Grades from A-Z

This week we saw thousands jump for joy or hang their heads in disappointment as the nations 15 & 16 year olds, got their GCSE results.

I was in a session at work earlier this week where a guy kept expectantly checking his phone to get the news. When the news finally came through, he proudly proclaimed his son had amassed 8 A*s, 2 As and a B! Amazing results right? Amazing indeed.  Every year the theory of evolution is confirmed – generations just keep getting smarter!

Good grades can be the start of an incredible journey in life but grades do not speak for themselves. As us adults know, if you can’t open your mouth and show strangers just how amazing you are, then all your hard work will be for nothing.

This is where Toastmasters comes in. As a parent you’ll want to give your teenager the best help you possibly can. If the theory of evolution is to be believed then there is probably very little you can help your smart kids with in terms of A level homework. However, this post isn't about making you feel dumb! You can show your child just how smart you are by joining Toastmasters!

5 reasons why joining Toastmasters (specifically Lewisham speakers club) can help your brainy teenager.

1.   By coming to the club and developing yourself, you grow more confident which has a positive ripple effect on your family.

2.   You learn how to give feedback to people who are telling you things you don’t really understand – AKA, you can comment on the delivery your teenager’s homework even if you know nothing about the subject.

3.   Through the tools you learn at Toastmasters, you can help your teenager prepare for any presentation they have to do as part of their coursework.

4.   Though partaking in Table topics,  you will learn how to be spontaneous in response to questions – the exact skill you need for acing interviews

5.   You can bring them along too! There’s no reason why your brainy teenager cannot join toastmasters too. It’s a much better bonding activity than sitting watching TV on a Wednesday evening. And Toastmasters boasts a number of programmes specifically for young people.

So if you don’t join for yourself, do the smart thing, join for your brainy teen!

Risky Business

Bet you can’t guess what jumping out of a plane, acknowledging why pencils have erasers and funny bones have in common?! They were the topics of the speeches we heard at our last toastmasters meeting. The other not so obvious commonality is that all three speeches were in their own way, encouraging us to take some sort of ‘risk’.

Our first speech was from Jacqui who in her 2^nd speech told us how she spent her university book money on skydiving lessons. The vivid imagery of her jump out of a plane as her life flashed before her, is not a risk I would personally want to take!

In our next speech (also his second speech) John, suggested a risk which was more much more palatable than skydiving- if you make a mistake, take the risk and own up. Thereafter, apologize, try to rectify and learn from your mistake.

Our Third speech made us think about the risk of standing in front of an audience, sharing something funny, but then no one laughing at your jokes. Our experienced Toastmaster Julie helped us to understand and demonstrated how life’s everyday happenings can be used as humorous material which becomes more effective i.e more funny, when you build on the content with more truth.  Julie’s educational speech won the speech of the night. 

Karolis won the best evaluation of the evening for his lively appraisal of Jacqui’s speech.

We had lots of guests this evening which added a different dimension to our meeting and was a pleasure for me popping my Toastmaster-of-the-evening cherry! Our guests, Angelo, Mounita, Nadine, Tanya and Tedodaj all took risks. Not only by stepping foot into our club, but by partaking in the Table Topics session. They did extremely well, all displaying the raw potential of becoming great speakers.

If our guests can take risks so can you! Don’t erase the thought of becoming a great public speaker. Take the plunge, come to Lewisham Speakers club. Be part of a growing international organisation. Joining toastmasters is a risk worth taking.

They should have gone to Toastmasters

Being a member of toastmasters Lewisham is becoming more than just a nice thing to do. Once you get into it, the philosophy and learnings start to seep through into other areas of your life. For example. Today my partner and I attended to a wedding. Its been a long time since I went to one and for the most part, it was a beautiful day full of love and enjoyment. There were however, parts where I cringed and unfortunately they were the public speaking parts.

The couple were wed by a Pastor. Apparently he had been a Pastor for 22 years, and in some aspects of his performance, this was obvious. For instance his vocal variety was excellent. You knew he was in charge and made people want to listen to him despite having an accent. However, there were 3 things he kept doing which would have sent me into a fit of rage had it been my special day.

1. He kept getting the couples name wrong – this might not have been so bad if it wasn’t for the fact that he kept referring to the Bride as ‘James’ –I’m sure you’ll agree it’s not a very feminine name!
2. The couple had been together for 2 decades, had already built a life together. You could argue why bother cementing the deal now but that’s a whole other blog! The point is that the Pastors sermon was totally inappropriate for this particular couple. Why would you talk about how to stay together when they had successfully managed this up until this point? Why would you talk about leaving the parental home when they were actually grandparents? It made no sense.
3. Finally, there were times when he mumbled whilst his head was down in his bible – not good. but when he wasn't doing this, his stage presence was awesome.

Moving on to the speeches. The only saving grace here was the fact we were fed first and it was a fantastically delectable buffet. I was quiet surprised at the fact that everyone in the bridal party who traditionally would prepare a speech, read their ‘speech’ from a crumpled, limp piece of paper pulled out from some sweaty crevice (it was a warm day to be fair).

These speeches were delivered with such brevity, they were over before you could get into them. They all lasted less than a table topic answer which begs the question, why bother with the crimpled paper? Others, who came up spontaneously, did much better.  But they were not great.  For example, all the speakers used way too many fillers -the ‘ums’ the ‘ahs’, the ‘you know what I’m sayings’ and the ‘you get mes’ actually eclipsed the content! Alas, I am a tough audience!

So Lucinda, what are you trying to say? I hear you ask Well several things really. It is the wedding season so if you have one coming up and especially if you are part of the bridal party, here are some useful tips:

• Preparation can help your confidence with public speaking and help avoid embarrassing moments
• It is important it is to pitch your content to your audience. Different audiences need and respond differently to your messages/ jokes etc.
• Too many fillers switch people off. Try and pause instead. A pause might feel like forever to you, but it doesn't to your audience.

Want to discover more? Get yourself down to a Toastmasters club -Lewisham Speakers would be preferable! Let us help your wedding speech rock!