The London Speaker

How to Improve at Functionary Roles - a workshop

Posted by Freddie Daniells

Calling all Toastmasters! This coming Tuesday (September 4th), Holborn Speakers will be hosting a workshop called How to Improve at Functionary Roles. Hosted by Bernard Miller, one of Holborn's most experienced members, all are welcome.

We learn plenty about how to do prepared speeches but sometimes our learning about functionary roles seems to be by osmosis or 'on the job'. This workshop is going to provide a number of practical tips that will help everyone to up their game when undertaking functionary roles.

In particular, the roles of Timekeeper, Topics master, Grammarian and Toastmaster will feature.

Although people early in the Toastmasters career will obviously benefit from this, it is targeted at a broad audience and will bring value to more experienced members too.

A number of you will have been to workshops that Bernard has hosted at both Holborn and at other clubs. You will know them to be both fun, interactive, practical and educational - this promises to be exactly the same. If you are interested please download the flyer below and come along!

How to Improve at Functionary Roles workshop

A map to the venue is here:

Rugby Tavern in great James Street WC1 - Google Maps

Speak at Speakers Corner

Posted by Freddie Daniells

Recently at Club Officer Training, several club members suggested that they would like to see more inter-club activity. One idea that resonated was to hold a day out at Speakers Corner.

Well, here is the output from that and your chance to get on your soapbox!

Broadgate Speakers in the City are arranging an afternoon at Speakers Corner on the 16th of September. They will hold a table topics style session at 2pm at Speakers Corner followed by a game of rounders and a picnic in Hyde Park. No doubt a glass of vino or two may be involved at some stage of the proceedings!

This sounds a lot of fun. Certainly, if I am not away on vacation I will join up. If nothing else, if will be great fun to see the look on the faces of the tourists as they pass!

Why not gather a few people from your club to go along too? If you are interested, please download the flyer below for all the details.

Download speakers_corner_table_topics.pdf

(thanks to Steve Rhodes for the photo)

Congratulations to Simon Bucknall

Posted by Freddie Daniells

Just received this in a mail from Pedro Casillas, immediate past Division B Governor regarding Simon Bucknall's participation in the World Finals in Arizona:

You might like to know that Simon Bucknall, representing District 71 in the International Speech competition in Phoenix, USA, was placed second in the Interdistrict Speech Contest. Although, Simon did not make it through to the World Finals, Simon has done a fantastic job in representing District 71 on the world stage.

Well done Simon. As Pedro says later in his mail:

Simon has been an inspiration for many Toastmasters in Division B and throughout the District and what he has achieved is something that we can all be proud.

I think we can all agree with that. Not only has he inspired us through the quality of his speeches but taught many of us his tips and tricks through a series of workshops over the past year. I look forward, as I am sure we all do, to hearing what he has learned from his journey to the World Finals this time round.

July's educational awards

Posted by Freddie Daniells

Toastmasters is about improving as a public speaker, leader and as a human being. One way we can see progress is through our members achieving the various educational awards that we offer. With this is mind we will celebrate everyone's awards here each month.

During the month of July a number of people within Division B (ie London) completed educational certificates. They were:

Competent Leader

Dave Brooks, Speakeasy@ Credit Suisse
Kim Horner, London Corinthians
Amy Jackson, London Corinthians

Competent Communicator

Isabella Webster - West London Speakers
Marcus Purcell - MLP! Toastmasters

Advanced Communicator Bronze

Charles Ward, Grosvenor Speakers
Anne Proton, London Business School

A big congratulations to all of you.

And a special mention to Dave Brooks. He has now completed the Competent Leader award on both the old schedule and the new one. Fabulous job!

A lovely bunch of Toastmasters

Posted by Freddie Daniells

Last week was the Simon Bucknall and mind mapping workshop. We were lucky to hear the two speeches that Simon is taking to the World Championships in a weeks time. He got some excellent feedback from a number of expert speakers that will, hopefully, have helped him no end.

Additionally, Pedro Casillas and Susan Percy gave us an overview of how to use mind maps for giving feedback and evaluations. It was an entertaining and practical session with plenty of opportunity for us to speak.

However, the main reason for this post is the above photo. It is not often that one gets so many senior figures within TM in one place. It is also not often that you see David Jones in a suit! ;)

From the left we have:

Mariano Tufro of Citi Criers and a wonderful speaker
David Jones of Holborn Speakers and a past UK and Ireland Table topics winner
Camilla Allwood who was an Area Governor last year and is a member of Women in Banking & Finance Canary Wharf
Simon Bucknall, a 2 time UK and Ireland Speech winner and a member of London Cardinals
Susan Percy, ex President of City of London Speakers
Pedro Casillas, last years Division Governor and a member of Grosvenor Square
And Bob Ferguson, a leading light at Excalibur, London's Advanced Speaking club and also a past UK and Ireland Speaking and Evaluation champion

All I can say is congratulations to all of them for scrubbing up so well! They make Toastmasters look almost respectable! ;)

(hat tip to Andrew Booth for the photo)