Author: Sam Williams

Meeting Review! Wednesday 28th October

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The latest meeting of Wimbledon Speakers Club was once again an action-packed affair as members and new guests came together for an enjoyable evening.

This time it was Michael’s turn in the Chair and, as a 9 time National Finalist and 4 time UK Public Speaking Champion, it was a great pleasure to watch such an experienced speaker up close, putting everyone at ease and orchestrating events with such aplomb.

Michael delivered a variety of Topics for the audience to get their teeth stuck into, including ‘put your best foot forward’, you get what you pay for’ and ‘money can’t buy happiness’. And it was this latter topic that Joe, on his first ever visit to the club (!) attempted, delivered so well and was voted as the ‘best topic of the evening’ – well done Joe!

joe

Like so many new visitors, Joe has come down to Wimbledon Speakers Club to simply improve his confidence in speaking in front of large groups, to help him to perform more effectively in meetings and presentations at work, as well as for upcoming events such as weddings. It really is the perfect place to hone those skills.

The second half of the evening saw an ‘Icebreaker’ (Level 1) speech from Josie on only her second visit to the Club. Alice evaluated Josie’s speech, gave it a pass with flying colours and we’re all looking forward to seeing Josie quickly move up the Levels!

Another round of quick-fire topics gave the audience the opportunity to speak again, before Katherine rounded the evening off with the general evaluation – giving us all insightful hints & tips to help us on our speaking journey.

katherine

We look forward to meeting once again on Wednesday 8th November (kick off 7.30pm) for more practice and progress! Everyone welcome – especially new visitors!

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Meeting Review! Wednesday 11th October

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19 enthusiasts arrived at Wimbledon Speakers Club last Wednesday evening for another occasion of speaking fun!

There was a great mix of new guests and long term members and the latter shared much of their knowledge and experience by acting as Evaluators throughout the evening.

Alice offered us an educational on speech preparation and primarily the why’s and how’s of using notes. And as a speaker who has been involved in many competitions, varied work assignments and stand up gigs, she was well qualified to comment! Key to the process was that she involved the audience in the process, inviting us to respond, share ideas and help to create the presentation. Sincere thanks to her for such a valuable session.

Pleasingly, every single newcomer took part in the Topics session and Alpna (pictured below) took the trophy for best topic on her first attempt. Congratulations, Alpna!

Alpna

All speakers were encouraged to declare strong opinions on this occasion, and to mean what they said about allocated topics, rather than to ponder and consider them. Other strong contenders were Arsh with ‘PlayStation is better than Playground’, Alice with ‘It’s better to plant a cabbage than a rose’, and Debra with ‘The 70s, the Best decade’.
But Alpna pipped them all to the post with ‘Parents know best’!

We look forward to meeting once again on Wednesday 25th October (kick off 7.30pm) for more practice and progress! Everyone welcome – especially new visitors!

Meeting Review! Wednesday 27th September

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A bumper crowd was in attendance yesterday evening for another action-packed meeting of Wimbledon Speakers Club!

Wimbledon Speakers Club crowd

Seven brand new visitors were warmly welcomed and eased into the evening with the icebreaker session which opened proceedings.

The Chair for the night, Sam, asked us all for one luxury that we would take to a desert island and there were some interesting and varied responses – from a DAB radio to a lifetime supply of chillies! What followed the icebreaker was a real treat as club founder, Debra, delivered a fantastic education session on the fine art of Topics Evaluation, which was put into great use later in the evening.

Chairman Sam then delivered the Topics for the evening whereby participants came to the stage to deliver a 2 minute speech on why they should win the award for which they had been nominated. Such nominations were for ‘school bus driver of the year, ‘teacher of the year’ and ‘Twitter user of the year’. The winner of the ‘Debra’ trophy for best topic of the evening as voted by the audience, however, was a split-decision with Wimbledon’s answer to Kanye West (‘rapper of the year’, Joseph) and ‘weightlifter of the year’, Alice, sharing the spoils. Special commendations for newcomers, Mark and Varun, who each picked up votes on their first ever attempt at this – well done guys!

Joseph & Alice

After a quick half-time cuppa, the second half of the evening started with Katherine delivering the Topics Evaluation, expertly putting into practice the advice that Debra had given earlier in the evening. Philippe then took to the stage to present the Prepared Speech of the evening, with the title ‘Taming The Animal Spirit’ – a compelling and heartfelt speech on his wife’s recent illness and the emotions that it had conjured up. This speech was evaluated by Jan, who gave it a pass with flying colours, before the night was rounded off with an excellent General Evaluation by experienced club member, Don.

Don

After the meeting, many of the audience then headed next door for a quick drink and a mingle in the Antoinette Hotel, as another great evening at Wimbledon Speakers Club came to a close.

pub

See you all at the next meeting on Wednesday 11th October. Kick off 7.30pm. Everyone welcome – especially new visitors!

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