Maidenhead Speakers Club held its 27^th Annual Dinner on  Saturday 20^th Feb) 2010 at the Pines Hotel in Burnham.  Around 50 current and former members attended including Norman Fox, one of the founding members of the club and who went on to become President of the Toastmasters clubs of Britain and Ireland.

After a drinks reception and a welcome by Club President Ian Rees, members enjoyed a three course dinner before being raucously entertained by a Tall Tales speaking contest. Guerrillas in Guatemala (Monica Horton) rubbed shoulders with a brave James Bond (Steve Catchick) , a wooden Casanova (Keith Clarke), the Fairy of Magic Coins (Karen Szulakowska)and the King of Merseyside (Eric Elliott).  Keith Clarke was judged the best speaker by popular vote and was presented with the winner’s trophy by Gerard Pillai, the previous year’s winner.

Norman Rhodes  presented an Norman Fox for his long-standing services to the club, on the occasion of his membership lapsing after so many years.

Adrian Sutton was Sergeant at Arms ,  Jacqui Hogan made the Toast and Mary Fraser said Grace.

Mireia Fontbernat and Jacqui Hogan counted the votes for the Tall Tales  Contest.

Ben de Candole did an excellent job as Tall Tales  Contest Chair.

On behalf of the club, Ian also thanked Joyce Rhodes  and her helpers (she says there weren’t any!) for organising the whole evening.

Mr. Keith Clarke, Tall Tales contest winner; Mrs. Joyce Rhodes, Event Organiser; Ben De Candole, Contest Chair at Maidenhead Speakers Club Annual Dinner, 20th Feb 2010

The next club Event is our International Speech and Evaluation Contest on March 8th.

Here are 6 tips to get you going:

1.  They key word is “improve”. Whatever your skill level now, you can get better. Even the great speakers we know today and from history, such as Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, Martin Luther King, had to start somewhere. Margaret Thatcher famously spent many hours developing, with a coach, her speaking voice to enhance her appeal to the public. Churchill spent hours rehearsing those well-known speeches in front of a mirror, over and over again. Whatever improvement you make is progress . If it is standing in front of an audience that you fear most, then that is where to start – building confidence. If you do presentations at work but think they are ‘boring’, then you may need to work on the structure  of the speech or the vocal variety in your voice. Whatever level you are at, forget absolute targets like “I want to speak like Obama” and restate your target as an improvement from where you are now.

2. Get advice. Public speaking is a topic – it can be learnt. Centuries ago, when speech was the main form of communication, it was taught as a study subject and known as  “rhetoric” – the art of being able to construct spoken words and sentences to make an impact.   There are books, experts and clubs out there that will help you decide which aspect of your public speaking is good and what can be improved.

3. Join a Toastmasters Club. If you are reading this, you are probably already aware that there is a Toastmasters affiliated club in Maidenhead that meets every two weeks. Active members get to speak at almost every club meeting – that’s a LOT of practise.  Why else join a Toastmasters club  ? Well for a start, the ’secrets’ of becoming a confident public speaker are distilled down into 10 projects that you work on as part of your membership. Learn how to make an impact, learn how to inspire an audience,  learn how to add variety to your voice and use body gestures confidently. And, of course, meet other like-minded people who are there for the same reason you are.

4. Watch, listen and learn from the best. The speeches of the famous can be found on YouTube and other internet sites. You can buy or download audio of the best speeches in the world. Notice the good speakers on TV and Radio.  Notice the way the sentences they speak are constructed, how they use pauses, and the rate at which they speak. Good speaking is all around you if you take the time to listen. It’s probably best to focus on one aspect of a speech when listening to  it to learn. For example, in Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, notice how the pauses in the speech are in a very different place to where you would see commas and full stops  on the written page. Pauses and change of pace are used for dramatic effect.

5. Practise, practise, practise. Unfortunately you cannot improve your speaking skills by reading and watching only – although that helps. You need to practise and this is where finding opportunities to do so is important. The good news in my experience is that most people DON’T want to speak in public. So when there is a need for some announcement to be given , a reading to be made, a meeting to be chaired, or a presentation to give to a network group,  if you volunteer you will more often that not get chosen! Choose to speak and learn from the experience – most audiences are a lot more forgiving than you think. And who knows where it might lead..members at our Toastmasters club have offered to give after dinner speeches to ‘fill a gap’.. and gone on to make money from speaking.

