Pam Chaired this meeting with the theme “Wish I’d Thought of That” members Kerry (Use Your Voice) and Roger (Lecturing) made presentations which were evaluated by Mark & David. Katharine gave her first speech since joining the club which Pam evaluated. All present participated in the Topics (thinking on your feet) session chaired by Mark. Roger Evaluated the whole evening summing up on another enjoyable meeting at the Harrington Sailing and Fishing club. Next meeting is the Tall Story competition on 15th Oct 2018.

This evening we had two similar speeches to A3 (mean what you say) on the evenings subject “Around The Maypole” which were evaluated by the same evaluator. The first speech of the evening was to A9 (audience rapport) and the speaker demonstrated use of previous speaking assignments A2 to A8 very well. Everyone participated in the impromptu topics session after the break.  Another enjoyable meeting.

David opened the meeting and quickly dealt with the latest club business. Roger Chaired this meeting very well providing good introduction to the programme, the presenters as well as continuity between speakers, especially giving evaluators time to complete their evaluations before presenting them. Lyndon gave us his 2nd speech (A2) Speech construction. He had obviously read the speakers guide and made a great job as evaluator mark pointed out. Mark gave us an impromptu speech which is one of the hardest things to attempt but it was good and even encompassed the evenings theme of “Harvest Time…”. Topics again kept to the theme of the evening and before we knew it the president was closing the meeting at 19.40pm everyone left with smiles on their faces and looking forward to the next one on 16th October.

David opened the meeting on time at 19.40pm. Lyndon gave his A1 speech “making a start” which was very entertaining and well received. Mark evaluated this speech praising the highlights and making a couple of suggestions on how it could be improved. David gave us a speech on “Falling to earth” describing the sights and feelings in terms of word pictures, vocabulary, gestures and using his voice to good effect. David’s speech was evaluated by Roger who like the previous evaluator highlighted what he felt were parts that worked well creating memorable and interesting periods and giving assistance by describing how some things could have been done to better effect. After a short break Topics were bravely undertaken by all attendees, most of whom were able to stick to the evenings theme “Space…” and provide us with entertaining 3 minute “off the cuff” mini speeches. Throughout the evening for the benefit of newer members, the Chairman explained things such as general timings and the purpose of evaluations, topics, etc. The meeting ended at 21.45.

There were several absentees for tonight’s gathering but we did not let the lack of numbers spoil the occasion which once again produced humour, information and enjoyment. Frank opened the meeting and chaired the business session before handing over to Roger as chairman for the evening. Mark gave us a humerous reading about the old days when men with horse and carts collected the contents of drains, on one occasion the cart tipped over, spilling the contents onto the street and some people! Mark gave us some word pictures that made us cringe! He then gave us a speech to the assignment ‘gestures’; he kept to the theme, speaking about time travel and posing the question “would we choose the past or the future?” After exploring the possibilities he surprised us by choosing to go back to be with his grandmother who had a huge influence on his life. Ron evaluated his speech, commenting on the good points and giving some constructive advice before asking Mark to move on to the next assignment. Frank then spoke to the advanced assignment ‘the written speech’ this involved giving the evaluator a copy of his speech some days before the meeting, so that it could be followed. Frank spoke about those two vast spaces, the north and south poles and the explorers who attempted to conquer them. Roger, as evaluator, praised Frank for his speech construction, use of voice, the use of the pause and choice of subject; he would liked to have seen more gestures and amused us all by noting that Frank missed out three words from the script! After the interval David chaired the topics session, asking each member to speak for three minutes on the theme ‘space’, frank was asked if he thought aliens had ever visited our planet, other members were given, ‘lost in space’, ‘what is space’, ‘ the smallest space’, ‘spacing things apart’ and ‘the race for space’ all quite challenging. Ron, as the General Evaluator, summed up the evening; he praised way members answered the topics and also the two speeches, he thought that overall it had been an enjoyable, very successful meeting. Frank closed the meeting at 9.50pm.

