Welcome To Lewisham Speakers

Lewisham Speakers, is Multi -Cultural club, in the heart of South East London. With its friendly, supportive encouraging environment, it is perfect for nervous speakers to develop confidence and excellent speaking skills. Just 5 mins walk from Lewisham Train, DLR and Bus Stations.
Lewisham Speakers club is Affiliated to Toastmaster International - world Leaders in improving Communication and Leadership.Greenwich, Canada Water, Woolwich, Canary Wharf, Catford, Croydon, Penge, Locksbottom, Paddington, Sydenham, Bexleyheath, Dulwich, Forest Hill, Sidcup, Eltham, Plumstead, Bexley, New Cross and Central London.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Can TV adverts tell us about Toastmasters?

Having been off work unwell last week, I succumbed to the clutches of mind numbing TV. I still refuse to watch daytime TV but evenings – yes I admit I’ve been weak and unable to fight the system. L
For those of you who do watch TV, have you seen the advert for the new Nexus 7 the Google tablet? It features a little boy with braces who is scared to death at the thought of giving a presentation to his class. He googles ‘Glossophobia’ (fear of public speaking), finds a great historical speech from Winston Churchill, tries to model Churchill’s style, then smashes it in the classroom to the point where he scores major brownie points with a cute girl in the front row of his class causing another dilemma – how does he ask her out?
The Nexus 7 advert

Does the advert make me want to go buy the Nexus 7? Well inadvertently yes as it made me 'go compare' android tablets. Congratulations to the advertising agency! More importantly, does it paint a true picture of how you overcome a very real fear of using your tongue? (this is the literal translation of Glossophobia). In a way, yes it does. It shows that we learn fastest when:

·         We have a reason to have to learn – the pressure of an important event for example
·         We find a great mentor and model them
·         We practice – repetition is the key to learning.

This is what Toastmasters is all about people! For every single member, there was a reason they joined and it wasn't because they just wanted to be good at a toastmasters club.
At Toastmasters there is access to so many great speakers, in your club, in your area, district etc. we are spoilt for choice in terms of mentors.
And finally we come to practice! Whether you give a speech or a time keeper report, you are dissipating that feeling of nausea, and panic that used to envelop you and render you powerless.

Don’t be a slave to Glossophobia. Get yourself down to Lewisham Toastmasters Club. Find the cure and break free of the chains. We can't guarantee you will find the cute girl or boy in the front row though!

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Exuberance, Entertainment and Excitement - 16th October, 2013

In 19th century, American Essayist, Poet and Lecturer Ralph W. Emerson said “All the great speakers were bad speakers at first." I don’t know if this was proved wrong or not by our first time guest Dean, Abim, Kirk, Dawn, Tewodaj and Elizabeth who has displayed brilliance on all occasion. For them the fear of public speaking was no way near.
 
The meeting took a steady start; Richard Green started the meeting with his evergreen style of humour and passion, keeping the energy flowing without any single drop. Three speakers Shernette, Asiimwe and Sholem did a wonderful job. Shernette doing her ICEBREAKER with confidence and what a great way to explain why she turned into a vegetarian. She led us through her daily occasion habits and I’m sure Lewisham club is going to witness another great story teller. Asiimwe rose to the occasion by giving a wonderful story and insight about whey he joined Toastmaster. He allowed us to have a quick glimpse of how Toastmaster has benefited him to become a better presenter and most importantly a better person. Sholem got a typical orthodox style of speaking skills blended witticism and compassion. We love it Sholem, keep coming and keep telling your magical story.

Evaluation role was chaired by Jacqui, Manoj and Lukas. All performed their task very effectively. Jacquie feedback not only explained the shiny things about Shernette speaking skills, but all give some valuable tips to improve future speeches. Lukas enticed the audiences with his punchy evaluation that sync with Sholem speech and I’m sure there are some great takeaways for everyone.

Our table topic master Katy understanding the value of time and audience members, she twisted the opportunity and invited each and everyone to hit the podium. What a speaking finale of 16 members  include some high quality speaking skills exhibited from our guest - Kirk with his New York story, Tewodaj with her best color green and black, Abim Jesus message on Xmas and lastly Dean and Dawn throwing their hats in the ring and shedding all the nervousness.

