Welcome to Cottonwood Speakers - Bournemouth's Premier Public Speaking Club!
|
|
|
News Archive 2006 Click on any of the dates below to see the articles or click to return to the news archive home page
Present: Westrow Cooper, Steve Osborne, Dermot Saunders,
Keith Hart, David Smith, Russell Hart, Julie Pike, Hazel Montague,
Shirley Thompson, Barry Mitchell, Sally Bedborough, Julia Cooney,
Tony Tyers Present: Richard Mack, Westrow Cooper, David Mattocks,
Dawn Evans, Steve Osborne, David Singleton-Smith, Dermot Saunders,
Keith Hart, David Smith, Russell Hart, Julie Pike, Hazel Montague,
Shirley Thompson, David Hassall, Ian Plummer, Amy Pak Soma, Barry
Mitchell, Sally Bedborough, Peter McGeehan, Julia Cooney, Steve
Graham Our Sergeant at Arms for the evening, Richard Mack, opened the meeting promptly with a firm bang of the gavel. After familiarising us with the whereabouts of the exits and toilets, and reminded us to switch our mobiles to 'silent', Richard introduced our club president, David Mattocks. David welcomed our guests for the evening (see above) who included two members of the J P Morgan Chaseside Toastmasters club. David led the meeting in congratulating David Smith for winning the Division E Contest at Bolton and wishing him good luck in the D71 Contest Finals at Nenagh, Co Tipperary on this coming weekend. Above hearty applause a call from the floor "round of drinks" could be heard. David announced that the club had won another ribbon - the Smedley Award (the Toastmaster founder) for recruiting 5 new members during August and September. David then introduced our Toastmaster of the evening, Steve Graham. Steve introduced his theme for the evening "support" by reflecting upon the Champion in our midst who in a short time had journeyed from being timid when he joined Toastmasters to representing Division E at the D71 contest finals in Ireland next weekend and the support within Toastmasters that had helped that journey. Reflecting on recent firsts, such as the first lights in Regent Street, Westrow introduced his warm up topic for this evening - "the last time you did something for the first time" - asymmetric tuck while paragliding, a drink of coffee, nude swimming, got married, graduated from university were a few of the varied firsts. Back to Steve who introduced David Singleton-Smith our timekeeper
for the evening. David explained the timekeeper's role and reminded
us all that it is not polite to waffle. Steve introduced Steve O, the first speaker, whose speech was excellently entitled "shrink-wrapped oblivion". Steve left us in no doubt of the direction of his speech with "If planet earth was trashed where would we go?" The speech was full of interesting facts, such as, the size of a supermarket trolley was aimed at making us buy more and that 20% of groceries (the wrapping) goes straight in the bin…food for thought there. Up next was Dawn with a speech entitled "Trials, Tribulations and Awe Inspiring Beauty" about her Inca trail adventures in Peru contained - "bubbling brook", "feel bricks crushing lungs" and "sparkling green humming birds". We were transported to Peru during Dawn's speech. "A Colourful Life" was the title of the third speaker, Hazel's, speech. Setting the scene immediately, Hazel, told us her speech was about Prince Philip and the history of his family. The speech concluded with Philip meeting the Queen. The final speaker Julie gave a speech entitled "Brain Freeze" The speech started with an account of a meeting where Julie looked up to the audience and "they looked bored" and she just stopped speaking - her brain froze. The speech followed Julie's journey to overcome this and in a speech where her brain froze but Julie was able to ad lib without anyone noticing. What did Julie learn from this experience - "I can talk myself into a negative state", "I can talk myself into a positive state" and to "Prepare, prepare, prepare". "Thank goodness none of us suffers from this" was Steve's
comment before introducing David Singleton Smith to give the speakers
time before the vote for the Best Speaker. The speech evaluators were Dermot Saunders, Keith Hart, Russell Hart and Peter McGeehan. Dermot commented that Steve was "no shrinking violet" and the speech was - strongly research, contained vivid use of language, such as "planet earth", a good use of questions with pondering and pausing, strong punchy start and made the speech personal to the audience with the supermarket example. Keith commended Dawn on her strong opening, entertainment value, vivid use of language - "bubbling brook" and "sparkling green humming bird" - and her good body language. Keith gave Dawn some good recommendations for future speeches. Russell thought Hazel's speech was confident and well delivered with a very strong opening, great eye contact throughout, good use of audience participation and that she was very brave using open palms. Peter was so enthralled by Julie's speech that he forgot to note the pauses, as requested by Julie, in the speech. This was an outstanding speech and Peter did not feel qualified to evaluate it. Julie is a "speech artist". Steve thanked our evaluators and brought the first half of the
evening to a conclusion by announcing a short break. David Hassall evaluated the Table Topics speakers using his observations
on all the speakers to give advice rather than individually evaluating
each speaker. Speakers should stand still, use pauses as they are
a powerful tool, pose questions to the audience, not use TLA (three
letter acronyms), pose yourself a question as it stimulates you,
use eye contact as someone in the audience will nod at you and this
is positive feedback, no one else knows that you are panicking and
finally just keep talking, keep the flow. Barry Mitchell, our general evaluator for this evening gave the
following commendations: David Mattocks thanked Steve his role as Toastmaster - paused - "Julie Pike moment" - laughter from the floor. David Smith was presented with a certificate and pin for obtaining Competent Leader status and David Singleton Smith was presented with an icebreaker pin. David then asked our guests for their feedback on the evening. Their comments were very positive - "impressed with the atmosphere" "friendly, warm and professional", and we look forward to welcoming them again. David announced that Amy and Ian both joined the club today. The Awards went to: David Mattocks thanked everyone for their attendance at the meeting and announced that the next meeting would be at 7.30pm on Wednesday 22nd November, 2006. Present: Tony Tyers, David Mattocks, Dawn Evans, David
Hassall, Barry Mitchell, David Singleton-Smith, Richard Mack, Westrow
