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21 July 2011Meeting July 20th 2011 REPORT
Venue:- Bibendum, Eastbourne
Toastmasters Present:
David Quick, Linda Hardman CC, Dec Cluskey ACG, ALB, Jeff Grace, Sue Pellow CC, Gordon Piggott CC, Dorothy Margison ACB, CL, Claire Carpenter, Keith Gell CC, Lucy Dennett, Robin Kempe, Carolyn Kempe, Holly McIlroy
Guests:
Rose Wood, George Wood
Regrets for Absence:
Giles Robinson ADTM
Toastmaster: Dec Cluskey
Sergeant at Arms: David Quick
Hot Tip: Jeff Grace
Warm up: Lucy Dennett
Timekeeper: Linda Hardman
Um/Aah: Dorothy Margison
Grammarian: Sue Pellow
Topics Chair: Keith Gell
Topics Evaluator : Sue Pellow
General Evaluator: Claire Carpenter
We had a lively and fun meeting, with some interesting speeches, lots of awards and much laughter.
Gordon Piggott officially handed over the Presidency to our new Club President Jeff Grace, who gave a short and inspiring speech about Toastmasters, reminding us of why we all come to the meetings and how much we have to gain.
Dec Cluskey was our fluent and confident Toastmaster for the evening.
Jeff delivered the Hot Tip: “Electronic gadgetry has its place”, he said, “but try going back to basics with a little notepad, it works wonders for organization”.
Lucy Dennett then presented the ‘Warm Up’, which is where we are all given an opportunity to speak for fifteen seconds; to get us in the mood for what is to come, and to warm up our vocal chords. It was an up-lifting subject, which had us all in a good mood straight away: we were to tell everyone something that had happened that week that made us feel great.
On to the prepared speeches, of which there were two this evening. First we had Dec, who gave us a speech on the art of conversation. A great speech which included a brilliant and hilarious role-play with Keith Gell. Keith then delivered his speech on the problems with software engineering. He did a very good job of making a potentially dry subject very interesting by including some fascinating examples of some catastrophes in the world of government software.
Next were the evaluations, which are an integral part of a Toastmasters meeting. After each speech, an appointed Evaluator will pick out what they liked in particular and what they felt really worked with the speech. They will also offer a ‘recommendation’, something which perhaps didn’t work so well, and for the speaker to think about and improve. The evaluations are hugely beneficial to the speakers and are fundamental to the success of a Toastmasters meeting. It’s how we learn and improve.
Dorothy Margison evaluated Dec, a tricky evaluation to do, as it was a non-standard speech including the role-play, but she did a great job with humour and confidence. Jeff evaluated Keith’s speech, offering good recommendations and commendations. It was interesting to note that one of Jeff’s commendations contradicted Keith’s advice from a previous meeting, which highlighted the, sometimes, subjective nature of evaluations.
Gordon Piggott then came to the floor, to hand Jeff his trophy for winning the Best Speaker at the Area Competition earlier this year.
The Proud Area 32 winner our new President Jeff Grace
Keith Gell has completed the initial 10 speech projects and was awarded his Competent Communicator certificate, which he has achieved with impressive speed.
Keith Gell receives his Competent Communicator Certificate from Gordon Piggott
Following the break we had Keith introduce the Table Topics. This is where speakers are invited to the floor and have to speak on any given subject for 2 minutes. It’s a fun and great way to develop the ability to think on your feet and deliver effective impromptu speeches.
Keith invited us to talk for 2 minutes on our “favourite film”, a good topic and most of us had a chance to speak. Sue Pellow delivered a very positive evaluation of the Table Topics, admitting that the subject was probably less challenging than her own tough Topics at the previous meeting.
Next we had the reports, delivered expertly and professionally from the Timekeeper (Linda Hardman), the Grammarian (Sue Pellow) and Ah Counter (Dorothy Margison).
The meeting was rounded up with Gordon Piggott formally inducting Robin and Carolyn Kempe .. as the latest new members of the Club.
Robin Kempe, Carolyn Kempe inducted by Gordon Piggott
Report by Claire Carpenter .. Next meeting is 03 Aug
For more information contact:
Past Area Governor: Dec Cluskey 01323.430403 or dec@makehits.com
President: Jeff Grace jeffgracelaptop@tiscali.co.uk
VP Membership/treasurer: Meg Heyworth 07940838422 or meg@heyworth.co.uk
Past District Governor: Gordon Piggott 01323.502436 or gp@itsveryeasy.com
VP Education: Dorothy Margison: DorothyandLen@talktalk.net
Giles Robinson: 01424 730945 or gilesrobinson1@gmail.com
8 April 2011Eastbourne wins both trophies
Area 32 competition
The Area Speaking competition was held on Saturday 2nd at Southwick and Eastbourne member Jeff Grace won 1st Place in the International Speaking competition and Claire Carpenter won 1st place in the Evaluation competition.Dec Cluskey, Eastbourne club member and Area Governor, was responsible for the day and all clubs in Area 32 put forward their contestants. Strong competition from Battle, Brtighton, Arun Speakers at Chichester and also County Communicators which is a closed club for emplotyyess at West Sussxe County Council nbbased in Chichester.
20 January 2011Meeting: 19th January 2011 Bibendum
Members present: Dorothy Margison, Dec Cluskey, Gordon Piggott, Keith Gell, Claire Carpenter, Holly McIlroy, David Quick, Jeff Grace, Linda Hardman.
The meeting started on time thanks to Dorothy Margison standing in at the last moment as Sergeant at Arms, as Louise was unable to attend.
In this report I will deal with the basic structure of this meeting and why we do the things we do.
Toastmaster meetings are about providing the space and safe environment for the practice of both making a speech in public and the knowledge and skill in running meetings.
Sounds straightforward? Well it is .. but the practice is invaluable .. and nowhere else will you find the safe environment to practice. Where those present want to help you (as you help them) to learn by doing. In other words we strive for better communication skills. And we have proper evaluation so we each know how and where to improve.
The term Sergeant at Arms may seem unfamiliar (and perhaps a little old fashioned) until we understand the role and its importance. At a meeting the role is to get the audience seated and quiet, to deal with basic housekeeping matters and then hand the proceedings over to the first speaker on the agenda.
Most meeting follow a similar format. The Sergeant at Arms introduced the President of the Club, Mr Gordon Piggott, who welcomed those present, dealt with apologies for absence and then handed the meeting over to the “Chair” for the evening – except we use the term Toastmaster.
Toastmaster for the evening was the ever cordial, fun, humorous, confident and very competent Dec Cluskey.
The first item on the agenda is the hot tip provided by Jeff Grace.
Next the warm up. The opportunity for everyone present to respond to the issue raised by the Warm Up Master – Dorothy Margison. Keeping each speaker strictly to 15 seconds.
Then we have the three other formal meeting roles, Time Keeper Linda Hardman explaining why we have “lights” to inform the speakers of the time elapsed. Red when its time to stop, Orange at 1 minute to go and Green at 2 minutes to go.
Then the Grammarian. For the evening Keith Gell dealt with this matter. He looks out for good (and the not so good) examples of the use of good English during the meeting and proposes a word for the night.
Holly McIlroy fulfilled the final formal role as the “Ah” counter. Good public speakers do not pepper their speeches with Ah and Umm and unnecessary filler words. Usually used because the speaker has not used the appropriate pause or is looking for the right words and doesn’t have them to hand. General rule of thumb – if you feel and “Umm” coming … pause. Most of the time this will get you out of trouble.
Holly’s job was therefore to observe the “Ums” and “Ahs” used by speakers during the meeting and report back at the end of the evening with her findings.
Next item is the first of the prepared speeches. With a title of “High Jinx” she shared some of here early experiences at the House of Commons. They certainly were “High Jinx” and even the name “Gordon” cropped up. Do you remember a well-known politician of that name? (well he was well known a year ago).
Dorothy was our second speaker with “Mam’s birthday” told in the narrative style of her amusing experiences in the “old days”. Mam’s birthday - being poor, how they all coped and enjoyed it.
Both speeches were from the manuals – which set out objectives for the speech and develop from skills and principles previously. Toastmasters have a formal education track to run on, set out in manuals; each speech progressing previously learned lessons.
Once the speeches were completed the Time Keeper Linda Harman reported the speakers timings. All kept to time.
Then followed the evaluations for Claire and Dorothy. A significant feature of Toastmasters is that evaluations are provided both verbally and in writing for each formal speaker.
The evaluations deal, not so much with the subject matter but with all other aspects of the speech. From structure (was it easy to follow – did it have a beginning, middle and end), spoken language (the words used, voice pitch and speed) how did the speaker come over … and all of the subtle aspects of speaking that make a speech worth listening to. Question .. where else in the world can you get this attention to those speaking skills we all aspire to?
Then Linda again reported on the Evaluator’s times.
There was then a short break. Very well done to Dorothy who had to go to the bar to call back members late returning. Perfect example of the job being done well.
Following the break we were led into Table Topics. This is the opportunity to develop the skill to speak without any prior knowledge of the subject matter for 2 minutes. And what a skill this is. From fumbling beginnings we now have members fluent on any subject at the drop of a hat. That’s what practice helps you do, and what a valuable skill in real life.
Then we have the reports: Timekeeper – ever vigilant in keeping us all to time, Topics evaluator who provides a brief evaluation of topics given – remember those who spoke did not know beforehand they would be called and did not know the subject. The Grammarian's report and Ah Counter.
Finally the General Evaluation, provided by Gordon Piggott, which considers the entire meeting; nothing is off limits to the General Evaluator although of course there is no real merit in dealing with speeches that have already been evaluated, however this is merit in evaluating evaluators.
The meeting closed on time having thoroughly honoured the Toastmaster commitment to provide the learning environment where it is safe to practice speaking skills.
Gordon Piggott
4 November 2010A visitor impression
It was very interesting to be a guest at the meeting on 3rd November of Eastbourne Speakers Club. I was surprised at the number of opportunities I was given to participate, including doing an evaluation, (of Dec Clusky no less) and also to act as General Evaluator.
As a guest from another Speakers Club, I was very interested to observe the variations in the pattern of meetings. The conclusion is they are different, but similar.
The meeting style was a mixture of flexible-relaxed and severely-controlled, with appropriate reprimands in a humorous way for transgressions.
The timekeeping was of the highest order, although occasionally it was surprisingly zealous: one speaker was fell 3 seconds short of the two minutes target for a Topic. Wow!
There was the usual difficulty in sticking to the published tikmetable. In Toastmasters, we constantly underestimate the time taken by things like searching for manuals, overruns on speeches and so on. The movement of members to and from the lectern, links by the Toastmaster between items, and cramming in both four speeches and a substantial Topics session can easily throw out carefully scheduled arrangements.
For my money, the only important time limit is the published speech or report length. Other Toastmasters may fret over whether the meeting finishes on time. This seems to me to be a comparatively trivial matter. We are much more concerned with speaking than we are with the disciplined conduct of meetings. (I should probably now offer the traditional disclaimer about “Just my own view”)
The use of the evaluations slips, recently introduced at Eastbourne was not implemented this time. I felt this was unfortunate, Speakers gain an insight into the perceived merit of their speeches, and members gain some experience of the evaluation process, which potentially improves the quality of their evaluations.
The speeches were of a uniformly high quality. Much confidence was displayed, with considerable use of humour. It was clear that the speeches had been well-rehearsed and the reliance on notes was minimal. Everyone spoke very clearly, and the Grammarian, who stood in at very short notice in the traditional Toastmaster style found much to commend in the language used. She also was full of congratulations for the language used in all the evaluations and topics contributions throughout the evening. The take-up for the word of the day “Mellifluous” was not overwhelming, but when it was used, it was used well!
The counting of filler words produced some unusual statistics. One person used a very large number, but was later commended for using the “Politician's Um”. I am always a little wary of the emphasis on filler words at Toastmasters. There is a great deal to think about when trying to follow the various precepts of speaking skills, without trying to suppress what is so natural to all.
As General Evaluator I felt able to offer some comfort to those whose “Um” output loomed large. With experience, one can of course eliminate filler words by substituting pauses for them. However, recent research shows that audiences remember more of the content of speeches that are splattered with filler words than they do of speeches from which they have been purged.
