The London Speaker

London Toastmasters Area 6 Contest Results

From Gary Edwards, Area 6 Governor

I'm very pleased to announce the success of the Area 6 contest on Monday. We were treated to an extraordinary evening packed with inspirational speeches and enlightening evaluations.

The competitors in the International Speech contest were: Simon Bucknall (London Cardinals), Mike Silverman (London Corinthians), David Jones (London Olympians) and Margaret Kramarz (Polish your Polish).

And the results: 1st Place Simon Bucknall 2nd Place Margaret Kramarz

The Evaluation Contest competitors were: Glenn Jones (London Cardinals), Margaret Kramarz (London Corinthians), Laura McCracken (London Olympians) and Gosia Gorna (Polish your Polish).

And the results were: 1st Place Laura McCracken 2nd Place Gosia Gorna.

Also instrumental in the running of the evening were Graeme Philips (Chief Judge), Liz Hobbs (mystery speaker), the timers, the counters, the judges and of course London Corinthians for supplying the room and a wonderful contest chair in the form of Steven Bastian.

Our winners go on to compete in the All London Final on Saturday 24 April in West Kensington, SW6.

Pictured below from left to right:

Gosia Gorna, Margaret Kramartz, Graeme Philips, Glenn Jones, Gary Edwards (Area Gov), Simon Bucknall, Laura McCracken, Mike Silverman, Steven Bastian (Contest Chairman).

London Toastmasters Area 45 Contest Results

From David Adams, Area 45 Governor

The Area 45 Contests were held on 18 March 2010. Contestants were from the three chartered clubs in the area, Earlybird Speakers, Berkeley Square Speakers and London’s oldest club, Grosvenor Square Speakers. Both contests produced a very high standard. There were two contestants from each club allowed under the area size rules. The winners of the two contests were:

Evaluation Contest

Winner: Gautam Chadda (Grosvenor Square) – who will go forward to the All London Division B Contest

2nd Place: Tony Duff (Earlybirds)

3rd Place: Prakash Patel (Berkeley Square)

International Speech Contest

Winner: Beate Rissbacher (Berkeley Square) – who will go forward to the All London Division B contest

2nd Place: Richard Stacey (Berkeley Square)

3rd Place: George Metcalfe (Earlybirds)

The Mystery Speaker was Kwame Akpokavi from Athenians. Adam Ginalski of Corinthians and Polish Your Polish was Chief Judge. Lesley Lear of Earlybirds led a spirited Table topics session

Thanks to Jonathan Müller of Earlybirds who organised the contest night  and who really drummed up terrific support from that club. Unfortunately the picture taking was less terrific - everyone was blurred unlike the speeches and the evaluations which were sharp and terrific to listen to.

We are most grateful to Geronimo Inns for giving us, for the second time, free of charge, the use of the function room at the Phoenix Pub and Restaurant in Palace Street, Victoria.

London Toastmasters Events week commencing 29 March 2010

Posted by Dorothea Stuar

Public speaking, London Toastmasters events this week and looking ahead:

Mon 29 March 7.15pm Area 6 International Speech and Evaluation Contests (club winners compete in 2nd round contest). Thistle Hotel Westminster, 45-79 Buckingham Palace Road SW1 0QT.  Area 6 clubs: London Cardinals, London Corinthians, London Olympians, Polish Your Polish

Tues 30 March 6.30pm City Speakers. International Speech Contest.

Tues 30 March 6.30pm Area 31 International Speech and Evaluation Contests (club winners compete in 2nd round contest).  Hosted by Speakeasy @ Credit Suisse. Area 31 clubs: Canary Wharf Communicators, Citi Criers, Speakeasy @Credit Suisse, Speakers Corner (McGraw Hill), WIBF-Canary Wharf. Contact Area Governor Rory Marriott if you would like to attend.

Wed 31 March 7.00pm Area 47 International Speech club winners compete in 2nd round contest).and Evaluation Contests. Hosted by WIBF-City. Area 47 clubs: Excalibur Speakers, London Communicators, Northern Lights, WIBF-City.  Contact Area Governor Lynne Cantor if you would like to attend.