Cooper, Lesley Alkin, Our Sergeant at Arms for the evening, Tony Tyers, banged the gavel and politely announced the opening of the meeting. After familiarising us with the whereabouts of the exits and toilets, and reminding us to switch our mobiles to 'silent', Tony introduced our president, David Mattocks. David welcomed our guests for the evening (see above). He also welcomed Paul Hutchings, who, eight years ago, was the founder of the club. David M. wished David Smith well for Sunday 29th Oct, when he is to participate in the Division E Contest at Bolton. David then introduced our Toastmaster of the evening, Dawn Evans. With the help of props - a fetching turquoise umbrella and a bag of golden leaves, which were artfully strewn across the floor - we were introduced to Dawn's theme for the evening: 'autumn'. David Hassall led us in our warm-up. The challenging theme for us was 'one liners' - memorably, bodily functions featured strongly here! Dawn returned our focus to her theme of autumn with a poem, and then handed over to Barry Mitchell to explain the timekeeper's role. Steve Graham presented an educational slot. With the rolling out of a new website there was much to explain. Courtesy of the District we have access to invaluable information. We were encouraged to log onto www.D71.org.calendar/agenda . In the future we will be made aware of the next meeting by email and invited to respond to say if we are attending or not. Then from the list of attendees, VP Education, Steve Graham, will assign the various roles for the evening. Steve can flag up the need for volunteers and there will be an opportunity for us to respond if we wish. We will be responsible for our own speech booking; we can click on profile, book a speech and say at what point we will be ready. Steve invited us to sample the website and to feedback any problems or comments. The meeting moved to the formal speeches, each speech was preceded by the evaluator giving an outline of the objectives for that speech. Dawn introduced each speechmaker with some titbit of their favourite thing about autumn - this really helped to give the evening cohesion! The first speech was given by David Singleton Smith. This was David's icebreaker entitled: 'The Man Who Fell to Earth', and was an account of David's reluctant taking up of a free parachute jump. David described himself as a 'pathetic, quivering, shivering wreck - inside and out'. After much wailing, sobbing and crying for mummy, he jumped, then fell and actually enjoyed the experience. He has, however, never felt the need to repeat the experience. Richard Mack gave his speech #2 entitled: 'Sensual Pleasures and How to Deal with Rejection'. We were intrigued by this title… despite what we may have imagined the topic to be, Richard spoke about wine: its value - financial and otherwise. We were guided through an imaginative description of a scene in our favourite restaurant. With the cost of a bottle of wine typically being £15-£20, we were encouraged to return the wine we did not find it to our taste. Apparently, according to supermarkets, 10% of wine is spoiled due to corkage. We were given tips on how to determine the quality of the wine, and encouraged to reject it if it did not measure up. Richard concluded with this one-liner: 'better to have sent it back than not to have drunk at all'. Our third and final speech giver was Westrow Cooper, giving his #1 speech in the Speaking to Inform programme. The speech, entitled 'The Tingle Factor' outlined how good rhetoric can create a strong response - one that produced 'tingles'. In his opening, Westrow contrasted 'To be or not to be, that is the question…' with 'You know, I just can't really decide whether to commit suicide or not.' Westrow gave three clear points on how to make a speech effective, using Contrasts; Questions and Puzzles; and Lists - especially lists of three. He backed these points up with excellent examples, skilfully linking each point by flowing from one example to another. After Barry gave a slightly hesitant account of the times of our three speeches, we were asked to vote for the best speaker of the evening. The speeches were evaluated by Lesley Alkin, Sue Challis and David
Smith. Sue was relieved that Richard's theme was wine…and gave praise for the use of good body language and eye contact. She liked the clear message and the imaginative invitation for us to engage with the speech. The phrase 'the wine caresses the bottle..' scored high and the facts and information contained in the speech were helpful. Sue gave Richard some good recommendations for future speeches. David thought Westrow had done a superb job of achieving the objectives of his speech. He had a great, humorous opening and the speech conveyed information that was very suitable for his audience. David had been slightly confused about Westrow's three points and he gave some helpful advice on the use of the OHP: pointing to and reading from the OHP itself, and not from the screen above as this involves turning one's back on the audience. Dawn thanked our evaluators and brought the first half of the evening to a conclusion by announcing a short break. Tony drew us back to our second half neatly and politely. Dawn introduced Russell Hart as our Table Topics Master; Russell had been studying the newspapers and their headlines and had come up with some topical questions, including: Householders in Britain waste more energy than any other EU country; Why? Catherine Gale suggested it was due to our national laziness. At 67 yrs old, was Sir Robin Knox Johnson too old to sail in the around the world yacht race? No, said Paul Hutchings, he had, after all, had some experience. Most adults are afraid to confront teenage yobs. If you saw a group of teenage yobs vandalising a bus stop, what would you do? David Mattocks confessed to having a cowardly streak. The cost of residents' parking permits could be linked to gas guzzling potential of cars; what do you think? Keith Hart suggested we tax the 4x4s out of existence. Car sharing has been in existence for some years, why do we not share more often? Lesley Alkin agreed with Catherine that we are basically a lazy bunch. A Top Ten list of highest earning dead stars was topped by Curt Cobain; Who is your favourite dead star? Sally Bedborough said that George Harrison would get her vote. What is your opinion of Madonna adopting a baby from Malawi? Amy Pak Soma sidestepped this one artfully by giving us her reason for attending the meeting: to make friends. Barry gave an account of the times of the speakers, and then we took a vote for Best Table Topic Speaker. Russell invited Steve Osborne to evaluate the Table Topics speakers. Steve praised Catherine for her immediacy; Paul for his clear body language; David for a well managed instant speech; Keith for use of rhetorical questions; Lesley for involving the audience; Sally - 'good when you get on your feet'; and Amy, who, Steve was certain, would soon be making many new friends. Steve Graham, our general evaluator for this evening, had visited another Toastmaster group earlier in the day and, in comparison, the Cottonwood Speakers were streets ahead. Steve made the following recommendations to the meeting: · A checklist for those taking the role of Sergeant at Arms,
to include: chairs. Steve gave the following commendations: · Barry gave an excellent description of the timekeeper's
role. Steve pronounced it to have been a fantastic evening. Dawn brought us another poem on the autumn theme - this one about pumpkins - this led into a reminder that Halloween is next Tuesday and that we will be turning the clocks back this coming weekend. David thanked Dawn for her role as Toastmaster. He apologised to David Singleton Smith, who should have received his Toastmaster pin this evening, however, although the pins had been ordered, they had yet to arrive. David then asked our guests for their feedback on the evening. Their comments were very positive, and we look forward to welcoming them again. The Awards went to David Mattocks thanked everyone for their attendance at the meeting
and announced that the next meeting would be at 7.30pm on Wednesday
8th November, 2006. Present: David Mattocks, Barry Mitchell, Julie Pike, Catherine
Gale, Lexie Bebbington, Rachel Bailey-Towler, Lesley Alkin, David
Smith, Peter McGeehan, Steve Graham, Steve Osborne, Hazel Montague,
