Lewisham Toastmaster Presidents – Present & Past

Our 6th Birthday Celebrations!

What a night we had with our 6th birthday celebrations of the Lewisham Toastmasters club!

Richard Green gave a very warm welcome introducing our birthday as the club was born on the 19th November 2008.

Our very own VPE Phillip Langerdon was and deserved to be Toastmaster this evening as he was the founding partner of our club 6 year ago alongside Chris Howell who unfortunately couldn't be there this evening. It was wonderful to have Phillip as toastmaster on such a special occasion and he did us all proud as always with his charasmatic leadership skills and excellent hosting.

Chris Douce led the warm up asking us to all share a memorable birthday - Jason's was a parachute jump, mine was getting drunk and being locked up in a cell for the night and others ranged from eating dinner at Zizzis to a week in the Maldives with rose petals and banana leaves on their bed.

Our three speeches of the evening were all brilliant icebreakers by our new members, Robert, Suresh and Judith.

Robert told us his interesting story about coming from Grenada in the Caribbean to the UK and meeting his beautiful wife. He shared with us some African history from Zambia and Zimbabwe and his main message was how he didn't believe that African landmarks should be names after European travelers or monarchy. It was really interesting to hear that the real name for Victoria Falls is actually Mosi-oa-Tunya.

Suresh's icebreaker was fascinating as he shared with us his up-bringing, and how he had been brought up in a family where his father was a total disciplinarian. Suresh can do almost anything in absolute silence as this was how he was brought up until he started work at 15years old in the Indian Air Force (following his father's footsteps). He soon realised he wanted more of a challenge from life and headed overseas for his big adventures.

Judith shared with us her story of her unconventional job as an environmental scientist. She organises groups of volunteers to help clean up the grasslands of Lewisham - removing thistles and dandelions that otherwise take over entire meadows. One of the volunteers is 87 years old but extremely fit which is very inspiring!

Flavia, Katy and Julie gave wonderful evaluations of these ice breaker speeches with Katy saying how Judith's speech made her feel warm inside as she was inspired by what she does for a living.

Phillip brought in a cake that we all devoured with our tea in the break to celebrate our birthday which was so sweet of him!

Last but not least was our tantalising tabletopics which gave our guests the chance to speak sharing some brilliant ideas and stories.

Well done to everyone for a brilliant night and lots of fun as always!

A SHIMMERING NIGHT

Wednesday night might have been Fireworks Night but our meeting was certainly dazzling or should that be shimmering?

Jason as President welcomed Paul a visitor and reminded us all that we offer a safe environment in which to develop our speaking and leadership skills .

Vivienne was our Toastmaster and she introduced the rest of the team and her smile put us all at ease and she pre-empted, Jenny our Grammarian who encouraged us to include “shimmering” in our speeches, by shimmering herself and Robert our timekeeper kept us all in line.

Suresh, one of newest members, lead the Warm Up by asking us all what we thought about Fireworks Night and we split into two groups mainly, those who were young at heart and those who weren’t that keen, though Richard was more interested in the Fireworks that he feels inside when with us.

David, a fellow accountant gave his Icebreaker and he stood proud as he admitted to having procrastinated about joining us and hoped that his time with us would be profitable.

Then Zhanna was interviewed by Steve and she told us how when first in the country, she had to make sandwiches before becoming a Teacher and how her perseverance has served her so well, before answering questions sharing how beautiful Odesa is and the benefits of networking, all very informative.

I then spun a yarn incorporating Planet, Diplodocus (a dinosaur) and Diplomat, suggesting that the modern day dinosaurs are diplomats and politicians and that international issues could be solved by having mascara face offs.

Our evaluators John, Jason and Richard, all gave helpful feedback, including how we learnt about David and complimented him on eye contact with us all though he left he us wanting more, then Jason complimented Zhanna and Steve the tension and interplay within the “radio studio” and Richard evaluating me commented on how movement can distract and ideally it should enhance a story with dialogue can be more effective when given from the centre of the stage.

