District Showtime
District Showtime
Fall Speaker Showcase
District Showtime – Fall Speaker Showcase:
Check out contests for Table Topics, Humorous Speech and Your Story matters!
For details on “Your Story Matters” scroll down.
Club winners or nominated participants advance to:
8 online Semi-finals: [Sept-16 – Oct-15]
Final Showcase (in-person): [Oct-21]
Both showcases will culminate at the “District Showtime”, fall speaker showcase in person on October 21, 2023.
Contestant Eligibility
To be eligible to compete in the District Showtime, all contestants must be a member of a club in good standing with their membership dues current.
Additional helpful links:
https://www.toastmasters.org/resources/humorous-speech-contest
https://www.toastmasters.org/resources/table-topics-speech-contest
Speech Contest Rulebook, the Toastmaster Contest Gospel: https://toastmasterscdn.azureedge.net/medias/files/department-documents/speech-contests-documents/1171-speech-contest-rulebook-2023-2024/1171-speech-contest-rulebook.pdf
Semifinal Schedule & Registration Links
Keynote
“Driving transformational impact through effective communication.”
This Keynote will share the key elements of decision-making and share an emotion-driven approach to structuring your communication, at work or outside, for transformational impact.
With Dr. Vikas Jhingran, World Champion of Public Speaking 2007
10:15 to 11:15 AM on October 21, 2023
The Charismatic Speaker
Have you noticed that be it a speech championship or a presentation at work, some people have a knack for grasping the attention of their audience. What can we learn from these charismatic speakers? In this workshop, Vikas will take you through his journey as a speaker culminating in his WCPS win in 2007. He’ll share how he developed his Emotion driven approach to speaking, how he used feedback and mentors to hone his speeches and share some learnings on how to deliver effective presentations. He’ll also take questions from the audience about his approach to writing and delivering speeches.
With Dr. Vikas Jhingran, World Champion of Public Speaking 2007
10:30 AM to 12:30 PM on October 21, 2023
6 Things That Will Kill Your Chances of Landing a TEDx talk
Getting a TEDx is a great way to establish your credibility, establish yourself as a thought leader, and end up with a fantastic professional video. Not getting one is easier than you think. How? Read on.
We’ll break down the top six ways to ruin your chances of getting a TEDx talk, and get you on the right track to applying, writing, editing, and delivering an amazing TEDx talk that not only helps you, but helps the world as well.
With Frank King, TEDx Speaker
1:30 PM to 2:30 PM on October 21, 2023


Dress to Impress!
Lights! Camera! Speeches! Come dressed in true Red Carpet glam as you attend the various sessions of District Showtime and win prizes as the Best Dressed Glam Star!
Keep watching this space for more details!
Your Story Matters
Share Your Story
Every Toastmaster has a story to tell, about their highs and lows, about their tribulations and triumphs, about the impact of Toastmasters.
The judging panel has reviewed the stories submitted via video by September 15th. The submissions have been reviewed and 6 winners were selected!
They each have the opportunity to tell it live at our much-awaited District Showtime on October 21st!
We can’t wait to hearing their incredible stories and celebrate the diverse experiences that make our D101 Toastmasters community so special.
Eligibility: To participate in this session you need to be a member of a club in good standing.
Our Speakers

Dr. Vikas Jhingran
Dr. Vikas Jhingran is a General Manager with Shell Oil Company based in Houston where he uses his technical, business, leadership and communications skills to drive business transformation. Vikas is particularly passionate about corporate communications and how they enable organizational excellence.
Vikas is the 2007 World Champion of Public Speaking. Early in his career, Vikas suffered from poor public speaking skills, due in large part to being an introvert. He studied public speaking and eventually won the Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking in 2007. Despite this remarkable achievement, Vikas is most proud of the glass ceiling that was broken on that August day in 2007, paving the path for many extraordinary minority speakers, many of them non-native English speakers, to win the World Championship in subsequent years.
In 2014, Vikas published his first book on communications called EMOTE: Using Emotions to Make Your Message Memorable. Published both in the US and India, it introduced a unique, emotion-driven approach to communications that, Vikas hopes, will help others become better speakers.
Vikas is an Alumni of the Harvard Business School and has a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His undergraduate degree is from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He lives with his wife and two sons in Houston.

Frank King
Frank King, Suicide Prevention Speaker was a writer for The Tonight Show for 20 years, a speaker and comedian for 37.
He’s fought a lifetime battle with Depression and Suicidality, turning that long dark journey of the soul into 11 TEDx Talks, sharing his lifesaving insights with associations.
He’s survived 2 aortic valve replacements, double bypass, heart attack, and losing to a puppet on Star Search and lived to joke about all of it.