Russell Hart, Dawn Evans, Richard Mack, Dave Hassall, Keith Hart Steve Osborne, as the evening's Sergeant at Arms, banged the gavel authoritatively to give notice that the meeting was about to commence. Steve covered the various housekeeping points comprehensively and undertook the duties of his post in a most efficient manner. He concluded by introducing our President, David Mattocks. David welcomed everyone, including our two guests, Richard Gail and Tanguy Baulin. He led the meeting in congratulating David Smith, who had won the Area 22 Humorous Speech contest at Bristol the previous weekend and Julie Pike for her participation in the Table Topics competition at the same venue. David said that members would be welcome to attend the Division E Contest to support David Smith. This is to be held at the Bolton Arena in Horwich, Bolton on Sunday 29th October 2006. David presented his invocation for the evening, entitled … "Be Thankful" We should all be thankful, not only for the good things in life but also for the not-so-good. We can learn much from our misfortunes and mistakes. He concluded by introducing our Toastmaster of the Evening, Barry Mitchell. Barry set the evening off to a good start in his usual warm style. He extolled the virtues of alliteration and said he wanted the evening to be Exciting, Ecstatic and Excellent. He advised the meeting of an addition to the evening's agenda of Dawn Evans as the Grammarian and moved smoothly on to introduce Lexie Bebbington to lead our Warm up spot. Lexie gave us her usual lively performance and chose a good subject
to get our vocal chords loosened up for the evening. She asked:
"If we were a wax crayon, what colour would we choose to be
and why?" She said she would personally choose to be a rainbow
coloured crayon. Keith Hart, as Timekeeper for the evening, gave a clear description of the timing system and reiterated why it is important to keep to the prescribed times. Dawn Evans explained the role of Grammarian and told us that her chosen word for the evening was Phenomenal. Dawn told us she had just returned from a holiday visiting Peru, Miami and Scotland and has been inspired to choose this word because of the 'phenomenal' scenery she had passed through. Dawn indicated on the flipchart the right and the wrong way to spell her chosen word - e.g. Phenonineminal (!) The meeting proceeded to the speeches. There were four speeches. Richard Mack's speech (his Ice Breaker) was entitled "Life in the Fast Lane". His speech was very confident and clear and he described his career and the lessons he had learned over the years. He had three messages for us: "You can achieve anything"; "If you have got friends then cherish them"; "Some things are more important in life than a career". Rachel Bailey-Towler's speech (No. 2) was entitled "The Real Cause of Ageing". She began by inviting us to shut our eyes and imagine what we would look like in 30 years' time (not a pretty thought for your humble reporter particularly!). Rachel advised us that we should think positive thoughts if we wanted to live a long and healthy life. It was really a case of emphasising the positive and eliminating the negative. Rachel reminded us of Socrates homily "There is no illness of the body except of the mind". The third speech was given by Russell Hart (his 5th), entitled "The Gloves Saved the Goal". Russell involved and amused us all by a description of a football game in which one of his sons was a team player. Russell manages the team (Blandford Youth) and he told us about a memorable event where the goalkeeper (a gangling young lad), caused his team to be awarded a penalty. When the penalty shot was given the youth stood frozen to the ground but with his large pair of gloves almost covering the upper half of his body - and the ball just fell into his gloves. His verbal portraits of the goalkeeper and energetic body language made this an entertaining speech. The final speech was given by Peter McGeehan, his 9th. Peter's speech was entitled "Beyond the Mountain". He
gave a moving speech concerning the death of his brother and the
journey he, his sister-in-law and others, had made to "the
freckled mountain" in Scotland. This was where his brother
had fallen to his death. Peter's descriptive words e.g. "A
cathedral in the sky" when describing the scenery and his sensitive
handling of this subject touched us all. Keith Hart then gave his timekeeper's report. All the speakers had kept to their correct timings and this was "truly phenomenal" said Keith. Barry then asked Toastmasters to vote for the best speaker. After this the evaluations took place. Lesley Alkin, David Mattocks, Steve Graham and David Smith evaluated in the same order as the speeches. Lesley Alkin was full of praise for Richard's speech, which she thought was outstanding for an Ice Breaker. David Mattocks congratulated Rachel for involving the audience from the start with a powerful opening and for moving smoothly through the structure of the speech. He made one or two helpful suggestions to Rachel. Steve gave a fluent evaluation of Russell's speech and was particularly impressed with the visual picture Russell portrayed of the youthful goalkeeper and outsized gloves! David Smith evaluated Peter McGeehan and congratulated him on this speech. The fact that he stood straight and still gave a feeling of strength to this performance. This was in tune perfectly with the subject. He commented that the 9th speech should be to persuade the audience to the speaker's point of view. This did emerge at the end of Peter's speech, but could have perhaps been more emphasised. Nevertheless, David said it was a very commendable performance. After a short break, Barry invited us to the "exciting and eloquent part of the evening" - Table Topics. Dave Hassall (Table Topics Master) introduced four subjects that gave the chosen speakers plenty of scope to use their imagination and initiative. All were based around the "F word" - Fabulous, Fun, Favourite Film and Fantasy Fourball. Lexie Bebbington was the first to speak and described eloquently a fabulous holiday she had spent in Cornwall. In the short space of time she managed to keep our attention by telling us about an adventure when she had been caught in a rainstorm. Steve Osborne had the task of telling us what was the most fun you could have with your clothes ON. He tackled the subject well and his body movements and quirky language made this a good contribution. One of our guests, (Lesley's brother) Richard Gail, told us about
his favourite film. Peter McGeeehan rounded off this part of the evening by talking about Fantasy Fourball, skilfully bringing in his 'wish list' of partners. "Kate Moss holds herself well" raised a few smiles! After Keith had read out the times for the speakers, we took the vote for best Table Topic speaker. Julie Pike then gave the Table Topics evaluations. She started by telling us of two pointers she had picked up when attending the Area Table Topics Contest last weekend. Julie proceeded to commend the Table Topics speakers by turn and gave each some useful recommendations. Keith reported on the timings of all the evaluators. Dawn Evans gave a very full and comprehensive report as Grammarian. Catherine Gale then gave her views as General Evaluator. She made the point that the meeting had overrun and suggested it might be better to have a less crowded agenda in the future. Catherine said that it was good to feel that in Toastmasters we were not just a group of people here to improve our presentations, we were more a family of supportive friends (Dawn sending a postcard from her holiday underlined this). Catherine congratulated Barry the Toastmaster and all the other participants and made some helpful and positive suggestions. She then passed back to David Mattocks to present the awards and close the evening. The awards were presented as follows: Richard Mack was awarded his Ice Breaker Toastmasters pin. David Mattocks thanked everyone for attending and announced the next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 11th October 2006. Rachel (Bailey-Towler), Sergeant at Arms, got the meeting underway
on time and took care of housekeeping in an efficient manner. She
