CLUBS & ORGANIZATIONS: Local Toastmasters member wins top award at District competition

The Golden Speakers Toastmasters Club No. 7515 recently achieved a huge win at the Toastmasters District 19 Speaking Competition: new member Aaron Russell won the top award for Tall Tales 2019.

The competition, held in Sioux City, Nebraska, was attended by more than 60 people from Toastmasters and guests. District 19 includes Toastmaster groups in all of Iowa, plus portions of Nebraska and Illinois.

Russell was one of four competitors, and placed first for the local Golden Speakers Toastmasters group.

The local group meet at 7:40 p.m. every Tuesday, and has room for a few new members. For information, including location, call 641-919-0913. Visitors also are welcome to attend, as they have a role as a listening audience.

Russell, a Dekalb, Illinois, native, now makes his home in Fairfield. He is a paint manufacturing engineer at the John Deere-Ottumwa.

'A big part of my job is communicating as I am in charge of keeping the paint line running,” said Russell. 'Leadership wants clear, concise answers to the issues and what we are doing to resolve them. Being able to talk to people about the complex projects I'm working on from a safety, quality and efficiency standpoint is very useful.”

Russell said he first noticed a desire to be a better speaker when he was in high school participating and performing in theater.

'Then at an employee development conference for John Deere, their Corporate Toastmaster Club sounded like a good fit, so that is when I first joined,” said Russell. 'It is a way to ‘sharpen the saw,' a valuable skill that many people don't get the opportunity to exercise, and that's why I joined. You get a free audience that is there to listen to you, which provides excellent practice and feedback.”

Russell said he has noticed improvements in himself since joining Toastmasters.

'I am better at being engaged in conversations, not to dominate, but to have good participation in speaking, as well as improved listening skills,” he explained.

Russell said the writing process for his award-winning speech was fun with the whole idea of a tall tale.

'I think of it as something grounded in reality and expanded upon into unrealistic fantasy,” he continued. 'I had fun amplifying a childhood fear into a funny story. It was cathartic to go through the process.”

The process is something Russell said he can use every day.

'It helps to poke fun at stressors and see how truth is stranger than fiction,” he said. 'Bringing in humor helps diffuse stressors and helps you to realize it's not as big as it seems, like most things in life.”

Russell has been with Toastmasters for about one year.

'My speaking skills have improved 100 percent since starting,” he said.