From Felix Kaufmann
Fellow London Toastmasters
I hope you all had a great Christmas break and a Happy New Year! With the holidays over and routine settling in again it is time to plan for some exciting workshops and events which will happen in Division B over the next months.
I am very excited to announce that we will run a judging workshop on Monday 30th January to prepare for the upcoming contest season! This is the first time (I believe!) that we are offering such a workshop in Division B and our aim is to have at least 1-2 members from every club in London to attend so that we can achieve consistent and high-quality judging at all our contests.
Our contests are a great opportunity for members to step out of their comfort zones and to practice their public speaking skills in a different and exciting context. To be fair to our contestants and to make sure the best performance wins it is therefore important that judges are unbiased and objective in their assessment. The interactive workshop will focus on explaining how to overcome unconscious biases and provide tips and tricks on how to go about observing the speakers, using the judging forms and assessing the participants against the judging criteria. Judging is a key part of making your upcoming contests a success so please make sure that your club sends at least 1 delegate.
We are fortunate that the workshop will be delivered by the past District Governor for D71, Teresa Dukes, and promises to be educational and entertaining, and held at :
The Spectator pub (home of St Paul's Speakers),
6 Little Britain,
London,
EC1A 7BX on Monday 30th January, at 6.45pm for a prompt 7 pm start!
Entry to this event is FREE, but places are limited, so book early to avoid disappointment. We will endeavour to assign places on at least one attendee for each club in London, but will assign spare places to club’s second choices if not all places are allotted by one week before the event.
To sign up for the workshop please email Felix Kaufmann, click here to email, or Simon Cooper click here to email.
