The London Speaker

Toastmasters Educational Awards May 2009

Eight more educational awards were achieved by London Division B Toastmasters in May 2009.  Hilary completed her Advanced Communicator Gold with a flourish - giving the Oratory project from the Advanced Interpretive Reading Manual.  Congratulations to everyone gaining awards this month.  Every award represents a huge amount of learning and achievement.

Having talked to the Area Governors on Monday at the Division B Council Meeting I know that there are other people with awards that have recently been completed or will be completed soon.  Please make sure that these are submitted to Toastmasters International as soon as possible.  Not only will it be great to receive your glittering certificate it will also help our Clubs/Areas/Division and District receive the recognition they deserve.

Competent Communicator

Anna Casburn-Jones. Northern Lights. Area 33

Iwona Dolecka.  Polish Your Polish. Area 6

Kamil Leoniuk.  Polish Your Polish. Area 6

Andy O'Sullivan.  Broadgate Speakers. Area 33

Advanced Communicator Gold

Hilary Briggs. Early Bird Speakers. Area 34

Competent Leader

Jorg Muller.  London Athenians.  Area 29

Advanced Leader Bronze

David Adams. Berkeley Square Toastmasters. Area 6

Andy O'Sullivan.  Broadgate Speakers in the City. Area 33

Educational Awards	Last year 2007/08	May 2009	Division B year to date
Competent Communicator	51	4	37
Advanced Comm Bronze	13		7
Adv Comm Silver	8		1
Adv Comm Gold	3	1	3
Competent Leader	15	1	15
Old Comp Leader	21		n/a
Adv Leader Bronze	4	2	6
Adv Leader Silver	1		2
Leadership Excellence Award	1		4
Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM)			1
Total	117	8	76

Workshop: Improving Your Speech Delivery Skills

Riverside Communicators are holding an improvisation workshop on Wednesday 13th May 2009 led by John Craddock and Zahid Bashir.

We promise you an action packed workshop to help you hone your speech delivery skills.  We'll be using techniques and excercises from the world of improvisation so you can:

• Increase your vocal power
• Add emotion to your voice
• Maximise your engagement with the audience
• Let your body tell a story

Improvisation is about generating an idea, story or scene from nothing.  For Toastmasters this sounds a bit like Table Topics!  Improv stems from the world of acting and many of the tools, techniques and games used can help us develop our speaking skills.  Come to this workshop with an open mind and ready to join in.

During the two hour workshop you'll have the chance to try exercises to develop your vocal strength, body language and interactive skills - above all it will be fun!

Venue: Riverside Communicators, HYDE ROOM, York House, Twickenham Map/transport info here

Time: 7.15pm 

Date: Wednesday 13 May 2009 

Dress: Comfortable loose fitting clothes.

Please join us next week!

 

2009 Division B International Speech and Evaluation Contest Winners

Last Wednesday’s Division B International Speech and Evaluation Contest Final was a truly marvellous evening.

We were greeted by our friends at Citi Criers who did a brilliant job of ushering everyone through in an efficient way. A glass of vino was there waiting for us, which in the true Division B style, everyone used as used as lubrication for their vocal chords – these would be needed for the raucous evening that lay ahead.

I started with a little exercise that had virtually all of the 170 people there boogying away – they were truly warmed up! Thank you to Julie Holness for the idea!

The first half was the International Speech Contest. Led by our Contest Chair, Assistant Division Governor, Dave Sellman, the Speakers in order were:

1. Ola Aralepo of Area 34 and Tube Talk
2. Simon Bucknall of Area 6 and London Cardinals
3. Agnieszka Rees of Area 31 and Citi Criers
4. Franco Vaccaro of Area 29 and Riverside Communicators
5. Sarah Green of Area 33 and Broadgate Speakers

Ola entertained us with a speech about how power comes from revealing ourselves. Simon discussed a fraud that is parents had suffered and what he had leant from it. Agnieszka discussed being bullied and Franco told us of how he had become like his father, needing to control everything. Finally Sarah inspired us with her personal journey of overcoming shyness, urging us all that we could achieve our goals too. The quality of the speeches were amazing.

After the break, we returned for the Evaluation Contest. Led by the ever ebullient Contest Chair, Paul Carroll of Athenians, the contest started off with a rousing speech from Alastair Watson-Gandy, Area Governor of Area 4.

