Speakeasy provides a warm and supportive environment for people who want to improve their communication and leadership skills. This week, the second meeting of the new season, President Jerry Mulcahy and Toastmaster Celine Cremin took the opportunity to inform new comers at the meeting that membership at this stage of the year is half price, -35 euro.
As Toastmaster, -Celine fulfilled the duties of explaining the running of the meeting, introducing the officers, and introducing the speakers with ease and with great humour. James Kelleher joined Celine and the President at the top table in the role of Topicsmaster. James produced a great range of topics over the course of the evening which engaged the audience.
There were four excellent speeches. In a speech entitled Taking a Stand, Michael Cronin took us back to the dramatic year of 1968, and told the stirring story of two Black athletes, -John Carlos and Tommy Smith who were recipients of Gold and Bronze medals. These brave men in the times when Black people struggled to get basic Human Rights, raised their fists in the Black Power Salute, as their National Anthem played. They were not alone, but accompanied by the Silver Medallist, an Australian, Peter Norman, who did not raise his fist, but stood with them, also wearing a badge symbolising Human Rights. They all 3 suffered the consequences of being ostracised for years to come. With the great visual aid of the 3 on the podium to contemplate, this speech gave the audience much to think about. Pat Sexton evaluated Michael’s speech.
Tom O’Connor gave a wonderful speech, with the title of “An Elusive Truth”. In this most absorbing speech Tom paid homage to a great human being, called Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish Diplomat, who saved the lives of many Hungarian Jews in World War Two. Rona Coughlan evaluated Tom’s speech.
Liam Flynn’s speech was called “You’re not Alone”. This was a heartwarming, uplifting and beautifully crafted speech, where Liam encouraged us all to look to our own ability in terms of self sufficiency to get through the present day economic crisis, but most importantly ,-to help others. He cited local strengths, our agriculture, our tourism potential and most importantly, our youth, who could lead the way forward to a return to prosperous times. Claire O’Connell evaluated Liam’s speech.
Finally our immediate ex President, Tony O’Regan had the objective of giving a speech to accept an award, and as it happened Tony really did have an award to accept. Speakeasy Toastmasters under Tony’s stewardship have been given the award of President Distinguished Club by the international Toastmasters Organisation for the amount of goals they achieved last year. These goals are set out in the interest of having a well run, productive, successful club which Speakeasy is. Tony accepted the award graciously on behalf of all the members and paid special tribute to one person, our Educational Vice President of last year, -Jean Sayers, for the quiet and unassuming manner in which Jean did so much work behind the scenes. He encouraged new members to join up and to be relaxed in knowing that this club gives people the perfect opportunity and place where they can safely fail on the way to improving their public speaking and leadership skills. Ray Ryan evaluated Tony’s speech.
Bill Martin evaluated the meeting as a whole and evaluated the evaluators, keeping a strict eye on timing which is an important focus in Toastmaster meetings.
Angela Sheehan was the grammarian for the night. She watched out for the use of “crutch words”, such as ah and um and pointed out nice use of English, such as Tom’s use of a quote-
“The midnight fear, the knock upon the door,
the brutal face behind the gun, on the icy Danube shore."
Angela’s word that she chose to promote was “Bravo”, and there was certainly plenty of occasion to use this word!.
Pat Duggan as Timekeeper kept a watchful eye on timings. All were warmly welcomed to the meeting by Guest Greeters,- Marie Lynes, Mary Moynihan and Ronan Condon
Speakeasy Toastmasters meets every 2nd Thursday in the Hi-B. next meeting at 8pm Hibernian Mallow, Thursday Feb 7th. Non members are most welcome and are never asked to speak. Contact Jerry 0863752895,or Noel 0872427485.
"Follow us on Facebook "Speak Easy Toastmasters", on Twitter "@speakeasytm" and on
our blog "http://speakeasytm.blogspot.
www.speakeasytoastmasters.com
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Sunday, January 20, 2013
"What do ye do?"
Pat Connolly has achieved many Toastmaster awards in his long association with the organisation. He is one of the founder members of Kinsale and District Toastmasters Club, and over the years has helped a number of clubs throughout Munster to develop. In this article he outlines the purpose of good speech structure and speech making and introduces his readers to the first speech that a new Toastmaster would make - The Ice-Breaker. Pats' personal goal for this year is to complete the penultimate award in Toastmasters, that of Distinguished Toastmaster.
As a member of the Toastmaster Family for almost thirty years now, the most common question people ask me on a regular basis is 'what do ye do'? The simple answer is we continue to strive to improve our leadership and communication skills, through making speeches, evaluating speeches and speaking 'off the cuff'.Why do people want to make a speech? Well there are many reasons, – accepting an award, a retirement function, presentation in the workplace, Father of the Bride, etc.
Where can we get material for speeches? Absolutely everywhere. Look around you where you are presently situated, reading this article, and I can guarantee you that there are at least four or more items that could supply ideal material for an interesting speech. Reading is invaluable.
In some club meetings they have a long established tradition of having a reading. This is usually just before the interval. Reading is the best way to find material for any speech a person wishes to make. However taking somebody else’s material and using it as your own is a non starter in Toastmasters, as in other walks of life.
So where can you get superior support, enthusiastic encouragement and very willing people who will help you to develop the skills you already have? Yes! You’ve guessed – your local Toastmaster’s Club of course.How can this be done? It can be done by following the ten projects in the first manual you will receive when you become a club member, which will help you to become a competent communicator.
