The London Speaker

Laugh along to your Area Humorous Speech and Table Topics contests

Posted by Freddie Daniells

One of the most fun parts of the Toastmaster's year are the competitions. At this time of year, all of the Toastmasters clubs in London will have hosted or be hosting their Humorous Speech and Table Topics contests. As a member, make sure to go along - you will learn and laugh!

The winners of these competitions then enter a series of further competitions that can eventually lead all the way to the UK finals at the Toasties and Ghosties conference in Harrogate (see below).

The next step for the club winners will be the Area contests. These really are great events and I encourage everyone to attend if possible. They are a great chance to offer support to your fellow club contest winning members. Also, the quality of the speeches goes up from the club to Area level so you will hear even more humorous and better crafted speeches.

The key details for each are are:

Area 6

Clubs: Excalibur, London Cardinals, London Corinthians, London Olympians

Venue: Thistle Hotel Westminster, Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 0QT

Map: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=SW1W+0QT (although the map doesn't suggest it, the hotel is on the corner of Buckingham Palace Road and Bressenden Place)

Time and Date: 7.15 for 7.30 start on the 3rd October

Area 29

Clubs: London Athenians, London Business School, London Trojans, Riverside Communicators and West London Speakers

Venue: Auriol Kensington Rowing Club, 14 Lower Mall, Hammersmith, London W6 9DJ

Map: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=W6+9DJ

Time and Date: 7.15 for a 7.30 start on the 1st October

Area 31

Clubs: Canary Wharf Communicators, Citi Criers, City of London, Lehman Brothers, speakeasy@creditsuisse, WIBF Speakers City, Women in Banking & Finance

Venue: 7th Floor, Credit Suisse, 1-5 Cabot Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 4QJ

Map: http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=537270&y=180417&z=0&sv=E14+4QJ&st=2&pc=E14+4QJ&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf

Time and Date: 6.45 for a 7pm start on October 4th

Area 33

Clubs: Broadgate Speakers, London Communicators, MLP! (Ernst & Young), Northern Lights, ToastMARSHters

Venue:  Marsh Ltd, Tower Place East, London EC3R 5BU

Map:

Marsh directions

Time and Date: 6.45 for 7pm start on 3rd October

Area 34

Clubs: Berkeley Square, Early Bird, Grosvenor Square, Holborn, Tube Talk

Venue: The Rugby Tavern, 19 Great James Street, London WC1N 3ES

Map: Rugby Tavern in great James Street WC1 - Google Maps

Time and Date: 6.30 for a 6.45 start on October 11th

 

These are great sessions to attend. I hope that many of you will come along to support these events.

Toasties and Ghosties - The Autumn District 71 (UK & Ireland) Toastmasters Conference

Posted by Freddie Daniells

On November 9th, 10th and 11th, Toastmasters will be hosting its 2007 UK & Ireland Autumn conference, Toasties and Ghosties in Harrogate. This promises to be a great occasion with the Humorous Speech and Table Topics contests being the main attraction.

I thought it worthwhile to catch up with our busy conference organiser, Johanna Haskins of the Thamesdown Speakers Club, to get the lowdown.

Q. Hi Johanna, we haven't met before. Tell us which club you are a member of and a bit about it?

A. I have been a member of Thamesdown Speakers Club for about 15 years. Thamesdown is a community club based on the main cut through between the M4 and M5 motorways at Blunsdon. We have been chartered for about 27 years and have about 30 members. We also still have 4 of our original charter members. We can also boast 2 District Toastmasters of the Year, not just in one club but actually in one family!

Q. Wow! 4 charter members after 27 years! That is dedication indeed! Tell us, why were you given the role of hosting this years Autumn conference?

A. Ah - now that's  a long story....Nick Benning [last years UK and Eire District Governor - Ed] and I were swapping emails on a new paper that Nick is writing on the District's requirements for hosting conferences. And we were both getting a bit concerned that none of the UK Clubs had come forward with a bid for the Autumn Conference and time was moving on. So in one of those rash moments, I said I would do some background research and source a venue if The Usual Suspects would support a 4th bid. [Thamesdown hosted the Autumn 2000 Conference, and I was Conference Director for Margaret Worthy in Coventry 2002 and for David Thompson in Bath 2005].

Q. I too had one of those rash moments when I agreed to be Area Governor! Tell us, what are the highlights that someone attending the conference should look forward to?

A. We have the All Yorkshire Ceroc Dance Champions giving us a display on the Friday. A super live band on the Saturday - the Craic until breakfast .....oh yes and some Toastmastery type things going on around the social aspects.

The Humorous Speech contest on the Saturday afternoon and Table Topics on the Sunday morning.

Q. Sounds fab! I see that there are educational workshops too. I know the ones I saw at the last conference were top class. Maybe you also tell us a little about the Toasties and Ghosties theme? Why did you choose it and what does it mean for me as an attendee?

A. Thamesdown always has a Halloween Party on a Ghosties and Toasties theme which is a shared event with the local Spiritualist Church  [hence the Toasties and the Ghosties] - so we thought we'd have our Halloween Party with the District this year! The Friday night is a fancy dress party - the idea being that not everyone is happy dressing up, so they can come as Toasties whilst the rest of us can rob the dressing up box and come as a ghostie or someone who has passed over....... But the serious stuff starts on the Saturday.

The logo was designed to show a Ghostie Toastie too!