After the break Lucinda lead Table Topics, Impromptu Speaking, or should that be serenaded us as each topic was based on a song around the theme of Fireworks and possibly she and Peter could be a double act, as he responding to what his teen age dream is explained it was to enjoy music, being an acid fan and he now has a small music production operation, John on celebrating Independence Day had us all salivating over a massive hamburger listening to Bruce Springstein at the Hard Rock Café. Flavia, demonstrated how a look can say so much leaving us in no doubt that youngsters need clear boundaries and she certainly wouldn’t buy fireworks for anyone under age, Suresh on why no one any longer says thank you explained that in India people are too busy as well and that it really good to be thanked. Jenny, on white T shirts explained she really only has one from a Blondie concert and Richard on the effects fireworks have on him gave an explosive answer since at work he is a very fierce person, though he left us in suspense over meeting a lady at a bar!

Lukas gave everyone a encouraging evaluation.

Then Jason announce our winners, Richard was a double winner as best evaluator and table topics speaker and David was the best speaker.

We look forward to seeing all Lewisham Speakers on 19 November for our Anniversary Meeting.

From the Write Angle

5 Tips for Fleshing it Out Posted: 12 Oct 2014 10:00 PM PDT by Jemi Fraser Last month, my post talked about 5 Tips to Trim Your Writing. This month, I'm tackling the opposite. With my current rewrite, I attempted to plot (kaboom!) and ended up with a shorter story than I expected (15k shorter). So, now I'm focusing on how to flesh out a story without padding it. Some of the things I've discovered: Fleshing it Out Tip #1 -- Emotions This one I'm having a blast with. I write contemporary romance, so it's all about the emotion, but I think that's true for most stories. It's the emotions that pull me in and make me gobble up those pages, no matter what the genre is. Delving into the character's emotions helps the reader connect and makes the writing much more interesting. For me, plot is obviously important, but it's how the characters respond to the plot that intrigues me. So, show that! Fleshing it Out Tip #2 -- Show, Don't Tell Another fun one, and very connected to #1. Telling removes the emotion. Wasn't it Mark Twain who said, "Don't tell me the old lady screamed, bring her on stage and let her scream"? Looking for those telling words/sentences in the draft helps me find places I can strengthen my story and make it longer/more compelling at the same time. Fleshing it Out Tip #3 -- Dialogue Connected to #2! I love dialogue and tend to include a lot of it in my writing naturally, but there are still places I find where I can have my characters really showing...by telling. Dialogue infuses the story with life and lets the readers hear your characters talking. It also gives the reader a visual--and mental--break from narration, thus increasing the pace of your story. Fleshing it Out Tip #4 -- Description Blech. I'm not an especially visual person or writer. My descriptions tend to be focused around the emotions of the characters. And I'm not a fan of reading paragraphs of description either, so I tread very, very carefully when I do this. For people, I sprinkle in the description. A mention of hair colour by another character here, a comment about height there. Nothing obvious, certainly no looking in the mirror and offering up a self-evaluation. For example, rather than saying my character is short, I'll have her drag a chair over to reach something off a high shelf. For places, I don't mind stringing a sentence or two together to anchor the reader in the setting, especially when it's a new place. I try to focus on what the character would notice, and only on what is relevant to the story. I'd rather leave most description up to my readers, but I'm learning I need to include those anchors and let the readers fill in the rest. Fleshing it Out Tip #5 -- Character Arcs This one is more complex than the first four. Here, I'm looking for the pace of how my characters are growing. I want them to slowly learn to change, have strategically placed AHA! moments, and obstacles tossed in their paths to have them second guessing their realizations. This is another instance where I find Scrivener invaluable. I can colour code, or use the side bar, or make another file to put side by side in order to track the arcs. Then I can spot where the arc needs some help, tweak a scene here, add a scene there, throw in another obstacle, or three. There are many more ways to flesh out a story (adding in a subplot and looking for plot holes to fill in come to mind), but these are the 5 I'm working with. Any tips to add? Do you like fleshing it out or do you prefer to trim? Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of contemporary romance. She blogs  and tweets while searching for those HEAs.

Humour, Quality Speeches & Fierce Competition!

Humour, Quality Speeches & Fierce Competition!