Timer - Serena, Grammarian - Jason and WarmUp Leader - Julie, all doing their bits and giving a meaningful contribution.

Our General Evaluator Flavia as gracious as she always, she unfolded the feedback session by giving everyone a valuable tips.

Finally there will be always a Winner in Toastmaster Evening - Asiimwe, Jacqui and Teodaj clichéd the evening awards for Best Speakers, Best Evaluator and Table topic award respectively.

Not only the night was ecstatic, but eventful. Three of our Guests - Tewodaj, Kirk and Dawn agreed to join the Club. Well Done.

I’m sure looking forward to see you all on 6th November, 2013 same time, same place.
Manoj
President – Lewisham Speakers

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Oh What a Week!

Last week was a fantastic week. Not only did we represent in the Area 59 Humourous speech contest, (see previous blog for results), Darren La Croix, was in town and some of us went to see him at Citi Criers.
What a guy! He was funny, engaging and professional. All things you would expect from a World Class, Toastmasters International speech contest winner. What was less expected was the amount of value he gave. Most people in his shoes would give a teeny weeny bit of value and then go in for the kill selling their products and the whole event would end up being one big advertisement. This was different. As I listened,  I sat there thinking about the speech I had given the week before and could immediately apply his tips to that speech. If I were to perform it again I know it would be 100x better. So what did he tell us? I can't share it all as that would be a book not a blog post but if I were to pick and paraphrase one of the most helpful things he said, it would be this;

Don't just tell your audience your story, take them there.

If you can just get your audience to see, hear, feel and smell your story then your story is going to be much more powerful.

Try it!  Next time you write your speech - take your audience along for the ride. Let their senses run wild for those 5-7 minutes!

For more tips from the the legendary La Croix, go to http://darrenlacroix.com/

For more practice, obviously get yourself down to our club.

The people that made the event possible. 
The Citi Criers posse with our very own Julie Kertesz DTM (third from right) and Darren La Croix (centre)

Thursday, October 10, 2013

AREA 59 HUMOROUS SPEECH AND TABLE TOPICS 2013

What an entertaining Humorous Speech and Table Topics Event we had last night!
It was great to see so many people from the different clubs in our Area 59 pulling together and supporting their contestants for the event, and even people attending from outside the area too. Together we made it a great evening. Especially thanks to David Marks, our contest chair of the evening (founding member of the Russian and English Speakers and currently Assistant Divisional Governor to Area B) who discharged his duties with charm, warmth and competence throughout the evening. We also thank the Citi Criers Executive Committee and Club members for hosting the event in their elegant, lofty tower.

Well done to all the supporting functionaries, and the contestants. The judges must have had a hard time with five top quality speeches to choose from, and excellent table topic responses in the room! They were all winners for the effort and excellent delivery.
Congratulations are due to Steve Edun of Meridian Speakers who came 1st in the Humorous Speech competition. He had us all in stitches, if the laughter in the room is anything to go by, with memories of a truly unique childhood! He managed to deliver an inspirational message we can take away with us: “By effecting changes in our life today, pushing our boundaries (or should that be shopping trollies), we can be the person we want to be tomorrow.”

Congratulations are also due to James Jeans of Speakers Corner who really showed us the art of an excellent table topic response. Well structured, good content, responding well to the question, and closing with a punchy summary.

The final results of the contest are:
 
Humorous Speech Contest
 
1st – Steve Edun
2nd – Brett Downes
3rd – William Hagerup
 
Table Topics Contest

1st – James Jeans
2nd – Brett Downes
3rd – Matthew Clark
 
I am looking forward to seeing you all at the Division Contest next week, 16th October at London Trustmasters, where we can all support our Area winners Steve and James.

Pictured (l to r): Dave Longley, William Hagerup, Brett Downes, Matthew Clark, James Jeans, Steve Edun, Julie Kertesz, Flavia Gordon, Ruth Ellen Henry Ovid, Katy Woolcott.

(Photography care off Kayus Fernander, Citi Criers) Thanks to William Hagerup for editorial assistance.



Katy Woolcott
Area 59 Governor