Big kudos to our member Pietro di Benedetto for having recently won at the district level in the Toastmasters International Speech Contest, held at the at the 2010 Toastmasters District 61 Spring Conference.

When Pietro joined our club, his eyes were already set high on becoming the World Champion of Public Speaking.

We saw in Pietro the passion and the desire to achieve his objective, and said, “We can help you reach your goal”.

There is therefore nothing that makes us prouder than to see that Pietro is headed in that direction.

We had a chance to celebrate this district-level victory by having tasty cake at our meeting.

St-Lawrence Toastmasters cake celebrating Pietro's victory

So what’s next to become the Toastmasters World Champion of Public Speaking?

Pietro will be preparing for the semifinals of the Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking competition that will be held on Thursday Aug. 12, 2010 at the Toastmasters International Convention in Palm Desert, California.

That day, there will be nine contests, each with contestants from nine different districts (Pietro di Benedetto will be competing  in Contest 1), and the nine winners will advance to the final round, which will be held on Saturday Aug. 14, 2010.

The winner of the final round will become the 2010 World Champion of Public Speaking.  This is our Toastmasters equivalent of winning the gold medal at the Olympics!

Pietro, may you continue getting all the success you deserve!