshop on what makes a great speech.

For any of you who have not visited Nuremberg we can say that it is a beautiful city full of history. A key feature of the weekend was an entertaining walk around the walled city lead by Margaret Jankowsky, who would have little difficulty getting a job as a professional tour guide. Thanks to Daniel Szentimrey-Harrach we were able to find the rotating ring on the famous fountain that enabled us to make a special wish. Nuremberg is well worth a visit.