Your New Year's Resolution

New years resolution.

What not try something new in 2010? Learn some skills that will be of benefit in all aspects of your life. Maybe you need to speak at a social function, give a presentation at work or improve your communication skills for an interview. Then toastmasters can help you. As a member of a toastmasters club you learn communication and leadership skills that and you will learn these skills in a very supportive environment and in an atmosphere of fun.

The members of toastmasters come from all different walks of life, and from all different age groups. It does not matter how much previous education a person has as toastmaster’s members learn by doing. So come along and see for yourself.

The clubs next meeting will take place on this Thursday 7th of January. The meeting will begin at 8pm and finish at 10pm and takes place in the Hibernian Hotel. Everybody is welcome and guests will not be asked to speak.

Christmas Cheer

The clubs final meeting of 2009 took place on the 10th of December and those present were treated to five excellent speeches. The toastmaster for the evening Pat Duggan put all the speakers at ease as he gave all of them a great introduction.

The first speaker of the evening was Jean Sayers who gave a very powerful speech on why everybody should carry an organ donor card. Her speech gave very compelling reasons as to the benefits of organ donation ever though it’s a time of sadness for the family of the donor. Jeans evaluator Mary Buckley commended her on the great work she put into the speech.

The next two speeches were readings. First we had Noel O’Connor who read a very funny story by Joseph O’Connor, which had the audience in fits of laughter. Following this we heard a speech from Winston Churchill, which was read by Joe Hassett. Joe set the scene for the reading, which allowed the audience to fully understand the message of the speech.

Our final two speakers for the evening had very strong festive themes. Anne Buckley gave a very though provoking speech as to what the spirit of Christmas should be. She encouraged us all to think back to times past when there was a real spirit and maybe it was now time to find again the true values of this time of the year.

Sean Corcoran was our final speaker of the night. He shared with us a very entertaining story about how as a young electrician in the 70’s he put up the Christmas lights in Limerick city. He then gave us the full story as to how the Lord Mayor switched them on and how that all was not as it seemed.

The clubs meeting will take place on the Thursday 7th January 2010. In the meantime we would like to wish everybody a very happy Christmas and peaceful New Year.

Happy Christmas from Speak Easy Toastmasters

The clubs final meeting of 2009 took place last Thursday night with a good crowd present. It was a Christmas themed meeting. Santa Claus greeted members and guests on their way in and also handed out little gifts people to everybody. This put everybody in good form especially after the budget from the day before.

Pat Duggan who was toastmaster for the evening. He introduced each speaker by telling the audience what their best ever Christmas present was. On the night we were treated to five excellent speeches. I will give more details of these speeches in next weeks report.

Cait Murray was our topicsmaster for the night and got everybody thinking and speaking on their feet with her wide variety of topics. They ranged from ‘favourite Christmas memory’ to ‘is laughter the best medicine’ to ‘best sporting memory of 2009’. The room was filled with laughter when Tony O’Regan was asked where would be the best place to buy a goose for Christmas. Following this Pat sexton was asked to tell us how he thought people would describe him. Liam Flynn as general evaluator commended Cait on her great choice of topics for the evening.

The clubs meeting will take place on the Thursday 7th January 2010. In the meantime we would like to wish everybody a very happy, peaceful Christmas and New Year.

Have your cake

There was a very nice surprise for Michael Cronin at our clubs last meeting. The club organised a lovely cake to acknowledge his recent participation in the Ireland and UK humorous speech contest, which was held in York. This added greatly to the fun of our tea break as people fought for a second slice.

It was also a special night for toastmaster Mary McCarty as she evaluated her first speech. She did a great job and gave the speaker Marie Fitzpatrick some very helpful suggestions regarding her future speeches.

Mary Buckley was our topicsmaster for the evening and she engaged the audience in a very different and lively topics session. She would ask individual members to talk about an emotion but they had to talk about it from their own point of view. This really got people thinking and there were some great responses.

Details of the five speeches that we had the pleasure of hearing will follow in next weeks report.


The clubs next meeting will take place on this Thursday the 10th of December and will have plenty of festive cheer. The meeting will begin at 8pm and finish at 10pm and takes place in the Munster room in the Hibernian Hotel. Please note the change of room for this meeting. Everybody is welcome and no guests will be asked to speak.

Hit the Ground Running

Ready for 2010


Hit the ground running in 2010 with the skills that you will learn at toastmasters. The skills that will give you an edge in all aspects of your life. Its also great value for money.

Do you need to speak at a social function, give a presentation at work or improve your communication skills for an interview then toastmasters can help you. As a member of a toastmasters club you learn communication and leadership skills that will benefit you in all aspects of your life. You will learn these skills in a very supportive environment and in an atmosphere of fun.

The members of toastmasters come from all different walks of life, farmers, nurses, electricians, people who work at home, retired people and students to name but a few. The club has members who are in their late teens to people who are in there eighties. You need not worry about being educated enough to join as the club is open to all people no matter how much schooling they have received. So come along and see for yourself.

The clubs next meeting will take place on this Thursday the 26th of November. The meeting will begin at 8pm and finish at 10pm and takes place in the Munster room in the Hibernian Hotel. Please note the change of room for this meeting. Everybody is welcome and no guests will be asked to speak.

Win for St Mary's Secondary School

The Speakeasy Club hosted a very successful Schools public speaking contest last Thursday night. Five schools took part. Representing Davis College were Amanda Coyne and Eoin O’Connor, Patrician Academy Brian O’Regan and Cian Cronin, St. Mary’s Secondary school Ruth Lenihan and Marie Cogan, Nagle Rice Secondary School Doneraile Jane Stafford and Martin Sheehan and Boherbue Comprehensive School Cliona Lawton and Julie O’Sullivan.

The standard was very high and the speeches were very enjoyable. There was great support for each speaker as there was a large crowd present. After a long time deliberating the judges arrived with a result. The best school prize went to St. Mary’s Secondary School. In the best speaker section the winner was Marie Cogan of St. Mary’s, in second place Brian O’Regan of the Patrician Academy and in third place Eoin O’Connor of Davis College.

Also last Sunday in York, Kevin Walsh of Fermoy Toastmasters put in a great performance to win the Ireland and England impromptu speaking competition. The Speakeasy club would like to congratulate Kevin on his wonderful achievement.

The clubs next meeting will take place on this Thursday the 26th of November. The meeting will begin at 8pm and finish at 10pm and takes place in the Munster room in the Hibernian Hotel. Please note the change of room for this meeting. Everybody is welcome and no guests will be asked to speak.

Toastmasters of the future.

The clubs next meeting will take place on this Thursday the 12th of November. It’s a very special night for the club as it will host the Annual Schools Contest whereby students from the local secondary schools will get an opportunity to demonstrate their public speaking skills. Going by the standards shown in previous years we know we will again be treated to a night of great speeches. The meeting will begin at 8pm and finish at 10pm and takes place in the Munster room in the Hibernian Hotel. Please note the change of room for this meeting.

At our last club meeting Liam Flynn filled the role of topicsmaster. Liam did a great job in getting us to think and speak on our feet and got a great response not only from members but also from guests who also wanted to get their views out in the open. Liam gave out a wide variety of topics both topical and humorous which ensured a very lively session, which continued after the meeting in the bar of the hotel.

If you are free this Thursday night come along and enjoy a great nights entertainment. Guests are always very welcome and will never be asked to speak. For more information about the club please go to our website at www.speakeasytoastmasters.com

Woodhouse and Italy

A great attendance

The club had a great meeting last Thursday night with over thirty people present. Many of those present on the evening were guests and they enjoyed what they saw. Anne Buckley chaired the meeting. As Toastmaster Anne ensured the meeting ran smoothly throughout.

We had four excellent speakers on the night and Joe Hassett was the first to speak. Joe gave us a very entertaining reading from the works of PG Woodhouse, which went down very well with the audience. Joe’s evaluator on the night was Declan Curtis and he gave some great suggestions to Joe for his future speeches.

Jean Sayers then followed with a speech about Halloween, which was very topical with Halloween just around the corner. Her speech enlightened the audience to the meaning behind many of the traditions of the time of the year. Marie Fitzpatrick gave Jean a very motivating evaluation. Sean Corcoran followed with a very powerful display of speechmaking whereby he took a famous historical speech and delivered it to a present day audience with great effect. Tony O’Regan as evaluator commended Sean on his fine delivery.

The final speech of the night was a very entertaining one delivered by Cait Murray in which she described her cycling holiday in Italy and questioned as to whether or not you could call it a holiday with all the steep hills that had to be negotiated. Loretto Barry gave Cait a very helpful evaluation.

The clubs next meeting will take place on Thursday 12th of November. It’s a special night as it will be the annual Schools Contest whereby students from the local schools will get an opportunity to demonstrate their speaking skills. The meeting will begin at 8pm and finish at 10pm and takes place in the Munster room in the Hibernian Hotel.

Guests are always very welcome and will never be asked to speak. For more information about the club please go to our website at www.speakeasytoastmasters.com

Great night again at Speakeasy

The club had a very enjoyable meeting last Thursday week with a great selection of speeches and a great topics session, which was chaired by Pat Duggan who got the audience really going.

