Your Body Speaks

Tonight is the night for pupils of Davis College, St. Mary’s Secondary School and The Partician Acadamy of Mallow and Schoil Mhuire of Kanturk as they compete for the Mallow Credit Union Perpetual Trophy (overall school winner) and Hibernian Hotel Perpetual Trophy (individual winner) in the Speak Easy Toastmasters Inter Schools Public Speaking Contest.

The pupils have been busy preparing for this contest for the past number of weeks and finally, tonight, they will present their speeches before the judges in The Hibernian Hotel, Mallow at 8pm sharp.

This promises, once again, to be a great evening so why not come along, give your support and listen what these young people have to say.

Continuing on with our series of articles on the skills of public speaking or making a presentation, this week we look at body language and the correct way to use it.

Firstly, facial expression. Together with your voice and stance, tells the audience whether you are being serious or funny, happy or sad, friendly or angry.

Next, eye contact. Speak to the audience looking directly at them; you should strive to look into the eyes of as many people as possible in your audience. You are connecting with your audience and they will know that you sincere in what you are saying.

Thirdly, guestures. Hands are wonderful tools but they can also be distracting if you are fiddling with the podium or lectern, pens, glasses or papers and can make the audience feel uncomfortable and annoyed. Equally, hands jammed in pockets give the wrong vibes. Using ones hands to enhance a presentation needs to be learned and practiced but it is a skill well worth learning.

And lastly, whole body movement. Be careful when you are speaking that you are not a rocker or a sawyer or a pacer as these movements can make you look nervous and can make the audience uncomfortable. Try to stand straight but not stiff, balance your body, feet slightly apart, relax your shoulders, chest up and stomach in, head straight and arms hanging naturally. Learn to work the room so do not stand in only one position. Move from spot to spot purposefully.

The above is only a very brief outline of using your body to enhance a speech or presentation and is just one more of the skills that are learned and practiced at toastmasters meetings. Remember, toastmasters meetings are workshops not classrooms and where the emphasis is on members enjoying themselves and of course we all know that if you enjoy yourself then learning is a pleasure.

So why not find out for yourself, come along to any of our meetings in the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow. We meet on alternate Thursdays at 7.50pm for an 8pm sharp start and finish at 10pm. We would be delighted to meet you and be assured that guests are never asked to speak at any toastmaster meeting.

So don’t forget to come along tonight 15^th and support the Inter Schools Public Speaking Contest. It starts at 8pm sharp and will be a fantastic evening.

Toastmasters from all over Ireland and the UK are this week getting back to normal after a wonderful conference in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, last weekend.
We had a weekend of workshops, contests, a tour of the beautiful Yorkshire Dales and of plenty of retail therapy for those so inclined.
The Irish success story of the weekend was John Doyle from Thurles Toastmasters who won the Table Topics Contest.

The next District 71 Conference (Ireland and UK) will take place in the Gleneagle Hotel, Killarney, on the 9-11^th of May 2008

Speak Easy Toastmasters next regular meeting is on November 29^th.

Further information on Speak Easy Toastmasters can be had from our website, www.speakeasytoastmasters.com

Handbags and Haircuts

What a fantastic meeting we had last Thursday night in the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow where Speak Easy Toastmasters held their 5^th meeting of the Toastmasters year.

The meeting was opened as usual by our President, Anne Buckley, who welcomed us, one and all and handed control of the meeting to or Toastmaster for the evening, Marie Fitzpatrick, who guided us through the evening with her own individual style of continuity and introductions.

First to the lectern was Joe Hassett with a speech entitled, “And here’s to you Mrs Robinson” in which he told us of his experiences and thoughts on education. The objective of Joe’s speech was to “Work with Words” in which he had to use precisely the right words to communicate ideas clearly and vividly.

Following Joe was Vivien Buckley with a speech which was and educational presentation in which Vivien demonstrated the correct use of body language giving many examples in facial expressions, hand gestures, and body movement in which guests, new and experienced members alike found most informative.

Next to the lectern was Club President, Anne Buckley with a speech entitled, “Bags of Bags” in which she told us of here adventures in New York City and of finding a handbag heaven and the haggling and purchasing that resulted.

Finally it was the turn of Pat Sexton who was reading from author, Bill Bryson’s book, Letters from a Big Country. The chapter chosen was “A visit to the barbers shop”. Pat was completing a project from Interpretive Reading in which he had to interpret the work of an author and make the story come alive.

Topicsmaster was Liam Flynn who entertained us with his range of up to the minute topics in which members had to speak for two minutes on a subject of Liam’s choosing.

General Evaluator was Tony O’Regan and speech evaluators were, Mary Buckley, Michael Cronin and Sean Corcoran. Timekeeper was Jerry Mulcahy and Sgt at Arms, Joe Hassett and Mary Moynihan.

Also on the night was and address by Toastmasters International, Area 17 Area Governor, Pat Duggan who was on his first official visit to the club.

So what a enjoyable evening we had with the skills of using words correctly, in presentations, body language, storytelling, reading, listening (speech evaluations) and impromptu speaking all being practised.

This weekend, 9^th to11^th, all roads for Toastmasters in Ireland and the UK lead to Harrogate in England for the Autumn Conference. In May and November each year, Toastmasters in Ireland and the UK meet for a weekend of Speech Contests and Workshops, not to mention revelry and merrymaking. The theme for this conference is “Toasties and Ghosties”. Don’t you just wish you were going?

On Thursday 15^th of November, next Thursday, students from Mallow schools, The Patrician Academy, St. Mary’s Secondary School, Davis College and Scoil Mhuire, Kanturk meet in the Hibernian Hotel Mallow for the “Speak Easy Public Speaking Schools Contest”. This is the second year of this contest and promises to be a fantastic night. So don’t forget, put it in your diary and come along for a great night. Remember, Speak Easy Toastmaster meetings start at 8pm sharp. See you there..

Further information on Speak Easy Toastmasters can be had from our website www.speakeasytoastmasters.com