If you'd like see a toxic mix of these three - please come along to the Toastmasters Division K Humorous and Table Topics Contest at a terrific venue, details as below-

Contest Venue: 
Barclays
1 Churchill Place
Canary Wharf
London E14 58P 

Date: Tues 21st Oct 

Functionaries and contestants to arrive by 6.30pm for the briefings, with a view to start the contest by 7:15pm.

Place guaranteed if you register by 15th Oct.

Tabletopics Contest (District 91)

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/toastmasters-div-k-contest-district-91-tickets-13564129677?ref=enivtefor001&invite=NjkwNDU2MS9qZW5ueUBqZW5ueXdoaXRlLmNvbS8w&utm_source=eb_email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=inviteformalv2&utm_term=attend&ref=enivtefor001

Happy 90th Birthday Toastmasters International!

The first official Toastmasters meeting was held in October 1924 in Santa Ana, California. Why not celebrate the organization's milestone with a themed club meeting devoted to Toastmasters' history? Check out the 90th Anniversary http://www.toastmasters.org/90thanniversary webpage for fun resources to use throughout the anniversary year. Planning a Speech Contest? Ensure your contest is a success and contestants are eligible to compete by using the most up-to-date documents. Download the latest speech contest materials for free, and consider purchasing and presenting awards to celebrate contest winners' accomplishments. Speech Contest Rulebook Update New versions of the Speech Contest Rulebook will now coincide with the Toastmasters program year. The next version goes into effect July 1, 2015, and the 2014 version is valid until then. The rulebook will be included in the May club officer mailing; clubs will not receive one in October, as was done previously. Coming Soon: The New Toastmasters.org Stay tuned for announcements on the debut of our new, sleek website. The redesign will provide easier navigation, interactive multimedia, a resource library and a new online store. http://www.toastmasters.org/90thanniversary New Accredited Speaker Congratulations Barbara Khozam of Escondido, California, for achieving the Accredited Speaker designation at the International Convention in August. Accredited Speaker is an elite designation signifying mastery of professional speaking techniques. Applications for the 2015 program will be accepted between January 1 and February 1. Read the Toastmaster Magazine on Your Tablet Get instant access to the magazine on your iPad, Android or Kindle Fire tablet today to enjoy interactive extras such as videos and photos. Download the free app from the Apple, Google Play or Amazon app stores.

The Strength of a Great Team

It always surprises me how everything comes together at Lewisham Speakers Club, well last week was a meeting of two halves.

Jason opened the meeting and welcomed our guests, Michael, Jason, Robert, Serena, Joanne, Patrick, David and Peter from Meridian before handing over to our Toastmaster Katy whose warm and generous personality held the rest of the meeting together Judith, introduced the warm up on what we would do with lottery winnings, the most popular choice was a long holiday.

Then I as grammarian, encouraged us to become comrades, and quite a few met and surpassed the challenge, by using the word.

Peter, being a true Toastmaster stepped in as Timekeeper and kept us all on time. Then the Lewisham Magic Happened as our three speakers had a common theme, of observing the ordinary and learning from it.

Kirk took us back to a Saturday as the movies as a child as after watching The Devil Wears Prada, he pacified his Rotwelier of a boss by solving an equation and whilst teaching won his American ca

Habibu, then noted the importance of eye contact in Europe and explained that hazel or amber eyes actually have green and brown specks, very evocative, before reminding us that above all our eyes enable us to expand our vision.

And Kirk and Habibu were joint winners then John, again took us back to our childhood of living in the moment, having been Dolphin watching in America where the sea was like pea soup, and encouraged us all to keep our minds open to our surroundings and actually live in the moment and then be more relaxed.

Our evaluators, Jason, Shernett (evaluating for the firt time) and Serena, picked up on the power of personal stories, confident voice projection and the power of rhetorical questions enabling our speakers to become even better. Serena was awarded the best evaluator title.

After the break, Serena became Topics Master and this section was an opportunity for our guests to show us there existing speaking talents, and I as Topics Evaluator as a result had an easy job for the record, due to their quality so giving much for commendation.

