Speeches galore
LOUGHBOROUGH Charnwood Speakers Club were pleased to welcome more visitors to the last club meeting, Ann and Martin Cox from the Newark Club came to enjoy meeting up with old friends and Dorota Pawelczuk and Pindar Tara, both visiting for the first time, took part in the two minute topic session.
Vince Jupp chaired the Topics session and gave people choices of Christmas related subjects. Dorota gave a good topic about Christmas cards reminding everyone that sending love and good wishes to family and friends, some of whom may not have been seen often but still remain in their hearts and minds and lets them know they are still important.
It was a close tie as to who won the best topic but PindarTara was chosen for his family themed topic on Christmas crackers. The excitement of what you find inside and the jokes which get everyone laughing and as a DIY fan, Pindar said he appreciated the screwdriver he found in his.
There were three prepared speeches. Kay Light gave us a biography of a man she thought very highly of in Spain where she spent many years, entitled Antonio Gala- an introduction. Kay described him as being similar to Peter Ustinov, poet, playwright, novelist and raconteur.
Now 88 years of age he is still entertaining people with his television interviews. This was Kay’s second speech aimed at speech construction.
Frank Rawson has reached his eighth speech in the guide book, Use of Humour. Probably one of the more difficult speeches to produce.
He immediately brought a smile to the audience by producing his own sand timer.
Timing is considered an important factor in public speaking, so going over time or under time can cause problems in a real environment.
We heard about the various ways humour can be achieved with lots of examples. Senior moments.
Wondering if going upstairs or down and what for was solved by moving to a bungalow! We were all familiar with the Fork Handles sketch from Ronnie Barkers TV sitcom and Morecombe and Wise playing the piano in a sketch with Andre Previn.
Frank brought his speech to a fitting finale with a joke from the Irish comedian, Dave Allen.
When it comes to performing the tenth speech in the Speakers Guide, which aims to include all the techniques learnt, an outside evaluator is required alongside a senior club member.
On this occasion we were pleased to welcome Nathan Truesdale, president of the Nottingham club who is a very experienced speaker and he joined last year’s National president of the ASC, Eric Baker to advise James Gibson on his speech.
A well performed and intriguing speech entitled Paradox Explained. James left us pondering several conundrums which I am sure left everyone with lots to discuss.
The next meeting is on January 22, at John Storer House at 7.30pm. Join us for what could be an evening of fun or trepidation as you conquer your fear of public speaking.
More information can be found on our website www. loughboroughspeakers.org. uk