Wessex Speakers

The Wessex Speakers Christmas Dinner was held at our usual venue, The Winchester Hotel, on 8 December 2016. There was an excellent turnout, the food was superb as ever and the evening was packed with great home-made entertainment, only some of which involved public speaking. Trophies for educational achievement were awarded to a number of Toastmasters in recognition of their successes over the year: Two special awards were made in recognition of outstanding achievements:

This longstanding organisation was formed in 1924 and has over 12.500 clubs worldwide It encourages a diverse range of individuals as well those within businesses, colleges and prisons to develop their ability to get up and speak in public But why bother to get your speaking skills better? But the speaking is only one strand of Toastmaster membership There are great opportunities to learn leadership and team skills – both by taking on committee roles but also by following the competent leader manual. I joined to improve some OK speaking skills over 20 years ago and I am still learning with some enormous pennies dropping during that time… not least the time I entered a regional contest and got disqualified at the semi final due to going 5 seconds over alloted time – ouch! In the first instance….. 3 visits as a guest are acceptable – then membership dues are required (10 pounds a month currently for two meetings and the monthly magazine plus occasional other area and regional events some of which are free some paid)

This week ‘The rubber hits the road’ (to pick a transatlantic catchphrase) for public speaking in a major way. The speaking performances of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will be tested by the American people. The Conversation (link here) has an interesting article covering the strategies used by the presidential candidates in order to inspire, convince and call the public to action. I for one, am waiting with baited breath…

It is less than 2 years since I joined Toastmasters and at no point would I say that I have experienced dramatic change. With every meeting I learn something more and when added together the impact is, in fact, dramatic. Four diverse speeches and evaluations addressed the subject from different angles, albeit serendipitous rather than pre-planned. All Toastmasters are looking to change some aspect of their public speaking and everyone present agreed that in some tiny way, we changed that evening.