introduced our President, David Mattocks, who welcomed two new members: David unveiled the Club's new ribbon - Select Distinguished Club - awarded for achieving our targets last year. He then introduced the Toastmaster for the evening, Russell Hart. Russell announced the theme for the evening: Excitement, inspired by the excitement Steve Wright manages to communicate on the radio every day. Julia Cooney then explained the role of 'Warm Up' and gave us the excellent topic of 'My Favourite Holiday'. On this magic carpet we toured the world, stopping at Srinigar, Lake Garda, the Netherlands, Australia, Kenya, honeymoon in France, Naples (Florida), Cornwall, as well as plenty of activities including the bobsleigh run in Calgary, paddling down the Orinoco, tall ship sailing in New Zealand, skiing in northern Italy and swimming with dolphins in Mexico. Sally Bedborough as timekeeper gave us a very good explanation of the role, and kept time throughout the evening in an exemplary manner. Then it was time for the Grammarian of the evening, Richard Mack. Richard gave us an excellent word of the evening - 'Brisk' - which he introduced with some good and helpful examples of usage. The Speeches The first speaker was Steve Osborne, giving his speech no. 2. Steve took us on a vivid journey through the bustling food markets of Hong Kong where the seafood is so fresh - it's still wriggling. Entitled 'Sic Fan Joanna' Steve's speech gave us a real taste of life in Hong Kong and how the inhabitants do not suffer from the biggest killer of old age, loneliness, because there the whole family lives together. The lesson of his speech: to revere old age. Dermot Saunders was next, giving a speech no. 4. With a title of 'Beyond the Wild Blue Yonder' Dermot spoke about Dr David Schreiber and his work to bring eastern and western medicine together to cure depression. Key factors for wellness included: Think outside the box: Bin the Prozac and breathe through the heart With 'The Experience of a Lifetime' the third speaker was Julie Pike, giving her speech no. 5. In a speech full of drama and incident Julie took us up a mountain and then, magically, gracefully, but not without a certain amount of terror, flying off from the mountaintop in a Microlight. The moral of the story: Overcome your fears for the experience of a lifetime (or .. feel the fear and do it anyway). The last speaker of the evening was Keith Hart, giving a speech no. 6. 'Advertising or PR? What's it For?' In his speech Keith set out the 6 ingredients of every business, with the difference between success and failure being what you do with the ingredients. Do you turn suspects into prospects into customers, one-off customers, repeat customers, and advocates - or not? The evaluators - Dave Hassall, Shirley Thompson, Westrow Cooper and Steve Graham - found much to commend in the speeches as well as providing some astute and useful recommendations. Table Topics After a quick break David Smith as Topics Master provided some tremendous ideas for topics that got everyone thinking. Speaking on 'Your Most Exciting Experience In or Around The Home' Catherine Gale was more irritated about early Xmas in the shops than excited about anything at home but as "Jasmine", her alter ego, it was a different story … Asked to speak on 'Most Exciting Politician' David Mattocks revealed that he was not entirely fascinated by politics, but the pyramids - now they're an entirely different matter. 3,000 years old, 10,000 years old, or by the French? Sally Bedborough, speaking on the topic of 'Most Exciting Item of Clothing or Jewelry', considered a number of possibilities before settling on shoes. Beautiful red shoes. Pointy. High heeled. Suffice to say, she had our attention. Finally Alex Kelly explored the themes of tension, tragedy, exhilaration and disease in Ben Hur his chosen 'Most Exciting Foreign Film'. As Topics Evaluator Hazel Montague gave a fluent appraisal of the speakers, followed by Richard with an entertaining Grammarian's report and Margaret Edmondson as General Evaluator. Margaret took us through the evening picking out key points to praise , and provided useful recommendations for the evaluators. David Mattocks, as Club President, closed another excellent and thought provoking evening with the awards: Best speaker: Julie Pike Present: Anthony Booth, Barry Mitchell, David Hassall,
David Mattocks, Dawn Evans, Dermot Saunders, Eileen Lemmer, Julie
Pike, Keith Hart, Lesley Alkin, Peter McGeehan, Rachel Bailey-Towler,
Russell Hart, Shirley Thompson, Steve Graham, Steve Osborne , Sue
Challis, Tony Tyers, Lexie Bebbington, David Singleton-Smith, Richard
Mack, Sally Bedborough. Steve Graham as Sergeant-at-Arms opened the evening punctually and handed the meeting over to our President David Mattocks who warmly welcomed everyone including the large number of guests in attendance… possibly the largest number to date, 7 in total. David presented our newest member, Lexie Bebbington with her member's certificate and mentioned the sad news that club Secretary, Catherine Gale was moving away from the area imminently, which leaves the position of Secretary vacant. Any member interested in the role should contact David to discuss. He then introduced Sue Challis as our Toastmaster of the Evening (her first time in this role. Well done Sue!). Sue commented on her past observation that we are not good at keeping to time at Cottonwood and that she was going to use discipline, control, orderliness and restraint to change this tendency. She wanted us to think of her as 'The Anne Robinson of Cottonwood'! David Singleton-Smith confidently took the warm up role and his subject for the evening was 'favourite seasons', inspired by his daughter's comments that it was a rubbish summer, which turned out to be nothing to do with the weather, but rather the quality of boyfriend material around this summer! We were all inspired to talk passionately about our favourite season. Sue then introduced the Timekeeper of the evening Steve Osborne who explained his role. Speeches Eileen Lemmer Speech #1 "Communication System Called The Morse Code": Evaluated by Tony Tyers. Born in county Kerry in Ireland, Eileen started her career on a
training course learning the Morse code in a male dominated environment,
with the idea of spending time under water on a submarine for long
periods of time. Eileen informed us that 'SOS' is the universal
code for 'Save Our Souls'. Eileen lasted 3months on her course.
Fortunately the £50 in cash she had been given by her father
to pay for the course she had held back, realising before too long
that it would be better spent on partying than on her course. Eileen
returned home wiser for the experience, her father possibly secretly
relieved she had had a change of heart. Leslie Alkin Speech #2 "It Takes Three To Tango': Evaluated by Julie Pike With the Tango apparently, you do need a teacher, (which makes up the three to Tango). Tonight we learnt from Leslie, that it is the man's responsibility to guide the lady around the dance floor- as she walks backwards. The lady needs to learn to walk backwards, give up the need to control, keep her eyes on her male partner's chest and tune into his every movement! (It's a good thing women can multi task)! There are apparently lessons available in this area if anyone is interested and with a teacher that Leslie highly recommends. Leslie then admitted that the music is the real teacher, and closed beautifully by saying that if you listen to the music, the two of you become one and you then become the music. Russell Hart Speech#4 "Children are More Courageous than Adults": Evaluated by Shirley Thompson. Russell told us about his trip to Centre Parks with his growing
boys. The perfect place to relax and chill out, one would assume,
but not with his three growing boys! At the end of the first half Sue thanked the speakers, evaluators and time keeper for keeping to time and closed for a break. After the break, Table Topics chairman for the evening Dawn Evans