Wed 31 March  6.00pm for 6.30pm start AREA 33 CONTEST NIGHT (club winners compete in a 2nd round contest). Hosted by MLP London Bridge Speakers.  Area 33 clubs: Broadgate Speakers, Careerbuilder Speakers, MLP London Bridge Speakers, St Paul's Speakers, NZICA Bank Speakers,Contact Area Governor Andy O'Sullivan if you would like to attend.

Contact Area Governors via email links - see top right of this page.

NB The last Area Contest for Area 34 takes place on 15 April, 6.30pm for 7pm start, hosted by LBS Toastmasters.

Book ahead for the Division B event: Discover your Presentation Power with Fergus McClelland expert speaker trainer and voice coach on Tues 13 April. Read more...

Remember London (Division B) Contest Finals are on Saturday 24 April.

London Toastmasters Area 29 Contest Results

From Lilian Nandi, Area 29 Governor

What a great contest! We would very much like to thank all the contestants, functionaries, judges for the hard work they put in.  A big thank you also to our hugely supportive audience. 

We were treated to speeches on very different topics ranging from the importance of looking after our health, the causes and cures for stammering to our justice system or sometimes the lack of it. 

International Speech Contestants were: Jessica Bass, London Athenians, Harminder Dhillon, Trojans Speakers, Jenny Teuten, West London Speakers,  Errol Williamson, Riverside Communicators.  

Jenny Ma, our mystery speaker from MLP! London Bridge Speakers, spoke about ethics in the workplace. Our evaluators were all exceptional.  The evaluation contestants were: James Carr, West London Speakers, Harminder Dhillon, Trojans Speakers, Yvonne Masset, London Athenians, Errol Williamson, Riverside Communicators.

Pictured above from left to right:  Chris Jolly (Evaluation Contest Chairman), Jenny Teuten, Kam Bains (International Speech Contest Chairman), James Carr, Jessica Bass, Errol Williamson, Jenny Ma, Harminder Dhillon, Yvonne Masset, Joydev Nandi. Our photographer: Bob Nisbet, WLS.

The Results

Area 29 International Speech Contest 2010

First Place: Errol Williamson

Second Place: Harminder Dhillon

Area 29 Evaluation Contest 2010

First Place: Errol Williamson

Second Place: Harminder Dhillon

Errol will compete in the next round. The All London Finals on Saturday 24 April 2010.

Storytelling Workshop Wed 28 April at Bloomsbury Speakers

From  Craig Reid, VPE Bloomsbury Speakers

How many times have you rushed straight to the heart of a story without providing the context...the drama?  Teasing the listening to want to hear every detail?  On Wednesday 28 April 2010 you will have the opportunity to see this in action and learn the fundamentals of storytelling from Giles Abbott.

Storytelling has been used for millennia to communicate message and vision. For all the modern presentation tools, storytelling remains the most powerful communication tool at our disposal.

Giles Abbott’s training workshop harnesses this power, and teaches methods to bring this communicative force into your public speaking and business presentations, giving you the confidence to address large groups as comfortably as you do a table-round discussion. Become magnetic! Make nerves your ally! Be yourself, but better!

This is an exclusive Toastmasters event in the friendly and cosy atmosphere of The Rugby Tavern. Places are limited and booking will be done on a 1st come 1st served basis. There will be a £10 charge to covers Giles’ fee for the evening.

If you are interested in booking a place follow this booking link: http://bloomspeak.eventbrite.com/

We look forward to seeing you for an evening of learning and storytelling.

London Toastmasters Events Week Commencing 22 March 2010

Posted by Dorothea Stuart

Toastmasters and other public speaking events this week

Mon 22 March 7.00pm London Communicators N1. International Speech and Evaluation Contests.

Tues 23 March 6.30pm Bank Speakers EC2. International Speech and Evaluation Contests.

Tues 23 March 7.30pm Ware Speakers Club (Herts) meeting with voice coach Frances Parkes (see post below)

Wed 24 March 7.00pm Excalibur Speakers WC2. Intern'l Speech and Evaluation Contests.

Wed 24 March  7.00pm AREA 29 CONTEST NIGHT (club winners compete in a 2nd round contest). The Hop Poles 17-19 King Street, Hammersmith, London W6 9HR.  Close to Hammersmith Underground and bus station.

Book ahead for the ACCA Central London Breakfast Club workshop on 24 March: Learn how to speak louder without shouting or losing the melody in your voice!  Read more..