Jason, our Best Table Topic Speaker used humour as he recounted confessing to hitting a neighbours car as a child and despite telling the truth had to pay £54 for the repairs!  He's not sure honesty always pays?

Patrick was definite about which he prefers a city or beach holiday, Why? Because his reward from a cycling holiday will be a few days at the beach, good to be decisive.

Michael, told us that his pet hate is litter but also reminded us how sometimes caution is called for if standing up for our rights can be too risky, very wise and more powerful being personal Joanna admitted that one of her bad habits is being late and as she explained how she finds herself rushing to catch up, her voice speeded up for added effect.

Peter, also speaking about being late told us how his family delayed him and over time he became resigned that he couldn’t solve jams in the Blackwall Tunnel with great gravitas for added impact.

David admitted that he would struggle to pretend to like a boss to get a promotion and his gentle body language supported his message.

Another encouraging, educated and energised evening of Lewisham Spaekers Club. Looking forward to the next soirée!

Toastmasters can lead far!

We do learn and practice, speaking and answering and thinking on our feet.

We do it to go then out and use it!

Our member, now for six years, Julie Kertesz, proved she did use the skills that can be learned and practiced in our Toastmasters meeting.

Going from speech to speech, table topics to table topics, then out from storytelling live to standup comedy, she landed now up live on BBC1's The One Show, and was not disturbed by all the different modifications they did and not only performed her minute of gig with confidence, but succeeded to add an impromptu introduction to it and even found a new true line that made all laugh, including the presenter.

Last Night's Competition - The Humorous Speech

At last nights competition we had three humoirous speakers Chris D with "Randomness", Kirk with "Hats of the World" and Habibu with "First Flight" and Chris was a very worthy winner who will now represent Lewisham Speakers at the Area Competion on 2 October in Cannary Wharf and hopefully quite a few of us will be able to attend and support him.

The contestants in the Table Topics Competition answering "What was your Most Disastrous Shopping Experince" were Chris, Habibu and Richard, and our worthy winner was Chris again so he will also represent the Club on 2 October at the Area Contest as above.

On behalf of all Lewisham Speakers thanks are due to Lucinda who was Contest Chair and Katy as Cheif Judge along with the other judges, counters and timers etc of Richard, Judith, Steve, Shernett, Sholem, Jason, Zhanna, Lukas, Chris H and Ajit our Area Governor, without this team the competition would not have been possible, so again THANK YOU.

As Jason said last night, you have got to be in the Competition to Win it, and the only way to become develop the Leadership Skills we all have is to volunteer for roles you possibly haven't performed yet. Myself, Jason or your mentor will give you all the support you need and it is a great feeling having been say Toastmaster for the first time, so volunteer or be volunteered, but rest assured within the Club you are always supported by your freinds and fellow members so we can all expand our comfort zones in safety.

Philip Labdergan

VPE - Lewisham Toastmasters

A Brilliant Evening – Wed 3rd Sept

Based on the comments from our guests and our OFFSTED Inspector, Richard, AKA General Evaluator this appears to be true, but sadly, this is unofficial as Richard is also part of this Outstanding Club.

Inspector Green, recommends that a Greeter is appointed and any applications welcome, otherwise various members will be allocated this role along with the other ones, please let me know and this will be a great way to get to know all guests and members.

Highlights were

Jason our President/Chair of Governors and Toastmaster/ President lifting the energy level

Chris as Grammarian encouraging to exercise and spotting such gems as “learning English by osmosis”

Shernett our Timekeeper taking on the role at very short notice, being strict but fair, thank you. 

Flavia as Warm Up Leader confirming that living world leaders don’t inspire us all.

Our Speakers all had a common theme of contrasting ideas to great effect.

Habibu on The Evils of Mobile Phones great for recording picture and guiding us but should parents have to switch of the home Wi-Fi at night to prevent teenagers gaming and the effect on writing?

Jenny, To Eat Meat or not to Meat, expounding the healthy virtues of not eating meat but also the real costs and dangers of the chemicals in processed meat, possibly as damaging as smoking!

Katy, Be Careful What you Wish For, telling how she grew to like a PA who could talk her way into just about any job, having more front than Gibraltar, but when the wheels came of her life changed.