The first speaker of the night was Liam Flynn who read a number of poems and he had the audience enthralled by the way he delivered them. His evaluator on the night recognised this and commended him on it & also gave him a very good suggestion on how he could enhance his next presentation. Anne Buckley followed with another one of her very funny speeches. This time she was celebrating all the different birthdays of different pieces of technology that we all come in contact with these days, such as the Internet and the computer mouse. Anne brought a birthday cake to add impact to her speech and it also added greatly to the tea break as we all got stuck in.

Our third speaker of the night was Loretto Barry who gave us a very informative speech on how to set goals and how to achieve them. Loretto’s evaluator on the night Bridie O’Connell gave very helpful hints on how her next speeches can even have a greater impact on the audience. Our final speaker on the night was Joe Hassett who entertained us all with a monodrama and Pat Sexton evaluated this.

After the tea break Pat Duggan as topics master for the night got us all thinking and speaking on our feet. He had a wide range of topics, which got a great response from the audience and created a great buzz in the room.

The club would like to wish the beast of luck to past member Maire Welford on the upcoming launch of her new book, which takes place on Thursday 29th October in the town library at 6pm

The clubs next meeting will take place on Thursday 29th of October. The meeting will begin at 8pm and finish at 10pm and takes place in the Garden room in the Hibernian Hotel.

Guests are always very welcome and will never be asked to speak. For more information about the club please go to our website at www.speakeasytoastmasters.com

Lifelong Skills

Do you need to speak at a social function, give a presentation at work or improve your communication skills for an interview then toastmasters can help you. As a member of a toastmasters club you learn communication and leadership skills that will benefit you in all aspects of your life. You will learn these skills in a very supportive environment and in an atmosphere of fun.

The excellent speaking and communicating skills of some our more experienced members were on display at our last meeting. These speakers have developed their skills by practice and by the help of the other members of the club. Every occasion a member gives a speech another member evaluates the speaker. The aim of the evaluator is to motivate the speaker and not to criticise. The evaluator commends what the speaker did well and gives a suggestion on how the speaker could improve for their next speech. If the speaker takes on board the suggestions the improvement in their speaking skills becomes very evident. I will give a more detailed report on our last meeting in next weeks report.

The clubs next meeting will take place on Thursday 29th of October. The meeting will begin at 8pm and finish at 10pm and takes place in the Garden room in the Hibernian Hotel.

Guests are always very welcome and will never be asked to speak. For more information about the club please go to our website at www.speakeasytoastmasters.com

Thinking on your Feet

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Effective Communication is a ‘must have’ in this electronic age. Being an effective communicator takes real skill. Communication skills have to be developed, honed and added to on an on-going basis. Communication is the basis of interpersonal skills and the greater your awareness of how it all works, the more effective your communication will be. To be effective in business, you have to communicate well. To be a good manager, you have to communicate exceptionally well. Communication is individual. We are not all the same. There is never one right way to communicate. Authentic effective communication always happens when we reply on those things we know to be true about or for ourselves. Your personal style can say more for you than all the words you use can. Most people look at what is wrong with themselves and other people, rather than focusing on what already works. Remember many things have to be working well for you to have got this far already. The communication cycle works as follows and you can take responsibility for every stage:
Spoken - Heard - Understood - Agreed To - Acted On - Implemented.
In Toastmasters you will become aware of where you or others tend to fall off the cycle. So, can I give you any greater reason for joining Speakeasy Toastmasters?

PERSONAL IMPACT

Personal impact includes key elements of Communication; Presentation; Assertiveness and Influencing techniques. All these components enable you to make the impact you want. We all can improve our ability to influence others. You all cringe at that interview that went badly wrong or that appraisal you wish to forget. Here is an opportunity to ensure that you will not repeat these experiences. In order to know making an impact works, there are a few areas you have to consider, and study.
 Knowing how and why things go wrong
 Improving your ability to influence others
 Understanding rules and conventions and boundaries
 Speaking your mind without offending
 Finding our how others see you
An awareness of all of these will increase confidence and raise self esteem. Come along to our next meeting as a guest and see for yourself how we put these skills into practice. We do it in stages and in an encouraging way.

Thinking & speaking on your feet.

There may be an occasion when you may be asked to stand and say a few words without being given any prior notice. This is where being involved in the table topics session of a toastmasters meeting really helps out. It trains us how to think and speak on our feet. A club member gives out a topic to another member and they can speak on that topic for up to two minutes. The person giving out the topic is not trying to catch anybody out but to encourage another member to come up with a structured and response.

At our last meeting Gerry Kelleher was the topics master for the evening and he has a great skill in putting people at ease and allowing them to come up with very good replies to his topics. His topic regarding whether or not supporters should be left on to the pitch after the All-Ireland drew a great response.

Also on the night we had the club table topics contest, there were five contestants and they all replied to the topic very well. The topic while challenging ‘Marriages are all happy, its having breakfast together is the trouble’ brought many humorous responses from the contestants. A special mention for one of the clubs newer members Declan Curtis who replied very well to the topic even though it was his first time taking part in a toastmasters contest. The winner on the night was Ray Ryan and the runner up was Tony O’Regan. Ray now goes on to represent the club in the Area Final, which takes place on the 20th of October in the Galtees club in Mitchelstown.

The clubs next meeting will take place on Thursday 15th of October and will return to its usual format. The meeting will begin at 8pm and finish at 10pm and takes place in the Garden room in the Hibernian Hotel.

Guests are always very welcome and will never be asked to speak. For more information about the club please go to our website at www.speakeasytoastmasters.com

A Night of Laughter

A Night Of Laughter.

The Speakeasy toastmasters season of meetings are back in full swing with up to thirty people present at the clubs humorous speech and table topics contest. There was a great atmosphere in the room as the contestants in both competitions got the audience laughing out loud on many occasions.

The contest was chaired by Sean Corcoran who ran the meeting very efficiently and ensured all business was completed by ten o clock. Pat Sexton spoke first in the humorous speech contest and greatly entertained the audience by telling us what Ireland needed to produce another writer to win the Booker prize. He claimed the three essential items needed were poverty, precipitation and chastity.

Ray Ryan followed with a speech entitled ‘extra luggage’ in which he had the audience in stitches as he related to the audience about his urge to remove items for hotels that he stays in and he had a great selection of items, which he showed to the audience. The final contestant was Michael Cronin who entertained the audience with some humorous points about the recession, which included how parents will be able to keep their children quiet in the car next year until May as it will be probably by then a 2010 registered car will be spotted.

Following the speeches there was a tea break and the guests present enjoyed mixing with the members as they got to know each other and also learning more about the benefits of joining toastmasters. The table topics contest followed and there will be a report about this next week.

The clubs next meeting will take place on Thursday 15th of October and will return to its usual format. The meeting will begin at 8pm and finish at 10pm and take place in the Garden room in the Hibernian Hotel.

Guests are always very welcome and will never be asked to speak. For more information about the club please go to our website at www.speakeasytoastmasters.com

Humorous Speech Contest and Rehearsing that Speech

Previously, we discussed the way to structure a speech or presentation with the “Opening, Body and Conclusion”, this week we look at preparing yourself to make that presentation.

How do you do that? By rehearsing.

Practice the talk until you are comfortable with it.
You won’t need to memorise the body of the talk since you already know all about the subject. As mentioned already, you should memorise your opening and conclusion.
Present the talk to a family member or friend and ask for comments.

They may give you some helpful suggestions. If you have a tape recorder, record the talk and listen to it carefully making any necessary improvements to improve your speaking ability. Rehearse as often as it takes until you are comfortable with your presentation. Use visualizing techniques in which you imagine yourself in front of your audience delivering that perfect presentation.

Another very important aspect of making your presentation is appearance.
Be well groomed and appropriately dressed. When you look right, you feel good about yourself. You will then forget about your appearance and concentrating about presenting your talk. You will have increased confidence because you know you have made a good first impression on your audience.

All these presentation skills and many more are learned and practiced at every toastmaster meeting. A toastmaster meeting is not a classroom or lecture but a workshop in which the emphasis is on mutual support, learning but most importantly on enjoyment, fun and friendship.

Don’t just take my word for it, come along and see for yourself.
As a guest you will be most welcome and you will not be asked to speak.

Last Thursday night saw the Club Finals of the Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contests.
Entrants in the Humorous Speech Contests were Ray Ryan with his speech, "Extra Luggage", Michael Cronin with, "Bright Spots", and Pat Sexton with, "Winners Podium".

Club members taking part in the Table Topics Contest were Michael Cronin, Pat Duggan, Tony O'Regan, Ray Ryan and Declan Curtis.

Winners were Michael Cronin in the Speech Contest and Ray Ryan in the Table Topics Contest.

Both will represent the club in the Area 17 Final on October 20 in the Firgrove Hotel, Mitchelstown.

Further information on The Speak Easy Toastmasters Club can be obtained by logging on to our website at www.speakeasytoastmasters.com

A Fools Poetry and The Green Murphy

Yet another brilliant meeting took place in the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow, last Thursday night as members of Speak Easy Toastmasters and friends gathered for the last meeting before our summer break.

We were treated to great speeches, entertaining topics and skilful evaluations that made the evening most memorable.