6. Finally, if you are going to speak soon, take some tips from project 2 in the Toastmasters Competent Communicator manual. Organise your speech. It should have a strong opening, a well structured middle and an impactful end. For the opening steer away from the obvious “Hello..” and “My name is…”. Plenty of time to say that later – whilst you have the audience’s full attention say something that will grab them and make them want to listen to the rest of your speech. For the middle section, the key thing is to make sure that what you are saying links to the argument or point you are putting across and that the way you present them makes it easy to follow where you are. Lastly, at the end, leave with an impact : re-state the point or points you want to make, highlight the conclusion, or ask a rhetorical question.

You too can be a better speaker in 2010. It takes courage, some planning and commitment, but, who knows, one day we could be learning from your speeches on YouTube.

“Too many words per slide“, “the slides detracted from your presence“, “too many slides“,  “you looked at the laptop and lost eye contact” and so on.

So here’s an excellent example of HOW to do it from Pranav Mistry speaking at TEDIndia.

Notice in this presentation , among other things:

• Words on slides, yes, but only to emphasize the spoken word
• Mix of pictures and video – most laptops perfectly capable of this now
• Speech and slides synchronised

OK, so this is a big event and he probably had an army of IT and communication experts helping him put this together.

Still , food for thought when you are next using Powerpoint.

For some excellent advice on putting together your next Powerpoint presentation , try Andrew Abela’s Extreme Presentation Method.

(Incidentally Andrew  happens to be an old school friend of mine, who I lost contact with when he emigrated and then made contact with again via a random coincidence in a bar in London – how it happened will be a topic for a speech one day!)

Liam

These are the dates for club events and contests for the first half of 2010.

Note other key dates in first half of 2010

Feb 13^th Maidenhead Schools Half Term

April 5^th Easter Sunday

May 3^rd, May 31^st May Bank Holidays

June 11^th 2010 World Cup starts!

We knew we were in for some surprises when TME Keith Clarke’s pre-meeting invite requested that we turn up dressed in ‘red or green’. This instruction was interpreted fairly liberally by the 20 or so who attended : wine red, mauve, lime green, tinsel green, maroon all counted apparently, on shoes, skirts and shirts or on trousers, ties and tops, not to mention the Ferrari red of past President Steve Catchick’s dancing trousers.
President Ian Rees opened the meeting with a presentation on the Club Success Plan, something every TM club should have if it is to continue to progress. The annual awards slowly covering up our club banner are a testament to the club’s dedication to following a plan over the years- what happens when the banner is completely covered was not explained. There was some discussion, again, about the CL programme and whether it was too challenging or complex. Those who are following it seem less daunted by it than those yet to start.

Maidenhead Speakers Club Christmas Meeting 2009. l-r: Annie Harris (Speaker), Jacqui Hogan (Speaker), Keith Clark (Toastmaster) and Sheila Hamilton-Andrews (Speaker).

Our leader on the night, Keith Clarke, led the evening’s entertainment off with a group story exercise. The theme of the evening was storytelling, and Keith set the scene with an introduction (not put off by the strict timer, John, trying to cut him off after 20secs), after which each member present had to continue the story for 20 seconds, before passing the topic on to another named member. What followed was a hilarious developing tail of what happened after the discovery of a dead body holding a gavel at a TM meeting. Sherlock Holmes and his bloodhounds were called in after the instructions “in case of finding a body” in the CC manual were found wanting. The bloodhounds did not have enough bells on but started digging a grave when an ambulance arrived – meanwhile the Sergeant at Arms was all for carrying on the meeting regardless. In the end Sherlock announced of course that it was “Elementary Dear Watson….” but the 20secs was up before we heard whodunit!

This was a great exercise to warm up the audience and put us in the mood for the three story telling speeches. Annie Harris started us off with a Christmas tale – a mixture of her own recollections of Christmases past with some explanations of the origins of some of our Christmas traditions. Did you know why the fairy on top of your Christmas tree is not smiling? Perhaps having a sprig of fir stuck up it’s ****** has something to do with it!

Sheila Hamilton Andrews was our second speaker, with a tale of “How to have a Happy Christmas”. In fact Sheila had had one some years back and proceeded to explain why. It wasn’t because the guest list crept up from 6, to 9, to 10, to 11 and finally 12, it wasn’t the generous drinks, it wasn’t the recalcitrant husbands turning up anyway or the potatoes roasted with rosemary the day before. No, the jovial mood of all on the day was down to Sheila erroneously adding lavender instead of rosemary to the potatoes, lavender, of course, being known to reduce hostility.

Final speech of the evening was given by Jacqui Hogan: “A truth universally acknowledged” was an enthralling tale of the life of Jane Austen. The speech had to be briefly interrupted, to allow the ladies to compose themselves, after Jacqui described in great visual and auditory detail Darcy’s exit from the pond wearing a wet shirt in the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice.

After the speeches we broke for drinks and refreshments courtesy of the committee and members respectively… before returning for a topical Table Topics. The topic was not Christmas but story telling of course. Amanda Bouch as TTM had a collection of photos from which she chose one for the nominated speaker to interpret. This really stretched people’s ability to contrive a ‘tale’ on the spot. Pav talked about fat men and thin men at Awards Ceremonies, John about floods, happiness and crushed tomatoes, Bilal about Copenhagen and climate change, Norman didn’t mention his caravan, Helen about how children make Christmas enjoyable, Debbie about her preference for a cold miserable night in a UK pub over a sunny day by the beach, at least at Christmas time anyway, and Farhan about how to get a standing ovation – except that he did not!

And that was it. The enjoyable evening was over too quickly. With no voting, no grammarian and no evaluations, it only remained for TME Keith and Club President Ian to wish everyone a great Christmas and bang the MSC gavel for the last time in 2009.

Courtesy of Jacqui Hogan of Chiltern Speakers, below is a schematic showing the two parrallel communications skills and leadership skills paths that one can follow to earn a DTM badge.

Beyond the CC

For further details speak to any committee member on a club night.

The public speaking organization, represented locally by Maidenhead Speakers Club, has benefited more than 4 million people worldwide through improved communication and leadership skills that bolster personal and professional growth

November, 2009 – Eighty-five years ago last month, Dr. Ralph C. Smedley held the first official Toastmasters meeting in the California, USA. Not even Dr. Smedley could have envisioned the history he was making on that day. The organization that started as a small group of people dedicated to teaching after-dinner speeches has evolved into a worldwide leader in communication and leadership development. Maidenhead Speakers Club is a thriving local Toastmasters club; the club members are vocal in their appreciation of what Toastmasters offers them and the community.

“Toastmasters’ long-term success and growth is a tribute to Dr. Smedley’s vision,” says Maidenhead Speakers Club President Ian Rees “He understood that communication isn’t optional and leadership isn’t always natural, but both can be learned through doing.” Today, Toastmasters’ 250,000-plus active members participate in over 12,500 clubs spanning 106 countries. From Dubai to New Zealand, New York to Beijing, each day thousands of Toastmasters participate in meetings to learn and practice valuable communication and leadership skills in a supportive environment. In Maidenhead, the Speakers Club has trained over a 1000 speakers in its 25 year existence, and the club has nearly 50 active members.