The evaluators, Kirk, (again standing in at the last minute), Lucinda and Zhanna all encouraged our speaker commenting on using props and gestures to good effect and exaggerating gestures along with how pausing can enhance a speech.

I then lead the Stand and Tell session or Table Topics and 9 members and guests who all enthralled, enlightened and entertained us evaluated by Flavia who noted the power of using personal stories and encouraging us to fully use our time, space is limited so highlights were

Steve Thought Schools was only a morning so on first day walked home at the break!

Alex On School meals would eat up unwanted food before being educated about really good food

Sholem Embarrassed at secondary school being taken by his parents, so only escorted his son twice

Michael About Careers advice took his time and is now doing well despite the advice he was given.

Thank you to everyone who took part it was a privilege to hear about your experiences that were shared so well and openly.

All that remains is to announce our winners, Best Topic Steve, Speaker Jenny and Evaluator Lucinda.

We as a Club are aiming to educate, and engage with all the members and I think we achieved this Going Back to School and most importantly I trust we all left feeling energised.

Many thanks to all members Guests as together we are all Outstanding.

Philip

Memorable Mentors - Wednesday 20th August

What a memorable meeting!

While there are many milestones on our Toastmasters Journey,   for me there are three that stand out:  The first meeting role,  the first speech, and the first time you act as the Toastmaster of a meeting. 

With half the members away enjoying their holidays,  and with last minute changes our agenda was left with a few gaps.   In her first meeting out clubs newest member Judith, stepped up to the task and took on the role of Grammarian,  added a dash of ah-counter and performed marvellously in the role.  

Our club Treasurer, John grasped the "hot potato" that is the role of the Toastmaster for the first time, taking us smoothly through the odd pothole in the Agenda, with calm assurance.    Toastmaster is one of those roles that I avoided like the plague,  but after doing it 3 or 4 times, it really helped to boost my confidence as a speaker.  I'm sure John will be back in the role again shortly. 

While we had no icebreaker speeches,  we had 4 excellent guests who made their first speeches in the club during Table Topics.  Our Topic Master Manoj, lined up some great questions and our guests grabbed the opportunity, and gave us enthusiastic and eloquent responses. 

We had Ajit Kulkarni (Citi Criers) and Chris Sarfo (Stratford Toastmasters),  helping us to evaluate Table Topics and GE,  and providing the insight which comes from seeing the club with "fresh eyes".  One of the many benefits of Toastmasters is the opportunity to visit other clubs in the area, and meet other people who are on the same journey as ourselves, and I would encourage everyone to take advantage of this. 

The highlight of the evening, apart from my excellent speech on saving money with Linux,  was seeing Philip jump off the stage during his speech encouraging us to use Toastmasterclub.org (the club admin system previously know as D71).   He had obviously been inspired by the new celebrity gymnastics show on BBC1, and has set the bar in terms of what we can expect in showmanship during our meetings.    Can't wait to see cartwheels and somersaults from Richard Green in the next meeting.

See you on September 3rd!

Jason

Table Topics Workshop

Dear All,

There are limited spaces to a table topics wokshop kindly ask your members to sign-up to the workshop at the earliest possible?

No later than 8^th September 2014 to make sure that security are notified of guest names.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/table-topic-workshop-with-brett-downes-tickets-12428057655

Time:
6:00pm for 6:15pm start

Venue:
London Trustmasters Club
Northern Trust Company
50 Bank Street
Canary Wharf
London E14 5NT

Nneka's Icebreaker - Wonderful

“Is this the same England” was an Icebreaker given by Nneka from Meridian as she explained how England has become her home despite all its faults including a bland diet and cold weather all without notes.

Engage, Educate, Energise - 6th August 2014

Report by Philip Landergan

Engage Educate and Energise, this is the theme for Lewisham Speakers Club that was introduced last week, but what does this mean? My introduction on behalf of Jason wasn’t needed on Wednesday as the meeting explained it!

Richard opened proceedings by welcoming everyone including our guests, Ikenna, Judith, Annie and Elaine and then after announcing our theme Katy as Toastmaster took ran the rest of the meeting as she kept us on track and supported everyone without dominating the meeting.