was introduced by Sue, and Dawn commented that this was an opportunity
for some to step into the unknown!! The Timekeepers report was given for Table Topic speakers and Dermot
Saunders confidently launched into his evaluation of the Table Topics,
giving some very supportive comments and congratulating the participants. Keith on Evaluating the Evaluators Keith commented that Tony had addressed the subject very well and
very naturally, very much as an experienced evaluator would. Sue Challis then handed the meeting over to David Mattocks our
President who praised Sue in her role for the very first time as
Toastmaster and then handed out several awards: Present: David Smith, Catherine Gale, Sue Challis, Shirley
Thompson, Russell Hart, Lesley Alkin, Julie Pike, Westrow Cooper,
Barry Mitchell, Keith Hart, Rachel Bailey-Towler, David Singleton-Smith,
Steve Graham, Hazel Montague, David Mattocks, Dave Hassell, Tony
Tyers, Julia Cooney. The meeting was opened by the Sergeant at Arms Dave Hassell. David Mattocks welcomed the guests and gave each a copy of "What is in it for me at Toastmasters". David went on to report that membership is up to 34 with 4 new members joining since 1st July. He presented new membership certificates to David Singleton-Smith and Julia Cooney. Lexie Bebbington was absent. David mentioned the Humorous Speech contest was again upon us and asked how many members would be interested in participating this year. The Toastmaster of the Evening Peter McGeehan could not attend at the last moment as he had to take his son to hospital with a broken arm. Keith Hart volunteered to take on the role of TM and announced a very apt theme for the evening of "Surprise!" Rachel Bailey-Towler explained the warm up and invited us to give our top tips for a person new to public speaking. Tips from members included be confident, imagine the applause you will get at the end, keep on keeping on and from Keith - check your zipper! The Timekeeper, Tony Tyers, explained the lights system for timing the speeches. Keith introduced our Grammarian for the evening - Russel Hart - who stayed with the two words chosen by Keith COMPLIMENT & COMPLEMENT. Steve Graham our VP Education talked about the new training structure and made suggestions that we read them and sign off the roles we have completed. Keith introduced our first speaker Sue Challis who gave an excellent speech on how she overcame the fear of putting her head under water. Westrow Cooper then explained the purpose of the next speech by David Smith which was an advanced speech designed to entertain. David entertained us all with a hilarious sailing yarn painting us the image of him, standing in mud in the Thames estuary trying frantically to tie together ropes from two boats pulling away in opposite directions. Steve Graham introduced Shirley Thompson explaining that Shirley was required to tell a folk tale appropriate for a certain age group. Shirley was clever in addressing the audience both as children and, at other points in the speech, as adults. The Timekeeper Tony reported on the speech and evaluators times. We voted for best speaker. Barry evaluated the first speaker Sue Challis saying he found it difficult to find any recommendations as Sue's speech was so good, she had taken us all underwater with her! Westrow evaluated David saying he could feel waves of smiles and laughter from the audience thus proving that we had been well entertained by David's speech. Steve Graham evaluated Shirley, congratulating her on putting a
modern twist on a classical children's tale. The Timekeeper reported for Table Topics spreakers and the Best Table Topics Speaker vote was cast. Catherine Gale was our Table Topics evaluator and gave the speakers good, constructive recommendations. Timekeeper Tony reported on the times for all the evaluators and again Best Evaluator vote was cast. Russell Hart gave the Grammarians report with gold stars for David Smith and congratulations for Sue Challis's choice of words. He liked Shirley's "exquisite" magic cloths. Julie Pike started her general evaluation at 21.30 by remarking that you "Have to be on your case" to do this tricky little role. David Mattocks our president was the last to speak. He awarded Sue Challis the award for best speaker with best table topics awarded to Julie Cooney. Westrow Cooper was awarded best evaluator. Finally our guests commented on how much they had enjoyed the evening and planned to return. Present: David Mattocks, David Smith, Shirley Thompson,
Westrow Cooper, Peter McGeehan, Steve Graham, Keith Hart, Julie
Pike, Sue Challis, Dawn Evans, Dermot Saunders, Hazel Montague,
Margaret Edmondson, Catherine Gale, Tony Tyers, Steve Osborne, Rachel
Bailey-Towler, Gillian King, Eileen Lemmer Having begun promptly at 19:30 with a very firm crash of the gavel, our President, David Mattocks, welcomed new members Rachel Bailey-Towler and David Singleton-Smith and presented them with their certificates. Julie Pike now took over as Toastmaster for the evening, a role
she was performing for the first time. Julie introduced her theme
of 'Confidence when Public Speaking' and reminded us of her journey
within Toastmasters since last November and how she had managed
to "turn down the volume of fear and up the inner calm".
Catherine Gale gave us an explanation of the timekeeper's role
and stressed the need to keep within the prescribed limits. We now entered the prepared speech section of the meeting and first to perform was Tony Tyers with his Ice Breaker speech entitled "Travel Light - Get Rich". Tony treated us to a world tour and showed how his experiences of travel had changed over time. As he had become more involved with local people rather than 'just looking' and by meeting and helping people in places such as the Caribbean and on 'Eye Safari' as a doctor in East Africa, Tony had become truly 'rich'. Next up was Dermot Saunders with his third speech entitled "In God we Trust - not on your life". This wasn't a religious theme but a reference to the motto of the USA. Dermot gave us an excellent introduction explaining how this had come to be adopted and moved to his main focus; four Presidents who had been assassinated; Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy. Rather than concentrate on the Presidents, Dermot treated us to a humorous and informative insight into the make-up of the assassins. Concluding that each was male, unemployed and unmarried and feeling that he was doing the world a favour. Watch out George! The formal speeches concluded with Dawn Evans giving her third speech entitled "The PC". Our hearts sank but Dawn wasn't about to bore us with computers. On the contrary, we were to hear about the 'Psychological Contract'; the non-written agreement between people regarding future returns and how we deal with the failure of these to materialise. Dawn brought the room to a standstill with her exclamation "will you marry me?" We were also tested as at the end of her speech we were all required to recite an acronym called 'EVAN' which Dawn insisted was pure coincidence. To recap, Exit, Voice, Acceptance and Neglect were the correct responses. The speech evaluations were conducted by Hazel Montague, Peter McGeehan and David Smith, who between them provided much positive feedback and many helpful tips for use in future speeches. Back a little early from a short break courtesy of an over zealous
Sergeant at Arms we entered Table Topics conducted by Keith Hart.
Picking up on Julie's theme of confidence Keith asked the participants
to start there response with specific phrases such as "If I
were the most confident person in the world..." and "I
am proud...'. The one that got the most reaction was from guest
Sally Bedborough with "I am a strong confident woman..."
