The London Speaker

Two new Areas for London Division B Toastmasters

Posted by Dorothea Stuart

The success of London Division B Toastmasters clubs means that we continue to expand.  Because of this we have not five but seven Areas in London this year.  Freddie Daniells worked hard with last year's Division B Council to put together a proposal to change our Areas - approved by the District 71 (UK and Ireland) Council meeting held at the Cotswold conference, May 2009.

Why?  Because some of the old Areas were getting too big and rather a lot for a (volunteer) Area Governor to manage. In addition we have more people completing Leadership Awards - taking a role such as Area Governor is a major step towards completing your Advanced Leader Silver.

The most immediate impact of the changes for clubs is that the groups for Area Contests will be different.

So...how are the new Areas made up?

Area 6	Cardinals	Corinthians	Olympians	Polish your Polish
Area 29	Athenians	Riverside	Trojans	West London
Area 31	Canary  Wharf	Citi Criers	Speakeasy @ CS	Thomson Reuters	WIBF
Area 33	Broadgate	Careerbuilders	MLP London Bridge	St Paul's	NZICA
Area 34	City of London	Holborn	LBS	Tube Talk
Area 45	Berkeley Square	Early Bird	Grosvenor Square	Whitehall
Area 47	London Communicators	Excalibur	Northern Lights	WIBF - City

The new Area Governors are already visiting their clubs- if you have any questions ask them when you see them!

Speaking to raise your professional profile

Posted by Dorothea Stuart

At every Toastmasters club we meet people who've developed and grown as a result of joining.  We thought you might enjoy hearing about some successes - particularly where members are using their speaking professionally.

Jenny Betts, Riverside Communicators finds she's increasingly asked to speak at conferences and other events.  And she is doing so with a confidence she wouldn't have thought possible 4 years ago.

Jenny, why are you interested in professional speaking?  I speak to promote myself and my business (I'm a solicitor). Talking at conferences etc. has raised my profile in the local community and beyond.

Why did you join Toastmasters?  I joined Riverside because I was giving presentations at work and occasionally being asked to speak externally.  I didn't know if I was a good speaker or not and thought I should find out!

How have you benefited by joining Toastmasters?  I was very nervous about speaking to outside groups even though I talk about areas of law I'm expert in.  Now I am a much better speaker and have benefited in ways I never imagined.  For example, I'm a much more effective leader in my business.  I have better relationships with colleagues because my communication skills have improved.  I find the combination of structure, the support from other people, the mentoring and constant feedback that you get at Toastmasters is invaluable.

How has your professional speaking developed? I'm being approached to speak mostly as a result of word of mouth referrals.  During the past 12 months I have spoken at a London Borough of Richmond conference, for MenCap, Action for Elder Abuse, and Kingston Hospital.  This week I spoke to our local ladies Probus club having been recommended by the men's club. 

What are you learning from speaking to different audiences? I notice how much more confident I've become. For example, handling interruptions and questions.  On Monday I had to contend with noisy air conditioning and traffic.  I took this in my stride.  I also find that I'm able to adapt what I'm saying in response to the audience - I'm learning not to be tied to my script.

What's next?  I feel I'm at a crossroads at the moment.  I have come a long way so I'll be setting myself some new goals to continue developing my speaking skills and make the next leap up.  I'll also continue to support my fellow club members - we all learn such a lot from each other.

Thanks Jenny and good luck with your future speaking engagements.

Two top speakers - a double dose of fun and wisdom

Posted by Dorothea Stuart

A double whammy!  Distinguished Toastmasters Bob Ferguson DTM  and Andrew Brammer DTM are running a workshop on Tuesday 14th July 2009:

Competion Speaking - Why Bother (How to make the most of all competitions) - led by Bob

Projecting your Voice (The importance of being heard) - led by Andrew

According to Bob competitions offer us one of the best opportunities to experience a different world of speaking, push ourselves to the limit and put all skills to use in one speech.  In his 45 minute session he'll reveal one of his closely guarded secrets - a simple process making successful competion speech writing easy! Bob is a double District (UK and Ireland) Champion so I'm sure we can learn a lot from him.

Of course having written your speech you need to make your message come over as strongly as possible.  Andrew will give an interactive session with exercises to develop your vocal power.  Andrew has been our District Humorous Speech Champion. He's also a gifted story teller as many of you will know if you've attended his other workshops or perhaps heard him on BBC radio.

Venue: Quaker Meeting House, 289 High Street Berkamsted, Herts, HP4 1AJ (home of Berkhamsted Speakers, Division G)

Time: 7.45pm.  Cost: GBP 5 including light refreshments

To book please contact Alastair Watson Gandy [email protected] or call Rex Tyler 01442 863 584.

 

London Toastmasters Educational Awards June 2009

Posted by Dorothea Stuart

30 June 2009 marked the end of another Toastmaster year...not surprisingly it focused our minds and we achieved more educational awards than in any other month in the year!  28 people have become Competent Communicators, 13 have completed their Competent Leader award, and 12 have completed advanced awards.

And what does all this add up to?  Toastmasters in London Division B have collectively gained 129 educational awards in 2008/09 - even more than the previous year!