One speaker demonstrated, within an otherwise brilliantly-executed Advanced speech how it is possible to fail to match the criteria on which the speech is supposed to be based according to the Manual. He even left out the specified three-minute Q.& A. session.
This approach set the Evaluator a dilemma as to how to evaluate the speech. I sought to solve this by implying that since nobody ever “Fails” a speech at Toastmasters, standards will only be upheld if members comply with the requirements laid down in the manual. The speaker later confided that as the Q.&A. session was not mentioned on the Agenda, he thought it had been withdrawn. I felt that attention should have been brought to this anomaly before the speech started.
The Evaluators all did a good job. They looked for the good, whilst encouraging when improvement was possible. I recommended as General Evaluator that all evaluations should be addressed to the meeting as a whole. The third person should be used, and the word “you” should never appear Doing otherwise causes the evaluator to lose rapport with the audience and invites the speaker to answer back! The fact that an evaluator cannot avoid using notes imperils the rapport anyway, so aggravating that situation is counter-productive.
The Warm-up was very effective, although some people found the fifteen second limit an unwelcome constraint. The Topics session seemed to uncover a disconcerting variation in Geographic recall amongst members. What was perceived by the Topics chair as a peaceful seaborne cruise around the Panama and Suez canals metamorphosed into a swift journey of Phineas Fogg proportions. Everyone had a go at this, which accounted for the aforementioned overrun.
The Topics session was very ably evaluated, and many helpful suggestions were offered. All in all a fascinating evening, full of incident and entertainment.. Above all, as proclaimed on the Agenda, it was fun.
30 October 2010Division H Speech Contest
Held at Ashtead Memorial Hall, Surrey on 30 October 2010.
Twice a year clubs belonging to International Toastmasters (that the world wide organisation for public speaking) hold cspeeking competitions. This is the report of the Divisional contest.
Humerous speaking
1st - Adam Broomfield-Strawn - Arun Speakers
2nd – Louise Crooms - Reading Speakers
3rd – Steve Roberts - Tunbridge Wells Speakers
Topics Contest
1st – Faith Warn - Canterbury Premier Speakers
2nd – Charlie Warshawski - Epsom Speakers
3rd – Meg Heyworth - Eastbourne Speakers
This contest was held at the regular meeting place of Mole Valley Speakers, and what a contest it was. A severe test of judging criteria given the high standard of all the speakers.
The venue provided a taste of real live speaking in public as the stage is above chest height and to an audience in excess of 100, and we had a full on stage director, Dec Cluskey (Eastbourne Speakers) who ensured the stage management went smoothly. It was a surprise for some who have never spoken from a stage like this before - but every speaker gave of their best, and as an observer, it seemed to enhance their performance. A testing time for all contestants, providing what was the perfect Toastmaster Experience - the opportunity for each speaker to push themselves beyond their comfort zone, to learn from the experience and do so in a safe environment.
A special mention and well done to Meg Heyworth who came 3rd in the Table Topics. Meg originally founded Eastbourne Speakers some 6 years ago, put in spirited topics sessions - well done.
The afternoon was successfuly and confidently chaired by Remco Roo, President of Woking Speakers and the Chief Judge was Helen Quinn also from Woking.
Timekeepers were Amanda Zwarts and Shankar Nair, and the ballot counters Cameron McDonald and Charles Goodman.
Once the speaking was over and the Chief Judge and ballot counters retred to finalise the result the meeting heard from Lucia Hughes who had flown over from The Republic of Ireland for the event.
Lucia is District Public Relations Officer and she told the meeting of the benefits of visiting other clubs and the enormous benefits of attending the District event which is in a couple of weeks - (weekend of 10-12 November 2010) Lucia introduced Gordon Piggott, the Division H Governor who spoke briefly on his recent visit to a Toastmaster Club in Texas and the role of Listener - which is used by some clubs but unknown in many.
Prize giving followed, and congratulations to all participants
Adam Broomfield-Strawn and Faith Warn will represent the Divison in Dublin on 10/12 November 2010.
Well done to all contestants, very well done to the winners and a very big THANK YOU to all who contributed to the running of the day.
Gordon Piggott Division H Governor 2010/2011
3 August 2010Evaluation - getting started
A guide to Evaluation by: Gordon Piggott, President Eastbourne Speakers Club
When I joined Toastmasters there were certain aspects that terrified me: quite simply EVERYTHING.
Of the elements we are called upon to deal with within the Toastmaster environment there are prepared speeches, table topics, meeting/officer roles and evaluation.
Evaluation held the most terror for me until I changed my view and looked at it in a slightly different way. The following speaker influenced my view.
Danny Le Croix - the 2001 World Champion Public Speaker says of evaluation from non Toastmaster or newer members not experienced in the dark art of evaluation - "DO NOT take their advice". Do NOT take their advice for they are likely not to understand what good advice should be. However that is NOT the same as saying "Do not listen to their view" because you should.
We all, Toastmaster or not, evaluate everything, all day, every day on just about everything we experience - whether we realise it or not.
To provide a speaker with evaluation on Day 1 read on ...
First of all remove from your head that this is about the speaker. On the one hand, of course it's about the speaker, but turn the emphasis more on to you. An Evaluation is about YOUR view of that speaker's performance.
An evaluation is feedback. It's what YOU saw, how you heard it, what you felt and experienced. Your overall experience of the speech.
Now a fact of life is that YOU are the world's leading expert on YOU. No one in the world knows you better or is more knowledgeable about the bundle of stuff that makes up the unique YOU.
Let's get started on the first Evaluation.
Two DO NOTS to start
- DO NOT provide advice
- DO NOT tell the speaker what to do - especially the "if I were you" variety
With that out of the way let's look at what constructive feedback you can provide
to the speaker - on day 1.
This requires only a slight adjustment to the way you think and you achieve
that by asking certain questions
As you listened to a speech how do you react to the following questions?
- Was the listener easy to listen to
- Did you follow the story line/subject matter
- Was there a beginning a middle and an end
- When you go to the end - did you feel it (in your view) had a satisfactory ending
- Did you get to the end of the speech and be able to say what the speech was about in one sentence
- How did you react to the overall "performance" - like body language - did it fit the occasion
The following are the sort of comments that would help a speaker. Help, not because they are being told what to to - they are the experience of YOUR thoughts and that is valuable - even if you have never been to a TM meeting before. A day 1 evaluation is every bit as valid if done properly.
Here are some examples:
- I found the speaker clear and easy to listen to
- The ideas were clear - but be careful with your words if this was NOT the case
- Some of the words used were technical and I didn't understand them and that hindered my appreciation of the subject
- I was able to detect a start, middle and an clear ending - again be careful with your words if this was not true
- I felt the speaker knew his subject
- Sometimes the change of subject surprised me
- I found the entire experience enjoyable
- I understood what he had to say
- I would have preferred to have heard more about what this speaker personally felt about it his subject, or the experience of it meant to him
- I enjoyed the speech
Speakers you hear in a TM meeting want to know how you felt about a speech. That's why they do it.
To build the perfect Evaluation "sandwich" you might like to make a start by making 3 comments
The "good stuff" Like comments above 1, 2, 4, 5, 8
The "take away" As implied like comments above 3, 6, 9 - none of these statements tell the speaker what to do nor provide advice. They just tell your view.
End "up beat" Comments 7 and 10 (if they are true) are examples
Do that and you will help the speaker and help yourself as you learn the art of public speaking.
22 July 2010Eastbourne Speakers Club
Meeting 21 July 2010
The evening began with the induction of another new member, the past president Dec Cluskey read out the ten Toastmaster promises to which our newest member Claire Carpenter replied “I Do”.
The wonderful Giles Robinson chaired a packed programme on Wednesday 21st July 2010, he built up rapport with the audience immediately by asking the audience to respond to his question “you will all buy me a drink later this evening” also hoping for the “I do” response.
Each evening we are given a ‘hot tip’ and this evening we had one from another new member Louise Yeoll. Her tips were to enjoy the experience and just get up and do it.
Dec Cluskey then conducted the warm up session which is an opportunity for everyone in the room to speak, which we all did even the visitors on the 20 second additions to the story which began “My name is Giles Robinson and I opened the door in my wife’s knickers and bra------- much amusement was gained from everyone’s take on this subject.
The role of Time Keeper was explained by Sue Pellow and Grammarian by David Quick who both did these roles with aplomb.
Feedback is an important part of the Toastmaster Club meeting and Eastbourne Club now uses the audience to give back even more feedback on slips in their packs, using these slips was ably explained by Giles who then introduced the first speaker Dec Cluskey
Dec started the speech section of the club with a true story about a six-year-old boy who was dying from Leukaemia and how his dream of becoming a fireman was made by the fire chief of the Phoenix department. This was followed by a speech from Meg Heyworth on a dramatic walk up a mountain in Scotland and how her dog “Max” saved them during a whiteout at the top. Dorothy Margison gave a great speech on “Little Red Riding Hood” and this section ended with
Sue Pellow giving a speech on the subject of Hearing Dogs (which assist deaf people).
The second half of the evening was Table Topic which is all about being able to speak “off the cuff” the topic was on ‘something I did today’ which was easy enough for all the visitors and new members asked to deliver confidently.
The evening ended with awards for the best speaker, evaluator and table topic all of which are decided by the audience.
A branch of Toastmasters International its aim is to improve communication and listening skills amongst its members. A regular club night allows members to practice their public speaking skills in a supportive environment and to receive feedback on those from other members. A structured program enables the novice to become a competent speaker and the more experienced presenter to become better.
The club meets on the first and third Wednesdays of the month at The Bibendum, 1 Grange Road, Eastbourne, BN21 4EU from 7.15 to 9.30pm. Guests are welcome without obligation.
If you would like to know more about the club please see www.eastbournespeakers.org.uk, or call Meg Heyworth 07940838422
14 July 2010From: Eastbourne Speakers member and Division H Governor Gordon Piggott
I am pleased and privileged to be Division H Governor to help you and everyone in the Division, both current and those who have not joined yet, develop your speaking, listening and thinking along with the District motto this year – with passion.
This blog I will use as a sort of ... Dear Diary ... so Toastmasters in Division H are up to speed on what's gone on and what's coming soon.
Division H is an area south of the Thames, bounded at the East at Margate and Sandwich, Dorchester in the West and up as far as Newbury.
Thank you to Chris Howell immediate past Division H Governor. You did a brilliant job last year and I am fortunate to have inherited such a successful Division.
The formal Toastmaster year runs from 1st July to 30th June but much happens before 1st July for incoming officers, as all new officers will know.
Thank you to the new Area Governors. Thank you for stepping up to the plate to help run and develop your clubs, your area and this division to fulfill our mission. As you settle in to a role that is (for some of you) a new one, please remember – my responsibility is to help. When you need something ... call me. If you need help – please do not struggle – help is at hand.
Here is news of the first two weeks of the new Toastmaster year 2010 / 2011.
Apart from email and telephone calls with Area governors and meetings at clubs I am a member of, attendance at two meetings were very worthwhile.
It was a pleasure to attend the second meeting of a new club at Farnham. From the numbers there, the enthusiasm shown and the quality of meeting it will not be long before the club charters. A great evening – well done Nicola Coutts for getting the ball rolling here, and I have no doubt a new club in Alan Donegan's Area very soon.
Last week there was a demonstration meeting for a proposed new club in the City of London at Man Investment. We were pleased to visit and I was pleased to give a speech that was then evaluated by Freddie Daniels. All round it was a first class experience and it really is a pleasure to be so warmly welcomed into our neighbouring division.
Coming soon
Club Officer Training (COT)
All Area Governors are putting together their Club Officer Training sessions. These are terrific events and one of the few opportunities to really meet other members and officers from other clubs. Please go. It is not only for officers – and it will provide a good grounding in what officers do – and the important role they play.
Competitions
Alan Donegal and Area 14 are kindly hosting the Division H Autumn Contest. This is scheduled for 30 October, venue to be announced soon. This means Area competitions need to be held probably some time in early October / late September to give clubs the chance to organise their Club competitions August / early September.
Dublin 2010 is the District 71 BIG event.
Go to the Event website http://dublin2010.ie This is the D71 business meeting, district competition, education sessions, massive networking and being Dublin, I guess, there may be some of the black stuff around.