when she threatened most convincingly to be about to 'streak' to
demonstrate her confidence! Westrow Cooper evaluated the Table Topics round, where he reminded us that there is no need to point out our 'faults' and the importance of taking things slowly to become relaxed into the speech. Margaret came back to the front to talk us through her Grammarian's report where she gave praise for the good use of language with special mentions for Hazel for using the word 'aplomb' and to Keith for his phrase 'pain is temporary; pride is forever'. Our last speaker for the evening was Gillian King as General Evaluator who thanked everyone for a "terrific, positive evening". Gillian was particularly impressed with Julie's handling of the TME role mentioning that the links between speeches were exceptional and finding that this could not be improved upon. Also receiving a special mention was Westrow who had demonstrated excellent use of pauses. The meeting was closed by David Mattocks who led a special thank
you to Gillian King for all of her good work in the club as she
is now off to live and work in the Middle East although she promises
to return to us one day. David had the pleasure of presenting Tony Tyers with his TI badge before handing out the evenings awards to Dawn Evans (Best Speech), David 'Smiffy' Smith (Best Evaluator) and Sally Bedborough (Best Table Topic). The next meeting will take place on Wednesday 9th August 2006. Present: David Mattocks, Margaret Edmondson, Westrow Cooper,
Barry Mitchell, Dawn Evans, Hazel Montague, Russell Hart, Keith
Hart, Dermot Saunders, Steve Osborne, Dave Hassall, Sue Challis,
David Singleton-Smith, Lee Vallely, Peter McGeehan, Steve Graham,
Lesley Alkin. The Meeting started promptly at 7.30pm by Sergeant at Arms - Dawn Evans Our new President, David Mattocks, welcomed our three guests He explained guests are welcome to join in as much or as little as they like, there is no pressure, just one of the benefits of the Club, and presented each with a WIIFM (What's In It For Me) Pocket Guide. A key point was a quote from Harvey Mackay taken from his book "Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive", where he says there are only two times in our lives when we are totally alone… just before we die and just before we make a speech. David disagreed, because at Cottonwood speakers you are never alone, especially before, during and after a speech - we meet to support each other. David introduced us to the Toastmaster of the evening, Keith Hart. Toastmaster - Keith Hart Keith emphasised the lessons learnt from the previous meeting of the activities needing to adhere to the timekeeping rules and set his objectives of running a tight ship for the evening A theme for the night of "Performance" was set, not performing as in the World Cup, but as in "performing a role". The emphasis was the role and not the performance, We can all be versatile at acting a role but taking on the role and "Walk the walk, talk the talk" to show we can do the job In performing a role each person has a task, adopted for the evening. They would have researched, checked and become confident in their ability to carry out the duties. "let's not make a performance" Warm-up - Lesley Alkin- She relished the opportunity of 'Performing this Role' as it was her first "official" role Having explained that each person would have up to 15 seconds to talk, and invited the guests to participate, or not, she set the subject - "how do I relax" Each person introduced themselves and then all the different ways emerged… on a lounger with red wine… running… doctor, doctor I think I am a Marquee and a Gazebo, relax you're too tense (two tents)… Jive dancing… breathing… work out in the gym… sleeping… more red wine… woods and climbing… gardening and beers… socialising and alcohol… massage… a hammock swinging in the garden… walking… golf… Chesil Beach by the ocean… visit to gym… bubble bath and wine… not working!" In keeping with the objective of the night, no participants had "time" called on them. Timekeeper role was explained again, emphasising time and explained that "over runners" would be told "time-up". Russell Hart (Grammarian) explained his roles Margaret Edmondson - Speech #3 - New Year's Eve 2004 The evaluator explained what key points they would be looking for, "a speech that has a clear general purpose (to inform, persuade, entertain or inspire) and to have a specific purpose" Margaret opened by stating her love of Egypt, its people, its culture and its history. She had visited Abu Simbel, which had involved a flying to Aswan, a cruise on lake culminating in a march up a rocky walk way. She accentuated this with very good use of movement. The Monument was a "special" experience. UNESCO had saved it from the "flood" created by the Aswan dam. They had put b together project to save the site. They organised a fund-raising campaign so that the temple could be disassembled and reconstructed 60m higher. To put it in perspective it was the equivalent of moving a 9 storey building. It was a huge feat. Margaret gave a very accurate description of the building with all of its statues. The building was constructed for Rameses II and is the Inner sanctum lavishly decorated with murals and statues. Margaret knew her subject well even to the detail that two times a year the sun's rays travel through the building and illuminate three of the four statues. The exception being the statue of the God of Darkness. The day finished with gourmet meal on board the boat with all discussion about the sites that they had seen that day. Towards midnight everyone was called to the Top Deck for Champagne to see in the New Year. Unknown to all the occupants during the meal the boat had moved to below the monument. The illumination of the site was the perfect close to 2004 Steve Graham - Speech #6 - "What's in a Name?" The evaluator explained what key points they would be looking for, "the speaker is to use a voice that is pleasing to listen to, with proper balance of volume, pitch and rate, and use pauses to enhance his or her message" It was in 1987 on a Soviet Union Tour that Steve discovered the importance of "What's in a Name" This was the USSR in 2 weeks top to bottom, east to west It was in Bukhara, Samarkand the "Jewel of the Silk Road" that it was first bought home. The Uzbeks were NOT Russians!! Indeed they perceived the Russians as their oppressors. It is therefore important to respect the name people prefer, not their "given" name. It is history and culture who make them who they are. Steve personalised the topic to our club, we are the "Cottonwood Speakers" which was named after the original venue, and because we now meet at the Durley Hall we should not change our name. An then the question - short name or full name? It is for the individual to propose themselves. Steve is a Steven with a "v" as opposed to Stephen with a "ph". You should always ask people their preference. There can also be problems with surnames that could be first names. For Steve his surname is Graham and working for an International company he is often addressed as Graham. Whether you address someone by their full name or shortened name it is always a case of getting the feeling right, and with due respect Steve then moved on explain how people have changed their name to "blend in" with their new culture. There had of course been good change "bad changes" Steve then went on to explain how the importance of a name could be used against a person as part of punishment is often just to give people a number Steve then returned to his Russian trip and explained how St Petersburg had been renamed Leningrad and then back to St Petersburg. In the Hermitage Art Museum a couple of Americans, who had lost their own group joined his. When asked where he came from Steve decided to say London, to aid his America audience. This assumption was born out when one of the ladies was viewing a work of art and her compatriot asked who it was by, the response was "Michael somebody", it was in fact by Michelangelo! Steve completed his talk asking people to think about "What's in a name" Evaluations. Margaret Edmondson by Hazel Montague A commendation for endearing her audience, through natural charm and sincerity. Despite a few "wobbles" Margaret retrieved the situation well and made a good correction of time to finish within the allocation Margaret ended well, having created some excellent mental pictures, he achieved the objectives of her speech well. Steve Graham by Peter McGeehan Peter awarded Steve 10/10 for his references in the speech to geographical
location and the linking of name importance to peoples' "home". Table Topics - An opportunity for those who want to, to be "put on the spot" The focus was on entertainment with each topic being topical but easy to talk about. "Insulting your Mother" - The Zidane incident. The male perspective - Westrow Cooper The first reaction is to reply like with like. The worry is about the "instant" response which would normally be the teenagers' action. It was related to football in that although adults there reaction can be juvenile. "Insulting your Mother" - The Zidane incident. The female perspective - Dawn Evans. Dawn favoured the non-aggressive aspect an favoured let it "pass