President, Ray Ryan was officiating at the final meeting of his very successful presidency of the club and welcomed us warmly before introducing Toastmaster of the evening, Noel O’Connor.

Noel introduced the officers of the meeting before beginning the programme and introducing the first speaker, Joe Hassett.
Joe was doing an interpretive reading project, interpreting poetry, in which he introduced the poetry of Spike Milligan with a speech entitled “A Fools Poetry”

Following Joe was Angela Sheehan with her speech, “Fashion To Die For” in which she told the of model Isobel Carrow, and how she is dealing with the illness “Anorexia Nervosa”.

Then it was the turn of Ray Ryan with, “The Green Murphy” which was a humorous look at the life of builder, John Murphy.

Finally, Pat Sexton gave us a fascinating account of the history of German Cinema complete with facts and anecdotes.

Topicsmaster, Grant March kept the speaking off the cuff skills of the members in shape with his many well though out and researched topics.

Michael Cronin as General Evaluator, conducted the part of the meeting where the speakers received feedback on their speeches and also how the officers of the meeting performed and suggested how improvements could be made.

Other officers on the night were, Neil McAuliffe as Timekeeper, Cáit Murry, Liam Flynn and Jean Sayers as Sgt at Arms and Tony O’Regan as Ah-Counter/Grammarian.
Evaluators, Liam Flynn, Bridie O’Connell, Margaret O’Regan and Pat Duggan.

President Ray Ryan then welcomed each of the new committee, introduced them to the members and wished them luck in their roles for the coming year.
(Photographs here)

Speak Easy Toastmasters are now on their summer break and our next meeting is on September 3rd

If you would like to become proficient in public speaking (family occasions, interviews, presentations etc), speaking “off the cuff”(never again be caught for words), learn how to give feedback and do all this in an atmosphere of fun and friendship then Speak Easy Toastmasters are for you.

Our meetings are workshops and not classrooms where guests are most welcome at any time.

Why not think about Toastmasters over the summer and look us up on the internet at www.speakeasytoastmasters.com for more information.

Don’t forget, we meet again on September 3rd in The Hibernian Hotel, Mallow from 8-10pm and we’d be delighted to meet you, so until then have a great summer.
Slán agus Beannacht.

That Special Speech

Occasionally you may be called upon to give a special kind of speech, one presented in honour of a friend, relative or co-worker. Perhaps a loved one has passed away and you will be saying a few words at the service. Or you have been invited formal awards dinner at which you will be a recipient.

Speeches such as these can be difficult to give because they often involve sentiment or special decorum. If the occasion is a sad or even a happy one, you may be hesitant to speak for fear of breaking down or inadvertently saying something that will offend. Perhaps modesty and embarrassment also contribute towards making you hesitant to accept an award.

Such speeches are indeed challenging, but you can give them successfully.
The Speciality Speeches Program in Toastmasters contains five speaking assignments which will help a person develop the necessary skills for giving special occasion speeches.

In the first project, one would present a special occasion toast. In project two, requires one to give a speech in praise of another individual. In the third project, a person can have fun participating in a “roast”. The following project asks a person to present an award to someone and finally, in the last project, one will learn how to accept an award with style and ease.

Skills such as these can come into play not just during the dramatic events of your life, but during day-to-day experiences when a special comment or reply is required. However you apply the skills acquired in The Speciality Speeches Program you will be sure to expand your presentation skills and become a proficient special occasion speaker.

The Speciality Speeches Program is just one of the many programs that are practiced by Toastmasters to hone their presentation skills. Before a Toastmaster “graduates” to the more advanced programs he/she must complete the Competent Communicator Program.

This is where the basic skills of public speaking are learned.
Of course, as well as the skills of speaking, we also practice listening or evaluating. This is how we learn to give feedback to a speaker in such a way that gives praise and encouragement but also to tactfully make suggestions for improvement.

Speak Easy Toastmasters Club in Mallow was founded in 1993 and has been meeting fortnightly, September to May ever since.

The Club has approximately 30 members, with an equal gender balance, who meet from 8 to 10 pm in the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow, to practice the skills of public speaking, listening and giving feedback and unprepared speaking (speaking “off the cuff”).

The club is a workshop where members practice the above skills in an atmosphere of fun and friendship and is open to anyone over 18 years of age.

Speak Easy Toastmasters meet tonight, May 28th is the Hibernian Hotel for our last meeting until early September so between now and then why not consider joining a toastmasters club?

Further information on Speak Easy Toastmasters can be had by logging on to our website at www.speakeasytoastmasters.com

Skin Shedding and The Driving Test

Speak Easy Toastmasters held a dual purpose meeting last Thursday evening, May 4th insofar as it was both a regular meeting and also the club’s AGM.

Joining President Ray Ryan, at the top table were, Toastmasters Mary McCarthy and Topicsmaster, Tony O’Regan.
Mary introduced the first speaker of the evening, Josephine O’Sullivan Lenihan with her speech, “Skin Shedding” in which she challenged anyone approaching mid life to evaluate themselves and ask what is it all about.

Following Josephine was Mary Buckley with a speech entitled, “The Joys of Motoring” in which she humorously told a story of the ups and downs on the road to passing the driving test.

Topicsmaster, Tony O’Regan had us really practicing our “speaking off the cuff” skills as he asked members to speak for two minutes of famous and not so famous quotations.

General Evaluator Gerry Kelleher conducted the evaluation session where the speakers received feedback on their speeches from Jean Sayers and Marie Fitzpatrick.

After the coffee break the AGM took place and each officer made a presentation on their role for the past year.
The new committee elected for 2009/10 were as follows, President, Michael Cronin; Vice President Education, Margaret O’Regan; Vice President Public Relations, Liam Flynn, Vice President Membership, Joe Hassett, Treasurer, Cáit Murry; Secretary, Jean Sayers; Sgt at Arms, Declan Curtis, Josephine O'Sullivan Lenihan, Mary Moynahan

Our next meeting is on May 28th and will be the final one until the club resumes again in early September.

Speak Easy Toastmasters Club is a member of Toastmasters International (TI) which is a nonprofit educational organization that operates clubs worldwide for the purpose of helping members improve their communication, public speaking and leadership skills.

Through its thousands of member clubs, Toastmasters International offers a program of communication and leadership projects designed to help men and women learn the arts of speaking, listening, and thinking.

A Toastmasters Club is a workshop in which members practice these skills on a fortnightly basis in an atmosphere of fun and friendship.

Guests are most welcome at Toastmasters meetings and are never asked to speak so why not come along and see for yourself what Speak Easy Toastmasters have to offer?

We meet on alternate Thursdays, September to May in the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow from 8 to 10pm
As our next meeting on May 28th is our last one before the summer break, why not come along and see for yourself what we are about? You will be delighted you did.


Further information on Speak Easy Toastmasters can be had by visiting our website at www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or contact our Club PRO Seán on 086 6054784

Toastmasters for the Toast

Somewhere, sometime you will be asked to propose a toast. Be it a wedding, retirement or birthday or many other events. No problem to me I hear you say.
Great, but like all things in life there is a correct way and wrong way, and if you would like to do it correctly and prevent a major faux pas, we have today, some tips to make sure you are remembered for all the right reasons.

The purpose of a toast is to shine a gentle spotlight, and pay tribute to, the honoured guest. Toasts typically offer good wishes, good health, long life, health, happiness etc.

Composing a toast that is eloquent, poignant and witty can be a challenge but well worth it.

Depending on the situation you may start by introducing yourself and stating your connection with the guest of honour and then present the toast.

There are three rules to follow, all beginning with the letter B.

Be Brief: Keeping your remarks short gives the toast a greater impact and gets you in and out of the spotlight quickly.
Well crafted words will be appreciated by the attendance and make your tribute more likely to be remembered.

Be Bold: Stand proud and speak out loud. Ensure that everyone in the room including people sitting in the back row can hear your toast. Shouting out loud may not be needed and a survey of the room before people assemble will help you gauge how far you need to project your voice.
It can also help calm your nerves and provide some practice time.

Be Done: When finished, sit down. Resist the urge to take a bow or an encore. Smile, nod and accept any applause or acknowledgements then focus your attention on the guest of honour.

Like all aspects of public speaking no matter what they are, only practice will make you confident, will calm those nerves, and will make you be remembered for what you said and how you said it.

This is where being a member of Toastmasters International is of great benefit. Toastmasters are never caught for words, or the art of presentation, no matter what the occasion is.

In Speak Easy Toastmasters, on alternate Thursday evenings from 8.00 to 10.00 pm, we practice all those skills and much more. A Toastmasters Club is a workshop where members practice and learn, in an atmosphere of fun and friendship. (In other words “it’s a great craic”)

Being a member of Speak Easy Toastmasters is much, much more, it is an experience and you can see this for yourself just by coming along to any of our meetings, as our guest you will not be asked to speak.

We meet in the Garden Room of the Hibernian Hotel in Mallow so why not come along and experience the Speak Easy Toastmasters Experience?

We meet tonight, Thursday May 14th and our final meeting before the summer break in on May 28th.

Further information can on Speak Easy Toastmasters can be had by visiting our website at www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or contact our Club PRO, Seán on 086 6054784

Show Consideration, Please!!!