These events are brilliant and I certainly organise my personal financial matters to be sure I have sufficient funds for these events. They really are worthwhile. You will meet people that you would never meet otherwise; you will hear the best in the countries speakers in competition and find out more about how Toastmasters ticks, and I never fail to come away invigorated and enthused.
I have had to make a decision regarding the 20100 Spring competition, so please put this date in your diary.
Division H 2011 Spring International Speech contest – 30th April 2011 Host and venue to be confirmed. The date was selected because it is before D71 convention, after the Easter weekend and does not clash with school holidays.
And finally
The District website http://d71.org is a huge source of information.. Trouble is you have to learn your way around it.. I have produced an explanatory PDF on how to find club information for your Area from D71. You will find it here: http://a32.org.uk/d71.php
Enjoy the journey with Toastmasters .. Infuse your journey with passion.
8 July 2010Report of meeting:
Wednesday 07 July 2010
By Dorothy Margison
Venue:- Bibendum, Eastbourne
Toastmasters Present:
David Quick, Dec Cluskey ACG, DLB, Meg Heyworth [founder, DTM], Gordon Piggott CC, Tom Tonge, Mal Laurie, Giles Robinson ATMB, David Quick.
Guests: Elaine Yelland, Rebecca Love, Tracey Bond
Regrets for Absence: Dawn Smedley, Louise Yeovill, Louise Anderson, Linda Hardman, Joanna Allen.
Eastbourne Speakers Club met at Bibendum on Wednesday 7th July. And a good night was had by all.
The installation handover between Dec Cluskey, as outgoing President, and Gordon Piggott as the new President for this year 2010/2011 was beautifully done.
Gordon’s first duty was to install the new Officers for the year. He then installed a new member and presented the certificate of membership to new member David Quick.
Thank you Meg Heyworth for the gift of a Gavel which will be used forever in the club.
Giles Robinson, as Toastmaster, kicked off with his ‘hot tip’. I trust we all will remember gave us lots of useful advice.
David Quick gave us a clear explanation of the duties as timekeeper.
Tom Tongue's ‘warm up’ session: ‘Mans Greatest Achievement’. Birth, death, space stations technology, ‘man on the moon’ … gave us a view of how things change even in a short lifetime.
We then moved on to the prepared speeches. Gordon presented a speech which he would present the next night at MAN headquarters ‘Why Toastmasters’. A good reasoning on why a person should join our Organisation.
Meg Heyworth then told a delightful story. So descriptive and charming.
Dorothy Margison delivered her take on a Fairy Tale ‘The Pied Piper’ … with the audience rearranged in a semi circle, she created a lovely folksy atmosphere.
Giles Robinson evaluation of Gordon Giles is always interesting. I liked the reference to Tiger Woods. What is Toastmasters? Good recommendations for making the speech even better.
Giles for Meg: He said he loved the action and the dog pulling the boatman was wonderful. “We were down in the river with her and Ben”.
Dec for Dorothy: He commented on the good use of commas. He liked the hand movements and encouraged her to use whispers more.
‘Table Topics’ Dec:- The hats were wonderful and the surprise on the faces as each one discovered who/what they were was very entertaining.
Megs evaluation of the topics told us to start the story using pauses. This is always good advice
With the Timekeeper’s report, from David Quick, we found who kept to time etc.
Our Grammarian, Gordon Piggott, praised the descriptive words used by us all present.
Our excellent toastmaster Giles Robinson, what can we say? Maybe one day we will all get part way to achieving being a good toastmaster.
Our new President, Gordon Piggott, closed the meeting with due ceremony.
And so to the next meeting … see you then?
17 June 2010Report of meeting:
Wednesday 16th June 2010
By Dec Cluskey
Venue:- Bibendum, Eastbourne
Toastmasters Present:
Louise Anderson, Dec Cluskey ACG, DLB, Meg Heyworth [founder, DTM], Jeff Grace, Linda Hardman CC. Louise Yeovill, Tom Tonge, Dorothy Margison.
Guests: Elaine Yelland, Rebecca Love.
Regrets for Absence: Dawn Smedley, Giles Robinson [ADTM], Mal Laurie, Joanna Allen, David Quick
Eastbourne Speakers Club met at Bibendum on Wednesday 16 June. A good night was had by all.
As the Town Hall clock struck 7.30pm Linda Hardman, acting as Sergeant at Arms brought the meeting to order and introduced our President, Dec Cluskey.
Dec had a pleasant duty to perform … the official induction of new member Tom Tonge. With great dignity Tom was asked if he would abide by his Toastmaster’s 10 promises … he, of course, would and he was presented with his certificate of Membership and a copy of the Toastmasters Promises .. a moving occasion.
Dec then quickly introduced Gordon Piggott as Toastmaster for the evening and we were up and running.
He gave us a good ‘Hot tip’ advising us that 80% of success was simply turning up and 20% was sticking to the basics … good stuff!
Linda Hardman got the evening moving well with our traditional ‘Warm Up’ session … designed to get our vocal chords limbered up …. Would you believe it? All those present joined in to give 15 secs. each … even the two visitors. The theme, of course, was ‘football’.
With timekeeper appointed [Meg Heyworth] and Grammarian [Dec Cluskey] we launched into the first of the prepared speeches … Jeff Grace … his fourth speech and he proved that he was well on his way to his Competent Communicator Award.
Meg Heyworth followed. Meg is now working her way through the entire Distinguished Toastmasters project for the second time. She showed how elegant a speech can be.
Tom Tonge, our Newbie gave us his initial speech … his ‘Ice Breaker’ and proved that he has the makings of an excellent speaker. Time with Eastbourne Speakers will hone his talent beautifully.
Dorothy Margison delivered her second speech from the ‘Storytelling’ manual. A delightful speech with all the ‘The Road Less Travelled’ feel about it.
After the time keeper’s report on the timings of the speeches we followed with the four evaluations…. Some feel this is the most important part of the evening. Gordon Piggott was up first giving good ways forward for Jeff. Linda then showed remarkable knowledge of Meg’s speech and Gordon again took the stage to give Tom good advice on using ‘key words’ as notes for future speeches.
With a quick timekeepers report and an even quicker interval [4 speeches is a lot to cram in?] Meg Heyworth launched into the ‘Table Topics’ … she is the master.
All present, even our guests joined in …. Meg has that masterful way about her … each member and guest trying their best to achieve speaking for 2 minutes on a random topic … no preparation and no outside help whatsoever…. Didn’t we do well?
After the evaluation of the Topics participants efforts by Dorothy Margison we were treated to a description of the ‘Council of Officers’ by our Area Governor Gordon Piggott.
The next meeting will indeed be that special meeting where the new officers for 2010/11 will be installed … the start of a brand new Toastmaster’s Year.
With a detailed General evaluation by Dec Cluskey we were close to finish … a few final ‘Parish Notices’ and we were done ….
Delighted smiles all round and we all made our way towards that lovely place downstairs that serves the wine at just the right temperature….
12 June 2010Report of meeting
Wednesday 02 June 2010: By Dec Cluskey
Venue:- Bibendum, Eastbourne
Toastmasters Present:
David Quick, Dec Cluskey ACG, DLB, Meg Heyworth [founder, DTM], Jeff Grace.
Guests:
Keith Gell, Elaine Yelland, Rebecca Love, Tracey Bond
Regrets for Absence:
Gordon Piggott, Dawn Smedley, Louise Yeovill, Giles Robinson, Louise Anderson, Linda Hardman, Mal Laurie, Joanna Allen.
Eastbourne Speakers Club met at Bibendum on Wednesday 02 June. What a terrific time we had.
A strange night, an unusual night … but a great one, no less. The warm, good weather in the Summer makes it a lottery whether we have a good attendance or a ‘slight’ attendance … this was the latter .. did we mind? Never!
4 delightful guests joined us and their smiles said everything. The meeting was a little looser than normal … our Toastmaster for the evening, Meg Heyworth, opted for the casual, friendly style of meeting … and it worked.
The president, Dec Cluskey, opened the meeting with a warm welcome and quickly reintroduced Meg, who gave us the run down on what to expect through the evening.
The ‘hot tip’ was delivered by recent new member Jeff Grace, fast rising through the ranks. The tip was so hot that I forgot to write it down … silly me! [grin!] He’ll kill me!!!!!! Dec explained his role as time-keeper … so important and one of the great points to be learned in public speaking.
The ‘Grammarian’ role was performed by Keith Gell [Independent Candidate for Eastbourne] … he grasped the mettle and jumped into the role for the evening … to count those ubiquitous ‘ums’ and ‘aahs’ … all the irrelevant ‘non-words’ we all use on occasion .. also, to comment on excellent use of grammar through the evening.
The warm up was expertly handled by Meg, [ Who are you? And what do you do? ]explaining that this part of the proceedings was designed to allow each present [only if they so wished] to warm up their vocal chords for 15 secs. maximum with a topic given… great fun and an eye opener for the guests … who all joined in, by the way!
Our first speaker, Dec Cluskey gave quite an advanced speech “The Humble Hat”. An enlightening talk on the ways to make hat wearing stylish, useful and attention getting.
We then had an usually departure from the normal agenda … “A Reverse Speech” .. Dec delivered an evaluation of a speech to be given by Meg … get it? An evaluation before she spoke! Meg had no idea what Dec would say and had to speak for 7 minutes to reflect all the encouragement and points for betterment that Dec had already given … quite a hoot!
Jeff Grace gave us a speech “A Real Weight Lifting Challenge” … Jeff is storming though the first ‘Competent Communicator’ manual of ten speeches. Meg gave a superb evaluation of Dec’s speech … one of the great benefits of Toastmasters … each speech is evaluated with calm and tender pointing out of not so good points and encouragement to use more the good points and techniques. Dec then evaluated Jeff’s speech commenting that the improvement in the short months since joining was astonishing.
With the timekeepers report for the items so far we broke for a well earned glass of wine.
After the break we got into the ‘Topics Session’ … ad lib topics suggested by picking a card from the pack which Meg proffered … each had an animal, object or idea on … great fun and all our guests participated … proved to themselves that it was not easy to speak off the cuff for 2 minutes … a skill learned quickly in Toastmasters … and invaluable in business speaking.
With a quick wind-up from Meg, we were into the chatting and the convivial part of the evening … a small glass of wine downstairs and it was ‘kissy, kissy’ before the next meeting … see you then?
Report by Dec Cluskey
21 May 2010Meeting Wednesday 19th May at the Bibendum.
The meeting last evening was a testament to how to successfully deal with a meeting when circumstance works against us, what’s planned does not turn out to be and the assumed does not happen.
Dorothy Margison acted as Sergeant–at-Arms (a part of this role is to call the meeting to order, get everyone seated, quiet and receptive) and handed the meeting to Dec Cluskey (Club President). He opened the meeting in characteristic enthusiastic manner, welcomed members and guests and handed proceedings to Giles Robinson. Giles was Toastmaster (Chairman) for the evening and the meeting progressed with minor changes to the agenda.
Giles provides a Hot Tip. Not surprisingly it was about preparation. No matter how well you prepare for a meeting – there will always be the unexpected. The extent of the unexpectedness varies enormously, but if you have maximised the preparation you can turn the potential disaster into success to ensure that the meeting meets its purpose.
Eastbourne Speakers (a member of International Toastmasters) provides the safe environment to practice both speaking skills and those additional skills required to run successful meetings.
Gordon Piggott provided a report on the recent Bi-Annual Toastmaster Conference held in Sligo (Eire) last weekend. A separate report has been prepared on this event.
There were two speakers and both provided firsts. Dorothy Margison (having completed the first 10 speeches in the initial Competent Communicator manual provided her first speech of an advanced manual. Tea for Two raised many chuckles and was most amusing.
Louise Yeoell provided her first speech ever here. It’s called an Ice Breaker for the very good reason that being the first it breaks the ice! A delightful speech telling us about her early days.
Following the speakers we heard evaluations from Dec Cluskey (who evaluated Dorothy) and Sue Pellow who evaluated Louise. Evaluations are an essential element of what Eastbourne Speakers does by providing both written and verbal evaluation of every speech given. Where else can you get that in a safe and supportive environment? An essential tool to develop your speaking skills.