you by" "Diving for Advantage" - Lee Vallely Lee reflected on the gamesmanship seen in the World Cup. He quoted the statement "all is fair in love and war" but in competitive sport anything goes as long as the referee isn't looking! It is rules and regulations that determine the winner, but more importantly, It is a question of how important you think you it is to play fair or win at any cost. "Video monitoring for football" - Dave Hassall Dave explained how it could only improve the game and the attitude towards players and officials if technology was used to clean up the game. "Desert Island - what would you take? - Lexi Bebbingtion Lexi informed us that she had been raised on the Middle East island of Bahrain as felt well placed to answer the question. Assuming the item had to be an inanimate object she would take her Teddy Bear, not her husband. The bear would offer unconditional love, never share her secrets and would always be there for her. "Shopping - what would you buy" - Nicky Hayton Nicky Loves shopping - shoes, handbags, costume jewellery, indeed anything! Nicky gave excellent visualisation as she took us on a journey through the high streets shopping. "Special Music" - David Singleton-Smith David explained how he was a "BIG" David Bowie fan He admired Changeability how David Bowie had been at the forefront of change and had moved than just his musical abilities. He felt that Bowie was a cultural icon. In summary David felt the quote "If music be the food of love, play on" was an admirable way to explain that there was no "special music" Table Topic Evaluator - Sue Challis The time only permits short, sharp and to the point evaluation for Table Topics. Sue had made no secret in previous meetings that she was no great fan of the World Cup or football, in general! Westrow Cooper Sue's heart sank at the thought of a football topic but Westrow steered it away well and his response to the topic opted for the aggressive "get in first" reaction Dawn Evans Dawn explained he response which would be to calm down the situation with a calm attitude in a very calm way. Lee Vallely Well spoken and relaxed but felt in competitive sport it "Winning really, not the taking part that counted" Dave Hassall Sue liked the way David expressed his opinion that if video was introduced to judge football then footballer's would become better role models Lexi Bebbington Introduced her topic well explaining she had some experience of Desert Islands. She spoke with a friendly and relaxed attitude. Nicky Hayton Very confident and well done David Singleton-Smith Sue was impressed with David's talk despite it being impromptu he appeared prepared Grammarian Report - Russell Hart Russell explained that the task was quite pedantic but he enjoyed taking on the role. He reported a low "um / ah" count which is always good. He was impressed by the colourful use of language throughout the
evening Russell did pick up on a few "s'posed" as opposed to
"supposed" and a few people began sentences with "so" In addition to the colourful use of language the adjectives and descriptive visualisations were also notable, examples being Charming aura General Evaluator - Westrow Cooper It had been a great evening inspired by Keith's lead in this his first time as 1st Toastmaster for the Evening Westrow highlighted a number of great ideas and items Overall he was impressed by the growing group confidence and participants abilities to deal with difficult situations It was good it see the Timekeeper's role qualified and to have the necessity to keep to time reiterated. The Table topics had good topic and made it easy for people to join. The Grammarian role was well explained being correctly and courageously implemented. Evaluations evaluated. Peter handled a difficult job professionally as it is hard to provide recommendations when someone has performed such a great speech Table Topics Our President closed the meeting with applause to all which always is encouraging and rewarding for every attendee on the night. Membership numbers were reported at 32 and growing. Awards Next meeting Wednesday 26th July 2006; 7.30pm Present: David Smith, Shirley Thompson, David Mattocks,
Margaret Edmondson, Gillian King, Westrow Cooper, Barry Mitchell,
Dawn Evans, Hazel Montague, Russell Hart, Keith Hart, Dermot Saunders,
Steve Osborne, Julie Pike, Dave Hassall, Sue Challis, Tony Tyers,
Steve Graham.
Gillian commented on the fantastic growth levels achieved in the past 12 months. Gillian announced that there would be no grammarian as we needed the time for the handover to the new president and committee. As this was the eve of the beginning of a new Toastmasters year, Gillian likened the evening to New Year's Eve and asked each of us to make our own New Year's resolutions for the forthcoming Toastmasters year. Steve Osborne was introduced to conduct the warm-up for the evening,
inviting us all to tell in just 15 seconds what was "My favourite
vegetable" …the potato in its various forms seemed to
be a clear winner with the members and guests identifying the merits
of the Jacket potato…chips and even microwaved potatoes!! Moving on to the prepared speech section of the evening, Gillian
King invited Dave Hassall to give his # 2 speech entitled "Kissing
AIDA$.Dave immediately captured the audience's attention with, the
help of an overhead projector, pictures of George Clooney and Anna
Kournikova and then asking all of us whether we had a passport…so
that we could go to the Caribbean and apply sun tan lotion if we
were lucky enough to win a prize draw… Keith Hart's # 4 speech was entitled "Barking Mad"…Keith
invited us to consider…has the world gone barking mad?...In
characteristic fashion…Keith humourously drew from John Gray's
1992 work "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" to
show that Men and Women are different creatures not merely different
genders of the same species…Keith showed these differences
by using responses from Male and Female respondents to the question…Is
a computer male or female?.. The female response was that a computer
was male because (a)you have to turn it on…(b)you think it
will solve the problem when it is the problem…(c)eventually
you will trade it in for a better model… Julie Pike was also presenting # 4 speech entitled "The King
of the Channel"…Julie gave us great detail as to the history
of the English cross channel swim which is 21 miles long.665 people
have been lucky enough to successfully make this crossing 968 times…Alison
Streeter hold the record for crossing the Channel 39 times. Gillian King called for a Best Speaker vote and duly moved on to invite Margaret Edmondson to offer feedback for Dave's speech. Margaret remarked on Dave's strong opening and that it was a bright and breezy speech with great voice projection. Dave also showed great enthusiasm and conviction. Future recommendation were that the slides slightly detracted from the overall message but Margaret was looking forward to hearing Dave's next speech. David Mattocks evaluated Keith's speech and said that Keith's posture was excellent with no rocking. David remarked on the quality of Keith's speech and of the quality of speeches generally which has significantly improved since David himself had joined the club. David noted Keith's good humour and that the audience were laughing as early as the second sentence. The content was well researched and the hand gestures were very expressive. David noted that there was a good strong finish to the speech and Keith should move straight to speech # 9 such was the quality. Recommendations included not to stare at the ceiling/floor and to possibly engage the audience more. Our third evaluator Steve Graham also commented on the high standard
of speeches generally. Steve enjoyed Julie's clever use of words
and that the speech was obviously well researched. Steve thought
that there was a good use of facts without using too many facts
and that this enhanced the speech. Steve liked the use of 'cold'
'dark'…'stinging jellyfish' ,'slithering eels' and 'swimmers
hearing the noise of the engines'…Steve's only recommendation
was that Julie may have considered moving from point A to B to convey
the movement across the Channel. Gillian then introduced the Westrow Cooper as Table Topics Master to conduct the Table Topics session. Gillian reminded the audience that Westrow's book "London, city of words" was to be launched in Blandford on Friday evening. Westrow had a lively set of table topics and for us to choose over
the following topics "Victoria or Colleen", "David
Beckham or David Cameron", "Cinema or DVD", Gordon
Ramsay or Gordon Brown", "Swimming or Sailing", "Briefs
or boxers", "Nuclear power or Alternative power"
, "Bob Dylan or Bob the Builder", "Cars or Trains"
and finally "Tennis, Cricket or Golf" Gillian thanked all of the table topic speakers and went on to say that on our theme for the evening , we were now fast approaching midnight. Gillian then asked David Smith back in his role as general evaluator. David praised the high standard of the speeches but we had overrun on time and David pointed out that the timekeeper is allowed to call "time" at the end of a speech. David also mentioned how encouraging to see the amount of guests present at the meeting. David then read out a card from the area governor Jan Collings congratulating David and the club on all of the achievements over the past 12 months.
Margaret Edmondson (former Sergeant at Arms).
Then on the stroke of midnight, David handed out some "Smiffys" streamers. These were all duly popped as the bell chimed for the start of a new Toastmasters year.
Amidst the euphoria, David then introduced the new president David
Mattocks, who in turn introduced the following new committee members: Steve Graham (Vice President Education).