Book ahead for the Division B event: Discover your Presentation Power with Fergus McClelland expert speaker trainer and voice coach on Tues 13 April. Read more...

Remember London (Division B) Contest Finals are on Saturday 24 April.

Voice Coaching Event Ware Speakers Club

From Kevin Baggs, President Ware Speakers Club

Please join us for a special meeting on Tuesday 23 March 2010.  Award-winning voice coach and voice analyst Frances Parkes will be with us showing us how to improve our vocal technique and giving feedback to our speakers.

You are most welcome to come along and share the experience!

Time: 7.30pm

Venue: Waggers Public House, Kibes Lane, Ware, Hertfordshire SG12 7ED.  Close to Ware Station

Improve your presentation and vocal power. Book 13 April.

Posted by Dorothea Stuart

Would you like to have more vocal power?  For your voice to be more expressive?  If so we have a unique workshop for you to attend on Tuesday 13 April.  Fergus McClelland professional speaker trainer and voice coach extraordinaire will be revealing speaking secrets used by the greats and showing us how we can simply and easily work on these skills ourselves.

Our own Division Governor Hilary Briggs has experienced a powerful improvement since having a short session.

“I recently attended a taster session by Fergus to demonstrate the skills and techniques he uses for voice training.  I jumped in as volunteer... He had an impressive array of equipment to measure and record the sound frequencies and patterns in people’s voices. He used this to take a 'before' reading of my voice as I spoke. He  gave me a series of exercises to loosen up  and then got me to repeat the same words.  We saw the 'after' reading of my voice ... all very scientific.

And the result? All in the audience agreed that my voice had dramatically more power and variety! And that was after only 5 minutes!”

If you would like to achieve an improvement in your voice and public speaking come along on 13 April.  If you know other people (whether Toastmasters or not) who would benefit ask them to join us!  6.30pm for 7pm start. Ending 9pm.  Contribution: £5 per person

 

More info in post below.

London Toastmasters Events week commencing 15 March 2010

Posted by Dorothea Stuart

Toastmasters and other public speaking events this week

Mon 15 March 7.00pm Northern Lights Speakers NW1. International Speech and Evaluation Contests.

Tues 16 March 6.10pm MLP London Bridge Speakers SE1. International Speech and Evaluation Contests. (Contact club if you would like to attend).

Tues 16 March 6.30pm Holborn Speakers WC1. International Speech and Evaluation Contests.

Wed 17 March 6.00pm Canary Wharf Communicators E14. Intern'l Speech and Evaluation Contests.(Contact club if you would like to attend)

Wed 17 March 7.15pm  Riverside Communicators.Twickenham Intern'l Speech and Evaluation Contests.

Thurs 18 March  6.30pm AREA 45 CONTEST NIGHT (club winners compete in a 2nd round contest). Phoenix pub and restaurant, 14 Palace Street Victoria, SW1E 5JA

Fri 19 March 7.00pm  Trojans Speakers St Aidan's Hall Ealing Broadway W5.  Intern'l Speech and Evaluation Contest.  Check website for new venue details.

Book ahead for the ACCA Central London Breakfast Club workshop on 24 March: Learn how to speak louder without shouting or losing the melody in your voice!  Read more..

Book ahead for the Division B event: Discover your Presentation Power with Fergus McClelland on Tues 13 April.   Book your place - Link at top of page.

Remember London (Division B) Contest Finals are on Saturday 24 April.

Put 24 April in your diary now!

Posted by Dorothea Stuart

As we enjoy our club contests we are looking ahead to the seven Area Contests and then...The All London Division B Contests.  This year the London Finals of the International Speech and Evaluation Contests will be held on SATURDAY 24 April in West London SW6 (Earls Court/West Brompton).  Put this date in your diary now!

We will have workshops in the morning.  A short break for lunch followed by the contests in the afternoon.  More information will follow shortly.

The London winners will go on to compete in the District 71 UK & Ireland Finals in Sligo 14-16 May (as part of the District Land of Heart's Desire Conference Read more below).  The Conference includes keynote speaker Darren LaCroix World Champion of Public Speaking.  If you missed it the first time watch his video:

The winner of the UK & Ireland International Speech Contest will go on to compete at the Toastmasters International Convention Palm Desert, California 11-14 August 2010.