Tonight we welcomed back our President, David Heaton, who had missed most of the season because of work commitments;  After chairing the business session he evaluated David Preshaw’s speech ‘one to one with….’ This was a ‘fill in ‘ speech given at short notice because Steve, who was to give the speech, was unable to attend. The speech dealt with the ways in which we communicate, from the obvious, verbally, to gestures, eye contact, beacons, cairns, smoke signals and, of course modern technology. The second speech was by Ron; he was given three titles (‘the greatest ship ever built’ ‘how submarines work’ and ‘piracy in the high seas’) and he had to choose one, we call it an ‘impromptu’ speech and Ron had only ten minutes to prepare for it. Ron chose ‘piracy’ and led us through history from the early Phoenicians, to the swashbuckling Elizabethan era finally ending with the increase of piracy today in Indonesia. Roger’s evaluation was very positive, he felt that it was an excellent speech. The interval became almost an extension of the meeting as members, in between sipping their liquid refreshments, discussed aspects of the club. After the interval, David chaired the topics session; he kept to the night’s theme “what’s the Point…” He gave Ron  ‘playing by the rules’, David Heaton ‘dieting’, Roger ‘practising’  Mark ‘planning’  finishing with Frank ‘winning’. The evening concluded with Frank, acting as General Evaluator. He praised Mark’s chairmanship, saying it was nearly perfect and he felt that we had heard two good evaluations of the speeches. He summed up the meeting as informative, interesting and enjoyable, with just the right atmosphere.

Club Meeting 20^th February 2017-02-25

Tonight’s meeting was memorable for two reasons, firstly we welcomed a new member; Steve had attended our previous meeting as a guest and is now a fully paid up member and he agreed to give his first speech from the Speakers Guide ‘making a start’.  To give a speech so soon after joining a club, is fairly uncommon and Steve was very brave to do so, something that Frank emphasised in his evaluation. Steve played it safe and gave us some background into his life,  he has lived in several places in the UK, experienced army life and has set up his own business. Frank was full of praise during his evaluation, saying that the speech was interesting, informative and enjoyable and his delivery was good. Steve now moves on to the next assignment ‘speech construction’. Pauline had previously given a short reading, ‘A Sonnet Composed on Westminster Bridge’, written by William Wordsworth. Ron Chaired the evening and also gave us a talk on the value of our topics sessions, how they help to cope with ‘thinking on your feet’, very useful in so many aspects of life, including job interviews and discussions. He involved the members by asking for comments and there was a good feedback from the other members. After the interval, David chaired the ‘topics’ session which was challenging for the members as he gave them subjects ranging from ‘the evening star’ to ‘chairman’. Roger, as general evaluator, summed up the evening, which he found enjoyable, although he felt that we still had issues concerning the position of the lectern.

Frank, as acting President, closed the meeting 9.45pm

We were joined this evening by Steve who has shown an interest in our club and may become a member. We get very exited when a newcomer visits us, because we get used to seeing each other and a new face gives us a lift, adds variety to the meeting, helps to keep us on our toes and lastly, helps to swell the numbers!

This was another successful meeting with two excellent speeches. Pauline’s assignment was to A5 from the speakers guide, ‘using your voice effectively’; she spoke about communication skills (very appropriate) not just speaking but use of body language; Mark gave a good evaluation (he really is making his mark at our club) he praised Pauline and informed her that she can now pass on to the next assignment  A6 ‘vocabulary and word pictures’. Ron gave us two assignments in one, A6  and A9 (audience rapport)  It is unusual to combine the two into one speech but Ron is a very experienced speaker and was able to deal with both assignments. His speech lasted nearly 15 minutes but it held our attention throughout and the time seemed to go quickly. He spoke about a trip through a south American jungle, culminating with a spectacular ‘ ritual celebration/religious’ scene from the local natives (something that only a few people from the western world had seen) Roger evaluated and praised the speech for its construction, word pictures (which were “exceptional” ), audience rapport and Ron’s ability to speak without notes. I think we were all fascinated by Ron’s delivery, he has always been a good speaker but he reached another level with this one and it would not have been out of place at a national speech contest final. After the interval, Pauline gave us the topic session, she kept to the theme ‘I opened the parcel and…..’ Mark had to speak about a ‘ticket’ that fell out, Ron about a ‘surprise’, Frank got ‘to his shock and horror’, David’s was ‘I cried laughing’ and Roger dealt with ‘music’. The topics were challenging and varied, but everyone managed to speak for just over 3 minutes. Frank, as General Evaluator praised Pauline for an excellent, well thought out topic and remarked that generally the members coped admirably. Frank thought that the new position of the lectern had worked well and we had better lighting for our notes, he praised the evaluators and the speeches, before putting on his Presidents hat and closing the meeting.