While we waited for the contestants to come back to give their evaluations, Joe Gibbs, Lt Governor Training and Education for Toastmasters District 71 introduced himself to the Division and told us we still all had time to follow our esteemed leaders (Gary Sander) chant of ‘the courage to make a difference’. Inspiring stuff indeed.

Then the Evaluators fed through one by one. They were in order of speech:

1. Julie Holness of Area 33 and London Communicators
2. David Bennett of Area 34 and Tube Talk
3. Kerry-Anne Smith of Area 29 and London Trojans
4. Simon Bucknall of Area 6 and Excalibur Speakers
5. Clive Broadbent of Area 31 and Canary Wharf Communicators

While we waited for the votes to be counted, I suitably embarrassed myself and the contestants while handing out the Certificates of Participation.

In no time our Chief Judge, Sammy Babister, Division H Governor returned and she together with Joe Gibbs announced the winners. They were as follows:

Evaluation Contest

1. Simon Bucknall
2. Clive Broadbent
3. Julie Holness

International Speech Contest

1. Franco Vaccaro
2. Simon Bucknall
3. Sarah Green

Needless to say, a large group retired to Cafe Rouge for a little after contest analysis.

It was a great evening and I have to say thank you to Dave Sellman for leading the arrangements, Dave and Paul Carroll as Contest Chairs, Alastair Watson-Gandy for being brave enough to do the Test speech, Sammy as our Chief Judge, all of our judges, Himanshu Vora, Nigel Cutts and John Craddock as our Counters, Hilary Briggs and Iain Duthie as our Timers and Catherine Desson who acted as Sergeant at Arms. Indeed, a BIG thank you to Catherine and her merry band of helpers from Citi Criers who helped make the evening such a success. Finally, thank you to Joe Gibbs for flying in from Ireland especially for the evening.

Needless to say, Franco and Simon will both be competing in the Dictrict finals this coming Saturday. I will be there supporting them – hopefully so will you!

(a bunch of very happy Area 29ers with the winners)

April 2009 Toastmasters Educational Awards

A  dozen more educational awards were achieved by London Division B Toastmasters in April 2009.  It's good to see Club Presidents, VPEs etc. completing their awards as well as encouraging other club members to do so. Congratulations to everyone!

Lots of people will be completing awards as we approach the end of the  Toastmasters year (30th June).  Remember to get your awards submitted as soon as you complete them.  Don't want the Toastmasters International computer going into melt down in the last week of June!  If you have a personal goal to complete a speech or leadership award this year and would like the  opportunity to perform outside your own club also remember that we have some new clubs that would love to hear you speak or undertake a role.

Competent Communicator

Robert Griffiths. Early Bird Speakers. Area 34

Julie Holness.  London Communicators. Area 33

Sue Mannering.  Northern Lights. Area 33

Nazia Soon.  Holborn Speakers. Area 34

Richard Stacey. Early Bird Speakers.  Area 34

Ewan Wong. Tube Talk. Area 34

Advanced Communicator Bronze

Dave Brooks. Excalibur Speakers.  Area 6

Jilly Shaul.  Northern Lights.  Area 33

David Sellman.  London Cardinals.  Area 6

Competent Leader

Chris Jolly.  West London Speakers.  Area 29

Jason Peck.  Grosvernor Square Speakers. Area 34

Richard Stacey. Early Bird Speakers.  Area 34

Educational Awards	Last year 2007/08	April 2009	Division B year to date
Competent Communicator	51	6	33
Advanced Comm Bronze	13	3	7
Adv Comm Silver	8		1
Adv Comm Gold	3		2
Competent Leader	15	3	14
Old Comp Leader	21		n/a
Adv Leader Bronze	4		4
Adv Leader Silver	1		2
Leadership Excellence Award	1		4
Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM)			1
Total	117	12	68

West London - Area 29 Contest Night - Results

Monday night and an absolutely full house at Trojans Speakers (Ealing Broadway) for the Toastmasters 2009 Area 29 International Speech and Evaluation Contests.  We were treated to a speech contest with subjects ranging from holidays to preventing heroin abuse and much more...(won't spoil the surprise by telling you about the winning speech)!  The Evaluation contest was an excellent standard so overall our judges had their work cut out.

Competing in the International Speech Contest were:

Jessica Bass - London Athenians

Joydev Nandi - West London Speakers

Kerry-Anne Smith - Trojan Speakers

Franco Vaccaro - Riverside Communicators

Competing in the Evaluation Contest were:

John Craddock - Riverside Communicators (last year's winner)

Kate McNeilly - London Athenians

Lilian Nandi - West London Speakers

Kerry-Anne Smith - Trojans Speakers

And the winners were.....

