‘Changing Times’

Speak Easy Toastmasters meeting on November 11th 2010 was another in which guests and members both learned from, and enjoyed and enjoyed themselves.

Joining President Margaret O’ Regan at the top table was Angela Sheehan, Toastmaster who chaired the meeting and Ray Ryan who was Topicsmaster.

First to the lectern was Helen Buckley with a speech entitled ‘Changing Times’. Helen told us about the differences she has experienced in her life as a result of moving from living in the country to living in a town. While living in the Country Helen enjoyed listening to the birds as well as gazing at the stars at night. Living in a town now allows her to be in close proximity to shops and services as well as meeting people.

Following Helen was Jean Sayers with her reading of the poem ‘The Highwayman’ written by Alfred Noyes. The poem was tragic with the death of both the Highwayman and his lover Bess. Alfred Noyes was best known for his Ballads, ‘The Highwayman’ being his most famous.

Next it was the turn of Bill Martin with his speech entitled ‘From oil tankers to ice breakers’. Bill’s ice breaker speech provided the group with details on the significant areas of his life in a chronological order. It was very entertaining speech peppered with humor. A night which includes an icebreaker speech (the first speech a member gives to the group) is always an exciting the night for a Toastmaster Club.

Finally it was the turn of Ellen O’ Mahony with her speech entitled ‘Important matters of State, Philosophy and Chocolate. Ellen was invited by Speak Easy Toastmasters to give her speech to the Club prior to competing in the District Humorous Speech Contest Final to be held in Dublin on the 13th of November 2010. Ellen concluded her speech by advising the group that ‘arrogance and stereotyping can lead to an unforgivable waste of perfectly good chocolate’. It was an excellently structured speech with a chocolate image weaved throughout it.

The topic session for the evening was conducted by Topicsmaster Ray Ryan. Ray’s topics were both varied and topical and caused great amusement.

Timekeeper Sean Corcoran reminded speakers/people contributing to topics when their allocated times were up while grammarian/ah counter Jerry Mulcahy gave feedback at the end of the meeting on how the group performed regarding the use of ‘crutch words’ and ‘fillers’ e.g. um’s and ah’s.

Noel O’ Connor, conducted the General Evaluation Session and conducted the part of the meeting in which speakers received feedback from their assigned evaluators who were Pat Duggan, Bridget Breen, Anne Buckley and Pat Sexton. The Sergeants at Arms for the meeting were Liam Flynn and Jerry Mulcahy.

Speak Easy Toastmasters is hosting the ‘Public Speaking Schools Contest’ on the 18th of November 2010. To support the students speaking in public come along to the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow at 7.50pm.

Speak Easy Toastmasters will hold their next meeting at the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow, November 25th at 7:50PM. Non-members are more than welcome to attend and will not be asked to speak. Further details about the Club are available on our website, www.speakeasytoastmasters.com

Speak Easy Toastmasters-Schools Contest

On Thursday the 18th of November 2010 Speak Easy Toastmasters is hosting the ‘Speak Easy Public Speaking Schools Contest’.

Each year students from Local Schools participate in the Contest. This is a very important opportunity for students to acquire the skills that allow them to stand up before a group of people and present on a topic. As their confidence in speaking grows so too does their ability to research a topic and understand the issue arising in the public speaking forum.
The importance of acquiring public speaking skills at an early age cannot be underestimated.

Everyday we interact with people- we talk to our family, say hello to neighbours, converse with our workmates/school friends; in effect we communicate with those around us. Communication is the transfer of meaningful information that can be understood, anything that sends a message is communication.

There are many ways to communicate including body language, writing, facial expression, sounds, posture, hand gestures to name but a few. However the best way to communicate is through Speech. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but if you have a question about the picture you need to use words to explain it. And through communication we can see the importance of public speaking. This is why it is important to learn to present our thoughts and feelings meaningfully. If we are not effective in expressing ourselves then miscommunication can arise. Many issues and misconceptions come from someone misinterpreting what someone else said.

Public speaking IS an essential ingredient to a successful, empowered life. If as human beings we can master the finer points of public speaking, there's a fairly good chance we will be able to tackle and master other opportunities and obstacles that come our way.

So why not come along on the 18th of November 2010 to the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow, at 7:50PM and support the students in their forthcoming ‘Speak Easy Public Speaking Schools Contest’. I am sure the students would value your support.

Speak Easy Toastmasters will hold their next meeting at the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow, November 11th at 7:50PM. Non-members are more than welcome to attend and will not be asked to speak. Further details about the Club are available on our website, www.speakeasytoastmasters.com

Speak Easy Toastmasters-‘Dog Days’

Speak Easy Toastmasters recent meeting was opened by the Club President, Margaret O’ Regan. Toastmaster Bridie O Connell chaired the meeting.

Speaker No 1 Cait Murray delivered a stage 7 project from the basic manual.
In her speech entitled ‘Dog Days’ Cait informed the group how the bond between humans and dogs originated. The strongest instinct in dogs is the pack instinct. This led them to find the pack leader in human beings. Dogs originated from wolves. It was a very informative and interesting speech. Cait’s speech was evaluated by Ann Buckley.

Cait was followed by Liam Flynn who did a project from the Interpretative Reading manual. Liam read John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s inaugural address of 1961. In his introduction Liam informed the group that John F Kennedy was the youngest man ever to be elected President of the United States as well as being the first President of the United States to visit Ireland. The famous line from the speech is as thought provoking in today’s world as it was back in 1961- ‘"Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country ". Liam’s speech was evaluated by Michael Cronin.

The third speaker of the night was Bridget Breen, who delivered a stage 4 project from the basic manual. Bridget vividly described to the group in her speech entitled ‘That is one off my bucket list’ her experience of hand gliding. Bridget had dreamt about flying but said that her hand gliding experience was 10 times better. It was one of her life long ambitious. She encouraged all the thrill seekers in the audience to go hand gliding. Bridget’s speech was evaluated by Noel O’ Connor.

The final speaker for the night was Sean Corcoran. Sean did a project from the Interpretative Reading Manual. Sean read ‘A letter from a Matchmaker’ by John B Keane in the form of a soliloquy. In his introduction Sean explained that the Matchmaker Dickie Mick Dickie was writing to his brother Jack in America. The group was highly entertained by the humourous letter. The sincerity of Dickie Mick Dickie was borne out through Sean’s excellent delivery. Sean’s speech was evaluated by Jean Sayers.

The topic sessions for the evening were conducted by Topicsmaster Joe Hassett. Joe’s topics were both varied and topical

Timekeeper Mary Buckley reminded speakers/people contributing to topics when their allocated times were up while grammarian/ah counter Angela Sheehan encouraged the use of the word ‘obdurate’ meaning stubborn or hard hearted during the course of the meeting.

Loretta Barry, conducted the General Evaluation Session. The Sergeant at Arms for the meeting was Liam Flynn.

Speak Easy Toastmasters will hold their next meeting at the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow, November 11th at 7:50PM. Non-members are more than welcome to attend and will not be asked to speak. Further details about the Club are available on our website, www.speakeasytoastmasters.com