Last Thursday was the last day in April and hence the last day of spring, so hopefully we will get the good summer we have been waiting for.
In Speak Easy Toastmasters, we do not particularly mind what the seasons are, nor what kind of weather we get, as we look forward to our fortnightly meetings.

Last Thursday night it was also our last meeting of April and what a fantastic meeting it was.
We had four brilliant speeches, and the club were delighted to welcome Toastmasters from two other clubs who were on the programme.

After a welcome from President, Ray Ryan, Toastmaster for the evening, Jerry Mulcahy got the programme rolling by introducing the first of our speakers to the lectern, Declan Curtis.

Declan’s speech was entitled, “Show Consideration, Please” and was a tale of a journey from Derry to Cork and his humorous observation of various characters he met on the way.

Mary Buckley delivered a Storytelling project entitled, “The Fight at Burgishe House”, is which she told of an incident from the War of Independence.

Following Mary was Michael Buckley from The Crusaders Toastmasters Club in Cork City with his speech, “A Jewel in the Debris” which was the story of our planet, Earth.

Finally it was the turn of another visiting toastmaster, Sean Roche, from The Galtees Toastmasters Club with his speech, “You have to see it to believe it”, in which he explained and demonstrated the science of kinesiology.

After a most enjoyable table topics session with Topicsmaster, Jean Sayers, General Evaluator, Marie Fitzpatrick conducted the evaluation part of the meeting. This is where the speakers receive feedback from other members on how their speeches were received and how they could improve for the future.

During the AOB, President Ray Ryan congratulated Tony O’Regan and Pat Sexton on their recent performance in the Division Finals, Tony was placed 3rd in the evaluation contest.. Ray also congratulated Sean Corcoran on being awarded the Paul G Murphy Award (Toastmaster of the Year) for Division A (Cork, Kerry and West Limerick).

Toastmaster from all over Ireland and the UK will be making their way to The Cotswolds over the weekend of May 8-10th and Speak Easy Toastmasters send their best wishes to, Stanley Knott of Glanmire Toastmasters and Liam Cunningham of Carrigline Toastmasters who are representing Division A in the International Speech and Evaluation Contests, respectively.

If you would like to become comfortable speaking in public and to do so in an atmosphere of fun and friendship, why not come along to a Speak Easy Toastmasters meeting?

We meet in The Hibernian Hotel on alternate Thursdays, September to May from 8-10pm.
You can come along as our guest to any of our meetings. Guests are never asked to speak at a toastmasters meeting and you can come as many times as you wish.

Our next meeting is on Thursday May 14th with the final meeting before our summer break on May 28th.
Further information on Speak Easy Toastmasters can be had by visiting our website at www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or contact our Club PRO, Seán on 086 6054784

Even more Toastmaster Skills

While most of public speaking/toastmaster training is centred on a person giving a presentation and the audience listening, i.e. you talk, they listen. This type of communication is training is extremely important when one’s job or community activities require such presentations.

Think about your daily life, however, and another kind of communication becomes equally important.

Each day we interact with many people in a variety of situations. We may deal with clients and co-workers at work, our family and friends. We may be called upon to calm an upset customer/friend/relation or convince a sales assistant to refund your money. Persuade your son or daughter to clean their room or negotiate a raise with your employer.

And especially in the times we live in (I will not use the “r” word), being a good communicator and member of Toastmasters International can and will, give a person the edge over someone who is not.

Special skills are needed to successfully handle the above types of situations and Toastmasters International; “Interpersonal Communications Program” will help you to develop them.

The program consists of five projects that require different interpersonal communication skills.

In the first project we learn how to start a conversation with a stranger.
Project two requires one to negotiate using win/win strategies to achieve a goal.
In the third project, we learn how techniques on how to diffuse verbal criticism.
In the next project we practice coaching someone who is not performing on your satisfaction and finally, you’ll learn to assert yourself effectively.

The projects in this program are challenging but they will provide you with valuable experience in communication with others.

As with all Toastmasters programs, toastmasters are firstly required to complete the basic program, called “The Competent Communicator” program in which all the basic skills of speaking are learned and practiced.

So why not come along to any of our meetings and see for yourself? Speak Easy Toastmasters meet in the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow on alternate Thursdays from September to May.

Toastmaster meetings are not a classroom but a workshop in which members learn at their own pace in a mutually supportive atmosphere where the emphasis is on fun and friendship.

Summer is almost on us, we hope, and there are only two more Speak Easy Toastmasters meetings left before our summer break. Now is the time to experience the “Speak Easy Toastmasters” experience, think about what we have to offer come back to us in September when we start our meetings again.

You’ll be glad you did.

You are welcome to come along as our guest for as often as you want and rest assured, you, as a guest, will never be asked to speak.

Our final two meetings are May 14th and 28th and tonight April 30th of course.
Further information on Speak Easy Toastmasters can be had by visiting our website at www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or contact our Club PRO Seán on 086 6054784

Whirlpools and Crocodiles

It’s not too often in our lives that we are encouraged to tell whoppers but that is what happened at the Speak Easy Toastmasters meeting last Thursday night as the club hosted its Tall Tales Contest.

The meeting was as usual opened by President, Ray Ryan , and Michael Cronin was our Toastmaster for the evening.

The programme for the evening was started by a type of speech and speaker that every toastmasters club looks forward to hearing and that is the “Icebreaker” speech. It is the first speech that a new toastmaster delivers to the club in which he/she introduces themselves.

On Thursday night the members were privileged to hear a speech entitled, “The Vibrant 70’s….Not” by Norrie O’Sullivan which was her view of growing up in 70’s Ireland.

Taking the lectern after Norrie was Máire Corbett from The Galtees Club in Mitchelstown with an interpretive reading project in which she delivered Shirley Chisholm’s Speech to Congress.

And finally after Máire was another guest speaker also from The Galtees Toastmasters Club, Conor O’Brien with his speech, “You are what you eat”.

Then it was the turn of Pat Sexton who was Topicsmaster for the evening who had us all thinking about things that we were not prepared for, which is exactly what the a topics session in toastmasters is all about. Practicing, speaking “off the cuff”.

After the coffee break it was the Tall Tales contest and boy, what tall tales they were.
There were three club members in the competition and they were Jerry Mulcahy with his speech, “My Transport” in which he told of his unusual car. Jerry was followed by Ray Ryan with this speech, “Arthur and I”, a tale of his pet crocodile, and finally Grant March with, “A Close Call” which was a story about being caught in a giant whirlpool.

When the votes by the judges were counted, Jerry Mulcahy was declared the winner.

Last Sunday, the Division A finals of the International Speech and Evaluation Contests took place in the Oriel House Hotel in Ballincollig where representatives of toastmasters from Cork, Kerry and West Limerick took part in the contests.
Pat Sexton and Tony O’Regan represented the clubs in North Cork and fantastic performances were delivered by both.
When the votes were counted, Tony was in 3rd position in the Evaluation Contest. Congratulations Tony.

Speak Easy Toastmasters meet again on Thursday, April 30th in The Hibernian Hotel, Mallow and you are invited to attend. If you would like to learn to speak comfortably before an audience on any subject, learn how to give constructive feedback, learn how to speak completely unprepared and to do all this in an atmosphere of fun and friendship, why not come along to the next meeting of Speak Easy Toastmasters?

We meet in the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow on alternate Thursday’s at 8.00pm and we would be delighted to welcome you as our guest to come along and experience, the toastmasters experience.

You will not be asked to speak, guests never are and you can come along as our guest as many times as you like without obligation.

Further information from our website, www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or from our PRO, Seán on 086 6054784.

Rakes and Rebels

Last Thursday night saw members of Speak Easy Toastmasters take part in a very special meeting with the title “Rakes and Rebels” which was a historical meeting, with a difference.

Members over the past number of weeks researched different people who lived in Mallow in the late 17 and early 1800’s and of course the events and social issues of that time.

But, as well as delivering their speeches, the speakers spoke in the first instance, putting themselves in the place of the characters they were researching, and the result was nothing short of phenomenal.

The Garden Room in the Hibernian hotel, was for a couple of hours transported back into the 1700’s as the famous “Long Room” complete with an assortment of pikes, candles, jugs and various other items from that era.

Members and guests signed the register using goose quills and those taking part in the program were in period dress.

The entire meeting was conducted as if it was taking place in that bygone era, including the topics session.

The meeting was opened by The Hon. James Walsh of Skahana (Tony O’Regan) who told us where we should have tied our horses and also warned us of the no spitting rule.
He told us of the purpose of the meeting which was to hear the stories and experiences of those sitting round the table with him.

The first speaker was, Mortimer Murphy esq. Of Manor of Mallow (Ray Ryan) and also the manager of the long room who told us of the range of entertainment and food and drink that he provided. Mallow Spa was he said, on par with Bath and Tunbridge Wells.

Next to speak was Mrs. Welstead (Anne Buckley) who told us that the life of the gentry was certainly not enjoyed by everyone. She told how she was cured by drinking the spa waters, some of the local entertainment of the time and finished with a rendition of “The Ballad of the Hot Wells”.

Mrs Canty (Angela Sheehan), Landlady of a rooming house in Ballydaheen told us of a conspiracy by members of the Meath Militia stationed in the town, how it was discovered and the resulting consequences.