No sooner was Steve Graham installed in his new role when Dawn
Evans asked as to whether a mentoring scheme would be reintroduced
to assist the burgeoning number of new members. Steve stated that
this would be a cornerstone of his reign. David then presented the prizes to the well deserved winners on
the night: A resounding round of applause then concluded the meeting! Next Meeting: 7.30 pm Wednesday 12th July 2006. Present: David Smith, Shirley Thompson, David Mattocks,
Catherine Gale, Margaret Edmondson, Gillian King, Westrow Cooper,
Barry Mitchell, Dawn Evans, Hazel Montague, Russell Hart, Keith
Hart, Dermot Saunders, Steve Osborne, Lesley Alkin, Julie Pike,
Dave Hassall, Sue Challis, Tony Tyers. The meeting was opened bang on time by Sergeant at Arms, Westrow Cooper, who introduced Club President, David Smith. David welcomed members and seven guests, explaining that our guests were free to contribute as much as they felt comfortable with and introduced Shirley Thompson as Toastmaster of the Evening. Shirley announced several agenda changes and that the evening would move along at a pace, since we had four speakers… two 'Icebreakers' each from Steve Osborne and Lesley Alkin, followed by Speech #2 from Dawn Evans and Speech #3 from Hazel Montague. Shirley asked us to think about what compelled us to turn up to the meeting and to consider what we set out to achieve on the evening. Dave Hassell was introduced to conduct the warm-up for the evening, inviting us all to tell in just 15 seconds what gave us a warm feeling in the heart. A most heart warming session followed! Suitably warmed-up with hearts aglow, Barry Mitchell explained the Timekeeper's role and the significance of keeping within stated time limits. Shirley endorsed the importance of timing of speeches and presentations, especially in business. Sue Challis as the Grammarian reminded us of how some words have changed meaning over the years, citing 'gay' and 'wicked' as clear examples. She also found some words and phrases with changed meanings actually irritated her, such as 'the beautiful game'. So she urged us to use the word beautiful (or beauty) in it's original context throughout the evening. Moving on to the prepared speech section of the evening, Shirley Thompson invited Steve Osborne to give his icebreaker speech entitled "52 to 63". Steve first asked us to help him expend some adrenalin by running on the spot! He went on to explain the 52 in the title related to the year he was born in Kidderminster. He told us he vividly remembered where he was born and brought up as a child and how big the furniture looked. And how big apples seemed to be in the early 50's. He also remembered all the kids names in the street (especially the one with the pink NHS specs). Also, because paedophiles hadn't been invented then, they were all able to play safely together on the local football field. He remembered being fascinated by the TV they got in 1955 and how the grey pictures could actually be switched on and off. Steve concluded his speech with a little more running on the spot to disperse a bit more adrenalin followed by memories of long hot summers, the 11+ and a grammar school he went to in 1963… 52 to 63. Lesley Alkin's icebreaker took us on a journey involving "A Tandem, a Sidecar, a Haystack and a Cockle Paella". Lesley recounted how her father would choose their holiday destination with a map of the New Forest laid out on the table and a pin - and how they would travel to the chosen destination along with a tandem and a sidecar her father had made for her. But they didn't cycle down, they put the whole lot on a train! When they set-up camp they stuffed their beds with hay from a nearby haystack. Memories flooded back, including freezing cold days spent on Lepe beech, collecting water from a well and the indelible image of her brother eating rabbit droppings whilst apparently enjoying the whole experience. Although Lesley would have (at the time) preferred Spam sandwiches that everyone else ate on holiday, her father insisted on creating a massive paella filled with cockles previously collected off the shore at Lepe. Dawn Evans shared three experiences from her life in her #2 speech called "Gaining Confidence" that have helped her personally to gain more confidence. Dawn told us of a project she participated in when she was 14 to help to raise money for charity… a murder/mystery play. She remembers how she froze halfway into her performance and forgot the next line. So she repeated the last line until the next words eventually came to her. This small hitch meant first prize was missed out on. She remembers feeling devastated at the time, but did it really matter? She got through it. She survived. The next story took us to Dawn's days at University where she managed to flood the laundry and managed to get it closed down. So she developed alternative strategies to getting her washing done - mainly involving friends and family. She survived. More recently Dawn has set-up her own business and attends networking events to market her expertise. At first this was nerve-racking but by repeatedly attending such meetings and building confidence in herself and her abilities, she now feels she is a respected member of the local business community. She did it. And as proof, she survives to this very day! Hazel Montague's speech #3 took us back 500 years or so for a history lesson that brought to life one dead king and a couple of deceased queens. In her speech entitled "Obsession, Jealousy and Sex", Hazel's tale of the tragic lives of Catherine of Aragon and Ann Boleyn and what befell them because they were unfortunate enough to cross the path of Henry V111, was told in such an enthralling way as to make us wish we were all taught history this way when at school. Henry's obsession with producing a male heir not only caused him to get rid of Catherine, but also to denounce the catholic church, invent his own and marry a bad tempered, jealous woman who was believed to be a witch! We all know what happened to Ann. Catherine was believed to have died from what could be described as a broken heart. Shirley Thompson called for a Best Speaker vote and duly moved on to invite Julie Pike to offer feedback for Steve's speech. Julie remarked how lively Steve was and that he reminded her of an English Dylan Thomas. She also enjoyed his humour, imagination and great story-telling skills. Julie pointed out Steve's confident body language and clear presentation. She recommended that the links moving from opening to closing of the speech could have been stronger and gave suggestions on how Steve could enhance the speech. Catherine Gale evaluated Lesley's speech and said how she particularly liked how it effectively started before Lesley had opened her mouth with an intriguing title. This immediately grabbed the audiences attention. Catherine remarked how well Lesley drew pictures in our mind of precious memories. Recommendations for future speeches included less dependence on notes and a steadier pace so as not to wrap up quickly near the end. Our third evaluator Westrow Cooper enjoyed how calm, collected and in control Dawn appeared. Her speech was well structured, spoken clearly and slowly. Each of the three stories had good meaning to be drawn from to give us ways to gain confidence. Westrow congratulated Dawn for not using notes. Margaret Edmondson started her presentation of feedback for Hazel's speech with fascination for the title and not quite sure what we should be expecting! Margaret pointed out that Hazel has a natural speaking style that immediately the audience at ease. Confident smile - good hand gestures - good eye contact with the audience |
The
meeting was opened a couple of minutes late by Sergeant at Arms,
Sue Challis, who introduced outgoing Club President, David Smith.
David welcomed members and guests, explaining that this would be
his last meeting as 'El Presidente' and that later in the evening
would be handing over to the new president and committee. David
also informed us that the club had was now the fastest growing club
in the UK as we had achieved a 50% increase in net joiners in the
past 12 months. David also told us that as a member club of the
Area 22 Toastmasters district in South West England,we were on the
verge of achieving Presidential distinguished status (the highest
possible status )and that area governor Jan Collings was busy in
Torquay this evening opening a new club to achieve this prestigious
status. Gillian King was then introduced as Toastmaster of the Evening.
David
then thanked all of the outgoing committee members including:
