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Following a recent invitation to speak at the Rotary Club of Burnham Beeches, Mell Sheppard and Julie Farrell picked up the gauntlet. Those who attended the Speakers Club on 12 December were treated to a dress rehearsal of a brilliantly written and expertly delivered double act. We heard back this report from John at theContinue reading “An invitation from the Rotary Club of Burnham Beeches”

Our club night’s theme was motivation but Amanda Bouch, Toastmaster of the Evening (28.11.11), didn’t use it for introductions, but as actions.  Before the evening, she encouraged the speakers and key role-holders to give of their best. Table Topics Master, Nick Bailey chose to use the theme for his topics, which led to stimulating andContinue reading “Sharing your own motivation inspires others”

Maidenhead Speakers Club Presents… calling it quits can be a laughing matter! From time to time we’ve all had enough of the job, the stresses and strains and the petty frustrations. But have you ever thought about crafting the perfect resignation letter? Where you tell your boss what you really think of him? In exquisiteContinue reading “Speech Contest 12 September: Humorous Speeches and Table Topics”

USING NOTES (Delivered for an education session at Maidenhead Speakers Club on 24 Jan 2011) I want to say something about using notes. Not bank notes, notes for speeches. I will cover a few general points first, then deal in turn with the material on which I write my notes, creating notes and finally usingContinue reading “How to Use Notes Effectively”

Love Sweet Love After that initial smash hit Music groups can often struggle with that “difficult second album”. Well clearly Toastmasters is not like the music business! I was recently lucky enough to catch Julie Farrell giving what was only her second speech project at MSC on 24 January.  Julie gave a compelling and thoughtContinue reading “Love Sweet Love: Best speech 24 January 2011”

Members and guests had a real treat during Table Topics at Maidenhead Speakers on Monday 12th April.  We’d already had five excellent speakers on the timely topic of Spring, some people had already filled out their voting slips, when the TM suggested we do ‘a couple more..’. Step forward Norman Rhodes, DTM, to take onContinue reading “Ah – Er – Um”

So here we are in mid January and what’s happened to your New Year’s resolutions? If one of them was to improve your public speaking and presentation skills, have you started yet? Here are 6 tips to get you going: 1.  They key word is “improve”. Whatever your skill level now, you can get better.Continue reading “Improve your public speaking in 2012”

How many times have you heard people criticise your Powerpoint presentation skills? “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. NoticeContinue reading “Speaking with Powerpoint”

Toastmaster Mireia Fontbernat offers some tips for making better use of G&T 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 hasContinue reading “Using Gadgets – when in doubt…reach for a G&T!”

There are countless videos out there on the topic of public speaking but for 40 minutes of fun and useful tips, this video of Daniel Wagner speaking at Trojan Speakers in Ealing is worth a look.