The London Speaker

Seeking violin playing Toastmasters....

From Hilary Briggs

There's a wonderful grand piano at the venue of our upcoming Toastmasers Boadicea Conference, 8-10 November 2013 near Colchester (www.boadicea2013.org.uk). As a cellist, I thought, wow, what a great opportunity to have a bit of informal music at conference as well.

I've recruited Clive Broadbent as pianist. I'm now looking for a violinist to complete the trio... Please get in touch if you play (we'll adapt the music chosen to suit the players) and can make the Conference!

Look forward to hearing from you.  Click here to email me 

Humorous Speech and Table Topics Workshop with 2 Champions

From Swarajit Das, President Bloomsbury Speakers

On Monday, 29 July 2013, Bloomsbury Speakers will have the pleasure of hosting a very special Humorous Speech and Table Topics Workshop at our regular venue, upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub. Use the following link to book your place: **VENUE CHANGE TO  Real Man Pizza Company 91-95 Clerkenwell Road, London, London EC1R 5BX ""

http://bloomsbury-workshop-29-july-2013.eventbrite.co.uk/

The workshop will comprise two hour-long sessions run by a pair of speakers considered among the best in their respective areas of expertise: Ola Aralepo from Tube Talk, who was the 2011 UK & Ireland Humorous Speech Contest Champion, and David Jones from our sister-club Holborn Speakers, four-time winner of the UK & Ireland Table Topics Contest!

With the autumn contest season (featuring both of the above contests) just a couple of months away, I would highly encourage you all to take advantage of this rare opportunity to learn from two of the highest achieving Toastmasters in the country. The aim of this workshop is that you too should be equipped with the tips you need to enter (and hopefully win!) the contests later this year, but even if you choose not to enter, you will still benefit from improved skills in humorous and impromptu speaking.

Attendance is FREE but pre-booking is required at the link above. Places are limited, so get yourself booked in as soon as possible (though please let us know if you later find that you can no longer attend). Feel free to get in touch via the eventbrite link if you have any questions.

STOP PRESS: William Dempster is at Watford Speaker this evening!

Yes he double booked himself!  William will be giving his two contest speeches at WATFORD SPEAKERS THIS EVENING (Tues 16 July) NOT Ware Speakers. He will now be going to Ware on 6 August. He say on 6 August "I will be there with a large bottle of liquid gold and a much more polished rendition of both my speeches to make up for any inconvenience caused by my lack of organisational skill!"

Division B Club Officer Training - get your name on the list!

From Michelle Cheung, Area 45 Governor

Dear Division B Toastmasters, committee members are invited to attend our Club Officer Training in early August.  A minimum of four club officers from each club need to attend. We hope your whole committees will come along!  

• Dates: Friday 2nd August 2013 and Tuesday 6th August
• Time: 6.45 pm for 7.15 pm PROMPT start. End: 9.15pm.
• Venue: Coin Street neighbourhood centre, 108 Stamford Street, South Bank, London SE1 9NH (close to Waterloo station)
• Directions: www.coinstreet.org/howtofindus/coin-street-neighbourhood-centre.html
• Attendance: Presidents please relay the preferred attendance date of each Club Officer to your respective Area Governor.
• Programme: To be advised shortly

Area 6	Area 29
Area Gov: Peter Goodwin	Area Gov: Chris Pennisi
London Olympians	London Athenians
London Corinthians	West London Speakers
London Cardinals	Trojan Speakers
Phoenix Speakers	Riverside Communicators
Area 52	Area 45
Area Gov: Jill Segal	Area Gov: Michelle Cheung
Berkeley Square Speakers	Covent Garden Speakers
Grosvenor Square Speakers	Early Bird Speakers
Imperial College Speakers	Excalibur Speakers
Kings Speakers
Polish your Polish
Area 53
Area Gov: James Burke
Mole Valley Speakers
Epsom Speakers Club
LBM Speakers

 

 

Four in one for Excalibur Speakers!

From Jacqueline Purcell, Division B Governor

Not content with one achievement, Excalibur, London’s only advanced public speaking club, launched its 15^th year anniversary with David Jones' rousing toast, followed by four powerful highlights in one night:

1. The Excalibur Speakers presidential handover from Simon Cooper to Andrew Bennett, DTM
2. The handover from Jacqueline Purcell, to Michelle Cheung the new Area 45 Governor
3. The launch of the Distinguished Ladies Series by Kate McNeilly,DTM, who gave a motivational speech that highlighted the significant role of women, past and present both within and outside of Toastmasters
4. A rousing speech by UK & Ireland International Speech Champion William Dempster who will represent the District at the World Championship of public speaking in Cincinnati in August.

Excalibur recently announced their membership drive and opened their doors to members of other clubs who have seven speeches under their belt.

 

 

Special events w/c 15 July 2013

Tues 16 July 6.45pm Table Topics workshop with David Jones at Holborn Speakers. Venue: Upstairs function room,The George Pub, 213 The Strand, London, WC2R 1AP. You'll find a map here: holbornspeakers.org.uk

Tue 16 July William Dempster UK & Ireland International Speech Championwill be giving a speech at Ware Speakers, Hertfordshire. CORRECTION - NOW AT WATFORD SPEAKERS.

