The renowned paceman for Goondiwindi and Macintyre moved south a few years ago, and he’s still showing that he has the ability to bowl people over.

Now however, it’s ability with the spoken word that’s drawing praise.

Emma Brown from Moree reports.

Toastmaster David Venz is the toast of the town.

He is the first member of the Moree Toastmasters club to represent Area 25 at an International Speech contest.

The competition is part of the Western Division Conference on Sunday March 7 in Toowoomba.

In September last year David was the runner up to Ann Mason from Inverell in a very close contest.

He will compete in the table topics section at the Western Division conference against representatives from Northern NSW and Western Queensland.

In table topics the participants are given a topic without notice.

They must immediately get up and address the audience and speak about the topic for two minutes.

Notes are not allowed which tests the competition skills to speak about a topic spontaneously.

The topic he spoke about at his last competition was the most interesting thing I’ve seen.

He told the audience about his experience being chased by an angry cow whilst he was on a kids motorbike.

Mr Venz says the strength of Toastmasters is the instant evaluation of your performance.

At regular meetings you are given evaluation straight away that is kind and constructive he said.

Evaluations often let the speaker know about bad habits such as not looking at the audience, fidgeting and keeping your hands in your pockets.

One piece of advice that Mr Venz has for public speakers is to not hide behind a lectern but to get out in front of the audience.

“I usually don’t stand behind a lectern as it blocks out some communication ability, such as non verbal communication

Mr Venz was inspired to join the Moree Toastmasters Club after he was MC at his nephew’s wedding.