Q. Tell us a little about the hotel and facilities there?

A. The Cairn Hotel is that wonderful mixture of High Edwardian Kitsch and late Victorian Yorkshire Confidence. It has a most beautiful Ball Room with an enormous sprung dance floor (largest in the North of England) painted in ice cream colours and genuine Edwardian Bakelite lampshades, a proper stage and real Corinthian pillars. The public rooms have just been refurbished, and are always full of fresh flowers. All the bedrooms are en suite, the majority have recently been upgraded and all come  with the usual tea/coffee, hairdryers and trouser presses. The staff are lovely - really, really helpful and very welcoming. They can supply interpreters for us Southerners too!

Q. Can they help us with the 3am Irish too?

I've heard Harrogate is a lovely place to visit. Can you tell us a little bit about it?

A. Harrogate is a Victorian Spa town - it has some beautiful shops, a super tea shop (Betty's) and a refurbished Turkish Bath.  Beautiful public gardens. It is surrounded by wonderful countryside. Oh yes, and within striking distance of the Theakstons's and Black Sheep breweries at Masham.

Q. Breweries? Forget the tea - where do I sign? When do people need to book by and how much does it cost?

A. As soon as possible if they want to be in the main hotel - I only have shared rooms left, no singles. Tickets start from day passes to the Educational Sessions and the Contests from £10. Book on line on the District web site or by email to me at [email protected].

Q. I can't imagine any of our members haven't persuaded their partners to join Toastmasters too but just on the off-chance are partners welcome as well?

A. Yes - provided they are housebroken and do not jump on the furniture, oh sorry - that's pets!

Q. Many thanks Johanna for your time. I know you are running around like the proverbial at the moment trying to get this organised. I am sure I speak for everyone in expressing our thanks for all your effort. Hopefully everyone will buy you a glass of your favourite over the course of the weekend.

A. Thank you - I am always open to such acts of bribery! I look forward to seeing as many Toastmasters from London at the conference as possible.

I too hope that we can get a good turnout of Toastmasters from the London clubs. The conference promises to be a great experience full of learning, great speeches, lots of meeting fellow Toastmasters from across the UK and Ireland combined with masses of fun too! For those needing a single room contact Johanna for details of other local hotels.

If you are interested in attending or learning more here are the key links that you need:

Toasties and Ghosties Booking Form

Latest news on conference from District 71 site

Please don't hesitate to contact anyone off either the London or your club committees to find out more details. Alternatively, ask a question in the comments - it may be that others will want to know the answer to your question too.

Dealing with Hecklers at Speakers Corner!

Posted by Freddie Daniells

Just got this note in from Christopher Hall, President of Broadgate Speakers and one of the main people organising the Toastmasters day out at London's Speakers Corner yesterday.

Elizabeth Ladimeji and Nima Jaaheri in action starring as Toastmaster yesterday

Hosting a table topics session in Hyde Park Speakers Corner is not for the faint hearted or those easily offended!! We were joined by three determined hecklers who certainly added value in toughening the speakers up. Quotes included:

“Are you a boy or a girl?”

“Get down, you are not from this country.” (Nor was he by the way!)

“We want our money back!”

“That was not very exciting”

“He looks like Woody Allen”

“Off, off, off, off, off” (Ok, that was the crowd addressing one of the hecklers who got up and didn't seem to think 90 seconds was remotely long enough.)

and much, much more! Hopefully, you get the flavour of the day!

We also got some tips from the hecklers themselves, many of whom in fairness were regular speakers at Hyde Park:

• Hecklers look for attention - give them some, and then move on with your speech.
• Appealing to a heckler to be polite or to their better nature never works. A better approach is to answer them back with funny but disparaging answers designed to make the crowd laugh at them.

Easier said than done – but after being heckled once, you are soon thinking up better strategies and responses to deal with them next time – after all, they seem to have a limited repertoire. As with everything in toastmasters, the best way is to learn by doing.

“Was it a horrifying event?” you might ask. Certainly not. We attracted a large crowd, possibly the largest of any speaker, especially thanks to Nima’s appeals for claps and cheers. More importantly they also stayed, which is quite remarkable for Speakers Corner where even the best of speakers have difficultly keeping their crowd. Several members of the public also agreed to speak and were warmly encouraged by our applause and cheering. Almost everyone wanted to repeat the experience, some even wanting to go back to heckle some of the hecklers.

See you there next year. We are going again!

It sounds like everyone had a ball. Remember, if you would like to have your event publicised just get in touch and we will happily write about it here.

August's Educational Awards

Posted by Freddie Daniells

Yay! More success at Toastmasters. The following people have achieved some of the various educational awards during the month of August:

Advanced Communicator Silver

Alan Robert Thomas - Grosvenor Square Speakers

Competent Communicator

Marcus Purcell - MLP! (Ernst & Young)
Mora Awosile - London Communicators
Stephen M. Fabian - London Communicators

As ever, a big congratulations from all on the Division B committee.

How to Improve at Functionary Roles workshop postponed

Posted by Freddie Daniells

Saj, the VPE at Holborn Speakers, has just told me that tonights workshop, How to Improve at Functionary roles, has been postponed due to the disruption caused by the industrial action on the Tube. I will post again here the new dates for when it is re-scheduled.

It is worth contacting your club committee to check whether your club meetings will be going ahead this week.