Following a short break the meeting moved onto impromptu speaking. We call it Table Topics. The Topics master – Dorothy - provided a subject and the speaker without any preparation is invited to speak for up to 2 minutes. Sounds easy? Just come and try it out! Dorothy choose the subject of weddings and all present entered into the spirit and provided a fascinating insight into their personal view and their ingenuity to assemble a mini speech without notice. Everyone spoke for 2 minutes – well done every member present. Especially Jo-Anne – our guest (are you sure Jo-Anne you haven’t done this before?).
Gordon Piggott then took the meeting through the ratification process for the election of officers for the next year 2010/2011. Toastmaster year runs 1 July – 30 June and the new officers take up their new roles on 1st July.
The concluding agenda item was the general evaluation. Gordon Piggott provided his views and thoughts on the meeting. His general conclusion was that we have clearly demonstrated that with as much planned as could have been planned, good will and flexible working we fully achieved the purpose of the meeting. He also made note of the fact that it is very easy, if the meeting is relatively small, for the formality and procedure to drop away. This did not happen and everyone present was able to participate in the meeting and make a contribution, and the maintenance of protocol enabled everyone present to push his or her personal development on one more step.
9 April 2010MEETING
Venue:- Bibendum, Eastbourne. Date:- Wednesday 7th April 2010
Toastmasters Present:
Gordon Piggott, Giles Robinson ATMB, Dorothy Margison, Linda Hardman CTM, Dawn Smedley, Mal Laurie, Jeff Grace, Dec Cluskey ACG, AL.
Guests:
Al Stray, Rebecca, Joanne, Elaine
Regrets for Absence:
Meg Heyworth, Louise Anderson
Eastbourne Speakers Club met at Bibendum on Wednesday 7th April and, once again, we had the pleasure of welcoming a number of guests.
Linda Hardman jumped into the role Toastmaster for the evening with only half an hour’s notice. She was very professional in her role as the “glue” of the meeting and was careful to explain the program and some of the odd quirks that make up the customs of the club to ensure that the guests understood what was going on throughout the meeting. Dec Cluskey took on the role of Grammarian and Um and Aah counter with particular attention to the overuse of the non-word ‘Thing’.
Dorothy Margison’s “Hot Tip” was simply to be ourselves, unique – after all each of us is unique. Does that mean that, at least in that respect, we are all the same?! Timekeeping duties were assigned to Mal Laurie.
Giles Robinson, introduced a Warm Up session asking each of us to speak, for 15 seconds, on something good or bad undertaken over the Easter weekend.
Three club members delivered prepared speeches:
The first was Dawn Smedley, who completed the final speech in the Competent Communicator Manual (Speech no.10). Her speech was entitled “Sussex Pet Rescue Fund Raising Day”. With her task being to inspire her audience she certainly did so, talking about an event she had organised, the trauma suffered by Rocky – a dog she had rescued – and a call to arms, asking us to support her next event.
Jeff Grace was the second speaker. It was a particular treat to hear from him as he was delivering his Ice Breaker, “Painting The Picture” – the first prepared speech to the club. Working without any notes, and with a very good speech structure, he showed great presence and will clearly go far. Displaying body language that is almost unheard of (or should that be unseen!) in a first timer, he told us five things that he looks for in others – and what they say about him.
Our third prepared speech was delivered by Dorothy Margison. Entitled “Use it or lose it” she warned of the perils of pollution and urged us back on to public transport. Dorothy is moving swiftly through the Competent Communicator manual and showing great strides as she takes on the advice given by her evaluators.
Each of the speeches was evaluated by Gordon Piggott, Giles Robinson and Dec Cluskey, respectively. Among the most experienced evaluators in the club they each ensured that constructive feedback was given and that the speakers not only knew what they had done well, but what they could improve on. The problem with experience, however, is that each had far too much to say and none managed to stick to time, the worst offender being the longest serving Toastmaster – Giles.
With the starting gun having been fired for The General Election, Gordon took on the role of Topics Master, inviting every speaker to adopt the identity of a candidate for a political party, and then give his or her views on the subject that he or she was given from that perspective. Speaking for 2 minutes proved too much for many who had to take on the role of supporting views they had little truck with. It was, however, an instructive and entertaining experience.
Jeff delivered his first topics evaluation with a humorous analysis of the content delivered by the preceding speakers.
Mal reported back as Timekeeper and Giles as the General evaluator, a role that Toastmasters International defines as ‘improving the process while overseeing the execution’.
It was another successful night. We hope to see more and more people at our next meeting. Come and enjoy practicing your public speaking and leadership skills in a safe, friendly and supportive club atmosphere.
Report by Toastmaster Giles Robinson ATMB
4 April 2010Area 32 Speech Contest at The Langham Hotel - Saturday 3rd April 2010
Meg Heyworth, Eastbourne Speakers, put up a splendid performance representing the club at both Speech and Evaluation contest but was pipped at the post in the Evaluation contest (Meg came 2nd) by Graham Gardner from Battle.
The writer was a judge so cannot make comments or discuss the performances (as much as that may be desirable - especially as Meg was a competitor).
Well done to all contestants and especially to Mike Flannery (Brighton & Hove) and Graham Gardner (Battle) who won their respective contests and will represent Area 32 at the Division H contest at the International Speech and Evaluation competition.
As usual, and not unexpectedly, the standard was terrific. Such a range of speeches and styles, they were both educational and a pleasure to listen to.
For the Evaluation competition, the contestants are judged upon their delivery of an evaluation of a Target Speech. Giles Robinson deliveryed the Target Speech entitiled "Up the creek without a paddler". Funny and entertaining. Those of you that have heard Giles Robinson speak will know that Giles always presents evaluators with a huge challenge - establishing "something to improve on". Such are his skills.
So congratulations to all contestants and for Giles for putting himself up for the target speech.
Also thanks to those who made the afternoon run so smoothly, David Robertson (Brighton & Hove) as Sergeant-at-Arms, Dorothy Margison (Eastbourne Speakers) , the newest member of the group present, for Timing and Ballot counter assisted by both Robin Chawner (Arum Speakers) and Andy Hammond (Arun Speakers and County Communicators). Bill Leach (Arun Speakers) as Contest Chair, Maggie Hall (Brighton & Hove) for Table Topics and Linda Hooper (Brighton & Hove and Battle) as Chief Judge. To all of you - a huge THANK YOU.
Area 32 contestants to go forward to Division H Contest (to be technically correct contestants (at competitions) should only be named and not identified by their club, area or division)
Mike Flannery - International Speech
Graham Gardner - Evaluation
at the Division H Contest in Dorking on 17th April from 13.00 to 16.00. Congratulations Mike and Graham.
Other positions were: International Speech:
2nd - Sue Couchman
3rd - Phil Maddocks
Evaluation Contest:
2nd - Meg Heyworth
3rd - Sue Couchman
A link to the details of the meeting is: http://www.southeastspeakers.co.uk/division-contest.htm
Please be there to cheer Mike and Graham on and, for the purely selfish reason of seeing the best that the Division has to offer. Someone from the contest will go forward to speak in Sligo. Someone in Sligo will go to the USA to represent UK and Eire - and there is no reason why that couldn't be someone you hear speak at Dorking.
A message to those that did not win.
Take heart that you were selected by (or won) at your club. Competitions are one of the best ways to sharpen skills. I have spoken with winners at national level and they all say - it keeps me sharp!It was a great afternoon yesterday. Thank you to everyone who took part. If you were not there - you missed a great afteroon.
So - take heart, stay sharp and keep your eye on the mark, and entering the competitions is a first class way to go about it. You know you were in expert company.
Gordon Piggott
International Toastmasters
D71 | Division H | Area 32 Governor
Member Eastbourne Speakers Club
01323 502 436
07780 990 369
18 March 2010Happy Birthday to Meg
It being the 18th - Happy Birthday to Meg - the club founder. Without Meg's persistence there would be no Eastbourne Speakers. Thank you Meg and have a great day.
The meeting last evening was a fabulous example of what Toastmasters provides, and plenty of fun into the bargain.
Toastmasters starts with the position that everyone has some public speaking skills.
Toastmasters is about us, as individuals, seeking to improve and hone those skills by practice and evaluation in a safe environment, and isn't that what happened last evening? Plus - lots of fun into the bargain. Table Topics surprised everyone. You needed to have been there to have really enjoyed Dorthothy telling us about her imaginary young German toy boy, Lousie about her imaginary pet puffin, Dawn her initiation into a wolf pack, Mal about her parrot that switches the kettle on of a morning - just to sample a few. Everyone gave of their best at this session - thank you all. Fun, educational and a wonderful learning experience.
Welcome our newest members Louise, Matt, Mal and Jeff. I know from Matt that is is unable to make it to the next meeting, but I have allocated roles to Louise, Mal and Jeff for the next meeting.
The draft agenda is now available.
The roles allocated are all set out in the Leadership manual you have and please ask one of us to evaluate the manual for you to get you started.
Finally - Saturday 3rd April at The Langham Hotel Eastbourne - Area Speech Contest. I could do with some more help. Dorothy has also offered but there are several other roles still to allocate.
22 February 2010Speech Competition in Eastbourne
'And she cried' a true story about rape was the subject for a speech competition at the Eastbourne Speaker's Club on Thursday 18th February 2010.
Meg Heyworth, winner of the competition and founder of the club said 'I am delighted, I compete every year and this is the first time I have won the prestigious Dec Cluskey Tall Stories Cup'.
The subject matter of the story is on the edge of acceptability for a larger audience, however it is attention catching and will always attract the interest of most of the audience. 80 year old Dorothy, a new member of the Eastbourne Club, feels she still needs to improve her confidence especially since her husband has died said 'That was a wonderful speech, it was so real that it made me cry'.
The speech competition that Meg won in Eastbourne is the first stage of a four stage competition that will take the winner to the USA to represent the UK in August of this year. Finalists from over 200 clubs in the UK, six of which are in Sussex, meet at the annual conference to be held this year in Ireland in May.
The winner of the UK round goes onto the annual conference of Toastmasters International which is in California in August and they will be competing against the competitors from rest of the world.
Toastmasters International is truly a worldwide organisation with over 12,500 clubs and 250,000 members in 106 countries worldwide, most of the clubs use English as their main language for communication.
It is said that a club is in action every three minutes somewhere in the world and interest in the clubs is growing with four new clubs starting up in Sussex over the past three years.The format of every club evening is much the same worldwide so anyone can walk into a club anywhere in the world and feel at home.
Meg founded the club in Eastbourne in 2006 because she wanted to give people the opportunity to gain confidence in public speaking in a warm, friendly atmosphere, where the emphasis of the club meetings is on evaluation and mentoring.
If anyone is interested in finding out more about these speakers’ clubs then Meg can be contacted on meg@Heyworth.co.uk or 01323872487 the website is www.d71.org
1 February 2010Meeting Venue fixed throughout 2010
The meeting room at the Bidendum is now booked for us and paid for the entire 2010 year through to the first meeting in December.
We shall not be meeting at Bibendum for the second Wednesday in December, instead there will be the usual Christmas get-to-gether, venue to be arranged.
28 January 2010Plans for the summer
Previously the club has broken up for a summer recess in August. This is now to change as it was felt the break in August was very disruptive and the gap between the last meeting in July and the first in September was too long.
Accordingly there will be no break in August. Meetings will be held on 1st and 3rd as usual - that is the 4th and 18th August.
Please put the August meeting Wednesdays in your diary.
5 November 2009Report of meeting
Wednesday 4th November 2009 By President Dec Cluskey ACG, DL
Venue:- Bibendum, Eastbourne
Toastmasters Present:
Linda Hardman CC, Nicky Easton, Dec Cluskey ACG, DL , Dorothy Margison, Dawn Smedley, Dec Cluskey ACG, DL
Guests:
Julian, Chris and Steve
Regrets for Absence:
Sue Pellow, Meg Heyworth DTM, Giles Robinson ATMB, Louise Anderson, Gordon Piggott CC [Area Governor]
Wednesday evening and here we were again … all smiles and looking forward to a great night.
With the absence of Gordon and Meg we had to improvise wildly for lights to show the timing of the speeches. New member Dorothy Margison took the role of timekeeper … the two speeches certainly kept her on her tows as the makeshift sheets with ‘Green’, ‘Amber’ and ‘Red’ emblazoned were not very visible … boy did we have fun over the timings… all good stuff!