Our Birthday Boy, Chris lead the warm up by finding out how we like to celebrate our Birthdays and Manoj as timekeeper performed his task by ringing the bell of shame on me twice and Vivienne our Grammarian ensured we had a joyful meeting.

“Is this the same England” was an Icebreaker given by Nneka from Meridian as she explained how England has become her home despite all its faults including a bland diet and cold weather all without notes.

Next was Sholem with “Family Responsibilities” recounted some advice he had heard that “in the house the wife is always correct” as he explored the issues of family dynamics and the effects of being selfish in order to support a partner.
Then Julie told us a story of how “A Club Rose from the Ashes”  through support from the wider Toastmasters Family including Lewisham Speakers Chris H, Flavia and Katy.

Then our evaluators continued the feast as the Birthday Boy affirmed Nneka, Manoj complimented Shalom on retaining our interest and Richard encouraged Julie to add more power to the story by speaking from within rather than about the rebuilding process. More examples of Engage Educate and Energize.

After the break Lucinda lead the impromptu part of the evening, Table Topics as the speakers drew inspirational cards to obtain their topics, including our guests Ikenna on “If everything happens for a Reason” and his answer was no it’s all chance, Judith on “Waiting Patiently” as he told us about getting her driving licence and Annie who told us about “Fulfilling a Desire” joining the school debating society a year early and our congratulations to them for rising to the challenge, Richard responding to “When he last felt Panic” explained how it was during his evaluation of Julie but that Panic can be used as a positive resource. Yet more examples of Engage Educate and Energize.

The virtual awards for the evening went to Nneka for and Richard was best evaluator and topics speaker and were presented by Jason who also got feedback from our very welcome guests.

Thank you to Katy and everyone who helped have such a great evening and I am looking forward our next meeting on August 20, can you afford to miss it?

How Lewisham Speakers Has Helped My Business

By way of background I joined Toastmaster about 8 years ago and am now running my own accountancy practice. Since joining Toastmasters I have been challenged and supported by the high quality manuals, but more importantly I have learnt far more from my fellow Lewisham Speakers.

Earlier this year I was asked to give a presentation to recent and possible small business owners and thanks to the techniques and skill learnt through Toastmasters was able to prepare the mini presentation and give an A4 summary using four words all beginning with “F” to make the points more memorable, and incorporated various techniques such as rhetorical questions, a mock parking ticket as an aide to avoid penalties and some acting to demonstrate how we can feel when first dealing with H M Revenue and Customs.

The feedback I received from the various participants was very positive and whilst obviously Toastmasters has not helped me with my accountancy knowledge I can honestly say that the skills I have learnt over the past few years represent great value since other Club Members have also introduced me to new ways of thinking about team building and many other areas, so I am more able to present the knowledge I have.

The subscription can also be tax deductible and Lewisham Speakers along with the entire Toastmasters organisation aims to be the place where Leaders are made within a really supportive, challenging and encouraging environment.

Why don’t you come and see how Toastmasters and Lewisham Speakers Club can help as guests are always welcome at our regular meetings from 7,15 to 9.30 on the first and third Wednesdays at Lewisham Speakers club, or contact us on president@lewishamspeakers.org,uk.

   

Philip Landergan

Staycations and Herding Cats – 16 July 2014

On Wednesday evening we had another great meeting when Richard was our dynamic and enthusiastic Toastmaster as challenged us to move out of our comfort zones though for him the challenge was to move less! Jason was the Grammarian at very short notice but was not really flummoxed about his word of the day, flummoxed though at least one other person was un flummoxed, and Anna our timekeeper encouraged us to keep our speeches between the time limits as he enlisted Richards help to display the timing goalposts and reminded us that the margin for error is only 30 seconds.

Then Jenny gave us her number 4 speech, espousing the advantages of a staycation since you don’t need a holiday to recover from the holiday and cited two occasions, when due to bad weather the plane was diverted from Heathrow to another local airport Paris, and the family holiday to the South of France in the family estate car or as it was called the bus, and some very memorable stops that resulted in an impromptu shower for her younger sister, great advice and well delivered.

Then Chris H gave us a keynote speech Herding Cats and Flocking Birds about managing teams, that can’t be composed of lone predatory cats stalking birds but flocks of birds that look after each other by confusing the cats, and the three basic rules of flocking  or teams are to fly, stay together and avoid hitting each other.  The extended rules included ensuring that only the correct people are on the bus and that everyone is listened too, all supported from personal experience and the time just flew by.

Vivienne then evaluated and encouraged Anna and I certainly missed the goal as regards time when evaluating Chris’s key note speech, though all I can say in my defence is that there was much to learn from.

After the break, Katy lead the Table Topics session and I gave a response to issue of women in politics, the cabinet reshuffle has changed their under representation, Richard felt that Germany had won the World Cup by being a real team or flock linking back to Chris’s presentation, Anna looking forward hopes that she won’t have had another 10 jobs in five years but be in the West Country and most importantly be happy, Judith a very welcome guest rose admirably to the challenge about which age she would like to be again, a student at University, though her current life is very good, Lukas’s favourite tourist attraction is the Houses of Parliament including seeing them at work if possible and finally Chris D selling the task of selling the virtues of living next to a power plant reminded us how beauty can be found on the beach by Dungeness and if the house were to catch the fire brigade would arrive quickly. 

Chris H then gave encouraging feed back to us all, though he was called upon to take on the role at very short notice. Finally, Katy gave all the team encouraging feedback before Richard handed back to Jason who closed the meeting.

Our next meeting will be on 6 August and if you would like a role or to speak please contact me on education@lewishamspeakers.org.uk when we have another great meeting that should not be missed and thank you to everyone that makes our Club so Special. Why you might ask because of the great team we are and together we can ensure each of us becomes the great Communicator and Leader within us.

Out with the old in with the new!

Today is the beginning of the Toastmasters year. We have had an amazing year and Lewisham speakers is yet again a presidents distinguished club - which means we hit 9 out of our 10 targets and are recognise as a high performing club. Can we do it again this year? With the leadership of our new President, Jason Thompson  leading us... I think we can!

Our new committee members are in the side panel on this page. Make sure you give them a warm welcome when you see them next.

Asiimwe Balinda completing his Competent Communication Manual with an Inspirational & Thought Provoking Speech

Division K 2014 Winner of the International Speech Contest at MLP London Bridge

The Unstoppable and Ravishing Flavia Gordon holding the Winner Shield at the Division K Finals of the International Speech Contest at MLP London Bridge. Come. On Flavia do it again on 9th May @ Dublin Bay of the UK-Ireland Final Contest. Our entire Lewisham Club is extremely proud of you.

Scenes from the Area 59 District 71 International Speech Contest-2014

All contestants receiving their certificates for participating

Speech and evaluation contest winners with our Area 59 Governor from left to right,
Flavia Gordon (Lewisham), Katy Woolcott, Kayus Fernander (Citi Criers) and Stephen Edun (Greenwich) 

What you need to know: Flavia Gordon emerged as a Winner, She was at her best with scintillating and brilliant performance at the Area Contest. Well Done Flavia you made us proud once again.

Best Regards

President
Lewisham Speakers

Go Flavia, Go!

As you will all know, on 19th March our very own gracious and multi-talented Flavia Gordon won the speech and evaluation contest at our club. She then rocked it a week later and won the Area 59 speech contest. Now she is on her way to the Division K contest which will be held on 25th April at:

Ernst & Young

1 More London Place

London

SE1 2AF

If you can get down to the contest to support Flavia, please do so. We want to see more pictures like this:

Flavia Gordon Area 59 Speech contest winner 2014 (Left) with
Area 59 Governor Katy Woolcott 

Well Done Flavia! We're all visualising you bringing home THE trophy and doing a speech on
Kuala Lumpur;-)

From "Competent Communicator blog": Flavia 2011 / 2014

Competent Communicator: Flavia 2011 / 2014:
Three years ago, Flavia Gordon won the Best Speaker of the evening award the first time, at Lewisham speakers. She come to visit me so I cou...