For the International Speech Contest:

First Place Franco Vaccaro, Second Place Kerry-Anne Smith

For the Evaluation Contest:

First Place: Kerry-Anne Smith, Second Place: Lilian Nandi

Franco and Kerry-Anne will go on to compete at the London Toastmasters Division B Contests on Wednesday 29th April 2009.  Book your place above.

  Pictured from left. Contest chairman Andrew Klimaytys, Division B Governor Freddie Daniells, Kerry-Anne Smith, Franco Vaccaro and Area 29 Governor Himanshu Vora.

 Congratulations to our winners and all the contestants who made these trophies worth winning. 

Look forward to seeing them compete again next Wednesday 29th April.

2009 Division B International Speech and Evaluation Contest finals – get your tickets NOW!

Most clubs have now completed their International Speech and Evaluation Contests. As usual the quality of speaking is incredibly high.

Additionally, our first area, Area 34, have already held their contest. I will post details shortly. Three Area contests are booked for next week and one for the 27th.

After these, of course, the next stage will be the Division final. The event will be held on Wednesday, April 29th.

Doors will open at 6.30pm and the event proper will start at 7pm. We expect the evening to over by 9pm. No doubt a local hostelry will benefit from a little after contest celebration drink or three!

It promises to be a fabulous evening with the cream of London’s speakers competing to be the best in the capital city. Who will be representing your Area?

Last years Division winners were David Jones for the International Speech Contest and Hilary Briggs for the Evaluation contest, as seen in the photos above. Hilary went on to become the UK and Ireland Evaluation Champion keeping up our Division’s brilliant record of competing in the District finals.

Catherine Desson and the wonderful crew at Citi Criers have again offered the same amazing venue that we had last year. Thank you again to the good folks at Citigroup for their help.

Those who were there last year will remember that we had over 200 attendees on the evening. It would be great to have this level of support for our speakers again this year.

I am also excited that Joe Gibbs, current Lt Governor Training and Education and prospective District 71 Governor for 2009/10 (the head honcho in UK and Ireland Toasties) will be joining us, flying in from Ireland that afternoon specially.

The address is:

Citigroup Centre

25 Canada Square

London E14 5LB

Travelling to Canary Wharf is a doddle with the Jubilee line taking you to just around the corner at the Canary Wharf tube stop. Alternatively you can catch the DLR from Bank or wherever takes your fancy! The best stop is DLR – Canary Wharf.

A map to the venue is here:

There is a charge of £5 as a contribution to the cost of the evening. However, this will include a glass of wine for those who arrive at 6.30!

You can now book this event directly from this page (how cool is that!):

I am really looking to this event. It is the signature event of the Toastmasters year at a Divisional level. I have booked my ticket already, get yours now! :)

PS We will update the contestants as the Area Contests take place. Keep an eye out here on The London Speaker!

Toastmasters Educational Awards March 2009

Five more educational awards were achieved by London Division B Toastmasters in March 2009.

Three months to go before the end of the Toastmasters year and we've achieved a little under 50% of the total awards we gained in 2007/08.  Guess the other 50% (plus) will come rolling in over the coming weeks!

Congratulations to everyone who completed a communication or leadership award this month.  We look forward to seeing and hearing you on the next stage of your Toastmasters journey.

Competent Communicator

Sam Cowan. London Olympians.  Area 6

David Bier. London Corinthians. Area 6

Jonathon Palmer. London Corinthians. Area 6

Competent Leader

Sean Kennedy. London Communicators.  Area 33

Advanced Leader Bronze

Amanda Warwick.  London Athenians. Area 29

Educational Awards	Last year 2007/08	March 2009	Division B year to date
Competent Communicator	51	3	27
Advanced Comm Bronze	13		4
Adv Comm Silver	8		1
Adv Comm Gold	3		2
Competent Leader	15	1	11
Old Comp Leader	21		n/a
Adv Leader Bronze	4	1	4
Adv Leader Silver	1		2
Leadership Excellence Award	1		4
Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM)			1
Total	117	5	56

Toastmasters Educational Awards February 2009

Thirteen more educational awards were achieved by London Division B Toastmasters in February 2009.  Including...drum role please...one Distinguished Toastmaster.  Dave Brooks of Speakeasy @ Credit Suisse has achieved this prestigious award.  The first person in Division B to achieve this since 2004/05. More info on how Dave has done this will follow shortly.