Mrs Mary Davis (Cáit Murry), mother of Thomas Davis told of her memories of Mallow, the layout of the town and the plans that were being made at the time for the building of the new churches, a Bridewell and marked but also the living conditions of people living in mud cabins in Mallows lanes.

Finally the V Rev Richard Cannon Smiddy (Joe Hassett) who spend four years as curate in Mallow and who is not PP of Ahada, shared with us his memories of the time he spend among the people of Mallow and its surrounds. His memories included the great flood, the tales of rescues, and the misery that people suffered. He also described the emigration of the time and even that the blackwater froze over.

The second half of the meeting was conducted by Captain D’Arcy (Liam Flynn) the local Magistrate. He got the audience involved by speaking of issues of the day and what we thought of them.

Speak Easy Toastmasters would like to thank Kevin Myres of The Mallow Field Club who provided invaluable assistance to our members in compiling the historical data for this meeting.
Photographs from the meeting as can be seen via our website, www.speakeasytoastmasters.com.

Our next meeting is on April 16th in the Hibernian Hotel at 8.00pm sharp and you are invited.

Rakes, Rebels and Good Advice

Speak Easy Toastmasters are holding a Theme meeting tonight
Thursday night, April 2nd, in the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow.

The title of the meeting is "Rakes and Rebels" and is a look at
Mallow in the late 1700 and early 1800's........but with a difference.

The members presenting speeches will be doing so through the eyes of actual people who lived
at that time and who will also be dressed accordingly.

The meeting takes place in the famous "Long Room" (aka The Garden Room) and you will meet

President, Mortimer Murphy Esq. of Manor of Mallow (Ray Ryan)
Toastmaster , The Hon, James Murphy of Skahana (Tony O'Regan)
Topicsmaster, Captain D'Arcy RN (Liam Flynn)

Speakers,
Mrs Welstead (Anne Buckley)
Mrs Canty of Ballydaheen. (Angela Sheehan)
Mortimer Murphy Esq. of Manor of Mallow (Ray Ryan)
V Rev. Richard Cannon Smiddey (Joe Hassett)
Mrs Mary Davis (Cáit Murry)

Come along to the Hibernian Hotel tonight at 8.00 sharp, where members of Speak Easy Toastmasters will be bringing the history of Mallow to life.

Five tips for any kind public speaking, making a presentation or just making sure that you are heard in any situation.
(from http://www.fripp.com/art.sound_intelligent.html by An article on Public Speaking by Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE)

1. To Sound More Intelligent:
Speak just a bit slower to allow yourself to select your most appropriate vocabulary and to give the impression of thoughtfulness.

2. To Sound More Powerful:
Use short, simple declarative sentences. You say what you mean and you mean what you say. Cut out any useless connectors, adjectives and adverbs, especially superlatives.

3. To Sound More Polished:
Never answer a question with a blunt 'yes' or 'no.' Append a short phrase of clarification. For example, "No, I did not see it." "Yes, I know Mary."

4. To Sound More Articulate:
Make a special effort to pronounce the final sound in a word and use its energy to carry over to the following word. Pay special attention to final 't' and 'ng.'

5. To Sound More Confident:
Carry your body up. Hold your head as if you had a crown on it. Don't let your arms and legs have side to side motion when you move. Keep your elbows and knees close to the midline of your body.

With the above in mind why not come along to any of our meeting in Speak Easy Toastmasters and see for yourself how we practice the skills of prepared speaking, speaking “off the cuff”, listening, and leadership.

We meet on alternate Thursdays, September to May in The Hibernian Hotel, Mallow at 7.50 for an 8.00pm start. We would be delighted to welcome you as our guest and guests at our meetings are never asked to speak.

Our next meeting is on April 16th which is the club’s Tall Tale Contest night.
Further information on Speak Easy Toastmasters can be had on our website at www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or contact our club PRO, Seán on 086 6054784

The Skeleton Woman

Last Thursday night in The Hibernian Hotel in Mallow saw another brilliant meeting of Speak Easy Toastmasters. Joining President, Ray Ryan at the top table was Toastmaster, Margaret O’Regan and Topicsmaster Cáit Murray.

Our first speaker was Declan Curtis with a speech entitled, “Adaption” in which Declan told us how we naturally adapt to various situations and that we would do so again in the climate that we find ourselves in.

Then it was the turn of Grant March who kept us in suspense with his speech, which was his interpretation of, “The Skeleton Woman”

Jean Sayers told us of the history of the Irish language in her speech, “Tír Gan Ainm” and how we could use the language more in our everyday lives..

Last on the programme was Eugene O’Connell with his speech, “In the beginning was a word” which was a history of Thehttp://www2.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=12277963# Word magazine from its inception in 1953 to its final edition last December.

Cáit Murray kept us on our toes with her topics. This is the part of the meeting where members are asked to speak for two minutes on a subject that Cáit had chosen. Great training for those times when a person is caught unawares to comment on something unexpected.

Other members who were on the programme were, General Evaluator, Anne Buckley, Timekeeper, Jerry Mulcahy, Evaluators, Michael Cronin, Bridie O’Connell, Liam Flynn and Ray Ryan.

Our next meeting on April 2nd is a theme meeting with the title “Rakes and Rebels” and is dedicated to Mallow in the late 1700 and early 1800’s. Toastmasters, Joe Hassett, Cáit Murray, Ray Ryan, Anne Buckley and Angela Sheehan will be delivering speeches, in the first person, on various people and events of that time.

For the evening, our normal meeting room in the Hibernian Hotel will for the evening become the famous Long Room.
If you are interested in the history of Mallow, why not come along to our meeting next Thursday, April 2nd at 7,50pm for an 8.00pm start.

Upcoming Toastmasters events are the Area 17 Finals in The Grand Hotel, Fermoy on April 7th, Division Finals on April 19th in The Oriel House Hotel, Ballincollig.

So to conclude, you are invited to come along to any of our meetings and see what toastmasters is all about? Guests are most welcome and will not be asked to speak.

Speak Easy Toastmasters meet on alternate Thursday nights in The Hibernian Hotel from September to May and further information can be had by visiting our website at www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or contact club PRO, Seán on 0866054784

Don't get Trapped

Don’t get trapped in a routine. The secret of success is to practice what you are not good at. Get uncomfortable. A sport’s man, when asked to identify the secret of his success, replied ’I practiced what I was not good at’ All successful people both in and out of Toastmasters have had to overcome obstacles in life.

What determines their ability to transcend those obstacles and fears is a great willingness to stretch their comfort zones. In a Toastmaster’s Club your comfort zone is measured by the speeches you give and the assignments you take on.

Successful Toastmasters have one thing in common – they form the habit of THOROUGH PREPARATION and ACTIVE LISTENING. Those who clock watch and day dream do not get far.

Your habits reflect your personality. They influence how you dress; walk; sit; smile and laugh. As part of your internal makeup most habits are formed early in life. By adulthood those habits are much easier to follow than change. If you want to be more successful both in and out of Toastmasters, you must make an effort to reject stagnation, and form habits of self improvement. To evaluate your personal habits – ask yourself
• Do successful happy people seem to enjoy my company.
• Do others seek my advice
• Do I continue to grow through careful reading and exposure to stimulating ideas.
• Do I surround myself with positive uplifting influences.
• Do I usually feel good about myself
• Do I look for new ways to improve my speaking, writing, and listening skills

Remember a lack of time is almost always a lack of organization and management. The ability to invest time wisely is a habit acquired through deliberate choice. Success requires passion and is governed by the laws of habit.

To develop habits, one must have an objective. It is never the strength of a goal that will make you do anything in life. It is the strength of the purpose behind it. If your goal in life is to make money to put bread on the table, then that is all you will do. This standard requires you to cross the finish line only because it exists. In order to achieve a far greater level of success, you must have passion to go the distance. So finally “Never be content with what you are, if you want to be what you are not”

The dates for upcoming Speak Easy Toastmasters meetings are as follows,
March 19th, April 2nd and April 30th at 7.50 for an 8.00pm sharp start.

The meeting of April 2nd will be slightly different that usual insofar it is a “Theme Meeting” with the title “Rakes and Rebels”. It is dedicated to Mallow in the late 1700 to early 1800.

Members will be presenting speeches, speaking in the first instance, and is sure to be a fantastic evening so put it in your diaries.

Michael Cronin’s winning humorous speech, “Feel the fear and do it anyway” can now be viewed on Youtube. Just search for “Speak Easy Toastmasters Mallow.

Further information on Speak Easy Toastmasters can be had by visiting our website, www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or contact our PRO Seán on 0866054784

Club Contest Night

Last Thursday night in The Hibernian Hotel in Mallow saw the club heat of both the International Speech Contest and the Evaluation Contest.

In Toastmasters International there are five contests each year, The Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contests which are held in the Autumn and the International Speech and Evaluation Contests which are held in the spring.There is also a Tall Tales contest held in April.

The International Speech Contest is a contest in which there is a world champion, the final will be held at the International Convention in Connecticut USA on August 12-15th.
Each toastmasters club in the world are holding their contests about now and from one of them will come a world champion.

Before a large audience on Thursday night saw four of our club members delivering their speeches in the contest, and as the contest aims are to show how members benefit from their toastmasters training then no one could disagree on the benefits of toastmasters.

First to the lectern was Ray Ryan with his speech “Sword and Spear” followed by Michael Cronin with, “Making It”
Then it was Pat Sexton with, “Meeting with Martha” and Anne Buckley with, “The Red Crane”.

For the Evaluation Contest, Speak Easy Toastmasters were delighted to welcome the test speaker,
Paula Kelleher with her speech, “The Rules”. Paula is a member of Glanmire Toastmasters, and five of our members were in this contest to evaluate Paula’s speech and they were, Ray Ryan, Tony O’Regan ,Pat Sexton, Michael Cronin, and Margaret O’Regan.

The highest of standards once again prevailed in both contests and at the end of the meeting, when the judges votes were counted, Contest Chair, Pat Duggan announced the winners which were, 1st in the International Speech Contest was, Pat Sexton with Michael Cronin in 2nd place.

In the Evaluation Contest, the winner was Tony O’Regan with Pat Sexton as runner up.

Both Pat and Tony now go on to compete in the Area Final which will be held in The Grand Hotel, Fermoy on April 7th.The Division Final will be held in The Oriel House Hotel, Ballincollig on April 19th .

All toastmasters meetings require a team each night to make the meetings run smoothly and efficiently and this contest meeting was no different. With President Ray Ryan was Contest Chair, Pat Duggan, Topicsmaster, Bridie O’Connell.
Timekeepers were Mary Moynahan and Joe Hassett, and Demonstreation Speaker, Paula Kelleher.
Counters, Loretto Barry and Grant March with Sgt at Arms, Cáit Murray, Jean Sayers and Liam Flynn. Chief Judge was Sean Corcoran.

The Club would like to thank the judges on the night, both members and, especially judges who came from the other clubs.

Also last Thursday night the TV Programme, Capital D ran a segment on Dublin Toastmasters which can be seen on the RTE website, http://www.rte.ie/news/capitald/

Michael Cronins winning speech is now on Youtube and can be seen by searching for “Speak Easy Toastmasters Mallow”

Speak Easy Toastmasters meet again on Thursday, March 19th and also our theme meeting, “Rakes and Rebels” on April 2nd.

Further information on Speak Easy Toastmasters can be had on our website, www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or contact our Club PRO, Seán on 0866054784

Humour is the thing

Whether you are an aspiring TV star, or a member of a local organization or just like to have a craic in a group you will at some stage need to use humour when you speak.

Humour is a great “ice breaker”. It shows especially, if you are in a position of authority over your audience that you are indeed human and you don’t take yourself or the occasion too seriously. Humour is also a great tool to win over audience, people pay more attention to a speaker who uses humour and of course humour keeps a presentation from becoming boring not to mention that an audience will be more likely to remember your message if you use humour to illustrate it.

But, caution is needed when using or attempting to use humour, as used incorrectly it can backfire. Let’s have a look at a few simple rules for using humour in a presentation.

Firstly, humour has to fit the content and tone of your speech. If humour doesn’t fit your speech then don’t use it.
Don’t tell an unrelated joke at the start of our speech, what is a lot more effective is a humorous story that introduces the theme of the talk.

You must also consider not only the age of your audience but also their cultural background and their mood when choosing humour for your speech as not all audiences respond the same type of humour. I.e. references local characters or events would not be understood outside your area.

Needless to mention, off colour humour is not appropriate around children and audiences who would be offended by it. Be careful here.
The best way to use humour is to illustrate a point and the best humour comes from your own experience. Talk about a humorous situation you had and what you learned from it. Your audience will be drawn to your story because it is personal and real. They can also relate to similar experiences they had. Using your own experiences will make you speeches fresher than if you culled jokes out of joke books.

Humour is an integral part of Toastmasters. It is a skill that all Toastmasters aspire to use confidently in all our presentations. It is what makes a Toastmaster stand out from the crowd when delivering a speech or presentation.

In April on BBC2 an entertainment series called “The Speaker” begins an 8 program run.
The program is searching for Britain’s best young speaker and features 14 to 18 year olds from around the country.

But guess what? Speak Easy Toastmasters, in Mallow have been training speakers and leaders since 1993 at our meetings every second Thursday night so why not come along and see it “live” so to speak?

Tonight, Thursday, Speak Easy Toastmasters will be holding their annual heat of the International Speech Contest so why not come and join us.

You will be most welcome and if unfortunately you cannot make tonight we will be meeting on March 19th and of course our theme meeting on April 2nd called “Rakes and Rebels”

Further information on Speak Easy Toastmasters can be had from our website, www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or from our Club PRO, Sean on 086 6054784.

St Valentine and Tsunami's

Maybe it’s the fact that spring has come at last, or maybe it was because St. Valentines day was just gone. Whatever it was, if you were not at the meeting of Speak Easy Toastmasters last Thursday night you missed it, because members and guests alike were treated to a marvellous meeting (another one, of course).

President, Ray Ryan invited us all to forget about economic woes, bad news and anything negative and to enjoy the following two hours and boy, did we what!.

Jerry Mulcahy was our Toastmaster for the evening and Loretto Barry as Topicsmaster.

Our first speaker was Josephine O’Sullivan Lenihan who was delivering her first speech to the club. As I have mentioned before, when a member delivers his/her “Icebreaker” speech, it is special to both the new member and existing club members. The title of Josephine’s speech was, “My Experience Of Growing Up In Life”.

Following Josephine was Mary Moynahan with her speech, “St Valentine” which was a history of St Valentines day right from the time of St Valentine to the present day including various customs and fascinating facts.

Liam Flynn followed with a speech entitled, “Tsunami” which was a well researched and critical look at local government. This speech was also special for Liam as it was his 10th speech before the club which means that he as achieved his Competent Communicator Award.
Liam was presented with a certificate from Ray Ryan in recognition of this milestone.

Next was Pat Duggan with a project from the Speciality Speeches Programme. Pat prepared five separate speeches and one of these was chosen (immediately before he spoke) by the Toastmaster for Pat to deliver. Pat then spoke without notes on the chosen subject which was on the travel book called, “The Lost Continent” by Bill Bryson.

Finally Pat Sexton delivered an educational workshop on the skills and importance of members being able to give effective, constructive and genuine evaluations of other member’s speeches.
He explained that this was the most beneficial way for members to learn from their from each speech project and to become even better speakers.

After the coffee break (where members and guests alike were able to relax and chat), Topicsmaster, Loretto Barry conducted the topics session. This is the part of the meeting where we practice our speaking “off the cuff” skills an such was the atmosphere generated that even all the guests joined in.

General evaluator was Tony O’Regan and evaluators were Noel O’Connor, Mary McCarthy, Gerry Kelleher, Angela Sheehan and Ray Ryan,
Timekeeper was Declan Curtis and “Ah Counter” Michael Cronin.
Sgt at Arms, Liam Flynn, Cáit Murray and Jean Sauers.

Speak Easy members are busy organizing a “Theme Meeting” for April 2nd which has the title “Rakes and Rebels”. Put this date in your diaries as it is going to be great.

To the many guests on the night, we were delighted to meet you and are looking forward to your company in the very near future.

Our next meeting is on March 5th which will be our Speech Contest night.

Speak Easy Toastmasters meet fortnightly and you are most welcome to come along and join us.
Further information from our website, www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or contact our Club PRO, Sean on 086 6054784

Speak Easy Toastmasters in the Spring

As you look around you, now that we are mid way through February you can see the signs that spring is here. The daffodils are well above ground and indeed in some sheltered places they are even flowering. New growth can be seen on plants and hedging and there is a notable stretch in the evenings.

It makes one feel good.

Of course there is another way to feel good whether it is in spring, or the dead of winter. “Really, and how is that, I hear you ask” and the answer is of course to join Speak Easy Toastmasters.

You see, in Toastmasters we have fun at every meeting and indeed some of us even specialise in fun and good humour.

The Toastmasters International Program is structured in such a way that when a member has mastered the basics of public speaking we then go on to complete more advanced projects and this week we have a look at the Toastmasters Humorous Speech Program.

People like to laugh, right? Of course they do because laughter is a release and an escape from problems and situations that people encounter daily. Laughter has even been found to have positive physical benefits. It relieves stress and tension and relaxes us.

The purpose of the Toastmasters Humorous Speech Program is not to make one into a comedian but to simply help one to use humour in speeches and presentations and indeed when one is talking among a group of friends or one to one.

Using humour in the above situations will help establish a bond with ones audience.
It certainly helps win over a hostile audience and keep them interested.
It will certainly make people remember you.

The Humorous Speech Program is divided up into five separate modules,

A, how to use a short humorous story to open a speech or presentation.

B. to start a speech with a humorous story and to use one to emphasize the main point of the speech when closing the speech.

C. this module requires one to use jokes to emphasize the presentation’s main points.

D. teaches one how to tell an opening joke and string together several jokes in the presentation.

E. this project allows you to use your creativity to tell a long humorous story.

All the material to master using humour is contained in the Toastmasters Humorous Speech Manual and remember that the skills learned in this program are just as valid for someone telling a humorous story at a party, family gathering or, yes, even in the pub.

Don’t just take my word for it, come along to any meeting of Speak Easy Toastmasters and see for yourself. We will be delighted to welcome you as our guest for the night and don’t worry, guests at a Toastmasters meeting are never asked to speak so come along, relax and enjoy yourself.

We meet, tonight in The Hibernian Hotel, Mallow, at 8pm sharp and the meeting lasts for two hours. If you cannot make it why not put our next two dates in your diary, March 5th and March 19th.

Further information on Speak Easy Toastmasters can be had from our website at www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or from our Club PRO, Seán on 086 6054784

Say What?

Where can one go to on a Thursday night and hear highly informative speeches and fascinating facts together with a great atmosphere? Yes, you’ve guessed it, a Speak Easy Toastmasters meeting.

Last Thursday night, despite the cold and frost we had a large attendance of members and guests who were privileged to her four brilliantly researched and delivered speeches and just to put icing on the cake, one of our new members gave his first speech in the club.

President Ray Ryan as usual presided, and started us off at 8pm sharp. Mary Moynahan was Toastmaster for the night and Grant March as Topicsmaster. For both, it was their first time in the role and they brought with them, their own style and personalities.

Mary introduced our first speaker, Declan Curtis who delivered his Icebreaker speech which was entitled, “From There to Here”. The Icebreaker Speech is one that every member delivers to the club, the purpose of which is to get the member to statr speaking before an audience and also for club members to get to know the new member. A toastmaster never forgets his or her Icebreaker speech.

Following Declan was another of our newer members, Máire Welford, who delivered a marvellous and highly informative speech entitled, “Newgrange, A World Heritage Site” in which she told us the history of Newgrange and the people who built it.

Then is was the turn of Anne Buckley with her speech, “Left, Get it Right” in which she informed us, backed up with research, statistics and fascinating facts, about people who are naturally left handed.

Finally, Angela Sheehan, delivered her speech entitled, “Say What” which was a most fascinating look at cheese making. Angela told us of the history of cheese and also the modern process of cheese making.

After the break, Grant March, conducted the topics session in which the members (and only members, are asked to speak on a topic) practice their skills of speaking “off the cuff” on a variety of different topics in which they have to speak, unprepared, for two minutes.

Jerry Mulcahy was our General Evaulator for the evening and conducted the evaluation session.
This is the part of every meeting in which members receive feedback from other designated members on how they delivered their speeches and suggestions made on how they could improve.
Just as every member delivers a speech, members also get the opportunity to evaluate other members speeches. Evaluating another member’s speech is a skill in itself and is learned by practice.

The next meeting of Speak Easy Toastmasters is on February 19th and also on March 5th which will be our club heat of the International Speech and Evaluation Contests.

The Area final is being hosted by Fermoy Toastmastes on April 7th with the Division Finals on April 19th .

If you have never been to a Toastmasters meeting, why not come along to our next one and see for yourself what happens?. Don’t worry, you will not be asked to speak, guests never are, and, you can come as many times as you like as a guest.

For further information on Speak Easy Toastmasters, visit our website at www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or contact our Club PRO, Seán on 086 6054784.

Storytelling, A Toastmasters Art.

Are you fed up with all the doom and gloom reports in the media? Afraid to switch on the TV or radio for fear of hearing of more closures and job losses? Would you like to be in the company of people who think positively, and who enjoy themselves and each other company? Of course you would.

Speak Easy Toastmasters meet one a fortnight, on Thursday evenings, in the Hibernian Hotel so why not come along and see for yourself what we are about.

The Toastmasters education programmes are many and varied and our meetings are workshops rather than classrooms. The following is an example of one such toastmasters programme.

Storytelling, has been a form of communication throughout the history of mankind. It’s part of every civilisation on every continent. Early storytellers told of the deeds of their heroes; these stories were expanded over the years to include tales and fables.

The earliest known epic was “Gilgamesh” first told by the Sumerians. Later, came the Anglo Saxton tale of “Beowulf”. Storytellers related the Greek myths, which included gods with supernatural powers.

Storytelling continued during the Middle Ages, with tellers delighting their listeners with tales of war and love. In the 14th century Geoffrey Chaucer retold the stories he’d heard from a band of pilgrims travelling from London to Canterbury. Chaucer put the stories on paper in his “Canterbury Tales”.

In Ireland we have a long tradition of storytelling and tales from “Na Fianna” “Cuchullan” etc are well known to generations. We also are so lucky to have our Seanchai (which means a bearer of old lore), The late Eamon Kelly possibly being the most famous. Speak Easy Toastmasters were indeed honoured that Eamon launched the Area 17 book of speeches, “ A Taste of Toastmasters” in March 1996.

Storytelling continues to be popular. People love to hear and tell stories.
Storytelling is great entertainment, yet it has a purpose, too. We tell stories to children to introduce them to the world of literature.

In many families, tales about family history and ancestors are passed down from generation to generation through storytelling. Many public speakers tell stories as part of their presentations. They find that a well-told story will attract listener’s attention and can emphasize or illustrate a point.

Toastmasters International have a program which is very popular with members and is aptly named “Storytelling”. This program has 5 projects, “The Folk Tale”, “Lets Get Personal”, “The Moral of the Story”, “The Touching Story” and “Bringing History to Life”

Each of these projects are designed to progressively increase the Toastmasters skills in the art of Storytelling and great emphasis is placed on such skills as tempo and rhythm, bringing a story to life, keeping a story simple, introducing a twist and to arouse emotion.

So you see, in Toastmasters we have a much varied program that keeps members both entertained and constantly increasing their communication skills.
Why not come along to any of our meeting and see for yourself. You will be very welcome and don’t worry, you will not be asked to speak as guests at a Toastmasters meeting never are.

Speak Easy Toastmasters meet. tonight, February 5th and on February 19th and March 5th.

Further information from our website, www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or from Seán our PRO on 086 6054784

Singlings, Doublings and Wrack

One of the things that Speak Easy Toastmasters prides itself on is time keeping and the meeting of January 22nd was no exception as President, Ray Ryan started proceedings at exactly 8pm.
Ray welcomed members and guests and then handed control of the meeting to Michael Cronin guided us, in his own style, through the rest of the evening.

The speeches kicked off with Cáit Murry being first to the lectern with a speech entitled, “Cambodian Journey” in which she told us of her visit to that country. Cáit used vivid verbal imagery to bring us with her on that journey as she told us about Cambodia’s history, it’s people and much more.

Following Cáit to the lectern was Jean Sayers with a speech entitled, “Born Again”, in which she told us of New Year’s resolutions, why they don’t work and how we can make changes to our life at any time.

Then it was the turn of Mary McCarthy with her speech, “Be Patient and Wait”. Mary told of her adventures in Heathrow Airport as a result of a flight being cancelled and her observations of people and incidents as she waited for her flight home.

Finally it was Liam Flynn who brought the speech section of the meeting to a close with his speech, “Singlings, Doublings and Wrack” in which he enlightened us with great detail and humour on the history and making of a particular traditional Irish drink.

After the customary coffee break it was the turn of Anne Buckley who was Topicsmaster for the evening and Anne certainly kept us on our toes and the “little grey cells” exercised with her choice of topics. The topics session is the part of every toastmasters meeting where the members strive to speak for two minutes, without any preparation, on a subject that they are just given.

Gerry Kelleher was our General Evaluator for the evening and conducted the part of the meeting in which the members received feedback from designated members on how they kept to the required aims of their speech project and how they could improve.

A toastmasters meeting is divided up into four separate parts with each designed to improve the skill of the member.
1. Speeches; this is where members hone their presentation skills.
2. Evaluation; the part where members give feedback to other members but also the
evaluators are improving their listening and one to one communication skills.
3. Table Topics Session; where members work on their “speaking off the cuff” skills.
Have you ever been in a position where you were suddenly asked a question and you
couldn’t think of an answer? Embarrassing isn’t it? It wouldn’t happed to you if
you were a member of Speak Easy Toastmasters.
4. Tea/Coffee break; where members and guests can mingle, chat and get to know each
other better.

Speak Easy Toastmasters meet on alternate Thursdays from 8-10pm (precisely) in the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow and “you” are invited to come along as our guest and see what we are about.
You will not be asked to speak and you can come along as many times as our guest as you wish, without obligation.

Our next meeting is on February 5th with the following one on Feb. 19th.

Further details can be had from our website www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or contact our Club PRO, Sean on 086 6054784

It gives me great pleasure..........

“It gives me great pleasure”……these are the words that give so much anxiety to those preparing a wedding speech or a presentation. Whether you are there to introduce, dedicate or accept or are giving a wedding speech, your speech should leave no doubt as to why you and your audience have gathered.

Writing or giving a ceremonial speech should have an introduction; body, and conclusion.

• Create a sense of anticipation.
• Keep the general principles short
• Speak for one to three minutes depending on how well the audience knows the speaker.
• Resist the temptation to list all of the speaker’s accomplishments!
• Be relentlessly positive
• Never miss a chance to sincerely compliment the speaker.
• Humorous anecdotes are fine as long as they reflect positively on the speaker.

STRATEGIES FOR CREATING A SPEECH

Use a quote. Look for a gem of a quote about your speaker. Begin with the speaker’s organization, cause or topic. Tell the audience what it is and why it is important. Then move into your discussion of the speaker.

Check to see who has the same birthday as your speaker. You may find the speaker has something else in common with his or her ‘birth mate’. The ending is extremely important. It must build to a climax. It should summarize the speaker’s strengths, virtues, and accomplishments. And ideally raise the audience’s sense of anticipation to the point where they just cannot wait for the speaker to begin.

The same rules pertain for ‘a Mother/Father of the Bride Speech.’ - Only this time the speaker will have 20 + years of experiences to draw from. Please do not include the full 20 years. Always remember brevity is the sole of wit.

You do not want to turn all your guests into pillars of boredom while you pontificate on the virtues of your ‘little girl’. Don’t forget to welcome the groom into your family, whether you hate his guts or not! Political Correctness I think it is called.

We have a section in Toastmasters where you can give speciality speeches. These cover social. Corporate and family occasions. Some people join toastmaster for this very section. So come along to Speakeasy Toastmasters Club Meeting tonight, January 22nd at the Hibernian Hotel Mallow at 7.50 p.m. Sharp and you can practise for your next big event. To date the feedback from our guest is so good, that some guests have graduated to members.

They are making great progress and are contributing greatly to the success of the meetings. For that we thank them and we are delighted to have them aboard. We continue to roll out the red carpet for guests. You will be most welcome, and relax, you will not be asked to speak unless you wish to do so. See you all next Thursday. We have a fresh programme which holds great hopes for an enjoyable night.

Our next meetings are on February 5th and 19th.

Further details at www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or contact club PRO, Sean on 086 6054784

King Lear and Nature

Last Thursday night at the Hibernian Hotel saw the members of Speak Easy Toastmasters and guests return for the first meeting of 2009 and what a meeting it was.
Yes, every meeting of Speak Easy Toastmasters is special but last Thursday night saw was just that little bit extra special as we had the privilege of having members of other Toastmasters clubs on the program.

The evening started off with President, Ray Ryan welcoming members and guests and wishing us all a happy new year.
Máire Corbett from the Galtees Club in Mitchelstown and also Area 17 Governor, was our Toastmaster for the evening and Noel O’Connor was out Topicsmaster.

First to speak was Marian Harnett who is a dual member of both Killarney and Newcastlewest Toastmasters Clubs. Marian was receiving and award for her services to Toastmasters, which was presented by Michael Cronin, and her project was to give an acceptance speech.
Marian told us of life before toastmasters and what a difference toastmasters made her.

Then it was the turn of Ray Ryan who gave us a presentation entitled, “Right to know” in which he gave us a detailed account of the Freedom of Information Act and what it means to us.

Ray was followed to the lectern by Michael Buckley from The Crusaders Toastmasters Club in Cork. Michael was doing a speech project from Interpretive Reading in which he choose to recite a work written by Seán Fada O’Driscoil entitled, “King Lear” which was a hilarious look at Shakespeare’s famous play.

Finally it was the turn of Michael Broderick from the Nice and Easy Toastmasters club, with a speech entitled, “Nature”, in which he told us of his observation of fascinating nature all around him.

Following the break, in which members and guests mingled and chatted for 20 minutes, it was the turn of Topicsmaster, Noel O’Connor in which he helped us hone our “speaking off the cuff” skills with a well researched bunch of table topics.
This of course is the part of the meeting in which the members get to speak for two minutes on a subject in which they have no time to prepare.

Tim Ahern conducted the evaluation session in which the speakers received feedback from designated members on how they performed, and how they may improve, which is what every toastmaster aims to do.

Speak Easy Toastmasters return to the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow on Thursday, January 22nd at 8.00pm and also on February 5th.

If you would like to be comfortable speaking before an audience, be it a work situation, a school presentation, community meeting, reading off the altar etc, or you would just like to make some good friends why not com along and see what we are about?

As a guest, you will not be asked to speak and you may come along as a guest as often as you want.

Further information can be had from our website, www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or contact our club PRO Sean on 086 6054784

We are back for 2009

Tonight, Thursday 8th, all roads lead to the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow, why?

Because it’s the first meeting of 2009 for Speak Easy Toastmasters, that’s why. We are facing a couple of more months of dark and maybe cold evenings and where better to spend one evening every fortnight than with friends, enjoying oneself, having a chat, learning and having fun.

Speak Easy Toastmasters are part of Toastmasters International which is a non-profit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of meeting locations.

Headquartered in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, the organization has nearly 220,000 members in 11,500 clubs in 90 countries. Since 1924, Toastmasters International has helped people of all backgrounds become more confident in front of an audience.

A Toastmasters meeting is a learn-by-doing workshop in which participants hone their speaking and leadership skills in a friendly atmosphere. A typical group has 20 to 40 members who meet fortnightly to practice public speaking techniques. Meetings last for 2 hours 8-10pm

Members learn communication skills by working in the Competent Communication manual, a series of 10 self-paced speaking assignments designed to instil a basic foundation in public speaking. Participants learn skills related to use of humour, gestures, eye contact, speech organization and overall delivery. When finished with this manual, members can choose from 15 advanced manuals to learn skills related to specific interests.

Members also learn leadership skills by taking on various meeting roles and serving as officers at the club and district levels, and by working in the Competent Leadership manual and the High Performance Leadership program. In our learn-by-doing approach, we don't lecture our members about leadership skills; we give them responsibilities and ask them to lead.

There is no instructor in a Toastmasters meeting. Instead, members evaluate one another’s presentations. This feedback process is a key part of the program’s success. Meeting participants also give impromptu talks on assigned topics, conduct meetings, serve as officers in various leadership roles and learn rules related to timing, grammar and parliamentary procedure.

Speak Easy Toastmasters in one of many clubs that can be found all over Ireland and was formed in 1993. The Club has approx. 30 members from all walks of life and is gender equal.

Since it’s formation Speak Easy members have won numerous toastmaster contests at both local and district (Ireland and UK) level.
The club are constantly recognised by Toastmasters International by being presented with the “Presidents Distinguished Award” which is the highest award that a club can get.

Now that 2009 is well and truly with us, why not come along to any one of our meetings as a guest.
Guests are never asked to speak at a toastmasters meeting so come along, relax and enjoy the evening.

Our next meeting is January 22’nd and every fortnight thereafter.

Further details of the club history and awards can be obtained by logging on to the club’s website, www.speakeasytoastmasters.com. Or contact club PRO Sean on 086 6054784

New Years Resolution is to.....................

Happy New Year from Speak Easy Toastmasters and we hope you had a great Christmas.
Oh, and by the way, have you made your new years resolution yet?

It is said that 90% of New Year resolutions will be discarded by the end of January and some of the reasons are, setting yourself too high a goal, not having a specific plan, keeping your resolution to yourself, not having the will power and so on.

So what about making a resolution that you really can keep, one whose goals are readily reachable and in which you will have a specific plan.

One with whom you do not have to keep to yourself and as for will power, all you need, is to want to, and you won’t believe the will power that you will achieve.
No one, but no one, will disagree that communication or lack of it is a serious issue in today’s world and it seems that face to face communication, in some situations, is a dying art.

In other words, people are not talking enough. People sending text messages instead of using their vocal chords. Even when one decides to make a phone call, you are likely to hear, “please leave your name” or the dreaded, “press 1 for accounts, 2 for repairs, “etc. People are spending hours staring bug eyed at tv or computer screens, be it at work or at home with the Xbox or ps3.

So what about in 2009 learning the art of communication? Communication is a two way process, talking and listening, meeting and interacting with people, oh yeah, I nearly forgot, enjoying yourself and having fun while you are at it.

Ok, I hear you asking, “what’s in it for me?”, why should I?”
How about this then? Personal Impact for a start.

You see, personal impact includes key elements of Communication; Presentation; Assertiveness and Influencing techniques. All these components enable you to make the impact you want. We all can improve our ability to influence others. You all cringe at that interview that went badly wrong or that appraisal you wish to forget.
Here is an opportunity to ensure that you will not repeat these experiences. In order to know making an impact works, there are a few areas you have to consider, and study.

 Knowing how and why things go wrong
 Improving your ability to influence others
 Understanding rules and conventions and boundaries
 Speaking your mind without offending
 Finding our how others see you

An awareness of all of these will increase confidence and raise self esteem. Come along to the next meeting, of Speak Easy Toastmasters, as a guest and see for yourself how we put these skills into practice. We do it in stages and in an encouraging way and you will be most welcome and don’t worry, guests are never asked to speak at a Toastmasters meeting and you can come as a guest as often as you like.

Speak Easy Toastmasters meet just once a fortnight, on Thursday nights, for two hours, 8-10pm in The Hibernian Hotel, Mallow and our first meeting of 2009 is on Thursday, January 8th.

Now, two hours every two weeks to learn the art of communication, meet new friends from all walks of life and all ages, and to really enjoy yourself is a must for 2009, don’t you agree?

After all, “you’re worth it”
So put Thursday, January 8’th at 8pm, in your brand new 2009 diaries and alternate Thursdays from then on until the end of May.

Further information on Speak Easy Toastmasters can be had by contacting our PRO, Sean, on 086 6054784 and on our continually updated website, www.speakeasytoastmasters.com