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