International Speech & Evaluation Contest - Wednesday 19th March

This isn't going to be a long post as I am busy preparing my speech for the contest tomorrow- I know I am a bit of a last minute person!

Fellow Toastmasters might already know this but there are a few things that are helping me at the moment.

1. I am recording my voice on my phone - I'm over the cringing! It helps me recognise where my energy levels drop.
2. I am using rhythm to help me memorise phases
3. I am treating this as a normal club night, thinking more about my message rather than seeing it as a competition or contest.

Please remember even if you are not a contestant you are still taking part - even if you are just in the audience. We need your energy, your laughs and your support.

Good luck and much love to everyone who is taking part in Lewisham Speakers Club International Speech and Evaluation Contest tomorrow!

Ready, Set, Go!

It’s that time of year where all Toastmasters Clubs are gearing up for the Toastmasters International speech contest. Thousands of charted clubs will take part in the international speech contest in Toastmasters International 90^th anniversary year.

We [Lewisham Speakers Club] will be hosting our contest night on 19^th March. Plenty of notice to invite your friends so we can have an electric atmosphere on the night.

Area 59 (our area) has a goal of getting someone to the District 71 semi- finals in Dublin this year and as such, are pulling out all the stops to realise this goal. In doing so, there are 2 major FREE value-packed events coming up ahead of club contest dates.

• Wednesday 5^th Feb “How to Prepare for an International Speech Contest" presented by Richard Murray. Richard is the current area 37 Governor, and former divisional speech contest champion. Richard will be sharing some of the tips that made him a champion. Venue – Lewisham Speakers Club
• Thursday 20^th Feb “Preparing a winning speech” presented by Julie Kertesz DTM, former Area 59 Governor. Julie will be sharing why storytelling is SO important to any speech and why it may be the secret formula to making a good speech a great speech. Venue – Citi Criers from 6.15pm (If you would like to attend this event, please contact Ajit kulkarni ajit.kulkarni@citi.com so a guest pass can be organised for you on the night)

Perhaps it will be YOU representing Lewisham speakers at the semi finals this year. If you want to give it a shot, don’t fall at the first hurdle. Take note of the following 3 points:

1. Make sure have 6 speeches from your competent communicator under your belt.
2. Attend one of the prep sessions above OR get yourself a mentor that knows what those judges are looking for.
3. Remember as Darren La Croix (Toastmasters International speech contest Winner 2001) says,  “There is no such thing as a hot contest topic. The hot topic is already inside you”. You, fellow Toastmasters just have to find it!

Taking Opportunities

Fellow Toastmasters, are you sober enough to remember just before Christmas when we had the storms? It was pretty nasty wasn’t it? I was meant to go and start my Christmas Shopping on 23^rd and I just couldn’t face the wind and the rain! When I finally got out of bed on Christmas Eve at 10am, I came down to my kitchen to view this sight in my garden…

Look what the wind blew in!

Our not quite perfect Tree

Now, my partner, who saw it hours before, cursed it and spent all day at work thinking about how we were going to sort this ‘inconvenience’. I, on the other hand, saw it as an opportunity to go shopping for some lights and a fancy pot that could hold the tree and transform it in to a wonderful quirky Christmas tree which I really wish I could have up forever!

Why I am telling you this? Well because sometimes when life throws up these little inconveniences, they can actually turn out to be opportunities, but to see the opportunity in these events, you have to check your perspective. Since its New Year, it is the perfect time for you to start looking at things differently. It’s your opportunity to start a fresh. So what opportunities will you take in 2014?        

Will you take the opportunity to increase your club attendance?

Take the opportunity to get more speeches under your belt?

Take the opportunity to give more helpful feedback to others?

Take the opportunity to enter a speech contest?

Take the opportunity take on more roles?

Take the opportunity to visit other clubs?

Take the opportunity mentor a fellow Toastmaster?

And if you are not a member but happen to be here on the blog –why not take the opportunity to develop your confidence in public speaking and actually join Lewisham Speakers Club???

Whatever stage you are in your Toastmasters journey, there is an opportunity for you. Please do not waste it!

Wishing you all a Happy, and opportunistic New Year!