Congratulations to everyone gaining awards in June.  And congratulations to the committees and club members who have supported and encouraged all of us (myself included) to get those last speeches or leadership projects completed.  We look forward to continued success for all our members in 2009/10.

Competent Communicator

James Barnett. London Cardinals. Area 6

Christopher Boden. St Pauls Speakers. Area 33

Anne Daly. Women in Banking and Finance. Area 31

Catherine Desson. Citi Criers. Area 31

Roger Harding.  Early Bird Speakers. Area 34

Maria Hemming.  Riverside Communicators. Area 29

Simon Holliday. London Cardinals. Area 6

Guy Hutchinson. London Olympians. Area 6

Carlos Johnson.  Broadgate Speakers in the City. Area 33

Julian Lamb. Broadgate Speakers in the City. Area 33

Kojo O'Hene. Trojan Speakers Club. Area 29

George Metcalfe.  Early Bird Speakers. Area 34

Marina Morozova.  WIBF - City. Area 31

Bill Moss.  Ciy of London. Area 34

Heather Mullins.  WIBF - City. Area 31

Michal Misztal. Polish Your Polish. Area 6

Rachel Ormrod. London Cardinals. Area 6

Anabela Pinto. Women in Banking and Finance. Area 31

Imal Ratnayake.  Trojan Speakers Club. Area 29

Christoph Ruedt. London Communicators. Area 33

Pamela Smith.  Riverside Communicators. Area 29

Caroline Swain. Broadgate Speakers in the City. Area 33

Adolfo Tunon. Citi Criers. Area 31

Joann Walsh.  St Paul's Speakers. Area 33

Paul Walsh.  London Cardinals. Area 6

Errol Williamson.  Trojan Speakers Club. Area 29

Rachel Whitehouse.  WIBF - City. Area 31

Himanshu Vora. Trojan Speakers. Area 29

Advanced Communicator Bronze

Nicola Bishop.  WIBF - City. Area 31

Jacyntha Crawley.  London Athenians. Area 29

Sean Kennedy. London Communicators. Area 33

Kerry-Anne Smith. Trojan Speakers. Area 29

Dorothea Stuart.  Riverside Communicators. Area 29

Advanced Communicator Silver

David Bennett. Tube Talk. Area 34

Clive Broadbent. Canary Wharf Communicators. Area 31

Jeremy Jacobs. London Corinthians. Area 6

Desire Lan. London Corinthians. Area 6

Deepa Srinivas. Women in Banking and Finance. Area 31

Competent Leader

Camilla Allwood. Women in Banking and Finance. Area 31

Armando Armellini. MLP! London Bridge Speakers. Area 33

Ola Aralepo.  TubeTalk Toastmasters.  Area 34

Iwona Dolecka.  Polish Your Polish. Area 6

Peter Girvan.  TubeTalk Toastmasters.  Area 34

Bela Patel.  Women in Banking and Finance.  Area 31

Rory Marriott.  St Pauls Speakers.  Area 33

James Mills. London Corinthians. Area 6

Maria-Jesu Rojo. Citi Criers. Area 31

Kerry-Anne Smith. Trojan Speakers. Area 29

Deepa Srinivas. MLP! London Bridge Speakers MLP. Area 33

Ogango Thigo. Citi Criers. Area 31

Himanshu Vora.  Trojans Speakers Club. Area 29

Advanced Leader Bronze

Ola Aralepo.  TubeTalk Toastmasters.  Area 34

Richard Stacey. Early Bird Speakers. Area 34

Educational Awards	Last year 2007/08	June 2009	Division B year to date
Competent Communicator	51	28	65
Advanced Comm Bronze	13	5	12
Adv Comm Silver	8	5	6
Adv Comm Gold	3		3
Competent Leader	15	13	28
Old Comp Leader	21		n/a
Adv Leader Bronze	4	2	8
Adv Leader Silver	1		2
Leadership Excellence Award	1		4
Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM)			1
Total	117	53	129

Wordnik: new website for word lovers

Posted by Dorothea Stuart

Wordnik is a new website which does more than the online dictionaries you may be using.  In addition to defining words, giving the derivation , pronunciation, related words etc it gives examples of usuage.  Not just from literature.  It also gives current examples of the word being used e.g. on Twitter.

If you register you can submit notes on words, your version of pronunciation etc.  Looks as if it will be an excellent resource for Grammarians and all Toastmasters.

Division B drink up tonight! Sign up here!

Posted by Freddie Daniells

Just a quick reminder. We are having our celebration drinks for all Toastmasters tonight. The premise is simply to celebrate the great results that the Division has achieved over the past year. There will be no speeches or any reason to prepare anything. Just bring a pair or drinking boots (or stilettos depending on your inclination).

We are meeting upstairs at 7pm at The Cheshire Cheese pub. It would be great to get as many folks along as possible. Committee members from both this year and next, please come along. Division Council members please come along. Members please come along – the more the merrier! Please feel free to bring along partners etc.

The address for The Cheshire Cheese pub is 5 Little Essex Street, London WC2R 3LD. A map is below:

There is no charge for coming. If you have a chance please register below as it will help us keep an eye on numbers. However if you are not able to register then feel free to turn up anyway.

Look forward to seeing you there this evening!