The London Speaker

Rapid Reaction Fun Force - Volunteers needed!

"The best way to cheer yourself is to try to cheer someone else up" Mark Twain.

Do you want to: Practice your speaking? Do your bit for the local community?  Bring a little laughter and sparkle to the lives of older people in SW1?

If your answer is YES then Kim would like to hear from you. The Pullen Centre is a Day Care Centre for elderly people in London SW1 near Victoria.  The Centre provides a vital local service for people in their 70's, 80's and 90's who are classed as 'vulnerable adults'" with health or mobility problems who may feel lonely and isolated. 

Among other entertainment the Centre regularly invites people in to give talks so...Kim wondered...might the Good People at Toastmasters be interested in:

Delivering a humorous speech or comedy routine? Giving a talk or slide show?

Playing music (there is a piano in the room). Singing. Songs from the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s are always very popular.  Juggling or using other entertainment skills.

If you have half an hour to volunteer for a guest spot, usually late morning or afternoon, your contribution will be greatly appeciated. The  benefits to you are many: a forum to practice speeches/performances; that buzz you get when doing something altuistic.  Putting a smile on the faces of others just can't be beaten!

If you would like to help or to find out more please contact Kim Crosby Mobile: 07775 992505 Email: TellMeMore@CustomerClix.com.  If this pilot is a success Kim is hoping to collect a groundswell of people who could be parachuted in to put a smile on the face of vulnerable people, from all walks of life, across Central London.

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

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

Voice Workshop at Berkeley Square Speakers

If you know you need to improve your vocal variety, want to make the most of your voice, feel confident you voice will be heard in a bigger space, and much more...then Berkeley Square Speakers have the workshop for you!

Club members actress and voice coach Irene Bradshaw and opera singer Andrew Bennett are running a morning workshop on Wednesday 29th April 2009. They'll cover several aspects of vocal technique in a fun session. An exercise on evaluating voice will be included. All welcome at this free workshop.

Time: 7.45am for one hour.

Venue: Lansdowne Club, 9 Fitzmaurice Place, London W1X 6JD.  Click for directions.

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!

What happening at London Toastmasters clubs this week?

A great selection International Speech and Evaluation Contests to choose from!

Monday 6 April 2009:

19:00 Northern Lights Contest Night.  Venue:  The London Irish Centre, 52 Camden Square, London NW1 9XB.  Link.

Tuesday 7 April 2009

08:00 Speakeasy @ Credit Suisse Contest Morning.

18:15 MLP London Bridge Contest Night.  Ernst & Young, 1 More London Place, London SE1 2AF.  Link.  Contact club to say you want to attend.

19:15 Polish your Polish Contest Night. Ognisko Polish Club. 55 Princes Gate SW7 2PN. Link.

Wednesday 8 April 2009

18:00 WIBF Canary Wharf Contest Night. Link. Please contact if you would like to attend.

18:15 St Paul's Speakers Contest Night.  The Golden Fleece, 8-9  Queen Street,London EC4N 1SP. Link.

Area 34 held the next level of the contests on 31st March.  All the other Area contests are after Easter. See the club contest schedule above for details.  More info to follow.  Remember the All London Division B contests will be held on 29th April 2009 in Canary Wharf.  Booking details will be posted here shortly.

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

Improve Your Speech Evaluations and do even better in club contests!

At Excalibur Speakers' meeting on 11 March 2009 we were treated to a 15 minute workshop on speech evaluation by one of our UK & Ireland Speech Evaluation Champions, Bob Ferguson DTM.

You can listen to Bob's workshop on the Excalibur website or download it. Click here.  Along with the audio Bob has provided notes and the forms he uses to capture information and structure his evaluations. Thanks Bob for providing such useful and timely material.

Other very helpful resources for evaluators are provided by Kim Chamberlain, a Speech Evaluation Champion from New Zealand.  You'll find them on the Toastmasters District 72 website. Click here.

An Evening of Music and Verse with Berkeley Square/Early Bird Speakers

You are warmly invited to an evening social event jointly hosted by Early Bird Speakers and Berkeley Square Speakers.  Friday 20 March 2009.  6.15pm to 8.30pm at Brown's Brasserie and Bar, Covent Garden.

We very much want to open this up and would welcome guests - both members of Toastmasters and non-members (who will have a chance to find out more about how they could benefit from joining one of our clubs).

The music will be provided by our member Andrew Bennett, tenor.  Andrew will be accompanied by Danielle Perrett on the harp. Both are international musicians.  Poetry and monologues will be added by other club members.

Held at Brown's Brasserie, on St Martin's Lane it will include a one course meal and glass of wine for £20.  Tickets and full details are available at http://earlybirdsoiree.eventbrite.com.  The venue can hold a maximum of 46 people.  As we will be publicising this event widely we suggest booking now to guarantee a place for you... and your guests!

We are looking forward to a fabulous evening.  Hope to meet you there.