After a brief rounding up of the troops, Dec took off his ‘Sergeant at Arms’ hat and donned his ‘President’s’ one. Lots of laughs as he jumped from one side of the stage area to the other enacting the two roles.
A quick hand over to Linda Hardman, as Toastmaster, got the ball rolling. And what a superb job she did.
The ‘Hot Tip’ was delivered by Dec who followed on from his ‘Vocal Variety’ Education Spot of last meeting by encouraging all to “go up at the commas” and “down at the Full Stops” … quoting the legendary style of James Alexander Gordon delivering the weekly Saturday football results … “Manchester United Six, Liverpool One “ [we wish … grin!]
Dawn Smedley delighted us with her ‘Warm Up’ idea discussing Guy Fawkes … good or bad? The 15secs allotted time was quickly out the window as none of us paid any heed to Dorothy’s sheet waving … “couldn’t see the colour” was the weak excuse from all! The smiles said it all. Even our three guests had a go. And boy, were they good?
Toastmaster Linda invited our game timekeeper Dorothy to somehow attempt to convey what she was attempting to do with her timing sheets …. Did we pay attention? Not a bit! Again, good fun and Dorothy took some ribbing. She gave as good as she got.
Nicki Easton explained her Grammarian and Um/Aah counting role and gave us her ‘word for the evening’ “Nugatory” … whoops …. we couldn’t even say it, let alone use it! [means trivial, ineffective, invalid, by the way].
Dawn Smedley gave the first speech “Landlord or Letting Agent” and amazed us with her deep knowledge of renting laws and practices … stunning!
Dec was next up with a speech in the ‘Uplift the Spirit’ mould entitled “The Art of Exceptional Living” … definitely uplifting stuff with lots of anecdotes and personal experiences. Obviously a pet subject.
The timekeeping for the speeches report was a hoot with wild protestations from Dec accused of over running by a mile “not as long as Giles would be!” howled a protesting Dec.
Dawn then evaluated Dec and Dec returned the compliment to Dawn. The timekeeping was now in control with both being almost exactly to time.
Following the short break we had an expert Table Topics session handled by Dawn Smedley… lots of differing thoughts on Guy Fawkes Versus Halloween celebrations.
The time keeping report on the topics came next and the evaluations … we were then treated to a new ‘double act’ … Dawn and Dec the comical General Evaluators … the birth of a new comedy legend? “A laugh an Hour” as is said? [grin!]
With general talk of a proposed joint Christmas ‘do’ possibly on 17th Dec at The Langham Hotel or The Loconda we bade a sad farewell to each other … and some went to the bar … a great night again, full of fun and laughter… what a tonic?
See you at the next meeting? Bibendum [opposite Town Hall in Eastbourne] Wednesday 18th NOV
Report by President 2009 Dec Cluskey ACG, DL
22 October 2009Report of meeting
Wednesday 21th October 2009 By Area Governor Gordon Piggott CC
Venue:- Bibendum, Eastbourne
Toastmasters Present:
Gordon Piggott CC [Area Governor], Linda Hardman CC, Giles Robinson ATMB, Louise Anderson, Nicky Easton, Dec Cluskey ACG, DL
Guests:
Dorothy
Regrets for Absence:
Sue Pellow, Meg Heyworth DTM
Wednesday evening again witnessed the strength of this Toastmaster Club as new members performed roles for the first time and more experienced members provided support, encouragement and opportunity.
The Sergeant-at-arms is the somewhat unfamiliar and formal title for the person who calls the meeting to order and opens proceeding by handing over to the Toastmaster (Meeting Chairman – in English). Louise Anderson, her first opportunity to perform this role got the meeting off to a cracking, on time, start. The Toastmaster for the evening the inimitable Giles Robinson.
Dec Cluskey, Club President and established member welcomed our Guest Dorothy and members to the meeting.
One of the important roles during a meeting is the Timer; Nicky Easton explained what her role (as Timekeeper) was, why it was important and what she would be doing during the evening. Time is critically important in any public speaking role – as we would say there is nothing worse than a speaker running over time!
The Grammarian – a second role for Louise tonight and another first – she explained what she would be looking out for and the important of the well constructed spoken word – looking in particular for good – and maybe also noting the not-so-good, examples.
Three speeches this evening – first up was Dec Cluskey with an education spot on Vocal Variety. His message was get away from the monotone and he demonstrated how we can use aspects and influences of music to inject variety into our voice and thus make it more interesting, effective and easier to listen to.
Area Governor Gordon Piggott spoke next providing a speech from one of an advanced manual entitled “Where are you?” – not geographically but how do you feel about your speaking incorporating a story to trigger the mind into remembering the question to ask.
Dawn Smedley our resident dog-training expert gave a very entertaining and informative speech on “Be the Pack Leader”. The speech objective was to become comfortable with visual aids, which Dawn used very well indeed.
Verbal and written evaluations where provided by Gordon Piggott and Louise (another first for her) providing evaluation.
After the break Dawn Smedley ran us through Table Topics, which is the opportunity to practice speak without preparation. We had to speak for 2 minutes on the subject “My first set of wheels” and, as you might expect, the stories were many, varied and amusing. Even guest, Dorothy. joined in … and surprised a few with her fluency of speech … well done Dorothy.
Linda Hardman evaluated the Topics session and the general evaluation of the meeting presented by Gordon Piggott.
Giles Robinson, as the Toastmaster, closed the meeting after presenting the Gold Award to Dec Cluskey – an important milestone in a Toastmasters journey.
See you at the next meeting? Bibendum [opposite Town Hall in Eastbourne] Wednesday 4th NOV
Area Governor Gordon Piggott CC
8 October 2009Eastbourne Speakers Club Meeting
Ubiquitous was the word of the day meaning existing or being everywhere at the same time and how appropriate that word was for the evening of fun and information that we enjoyed.
The evening started in true toastmaster style with Gordon Piggott opening the evening welcoming the guests and fellow members.
He handed over to Sue Pellow who had taken on the role of Toastmaster for the first time. Sue had done her homework and was well prepared and throughout the evening we received helpful and interesting information about the role of the Toastmaster and what to expect next as we moved through the agenda in great order.
We started off with the warm up and the fantastic subject of “if you were an object what object would you be” which everyone joined in with aplomb, which means great coolness under strain, which can always be the stopping block when speaking in public.
There were two speeches during the evening, Meg Heyworth is doing an advanced manual on “Communicating on Television” which requires being able to speak as if to a television camera and being able to do short precise pieces of speech. The one she did this time was only for three minutes, which is often more difficult to do than a speech for ten minutes.
Gordon Piggott followed with a speech called “It’s a lie” which was all about the fact that often we make trite statements which don’t actually mean what they say. I for one will never listen to the ticket collector on a train saying “Tickets please” with the same feeling again.
Following the well presented evaluations of the speeches and after the break we had a great Topics section hosted by Linda Hardman. The evaluation on this section was delivered by Giles Robertson who did comment on the fact that as the Topics Master had not given a speech time, the timer had taken the initiative and set the time for three minutes instead of the usual two but only they had this knowledge proving that the timer always has the power at a Toastmasters meeting.
The evening finished with some really good feedback from Meg Heyworth as the General evaluator along with a short talk about the various aspects of achieving the Distinguish Toastmaster Award the highest award that a Toastmaster can achieve which she has just received.
18 September 2009Eastbourne Speakers Club
Wednesday 16th September 2009
By Toastmaster Linda Hardman
Langham Hotel, Eastbourne
Toastmasters Present:
Gordon Piggott CC [Area Governor], Dec Cluskey ACS, CL [President], Meg Heyworth ACS, ALS [Founder], Linda Hardman CC, Louisa Anderson, Sue Pellow CC, Giles Robinson ATMB, Nicky Easton
Guests:
Robin and Nicky Moray, Julian Singer, David Quick.
This was a meeting with a difference. Not only was it held at the Langham Hotel but is was also a competition evening with Gordon Piggott as Toastmaster. And a great job he did.
The aim of the evening was to enable members to experience the formal structure of a competition whilst within the supportive environment of our local club. There were eight members present and we were delighted that there were four visitors.
Meg [Heyworth] led the warm up. 15 secs. each to speak about the kind of weather that we dislike most.
There were two members in the Humorous Speaking competition, Dec [Cluskey] and Meg. As Dec is unable to attend the area competition on Saturday 19 Sept. Meg was guaranteed a place.
Meg spoke about her childhood experiences of being hurtled along in the ancient family car by her less than attentive mother whilst her siblings did their best to fall out.
Dec's speech highlighted the fact that 'The Big Bad Wolf' has been misunderstood all these years and he really is a domesticated friendly neighbour with only the occasional lapses into wolfy ways.
The Table Topics contest also had two participants Meg and Sue [Pellow].
They spoke for two minutes each on the topic 'Is youth wasted on the young?' Meg will go on the represent the club in the area competition.
All members were encouraged to score the speakers as this is good experience and helps to develop evaluation skills.
After the competitions we were able to relax into our normal format for the Table Topics session. Sue posed the question 'What does the end of summer mean to you?' Louise [Anderson], Linda [Hardman] and David Quick, a visitor, took part. Great fun!
Giles Robinson, in his own, inimitable style, presented the Winning Certificates and the Dec Cluskey Annual Tall Tales Trophy.
Results:
Humorous Speaking Competition [for the Dec cluskey Annual Tall Tales Trophy]
1) Dec Cluskey 2) Meg Heyworth
Table topics:
1) Meg Heyworth 2) Sue Pellow
The general opinion of the members was that the Langham Hotel would be a good place to have our club meetings at some time in the future and Dec, our President, will make enquiries to see if this is possible.
As usual it was an enjoyable and informative meeting. The atmosphere in the bar after was full of fun, banter and laughter.
Linda Hardman CC
Next meeting: Bibendum [opposite Town Hall in Eastbourne] Wednesday 7th Oct
3 September 2009Eastbourne Speakers Club
After the summer break, Eastbourne Speaker’s Club resumed on Wednesday 2 September and took great delight in welcoming 7 guests for the evening. Sue Pellow brought the meeting to order and Gordon Piggott was Toastmaster for the evening.
Meg Hayworth hosted the first education spot and discussed the various manuals members can work through to develop both their speaking and leadership skills. This can ultimately lead to Distinguished Toast Master status. Another education spot followed from Gordon Piggott – 10 top tips for terrific table topics. Gordon’s tips included drawing from your own experience and knowing when to stop.
A very entertaining speech from Meg Hayworth – practice for the Contest Evening on 16 September. Make sure you come along to see Meg in action!
Finally the Topics session was hosted by Gordon Piggott. Members and brave guests had to speak for up to 2½ minutes on “How planning in Eastbourne can be improved”. This generated a wide range of ideas from having a concert hall to improving lighting in the town.
The next meeting is slightly different - a Contest Evening at the Langham Hotel in Eastbourne. Guests are very welcome (no charge). Normally, the Club meets on the first and third Wednesdays of the month at The Bibendum, 1 Grange Road, Eastbourne, BN21 4EU from 7.15 to 9.30pm. Guests are very welcome without obligation.
Eastbourne Speakers is branch of Toastmasters International and has the aim to improve communication and listening skills amongst its members. A regular club night allows members to practice their public speaking skills and receive feedback. The ability to speak confidently and competently in public is helpful is all aspects of life even if the individual is never called upon to speak publicly. A structured program enables the novice to become a competent speaker and the more experienced presenter to become better.
For further information about Eastbourne Speakers Club please see: www.eastbournespeakers.org.uk
Or call Gordon Piggott 01323 502 436 or Giles Robinson 01424 773 972.
2 July 200910-minute business presentation
I was recently asked the question: I have to give a 10-minute business presentation soon – what tips can you give me to make it as effective as possible?
My Answer was:
It is impossible to provide you with the exposure, practice and evaluation you would receive at Toastmasters over a period of time, but I can offer some tips to follow that will provide for the maximum effectiveness.
The objective is that your presentation is to be remembered for the right reason!
The message:
Be very clear about the message you wish to put over. Imagine you are in a deep sleep and woken suddenly with the question – ‘what’s your message’. Your message should be so strong in your head you would be able to deliver it immediately – without hesitation.
Timing and Speed.
Toastmasters we are very particular about sticking to time. In a presentation we are likely (should) speak at around 120 words a minute.
Therefore a 10-minute presentation should have no more than 1200 words. Write it out and do a word count – that will get you on the right lines regarding the right amount of material. However be aware we think at the rate of around 600 words a minute. That's five times faster than we think!
Speed of delivery – nervous speakers speak too fast. In almost every case - Slow down.
Whether you use notes or not speak clearly and slowly. Sounds obvious – but if you mumble or speak too fast no one will hear
Structure
Follow this – it works every time
- Tell 'em what you are going to tell ‘em
- Then you tell ‘em
- Then you tell ’em what you’ve told them
And finally – finally
Memorise the ending
When you get to the end – end with something like … “and in conclusion I will summarise the main points and I look forward to discussing with each of you just how I can assist in making your business lives that much easier .. pause ... and with that I hand you back to your Chairman”.
This provides a natural closure and everyone knows where they are – at the end!
And if you do that I bet you will be one of the best 10 minutes they will have heard in a long while
12 May 2009The sixties Hitsters The Bachelors
Dec from The sixties Hitsters The Bachelors leads the way in Public Speaking
Who is terrified of Speaking in Public?
Be inspired!
The Speakers Club in Eastbourne is taking a leaf out of “The Speakers” on BBC Two on Tuesday nights and getting together regularly to practice the art of speaking in public., in order to wow their audiences.
Dec Cluskey [his band ‘The Bachelors’ had huge Sixties Hits and TWO gold records in 2008] was a founding member of the Eastbourne Club, and entertains the crowds wherever he goes and uses his knowledge to help the new members improve their confidence and therefore their skills. His message is simple. “Every one of us is unique. Every one of us has a story worth telling! How we handle situations life throws at us fascinates others. Our story can help them deal with their own challenges.”
Dec has just become the president of the Eastbourne Club and he describes his passion for communication as:” the way to transform people’s view of communication in order to build a more sustainable world, and to help people with their personal development.” First-time guests are welcome to attend the meeting just to listen in, look on and learn public speaking techniques. It’s free to attend and the joining fee is small £20.00 at the moment. The evenings run from 7pm-10pm.
To book or find out more, call Meg Heyworth on 01323 872487.
‘The speaker’ series on BBC2 TV is proving to be a huge hit. Featuring 14 to 18-year-olds, it shows tough-talking teens, class jokers and shy, sensitive types go head to head as they learn to talk publicly and passionately about subjects given them.
The format will be similar to that of other TV talent shows. Visiting every corner of the country, the programme airs twice a week for 4 weeks to produce the ‘winning young tongue’. Executive Producer, Kieron Collins, describes it as "a fresh, 21st century take on the traditional public speaking competition. Britain's youth often gets a raw deal in the media. This show redresses the balance.”
Dec says: “Eastbourne Speakers is helping the members from all walks of life and with the widespread impact of the economy we all need to boost our confidence and keep our communication and leadership skills in trim.”
11 May 2009The Cotswold Conference – why go? and what I found
To belong to a speaking club that is a part of International Toastmasters implies that you value the benefits that flow from improving your public speaking skills.
To attend club meetings you experience first hand the opportunity to practice public speaking and receive quality evaluation in a friendly, safe and supportive environment.
To attend the national Toastmaster conference provides that and much more, providing the opportunity to listen and learn from some of the best in the country.
The conference sets out to undertake three functions.
- Deal with a number of formal procedures about the running of the organisation such as the election of officers
- Provide education – there are several very high quality educational sessions
- To hold the finals of the speaking and evaluation competitions that have been running at club, area and divisional levels up and down the Country
And results are important, not least to those who achieve them. Congratulations in particular are due for Gareth McHale, who won the District 71 (District 71 is the whole of UK and Eire)International Speech Contest with his thought-provoking and very entertaining speech entitled ‘A Good Point’, while Simon Bucknall took first place in the Speech Evaluation Contest.
Bob Ferguson took second place in the International Speech Contest, with his speech ‘I’ll Tell You What I Want, What I Really, Really Want’ while Colm McGlade came third with ‘A Reason To Live’.
Second and third respectively in the Speech Evaluation Contest were Lindy Irving and Sue Coppens-Browne. A number of video files from the weekend can be found at:
CLICK HERE AND ANOTHER CLICK HERE
There were three educational sessions: Humerous speeches, Dealing with Table Topics and Public Relations (more properly renamed “How to get £100,000 of advertising for free”) Each of which is worth a complete article. Each one expertly presented.
So the answer to the two questions I started with: Why go? and what I found: If you enjoy and value what goes on at a Toastmasters meeting - then this is more of the same at exceeding high levels, and what did I find - I found it very educational and in the process - very enjoyable.
Gordon Piggott
7 May 2009The group met on Wednesday 6 May 2009
The first part of the evening saw four prepared speeches. Two members of the Group used the opportunity to practice speeches they would be making at work very shortly, while Dec Cluskey gave a moving tribute to a colleague. Clare van Zyl concluded with a very lively talk on her experience of an ostrich farm in South Africa. The regular education session was presented by Gordon Piggott on how best to conclude your speech.
A new committee was announced for the forthcoming year. Dec Cluskey will be taking over from Gordon Piggott as Club President. Further information regarding Club Officers can be found on the website (see address below).
Eastbourne Speakers is branch of Toastmasters International and aims to improve communication and listening skills amongst its members. A regular club night allows members to practice their public speaking skills and receive feedback.
The ability to speak confidently and competently in public is helpful is all aspects of life even if the individual is never called upon to speak publicly. A structured program enables the novice to become a competent speaker and the more experienced presenter to become better.
The club meets on the first and third Wednesdays of the month at The Bibendum, 1 Grange Road, Eastbourne, BN21 4EU from 7.15 to 9.30pm. Guests are very welcome without obligation. If you would like to know more about the club please see www.eastbournespeakers.org.uk or call Gordon Piggott 01323 502 436.
23 April 2009Exuberant in Tortola
Gordon Piggott President Eastbourne Speakers Club visits the British Virgin Islands (BVI)
In a visit that combined holiday and a visit to my daughter and her intended I found myself in Road Town, Tortola – British Virgin Islands (BVI) – a group of small and beautiful islands in the Caribbean.
A UK protectorate combined with a favourable tax regime provide the perfect climate for a substantial financial services industry that sits alongside tourism and sailing – the other two BVI industries.
There is a Toastmaster Club in Tortola and a meeting was held while I was there, so I just had to visit the club. Rich, my prospective son-in-law came too, so I might have recruited another TM! The meeting was a “special” as they welcomed and hosted a demonstration meeting for a new pre-charter club based on Virgin Gorda, a nearby island.
The meeting followed an agenda all Toastmasters will be familiar with. Even though the agenda was familiar I always find something new to take away, and this was no exception.
Word of the day was “Exuberant”. Exuberant is something they do well in the Caribbean - better than the Brits! A word that just about everyone was able to weave into their presentation. Exuberant just sums up the general attitude you find in this part pf the world, it goes so comfortably with their automatic response to any question “No problem”.
There was an Ice Breaker speech and the speaker beautifully demonstrated a new twist. The speaker introduced herself and told us about parts of her life, entirely in the third person. As her speech came to the conclusion she told us the person she had been referring to was her, and seamlessly moved into the first person. A simple and very effective technique I have not seen used before, it was the perfect ending.
The grammarian was very strict on correct words usage and pronunciation – very strict indeed. Much stricter than anything I have ever seen before, she was right of course, but it came as a little surprise the extent to which she fed back correct word usage. Another session I have not experienced before is where all present are invited to complete a paper test. A list of questions, each one has a word missing with four possible options to select from to fill in the missing word, only one of which was absolutely correct. Sounds easy – but some were very demanding. Would you know the exact usage of the word “didactic”?
Tortola Toastmaser meeting reminded me of a primary Toastmaster goal - which is to provide a safe place to practice. They did that well. They gave me some good ideas to weave into our meetings thousands of miles away and they gave me a very humourous speech to copy – but that's a secret that will remain so until it's delivered.
Thank you Tortola for your warm welcome and a memorable meeting, it was great to spend time with you.
17 April 2009Talent shows on TV fascinate
BBC2TV’s, "The Speaker" forges new frontiers in its quest for Britain’s best young speaker. What’s different? There are no celebrity performers, no phone-in votes and the judges aren’t there to steal the limelight!
Twice weekly broadcasts since 7th April, have been tracking the fortunes of 14-18 year olds on a journey from timid to triumphant - as they step up to public speaking. From thousands of entrants at regional auditions, the numbers were sliced down to 160, to 20 and then to 8 finalists, with the winner declared on 28th April.
The professional input of judges and mentors impresses. Judges bring different perspectives. Jo Brand harnesses humour, as a long-established stand-up comedienne. Jeremy Stockwell brings acting and directing from the theatre. John Amaechi champions youth and motivational speaking to highlight passion.
Joining them are guest mentors: Dragons Den’s Deborah Meaden – on ‘conviction’; (Lord) Charles Spencer – on ‘information giving’; broadcaster, Kate Silverton – on ‘storytelling’ and Alastair Campbell – on ‘persuasion’.
The finalists who hail from Bristol (2), Glasgow, Leeds, London (3) and Sunderland have competed against nerves, time limits, speech topics at nil notice and each other. They’ve performed in front of TV studio audiences, empty auditoria and at windswept ‘Speakers Corner’. Along the way, they’ve discovered the tricks of unleashing their inner talent and silencing their ‘inner critic’.
The series proves we should ditch the negative stereotyping of young people; applaud their ability to speak up convincingly and celebrate their positive values. The same track is open to us, whatever our age. Ordinary people who learn the art of public speaking can achieve extraordinary goals.
As a speaker coach and mentor, my top three tips are these. 1 Research, 2 Rehearse. 3 Remember - your audience is on your side. They have a vested interest in you succeeding
‘The Speaker’ web site, www.bbc.co.uk/thespeaker has many learning sources to tap. if you missed the programme, or want to view again, log on to BBC iplayer.
Gordon Piggott is President of Eastbourne Speakers Club (a member of International Toastmasters, the world-wide Public Speaking organisation). If you want to ‘float your boat’ in public speaking, visit http://eastbournespeakers.org.uk/
13 April 2009The Speaker in our town
You have probably seen “The Speaker”. A new programme on BBC2 aims to find Britain’s Best Young Speaker for 2009. The programme is inspired by Jack Petchey’s “Speak Out” challenge, which gives young people an opportunity to be trained in how to express themselves clearly and without fear.
What you might not know is that Sean Kennedy, a committed Toastmaster, has been a consultant to the program from the outset. Toastmasters International has 11,700 clubs in 92 countries. Over 200 of those clubs are in this country, and one of them is Eastbourne Speakers Club.
Improving presentation skills is not just for the under 18s. In the current economic climate it has probably never been more important for all of us to be able to communicate clearly and effectively, whether children or adults. We may be looking for a new job, trying to keep our present job, or having to make presentations to sell our products, or perhaps personally (e.g. the Best Man’s speech).
A survey put speaking in public as most people’s number one fear. It doesn’t have to be that way.
At Eastbourne Speakers Club a regular club night allows members to practice their public speaking skills in a supportive environment and to receive feedback on those from other members. A structured programme enables the novice to become a competent speaker, and the more experienced presenter to become better.
In the course of an evening one member will take on the role of Chairperson whilst others will deliver prepared speeches intended to achieve a particular purpose, such as improving body language, vocal variety or use of humour. A more experienced member then gives constructive feedback to the speaker. This is crucial, as it is the sort of feedback that a speaker never normally obtains in the “real world”. After a short break there will be an opportunity for impromptu speaking (up to two minutes to speak on a topic without prior notice) which is also evaluated.
Gordon Piggott, the President, said “Following the Toastmasters programme is a huge way to boost one’s confidence. It is fun and it is friendly.” Gordon assures us that guests will be welcome at no charge. Although nobody will be forced to do so, there will be an opportunity to take part for those who want to plunge in.
The club meets on the first and third Wednesdays of the month The Bibendum, 1 Grange Road, Eastbourne, BN21 4EU from 7.15 to 9.30pm. Guests are very welcome without obligation. If you would like to know more about the club please see www.eastbournespeakers.org.uk or call Giles Robinson 01424 773 972 or Gordon Piggott 01323 502 436.
2 April 2009Eastbourne Hosts Area Speaking Contest
Eastbourne Speakers Club hosted a lively Toastmaster’s Spring Speaking and Evaluation Competition for the Sussex and Hampshire Area on 28th March 2009. This showcases the best speaking and evaluation talent within the clubs in the area and helps the participants to practice their skills in unfamiliar surroundings and before an unfamiliar audience.
The Club President, Gordon Piggott, who excels at planning such events, put a lot of effort into making the occasion the success that it was. The Area comprises the Eastbourne, Battle, Solent, Arun, Brighton and Hove, and Wessex Speakers Clubs. Each of the six clubs put forward competitors in both competitions.
The speech competition required the competitors to speak for five to seven minutes, demonstrating all the hallmarks of a good speech, which included good speech construction, vocal variety, eye contact, body language etc. The speeches were judged by more experienced Toastmasters from each club.
In the evaluation competition the competitors heard a speech delivered by another Toastmaster and were then allowed five minutes to make notes on that. After that, they had to deliver their feedback on that particular speech.
The winners of the area competition go on to compete at division level, and the winners of the division contests go on to compete at district level (the whole of the UK and Ireland). The contest winner for the District 71 International Speech Contest will then go on to the USA to compete in both the regional and, if that is won, the world competition. The area champions this year were Gavin Meikle from Solent Speakers (speech competition) and Lesley Wells from Arun Speakers (evaluation competition).
As far as ordinary club meetings are concerned, Eastbourne Speakers is a branch of Toastmasters International and has the aim to improve communication and listening skills amongst its members. A regular club night allows members to practice their public speaking skills and receive feedback. The ability to speak confidently and competently in public is helpful is all aspects of life even if the individual is never called upon to speak publicly. A structured program enables the novice to become a competent speaker and the more experienced presenter to become better.
The club meets on the first and third Wednesdays of the month at The Bibendum, 1 Grange Road, Eastbourne, BN21 4EU from 7.15 to 9.30pm. Guests are very welcome without obligation. If you would like to know more about the club please see www.eastbournespeakers.org.uk Or call Giles Robinson 01424 773 972 or Gordon Piggott 01323 502 436
1 April 2009Chichester High School for Boys
Eastbourne Speakers were host to the lively Toastmasters Spring Speaking contests for Sussex and Hampshire held on Saturday afternoon 28th March 2009 at Chichester High School for Boys.
There are two contests each year, in the Spring and Autumn, and this contest decided the Area champions - Gavin Meikle from Solent Speakers and Lesley Wells from Arun Speakers - who will now go forward to the Division contest to be held in Dorking on 25th April.
The winners of the Division contest go on to compete at District level (that is the whole of UK and Eire – District 71) in Cirencester on May 10th. The contest winner for District 71 International Speech contest goes to the USA to compete in the regional and world Toastmasters International championships.
Speakers from Battle, Brighton, Eastbourne, Arun, Solent, and Wessex clubs competed. The standard was extremely high, as might be expected, in both the International Speech and the Evaluation competition.
Eastbourne Speakers club were host and principle organisers, although the manning was drawn from clubs across the area and further afield. It is a hallmark of Toastmasters that so many Toastmasters came along for what was a brilliant afternoon.
A big thank you to all those who competed, all those who helped and our very enthusiastic audience!
Guests are always welcome (and usually at no charge) at Contests and it is a first class way to experience the sheer quality of Toastmaster speaking and evaluation. There are contact details elsewhere on this site: Contact anyone listed here and they will be pleased to keep you informed of future contests. There are two a year. Spring and Autumn.
25 March 2009Happy birthday
A rousing chorus of “Happy birthday” was the unusual, but very appropriate, start to the meeting on 18th March. Meg Heyworth, the founder of the club, and former president, was celebrating a significant birthday and was joined by past, present and, it is hoped, future members.
The first part of the evening saw three prepared speeches. This included one advising the audience on how to make a speech worth hearing and the other on effective evaluation. The topics (impromptu speaking) session was led by Peter Matthews. The topics he asked people to speak on revolved around the theme of birthdays and anniversaries.
Despite the packed programme the meeting retired to the bar early where some excellent refreshment had been laid on to continue the celebrations.
Eastbourne Speakers is branch of Toastmasters International and has the aim to improve communication and listening skills amongst its members. A regular club night allows members to practice their public speaking skills and receive feedback. The ability to speak confidently and competently in public is helpful is all aspects of life even if the individual is never called upon to speak publicly. A structured program enables the novice to become a competent speaker and the more experienced presenter to become better.
The club meets on the first and third Wednesdays of the month at The Bibendum, 1 Grange Road, Eastbourne, BN21 4EU from 7.15 to 9.30pm. Guests are very welcome without obligation.
If you would like to know more about the club please see www.eastbournespeakers.org.uk
Or call Giles Robinson 01424 773 972 or Gordon Piggott 01323 502 436.
19 March 2009Speaking to win
Be inspired! Chichester’s Kingsham Campus is the venue and 28th March is the date. Speakers from Hampshire and Sussex’s six ‘public speaking practice' clubs, will be wowing their audience with motivational speeches. Local club, Eastbourne Speakers, is represented by Seaford resident Meg Heyworth, who founded the Eastbourne Club in 2004. Her message is simple. “Every one of us is unique. Every one of us has a story worth telling! How we handle situations life throws at us fascinates others. Our story can help them deal with their own challenges.”
Meg works from home in Seaford enabling people to actually enjoy speaking in public; she describes her passion for communication as:” the way to transform people’s view of communication in order to build a more sustainable world, and to help people with their personal development.”
First-time guests are welcome to attend the contest to listen in, look on and learn public speaking techniques. It’s free, including refreshments. The afternoon runs from 2pm-4pm. Speakers will be on hand to answer questions.
To book, call Meg Heyworth on 01323 872487
Public speaking contests will feature nationally in ‘The Speaker’, a BBC2TV programme series starting Tuesday 7th April. Featuring 14 to 18-year-olds, it will show tough-talking teens, class jokers and shy, sensitive types go head to head as they learn to talk publicly and passionately about the things that matter to them.
The format will be similar to that of other TV talent shows. Visiting every corner of the country, the programme airs twice a week for 4 weeks to produce the ‘winning young tongue’. Executive Producer, Kieron Collins, describes it as "a fresh, 21st century take on the traditional public speaking competition. Britain's youth often gets a raw deal in the media. This show redresses the balance.”
Meg says: “Eastbourne Speakers has helped scores of people from all walks of life over five years. With the widespread impact of the economy we all need to boost our confidence and keep our communication and leadership skills in trim.” To find out more contact Meg
9 March 2009Dec Cluskey took on the role of Toastmaster
Dec Cluskey took on the role of Toastmaster (chairman) for a very special evening on 4th March. It was the night of the club’s speech and evaluation contests. The winner of the club competition goes on to compete amongst other clubs in the area and, if he or she wins there will go on to compete at various other stages which could, ultimately, result in competing in the United States of America.
The speech competition was won by Meg Heyworth with a very personal speech about how to overcome life’s challenges. She also took first place in the evaluation competition, and so will go on to represent the club in both events.
Eastbourne Speakers is branch of Toastmasters International and has the aim to improve communication and listening skills amongst its members. A regular club night allows members to practice their public speaking skills and receive feedback. The ability to speak confidently and competently in public is helpful is all aspects of life even if the individual is never called upon to speak publicly. A structured program enables the novice to become a competent speaker and the more experienced presenter to become better.
The club meets on the first and third Wednesdays of the month at The Bibendum, 1 Grange Road, Eastbourne, BN21 4EU from 7.15 to 9.30pm. Guests are very welcome without obligation. If you would like to know more about the club please visit: www.eastbournespeakers.org.uk Or call Giles Robinson 01424 773 972 or Gordon Piggott 01323 502 436
24 February 2009BBC Twos The Speaker
Jo Brand swaps the stage for the judge's chair as she goes in search of Britain's best young speaker for BBC Two's The Speaker
Alongside fellow judges, performance expert and RADA tutor Jeremy Stockwell and motivational speaker John Amaechi, Jo travels to every corner of the UK to find the country's most talented young speakers in the BBC's new, primetime entertainment series.
Read the full BBC press release here
23 February 20097th of March in Guildford
I’m pleased to announce another Division-wide event for Division H.
We are having an Evaluation Special on the afternoon of the 7th of March in Guildford (Click here for details).
Hilary Briggs, our current District Champion, will be conducting the training/workshop, and I can assure you that she is well worth listening to, and has a lot of helpful advice.
This will be particularly useful for those people who are thinking of entering the up and coming evaluation contests.
17 February 2009EVALUATION meeting planned 7th of March in Guildford
There will be an Evaluation Special on the afternoon of the 7th of March in Guildford (Click here for details).
Hilary Briggs, our current District Champion, will be conducting the training/workshop, and I can assure you that she is well worth listening to, and has a lot of helpful advice.
This will be particularly useful for those people who are thinking of entering the up and coming evaluation contests.
15 February 2009How to Make a Speech Worth Hearing presented by Phillip Khan-Panni
Is it the subject matter...or is it the eloquence of the speaker?
Check your diary now:
Wednesday 25th February 2009
The Thistle Westminster Hotel 6:30 for 7pm:
http://www.thelondonspeaker.com/weblog/2009/02/div-b-masterclass-how-to-make-a-speech-worth-hearing-presented-by-phillip-khan-panni.html
Read all about it - this promises to be a great event.
Also encourage your members to bring a guest along too. I would love to see not only our wonderful members but new people coming to a TM event for the first time. It is a great ‘no pressure’ way of people getting their first exposure to Toasties.
As a teaser, one thing that Phillip is planning is looking at an Obama speech or two and evaluating them – how and why do they work? I am sure this will be of interest to lots of people.
This can be a great showcase event for Toastmasters which can only lead to more people wanting to find out about our clubs. And at £5 (to cover Div B’s costs), it is a steal to see someone who would normally charge thousands in the commercial market.
The London Speaker http://www.thelondonspeaker.com/
is THE online magazine for Toastmasters in London.
11 February 2009BBC The Speaker
This series will now be showing in early April. The BBC are also doing a documentary on Barack Obama and Public Speaking and want to run both together so there should be lots of interest in Public Speaking - April onwards.
See item below: 1 February 2009 The Speaker: BBC Television: February and March 2009 - for more information on this series
10 February 2009Eastbourne Speakers Club
Gordon Piggott, the Club President, took on the role of Toastmaster (chairman) for the meeting on 4th February. He introduced Dec Cluskey, who delivered an educational speech on the art of impromptu speaking, which was very helpful for those who took part in the topics session later on.
Sue Pellow achieved her competent communicator accreditation by completing her 10th speech from the Competent Communicator Manual. She can now move on to the advanced series. Meg Heyworth, who is already on the advanced manuals, delivered a very personal speech with a pertinent message for all of us – never refuse a challenge.
As usual, both speeches were evaluated by others members of the club, giving Sue and Meg constructive feedback so that they can each try to improve their speaking skills further. The lively topics session (impromptu speaking practice) required the participants to pull an object from a bag and then talk about it for up to two minutes no mean feat given the quirky nature of some of the objects!
Eastbourne Speakers is branch of Toastmasters International and has the aim to improve communication and listening skills amongst its members. A regular club night allows members to practice their public speaking skills and receive feedback. The ability to speak confidently and competently in public is helpful is all aspects of life even if the individual is never called upon to speak publicly. A structured program enables the novice to become a competent speaker and the more experienced presenter to become better.
The club meets on the first and third Wednesdays of the month at The Bibendum, 1 Grange Road, Eastbourne, BN21 4EU from 7.15 to 9.30pm. Due to another booking at The Bibendum the next meeting will, in fact, be on 4th March. Guests are very welcome without obligation.
If you would like to know more about the club please see www.eastbournespeakers.org.uk Or call Giles Robinson 01424 773 972 or Gordon Piggott 01323 502 436.
1 February 2009The Speaker: BBC Television:
February and March 2009
http://www.bbc.co.uk/speaker/
The new 'reality television' series aimed at finding the best young speaker in Britain.
If you haven't already heard about The Speaker, which BBC Television plans to broadcast weekly in prime time on BBC2 in February and March, you soon will! This exciting new programme, inspired by The Speakers Trust, will highlight the importance of strong speaking skills in the modern age.
Toastmasters International has been closely involved as a consultant to the programme since the concept began to evolve back in early 2008.
Sean Kennedy, the programme director for Jack Petchey's "Speak out" Challenge, the world's biggest youth speaking event, is with The Speakers Trust, a charity founded and led by past leaders of speakers clubs to: develop resources and promote the benefits of public speaking for all; provide training for the less fortunate who cannot yet speak up for themselves; support the growth and expansion of the networks of British and Irish clubs. David Thompson, who was our District 71 Governor from 2004-5, is a trustee of The Speakers Trust, (along with trustees from the Association of Speakers Clubs and other networks of speakers clubs).
http://www.speakerstrust.org.uk/
They are in excellent and distinguished company. Digby, Lord Jones of Birmingham, the former head of the Confederation of British Industry and the new President of The Speakers Trust, spearheads the Trust's campaigns to encourage commercial, social and governmental organisations to support it with grants, publicity and other resources.
The Speaker, produced by the team behind the very successful Dragons' Den programme, is a series of regional contests culminating in a national final on TV to find the best teenage speakers in the United Kingdom. They were coached and filmed in the late summer and autumn for the programme which was inspired and advised by Sean Kennedy, who, in addition to his Toastmasters International credentials, is now a Director of SpeakersBank (the training arm of The Speakers Trust) which runs The "Speak Out" Challenge courses for charities and schools.
The 2008 Speak Out Challenge provided the underlying basis for the television programme. To give some idea of the scale of Speak Out, now entering its fourth year, it is estimated that over 19,000 students from the 32 boroughs in London and the 14 districts in Essex will participate in the 2009 Challenge. There will be 500 workshop finals, 350+ Assembly Finals, 37 Regional Finals, all culminating in one Grand Final. The organisers estimate that more than 100,000 people will attend the various finals of what is thought to be the world's biggest youth speaking event of its kind.
The project ties in with other curriculum subjects such as GCSE English, SEAL, Enterprise, Business Studies and Citizenship. The students have the opportuntiy to talk openly and honestly on any subject they feel strongly about. The project will be funded by the Jack Petchey Foundation up to £550,000. Every student will receive up to six hours of training in the skills of public speaking and effective communication from professional trainers, making them prime candidates to be future members of Toastmasters International.
Although Toastmasters International has been involved only indirectly, it will almost certainly benefit directly, and significantly, if the programme catches on with the viewing public. If television can make archaeology, genealogy and box-opening compelling viewing, what might it do for speaking?
22 January 2009The Magic of 3
The second meeting of 2009 was held in the usual venue The Bibendum, in Eastbourne town centre, on 21 January. It was a thought provoking and entertaining evening.
Michaele WynnJones provided an insight to the way in which artistic children can be disadvantaged and left behind in our system because of the way the National Curriculum is structured. This could, therefore, have a disastrous effect on a substantial section of the future generation.
Gordon Piggott completed Speech 10 in the Competent Communicator manual encouraging the audience to use "The Magic of 3" more frequently. Dec Cluskey, working on the Interpretive Reading manual (an advanced manual), provided a fascinating and moving presentation entitled "Inch by inch".
Caroline Sherrard led the Table Topics (impromptu speaking) session. Caroline chose as her topic the Obama inauguration but with an individual twist for each speaker. The three guests all joined in and demonstrated very ably their existing skills in dealing with an impromptu subject. It’s not easy to stand up and speak for 2 minutes on a subject you are given with no notice and no preparation.
Eastbourne Speakers is branch of Toastmasters International and has the aim to improve communication and listening skills amongst its members. A regular club night allows members to practice their public speaking skills and receive feedback. The ability to speak confidently and competently in public is helpful is all aspects of life even if the individual is never called upon to speak publicly. A structured program enables the novice to become a competent speaker and the more experienced presenter to become better.
The club meets on the first and third Wednesdays of the month at The Bibendum, 1 Grange Road, Eastbourne, BN21 4EU from 7.15 to 9.30pm. Guests are very welcome without obligation. If you would like to know more about the club please see
http://eastbournespeakers.org.uk/
http://d71.org/
Or call Giles Robinson 01424 773 972 or Gordon Piggott 01323 502 436.
8 January 2009Impromptu Speaking
The first meeting of 2009 saw the club return to its original venue at The Bibendum, in the town centre. It was a thought provoking and entertaining evening with Sue Pellow delivering a persuasive speech on hearing dogs for the deaf, whilst Clair van Zyl, returning to the club after a number of months away, delivered a speech on our innermost fears, demonstrating her ability to research a topic and then make a presentation on the same. Dec Cluskey, working on the Interpretive Reading manual (an advanced manual), took on various characters in a play and moved seamlessly between his roles. An experienced speaker, Dec was also awarded his Competent Leader certificate by the Area Governor, Linda Hooper.
The topics (impromptu speaking) session was led by Caroline Sherrard who challenged the audience with various subjects based around the central theme of "snow".
A branch of Toastmasters International the club has the aim to improve communication and listening skills amongst its members. A regular club night allows members to practice their public speaking skills and receive feedback. The ability to speak confidently and competently in public is helpful is all aspects of life even if the individual is never called upon to speak publicly. A structured program enables the novice to become a competent speaker and the more experienced presenter to become better.
The club meets on the first and third Wednesdays of the month at The Bibendum, 1 Grange Road, Eastbourne, BN21 4EU from 7.15 to 9.30pm. Guests are welcome without obligation. If you would like to know more about the club please see http://d71.org/ or call Giles Robinson 01424 773972.
18 November 2008The same but different
On a business trip to Montreal I and a colleague called in on McGill Toastmasters. To the uninitiated McGill is one of Canada's leading Universities.
We were made so very welcome, and were able to participate in the meeting of around 35 attendees.
The meeting fundamentals were identical to our own, in that the meeting clearly centered on the development of the individual's confidence and competence in speaking in public. Just as we would have there were prepared speeches, table topics and proper helpful and supportive evaluation.
The opportunity for many to participate, the warmth of the welcome and the quality of both speeches and evaluations were impressive.
There were some differences, and there were three in particular which are different to the way meetings in the UK are run – nevertheless worth mentioning.
- The speeches were filmed providing the speaker the opportunity to review their performance later
- Thought for the day and Tip for the day. The day I visited was 11 November – and this is as important to the Canadians as a day of remembrance as it is to us. The Thought for the day was on a remembrance theme. I was asked to provide a minute or so on Tip for the day – and I selected “Practice makes Perfect – but ONLY if you have evaluation that enables you to practice perfect”. What I did not realise was that one of the prepared speeches was on exactly the same topic. Poor man had to rework a little of his opening! but his speech was excellent nevertheless.
- The entire meeting voted anonymously for the best speaker, evaluator and table topic – as a mini competition, and the winners awarded a winner’s ribbon.
Thank you McGill Toastmasters for a very enjoyable and memorable evening. I really enjoyed your company.
Gordon Piggott
23 June 2008Tall Tales at Eastbourne Speakers
Wednesday, 18th June heralded the inaugural Dec Cluskey Tall Tales Competition at Eastbourne Speakers Club.
The competition was fierce with members having an opportunity to practice their creative writing skills, as well as their oral presentation skills. The purpose was, as ever, to deliver a good presentation. In addition, however, competitors’ stories had to be “tall” containing elements of fantasy or the improbable, or downright nonsense. The Herald’s own Juliet Perry took the role of chief judge, with a casting vote. The competition was won by Giles Robinson, a partner specialising in Family Law with Gaby Hardwicke, with his speech entitled “A Trip to Barcelona”. Former club president, Meg Heyworth took second place.
Even on a night such as this, constructive feedback to the speakers was not forgotten, and a small evaluation competition was also run. This was won by Meg Heyworth with Dec Cluskey, himself, being the runner up.
Eastbourne Speakers Club is a branch of Toastmasters International, the aim of which is to improve communication and listening skills amongst its members. A regular club night allows members to practice their public speaking skills in a supportive environment and to receive feedback on those from other members. A structured programme enables the novice to become a competent speaker, and the more experienced presenter to become better. The competition is simply one facet of the Toastmasters International programme.
18 June 2008Giles Tells a Tall Tale
Battle resident, Giles Robinson, entered and won the Tall Tales Competition at Eastbourne Speakers Club on Wednesday 18th June, which was sponsored by Dec Cluskey.
With half a dozen members of the Club taking part, competition was fierce. The purpose was to deliver a good speech with the added twist that it should contain elements of the improbable, the absurd, or downright nonsense. This was not just a tall tale, but a tall order. Giles rose to the challenge and took first place with his speech entitled “A Trip to Barcelona”. Meg Heyworth, the immediate past club president, took second place. Giles, a partner specialising in Family Law in the local Solicitors practice, Gaby Hardwicke, says that the hardest part of the speech was to achieve a level of absurdity that would be amusing, but without being totally ridiculous. Fortunately, it seems that he managed to pull it off.
Eastbourne Speakers Club is a branch of Toastmasters International, the aim of which is to improve communication and listening skills amongst its members. A regular club night allows members to practice their public speaking skills in a supportive environment and to receive feedback on those from other members. A structured programme enables the novice to become a competent speaker, and the more experienced presenter to become better. The competition is simply one facet of the Toastmasters International programme.
22 April 2008Giles Competes
Local Starrs Mead resident, Giles Robinson, represented Eastbourne Speakers Club at the area level of the International Speech Competition which took place in Hampshire on Saturday, 19th April.
Giles had already won the club round and was moving on to the next stage of the competition which could, if he succeeded in moving through all the qualifying stages, ultimately lead to taking part in the World Championships of Public Speaking in Calgary, Canada.
Giles’ speech, entitled “The Great Adventure”, encouraged members of the audience to tackle anything that faced them positively.
No stranger to success, Giles has previously represented the UK and Ireland in America in the International Speech Contest. On this occasion, however, he was pipped at the post and took a creditable second place.
Giles, a Partner in the local solicitors’ practice Gaby Hardwicke, says that joining Toastmasters International is one of the best things he has done. One of the reasons why he originally chose to be a solicitor, rather than a barrister, was because he was not sure about making public presentations. Nowadays, however, he spends some of his time traveling the length and breadth of the country lecturing to other solicitors on the most recent changes in his specialist field – Family Law.
Eastbourne Speakers Club is a branch of Toastmasters International, the aim of which is to improve communication and listening skills amongst its members. A regular club night allows members to practice their public speaking skills in a supportive environment and to receive feedback on those from other members. A structured programme enables the novice to become a competent speaker, and the more experienced presenter to become better. The competition is simply one facet of the Toastmasters International programme.
22 April 2008Eastbourne Speakers Success
Giles Robinson and Dec Cluskey represented Eastbourne Speakers Club at the Toastmasters International Area Speech and Evaluation competitions on Saturday, 19th April.
Each of them was competing for the opportunity to go on to the South East England finals and then at the following stages, which could ultimately have meant an opportunity to take part in the World Championships of public speaking in August in Calgary, Canada.
Giles Robinson, a Family Law specialist with local solicitors, Gaby Hardwicke, delivered a motivational speech entitled “The Great Adventure”. He encouraged those in his audience to approach everything that faced them in a positive fashion, grasping the adventure of life. Although Giles has previously represented the UK and Ireland in America, on this occasion he was pipped at the post by Barry Miles from Arun Club.
Dec Cluskey, one of The Bachelors, took part in the evaluation competition, where the quality of feedback given to speakers is tested. He and the other competitors were evaluating a speech entitled “Flawless” delivered by Lee Greenwood. He too achieved second place.
Meg Heyworth, Club President and Area Governor, was delighted, saying, “This is the first time that Eastbourne Speakers Club, a relatively new club, has entered the International Speech and Evaluation competitions. To achieve second place in both competitions on our first outing is an outstanding result. This shows the strength of our membership and development programme”.
Eastbourne Speakers Club is a branch of Toastmasters International, the aim of which is to improve communication and listening skills amongst its members. A regular club night allows members to practice their public speaking skills in a supportive environment and to receive feedback on those from other members. A structured programme enables the novice to become a competent speaker, and the more experienced presenter to become better. The competition is simply one facet of the Toastmasters International programme.
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