Meeting Review! Wednesday 27th September

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!

Meeting Review! Wednesday 13th September

Wimbledon Speakers Club met back up again last night after the Summer break for a fun-packed evening chaired by club founder, Debra Owen-Hughes.

debra

Debra in command!

Three brand new visitors were welcomed on the night, all of whom were looking to improve their public speaking skills – there’s no better place!

After an ice-breaker where we each stood for 30 seconds to say what we’d do with the extra half hour in our lives now that we’ve decided to shorten our meetings slightly, it was onto the topics session.

As Chair (and by default, as Topics Chair!), Debra dished out 2-minute speeches that we had to make on various subjects, ranging from imagining we were giving a ‘best man’ speech for a friend at his ninth wedding, to congratulating a colleague on his retirement at aged 87! Katherine took the honours after delivering the topic she was given with aplomp – changing career from police dog handler to yoga instructor!

katherine

Well done, Katherine!

After a cup of tea and a custard cream, the second half of the evening saw an excellent prepared on nutrition and the impact of negative thoughts on diet / weight loss from Simone, followed by a ‘masterclass’ on how best to handle the topics session from Michael. As a 4-time UK Public Speaking Champion, there’s no better person to learn from.

simone

Great speech. Great trainers, Simone!

The evening finished with another quick-fire topics session based on ‘song titles’ followed by an excursion to the pub next door for a drink to reflect on another fun and successful evening at the club.

bar

See you all at the next meeting on Wednesday 27th September. Kick off 7.30pm. Everyone welcome – especially new visitors!

Wimbledon Speakers Club all set to begin its 20th year!

wsc

The new term at Wimbledon Speakers Club is just around the corner with the first meeting after the Summer break to take place on Wednesday 13th September at 7.30pm. We look forward to welcoming both new and old friends back to the club as we embark on an exciting year ahead.

And as well as being an exciting year ahead, it is also a celebratory year as our club celebrates its 20th anniversary! Since 1998, we have welcomed hundreds of people through the door who have visited the club in order to develop both their confidence and skills in a variety of forms of verbal communication and public speaking in a fun, friendly and supportive environment.

As well as our typical meeting programme which covers improvised speaking, prepared speeches & speech evaluation, we also intersperse these with other word games, debates and other light-hearted entertainment, all of which helps to improve our public speaking skills. You never stop learning at Wimbledon Speakers Club! For those wishing to take part, we also run annual club competitions in the 3 key speaking disciplines of impromptu speeches, prepared speeches and speech evaluation, the winners of which go on to compete in the national competitions.

So whether you’re a total beginner or more advanced, no matter whether you’re preparing to give a speech at a wedding, a work presentation or just want to improve your overall speaking confidence, Wimbledon Speakers Club is for you!

Our meetings are held on the 2nd & 4th Wednesday of each month at the William Morris Rooms (267, The Broadway, Wimbledon, SW19 1SD) from 7.30pm-9.30pm, so come along and see what we’re all about!

If you have any questions, simply Contact Us!

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