Leaving your child in a shopping centre isn’t something to laugh about, but Jimboomba Toastmaster Patrick Burns has taken the incident and turned it into a win at the District Toastmasters Humourous Competition.
Flagstone resident and five-year toastmaster Mr Burns took to Chinchilla to represent Jimboomba in the District 69 toastmaster competition.
In Chinchilla Mr Burns faced tough competition from district challengers from Queensland, the Northern Territory and Papua New Guinea.
His support crew made up of other local toastmasters and his family travelled with him to the competition.
“There were several rounds such as club, area and divisional before taking to the district competition,” Mr Burns said.
“It was a prepared speech, not just me telling jokes for seven minutes.
“Being true to life made it easier in a sense to give the story a beginning, body and end.”
Mr Burns speech involved his daughter Lauren and the unfortunate incident of leaving her in a shopping centre when she was in primary school.
The story comes to a close with years later Lauren being asked why she needed a mobile phone, to her reply of – ‘just in case you leave me in a shopping centre’.
“She really is a star letting me tell that story,” Mr Burns said.
He said the competition was tough, as you never know what people will find funny.
“It’s hard to tell with the judges, they are all seasoned toastmaster so they know what they are looking for,” he said.
“It was such a nice surprise at the end to take out the win.
“I don’t think anyone in the club has won at the district level for humourous.”
Mr Burns said there was doubt in his mind before his name was called as he thought he had gone over the time limit.
“It was daunting, but such an exciting thing to be apart of,” he said.
Jimboomba Toastmasters threw Mr Burns a small party to celebrate his win at their last club meeting.
Mr Burns now starts again at club level, with a brand new speech.