Congratulation to everyone who achieved Toastmasters Educational Awards this month.  It's great to see the range of communication and leadership awards coming through.  Area 29 seems to have been hyperactive this month!

Competent Communicator

Olivier Bourseau. London Athenians.  Area 29 

Laura Clerci. London Business School Speakers. Area 29

Filippo Gioia. West London Speakers. Area 29

Darren Mothersele. London Athenians.  Area 29

Joydev Nandi.  West London Speakers.  Area 29

Graeme Phillips.  London Athenians.  Area 29

Advanced Communicator Gold

Jane Campbell. WIBF. Area 31

Competent Leader

Kimra Argus. West London Speakers.  Area 29

Amanda Warwick.  London Athenians.  Area 29

Advanced Leader Bronze

Steve McGuire.  London Communicators. Area 33

Advanced Leader Silver

Dave Brooks. Speakeasy @ Credit Suisse. Area 31

Leadership Excellence Award

Dave Brooks.  Speakeasy @ Credit Suisse. Area 31

Distinguished Toastmaster

Dave Brooks. Speakeasy @ Credit Suisse. Area 31

Educational Awards	Last year 2007/08	February2009	Division B year to date
Competent Communicator	51	6	24
Advanced Comm Bronze	13		4
Adv Comm Silver	8		1
Adv Comm Gold	3	1	2
Competent Leader	15	2	10
Old Comp Leader	21		n/a
Adv Leader Bronze	4	1	3
Adv Leader Silver	1	1	2
Leadership Excellence Award	1	1	4
Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM)		1	1
Total	117	13	51

International Speech and Speech Evaluation Workshops

A number of free speech and speech evaluation workshops are being held at Toastmasters clubs in London in the coming weeks.  They'll be of interest to anyone wanting to improve skills in speaking and giving feedback...and of course if you want to improve your chances in the upcoming club international speech and speech evaluation contests!  You are very welcome to attend - whether you are a member of another club or are thinking about joining Toastmasters.  You'll get an opportunity to learn and practice in these interactive sessions. 

Tuesday 24th February 2009.  London Athenians have two short workshops. A speech workshop led by Freddie Daniells, Division B Governor and a speech evaluation workshop led by Paul Carroll, seasoned workshop leader and experienced evaluator.

Time: 7pm.  Venue: The Hop Poles, King Street Hammersmith, W6 9HR.

Wednesday 4th March 2009. Riverside Communicators are hosting a speech evaluation workshop led by Andrew Klimaytys, former Division B Governor and regular winner of Club, Area and Division contests.  Assisted by other advanced members of the club.

Time: 7.15pm.  Venue: York House, Twickenham, TW1 3AA. 

Monday 9th March 2009.  West London Speakers have an evening of two workshops.  A speech workshop led by Joydev Nandi, winner of the 2008 Area 29 Humorous Speech Contest and a speech evaluation workshop led by Lilian Nandi, Club President.

Time: 7pm.  Venue: The Hop Poles, King Street, Hammersmith, W6 9HR

Hope to see you there.

Toastmasters Educational Awards January 2009

Seven more educational awards were achieved by London Division B Toastmasters in January 2009.

It's good to see the balance of communication and leadership awards.  And that two more of our members have completed the High Performance Leadership program to achieve their Leadership Excellence Award - an essential part of gaining the Advanced Leader Silver and becoming a Distinguished Toastmaster.

Congratulations to everyone who gained the first awards of 2009.

Competent Communicator

Olufemi Asaolu. Holborn Speakers. Area 34

Jessica Bass. London Athenians. Area 29

A.C. Gaskell. London Athenians. Area 29

Advanced Communicator Silver

Iain Duthie. Tube Talk. Area 34

Competent Leader

John Craddock. Riverside Communicators. Area 29

Leadership Excellence Award

Hilary Briggs. Grosvenor Square Speakers. Area 34

Pedro Casillas. Grosvenor Square Speakers. Area 34

Educational Awards	Last year 2007/08	January 2009	Division B year to date
Competent Communicator	51	3	18
Advanced Comm Bronze	13		4
Adv Comm Silver	8	1	1
Adv Comm Gold	3		1
Competent Leader	15	1	8
Old Comp Leader	21		n/a
Adv Leader Bronze	4		2
Adv Leader Silver	1		1
Leadership Excellence Award	1	2	3
Total	117	7	38