Speech number one, the Ice Breaker. The first speech a member will present to the club is called the ‘Ice Breaker’, – you speak about yourself and if you think about it, you will certainly have a huge amount of material to work with. Your presentation can be as personal or as impersonal as you wish. You can use some information on your background, interests and perhaps what you would like to do in the future, maybe how many speeches you will make in the club year.
There are a number of points to consider in your preparation stage. Firstly, read the details of the entire project before preparing your talk. Then mentally plan the outline and only then begin writing down the material. There will be many changes in structure and content, with additions and deletions, before your are completely satisfied with your presentation. You many use notes during your speech.
Timing is very important in speech making. While all sections are important, the time taken by the speakers helps them to monitor how well or otherwise they did in their presentations. In your preparation always factor in your timing in your practice sessions. Speak at a reasonable rate, so that your audience can enjoy your presentation and this will allow you time to think, and reference your notes. Always practice giving your speech to family or friends and don’t be afraid to practice in front of a mirror – remember what you see in the mirror, is what your audience will see when you present your speech. As eye contact is a very important part of giving a speech, you should begin to use it even at this early stage. Eye contact makes you at one with the audience and helps to bring them into your space. And finally, always finish your speech before you begin it. This means that you have everything prepared and fine tuned long before you present your speech to your fellow club members.
In summary, the objectives of a Stage One Speech are to prepare a speech, to helping you begin speaking before an audience by introducing yourself to your club members, and to begin to understand the strengths you already have and identify the areas that require particular emphasis in your speaking development and finally the time allowed for this project is four to six minutes.
Our next meeting is tonight so do drop in and you may hear an Ice-breaker being presented, either way, you will have a very educational and entertaining evening. Oh, and do bring a friend or two.
Speakeasy Toastmasters meets every 2nd Thursday in the Hi-B. next meeting at 8pm Hibernian Mallow, Thursday 24th Jan. Non members are most welcome and are never asked to speak. Contact Jerry 0863752895,or Noel 0872427485.
"Follow us on Facebook "Speak Easy Toastmasters", on Twitter "@speakeasytm" and on
our blog "http://speakeasytm.blogspot.
www.speakeasytoastmasters.com
As a member of the Toastmaster Family for almost thirty years now, the most common question people ask me on a regular basis is 'what do ye do'? The simple answer is we continue to strive to improve our leadership and communication skills, through making speeches, evaluating speeches and speaking 'off the cuff'.Why do people want to make a speech? Well there are many reasons, – accepting an award, a retirement function, presentation in the workplace, Father of the Bride, etc.
Where can we get material for speeches? Absolutely everywhere. Look around you where you are presently situated, reading this article, and I can guarantee you that there are at least four or more items that could supply ideal material for an interesting speech. Reading is invaluable.
In some club meetings they have a long established tradition of having a reading. This is usually just before the interval. Reading is the best way to find material for any speech a person wishes to make. However taking somebody else’s material and using it as your own is a non starter in Toastmasters, as in other walks of life.
So where can you get superior support, enthusiastic encouragement and very willing people who will help you to develop the skills you already have? Yes! You’ve guessed – your local Toastmaster’s Club of course.How can this be done? It can be done by following the ten projects in the first manual you will receive when you become a club member, which will help you to become a competent communicator.
Speech number one, the Ice Breaker. The first speech a member will present to the club is called the ‘Ice Breaker’, – you speak about yourself and if you think about it, you will certainly have a huge amount of material to work with. Your presentation can be as personal or as impersonal as you wish. You can use some information on your background, interests and perhaps what you would like to do in the future, maybe how many speeches you will make in the club year.
There are a number of points to consider in your preparation stage. Firstly, read the details of the entire project before preparing your talk. Then mentally plan the outline and only then begin writing down the material. There will be many changes in structure and content, with additions and deletions, before your are completely satisfied with your presentation. You many use notes during your speech.
Timing is very important in speech making. While all sections are important, the time taken by the speakers helps them to monitor how well or otherwise they did in their presentations. In your preparation always factor in your timing in your practice sessions. Speak at a reasonable rate, so that your audience can enjoy your presentation and this will allow you time to think, and reference your notes. Always practice giving your speech to family or friends and don’t be afraid to practice in front of a mirror – remember what you see in the mirror, is what your audience will see when you present your speech. As eye contact is a very important part of giving a speech, you should begin to use it even at this early stage. Eye contact makes you at one with the audience and helps to bring them into your space. And finally, always finish your speech before you begin it. This means that you have everything prepared and fine tuned long before you present your speech to your fellow club members.
In summary, the objectives of a Stage One Speech are to prepare a speech, to helping you begin speaking before an audience by introducing yourself to your club members, and to begin to understand the strengths you already have and identify the areas that require particular emphasis in your speaking development and finally the time allowed for this project is four to six minutes.
Our next meeting is tonight so do drop in and you may hear an Ice-breaker being presented, either way, you will have a very educational and entertaining evening. Oh, and do bring a friend or two.
Speakeasy Toastmasters meets every 2nd Thursday in the Hi-B. next meeting at 8pm Hibernian Mallow, Thursday 24th Jan. Non members are most welcome and are never asked to speak. Contact Jerry 0863752895,or Noel 0872427485.
"Follow us on Facebook "Speak Easy Toastmasters", on Twitter "@speakeasytm" and on
our blog "http://speakeasytm.blogspot.
www.speakeasytoastmasters.com
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