Vinnie in his element

Vinnie Mc Cann, a projects manager at Waltham Place Organic Farm and Gardens in White Waltham, Maidenhead has really benefitted from his time at the Maidenhead Speakers club. “Like many people, communication is central to my job, whether I’m working with Waltham’s management team, or speaking to an audience of school children or adults about the benefits of sustainable agriculture”. Vinnie remembers his early attempts of public speaking with some embarrassment, but thanks to the proven Toastmasters education program that is all behind him. “I am now as confident speaking to 30 as I am to 300 people- I’ve learnt how to structure a speech, how to engage an audience, how to get my message across in a powerful way. I think everyone should be a Toastmaster member! Without effective communication nothing happens – I would encourage everybody young and old to improve their speaking skills so that we can share ideas publicly and benefit from the different points of view in Maidenhead’s community”

Many organizations stall or even crumble during difficult economic times. Toastmasters has withstood the test of time and Maidenhead has seen growth in the last 2 years as people seek to add extra skills to their CVs. Liam Mifsud, a careers coach and Publicity manager for the club, recommends Toastmasters membership to all his clients “Not only does it prepare you to shine at interview, but people in management know about Toastmasters and look to it as valuable training for the skills and experiences they require in employees,” he says.

About Maidenhead Speakers Club
Maidenhead Speakers Club meetings are held on the 2nd and 4th Monday of the month, at 7.30pm. New and experienced speakers are always welcome so anyone with an interest in improving their public speaking and leadership abilities is always welcome to along as a guest and wach the club in action. Further details are at www.maidenheadspeakers.org.uk , or call membership secretary Adrian Sutton on 07525 806170

No, it’s not the drink you should reach out for before an important speech. It stands for “Gadgets and Toastmasters”.

Technology is everywhere. And, all too often, we think that it has nothing to do with us and speaking. Many a presenter has been known to use gadgets as a distraction.

Propping it up
Granted, we need to get the basics right: we need to be able to provide a structure talk, with interesting content for the specific audience, and with the appropriate delivery techniques, such as body language, voice variation… Then we can include props.

Props must add value to our speech; they should act as prompts for us, reminders for the audience and support the structure of the presentation.

The next stage is technology. Gadgets are very tempting – from PowerPoint® to video, from bullet points to animations with sound – we should be able to enhance our presentations with these.

When all else fails
In addition to enhancing speeches, technology has another characteristic: it fails. Badly.

You should at least prepare three different speeches when you use gadgets or technology: one version with all technical aspects working fine, a second one for technology failing – at any point – mid-way (you may even have your own joke about it, but do not imply you cannot do the presentation without it), and a third one for those unfortunately not-so-rare cases when technology refuses to work before you even go on stage.

It is additional work, but if you have been through the experience just once, you will agree it is well worth the extra effort.

And unless it is very obvious, you don’t even need to tell your audience that your speech was intended to be different!

The sky’s the limit
There are enough guidelines and books about how to use technology in speeches, and we all need to find our own way to use them.

But – how about extending our reach? Why should we limit ourselves to using gadgets in our club speeches?

You can visit and participate in other clubs’ meetings, but you can also use technology to reach out to new audiences, try new media and enjoy the process.

Out of the comfort zone
Some technologies may feel very threatening already in the club atmosphere. It may be asking a bit too much to try these in the wild.

Here are the reasons why you should try:
1- You are experimenting with new areas, therefore learning
2- You can always remove things / keep them private
3- Ask your mentor if s/he would like to review this extra-curricular speeches

Take the G&T challenge
Don’t run for the drinks cabinet just yet… Take this little test first:

Which areas do you find most challenging? (Look at your past feedback slips)
a) Content and structure
b) Body language
c) Voice variation

Depending what you answered, pick a challenge from the list below to stretch yourself.
a) Content and structure

• Try using Tony Buzan’s incredible Mind-mapping software. You can download trial software for free.
• Blogging and more BloggingWhy not try writing an article about your next speech and blogging it on the MSC website.
• Take some PowerPoint® courses,then prepare a Powerpoint presentation for your next speech.

b) Body language

• Short videos: Post a short video of yourself.
• Live video streaming:  Share every-day life experiences with your friends and family, as they happen.

c) Voice variation

• Start phlogging (i.e. phone blogging)
• Create your own podcast (you don’t have to post it on the web!) – get your kit.

Good luck and don’t forget to reward yourself if the technology works. If the gadget fails, you can always have a real G&T anyway!

Full disclosure: The author has been commercially or financially involved with some of the companies and services mentioned above (namely, Microsoft and Qik).

The overall programme is described here.

The first 10 projects are here. On the left hand menu, click on Speaking Projects.