Speakers Club is thriving...
AT THE latest meeting of Loughborough Charnwood Speakers Club we were running out of chairs to accommodate all our visitors and new members.
Kay on her second visit to the club became a full member and will be a welcome addition to the club. She has already proved her skill at impromptu topics and we certainly look forward to her prepared speeches.
The popularity of the club must be down to the efforts of Arthur Murray who tirelessly recruits from stalls outside John Storer House and in the market place and also hopefully from the excellent coverage in the Loughborough Echo.
The evening was ably chaired by Vince Jupp, a relatively recent member who has also agreed to be club secretary.
The evening started with the usual warm up session where everyone gets to speak for one minute on a subject almost of their choice.
This was followed by three prepared speeches, two from new members giving their first speech and from student Jo Zhou Zeng Hong his third.
Aaron Anstey told us about his love of languages. From his first word as a baby then going to France with his family as a young boy and learning French, returning to England and taking on Latin and German then as a teenager, back to France for a summer job selling doughnuts on the beach.
He perfected a unique selling approach by singing French phrases which made him the top salesman.
Returning to school he found the experience had greatly improved his skills in the language. He said the best
way to learn a language is by going to the country and immersing yourself in the local culture. Spanish and Chinese were his next goals. He finds these language skills extremely helpful working with students at the University.
Keeping with an International flavour, Serpil Akkaya who comes from Turkey also gave her first speech called “Culture Shock”.
We learned about the difficulties of coming here and learning English, the realisation that rain doesn’t always make the British miserable and that it is ok to go out in it with the right clothing and an umbrella.
How would her three year old daughter cope in such strange surroundings? Food can also be a hurdle. What does it mean to invite someone for Tea for example? What would an English person expect?
Serpil concluded” Variety is the Spice of Life” and you will see her and her husband in the town selling that popular English fast food, the Jacket Potato!
Jo Zhou then cleverly explained that sometimes a short cut is not a short cut.
To reach your destination in the shortest time is dependent on a variety of factors such as traffic jams, money, type of transport and taking a short cut may not be the answer.
He considered the role of medicine. To cure in the least possible time may not require antibiotics which are widely used.
Solving mathematical problems using formulas such as algebra may be a short cut. Taking short cuts in the business world can lead to disaster.
He quoted the case of Nick Leeson who famously lost over £ 800 million pounds when working for Barings Bank.
For people finding their feet
we provide short readings ranging from poetry to newspaper articles.
Adam and Lydia, both visitors whose first language is not English both did well with these.
We are in awe of the people we have in our midst who excel in learning our language so well. This was truly an international evening and we all gain from listening to their experiences.
The next meeting will be the club Speech and Evaluation contest. The winners will go forward to the Area contest and if successful to the District contest and ultimately, the National Conference where we hear some exceptional speakers, enjoy a gala dinner, some training workshops and possibly a little sightseeing.
To find out more about the Association of Speakers Clubs find us at www. loughboroughspeakers.org.uk or face book. It could be that you would like to join us to improve your speaking and presentation skills.
Come along and see what we do. We don’t bite!