Wed 17 July 6.30pm Inaugural meeting of Clerkenwell Speakers The Real Man Pizza Company, 91-95 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1R 5BX. See more on Meet-Up and below.  Come and support a new club!

Another successful event for London Toastmasters

From Jacqueline Purcell, Division B Governor

On 9 July, 2013, in a packed lecture theatre at the London Business School Public Speaking Club, Professor Richard Jolly, (Professor of Organisational Behaviour), spoke on: ‘Why we forget almost every speech we hear and how to overcome the barriers to effective speaking’. 

Professor Jolly quoted Dunbar’s number from anthopologist Robin Dunbar who suggested a limit to the number of  people with whom we can maintain relationships ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar's_number ). He added that due to Dunbar’s number and other factors, communication in companies is seriously in need of attention with ‘95% of employees unaware of the company plan and strategy’. He praised the attendees for their commitment to learning communication techniques at Toastmasters so that their public speaking becomes more effective.

Picture Caption: Jacqueline Purcell, a university lecturer and Division B Governor met with Professor Jolly at London Business School Public Speaking Club

 

What's in a name? A club story of failure and success!

From Diogo Xavier Luís, President and Shyam Gupta, VP PR

Two years ago,Karen Thurman started a toastmasters club, called Speakers 25 in the City. She focused her club on three areas 1) Providing a fun and supportive environment for the art of learning public speaking 2) Developing members speaking and leadership skills and 3) Spreading the Toastmasters vision.

In May 2013 we were proud to achieve Charter status under the determined leadership of then President Conroy Pretorius (with Karen’s objectives guiding us). We meet in ‘The Bunch of Grapes Pub’ based in historical Leadenhall Market, City of London.  We’re a club where the meeting room is always full to the brim with an energetic vibe.  We’re proud of our achievements and strive to keep improving with every meeting and every speech.

However the journey was challenging and took two years, three venues and hard lessons learned.  Our story is NOT one of speedy success or strategic brilliance, instead, it's the most common story of success - perseverance, stubbornness and humility.

After losing our venue, for the second time, we were on the brink of collapse. Hard decisions were made. We changed everything: committee, venue, and name.   How did we chose the name? In true Toastmasters style we organised a table topics competition to select the best name, and 'London Public Speakers' was chosen.   The main reason why is because 'it will be the first name to show up in Google" when looking for public speaking events in London. This is true!

Fortunately, these changes did the trick of turning the club around and we've chartered, achieved two CCs, and have many more members join.

In a world where fast is good and failure is bad, it might sound strange to celebrate our story. But, Toastmasters is where leaders are made. It is where we get an opportunity to act as leaders before we know what being a leader truly is. That is our story. Two years of trying, learning and trying again. This made us understand what being a leader is about. We have now achieved what we always wanted to set out in the beginning - building an open, welcoming and fun club.

This journey was only possible thanks to our club sponsor Andy O'Sullivan, who guided us and encouraged us to achieve our goals throughout the good and the bad times. Thank you very much.

Our steady success is also a proof of the ever growing interest for Toastmasters, its education curricula and public speaking. We get more guests every meeting, and the biggest challenge is to engage with every single one of them to become members. Our medium-term challenges are already changing into “where to fit all our members” and “how to get all our members speech slots”. The champagne problems, one is glad to worry about.

Please come and visit us:

Meetings: 1st & 3rd Monday of the month. 18:20 for 18:30 start

Address: Bunch of Grapes (London Public Speakers), 14 Lime Street Passage, EC3M 7AN

16 July Table Topics Workshop with David Jones

From Gary Shaw, President Holborn Speakers

On Tuesday 16 July at 6.45pm we are very fortunate to have David Jones, who's also a long-standing member of the club, giving his excellent workshop on Table Topics.  

Members of other Toastmasters club are very welcome to come along.This is something of huge benefit to speakers of all levels of experience.

Venue: Upstairs function room,The George Pub, 213 The Strand, London, WC2R 1AP. You'll find a map here: holbornspeakers.org.uk

 

 

Come to the inaugural meeting of Clerkenwell Speakers 17 July

From Ayse Lowe, President and Jay Surti, VP PR, Clerkenwell Speakers

Holborn and Bloomsbury speakers are delighted to sponsor our new London club -  Clerkenwell Speakers!

Please come along to our inaugural meeting on the 17 July 2013 at The Real Man Pizza Company, 91-95 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1R 5BX.

Farringdon line is the closest to our meeting location. We will meet every 1st and 3rd Wednesday. New members are most welcome. Please come along and meet us or email us at [email protected] for more information about the club and membership.

You can find more information about us on www.clerkenwellspeakers.org.uk/ and our Meetup page http://www.meetup.com/Clerkenwell-Speakers-Public-Speaking-London-Toastmasters/events/125904292/