Meeting report of 5 January 2012 by Silvia King
What a great start to 2012 for Battle Speakers! Members, members-to-be Adam and
Jayne and our two guests of the evening, Eliza and Ruth, were all in great form. If
this is the standard at the beginning of the year, then surely it must be fantastic come
next Christmas.

Our Sergeant at Arms, Dorothy Margison, kicked off the meeting by calling
everybody to their chairs. In her friendly manner, she not only offered a warm
welcome to our guests but also gave clear instructions where to find what on the
premises. Most importantly, we now know how to get rescued by a friendly fireman.

The Warm-up by Susan Kennard was not only a first opportunity for the audience to
warm-up their vocal cords. By asking us about the places or situations that raise our
vibrations, she actually allowed everybody in the room to find a spot where they are
at ease. What better point to start practising our public speaking!

Past President Peter Matthews stepped in for Mark Mulcahy, our President, for the
welcome address. Shortly after that, we heard Peter give us the Hot Tip for the
evening. More than a simple bit of advice, it could easily double as a theme for the
entire year or a New Year’s resolution: “You get out what you put in!” He encouraged
the audience to persevere in their efforts to improve their public speaking skills by
actively participating in the Battle Speaker meetings and by taking on roles. The
more we practise our speaking, the better we become!

Our Toastmaster for the evening, Al Dixon, complemented this Hot Tip throughout
the evening by adding explanations about roles and how to best use the manuals.
Particularly in his explanation about the role of Evaluator, he illustrated clearly the
purpose of the role, the structure of the feedback and why evaluations are so crucial
for all of us to improve our speaking skills.
Al expertly led us through the evening, adding humour and improvisation here and
there. He was so successful in keeping everybody on time that we actually finished
the meeting early!

In this he was supported by Cat Bray who not only challenged speakers to keep
within their time limits but also herself.

Giles Robinson as Grammarian and Ah Counter did everything in his power to raise
our aspiration in 2012 by making it the word of the evening. He proved a careful
listener not only for the use of the word but also for examples of good use of English.
At the end of the meeting, he also presented us with the tally of our “sins”: those
dreaded umhhs and ahs.

The four speeches of the evening showed the breadth of talent at Battle Speakers
with two newer members and two very experienced ones. Alison Pringle gave her
second speech at the club, entertaining us with amusing anecdotes on how to get
soaked during a hike and the risks of showing up at your gym during a torrential
downpour.

It was great to see Denise Mulligan back at Battle Speakers again. In her fourth
speech, we heard all about the amazing ways and places in which to celebrate the
beginning of a new year. Her humour allowed us to forget that most situations
sounded like experiences we would rather avoid. Her vivid description of the
energising atmosphere in the crowd allowed us to understand why she would seek
out these situations year after year.

Gordon Piggott tackled his second project in the Advanced Communication Series
on Public Relations: the radio talk show. The set-up was expertly done with a real
microphone and headsets and Dec Cluskey as the radio presenter was assisted by
Cat Bray, our Timekeeper, who played the role of radio producer. It was unfortunate
that due to some misunderstanding between Gordon and Dec the talk show didn’t
follow the intended format. However, Gordon handled the surprises very well.
Last but not least, Dec Cluskey had the audience in stitches during his third project
from the Advanced Communication Series on Story Telling. Good use of props (a
chair) and vocal variety (from Greek accents to slurred Irish driving directions) gave a
fine example of the many tricks members can pick up for their speeches.

Four expert Evaluators provided feedback to the Speakers. Although they have very
different styles, they all showed great analytical skill and provided helpful advice for
the Speakers. Giles Robinson (evaluating Alison Pringle) impressed in his
suggestions for improvement by not only pointing out the length of speech and pace
as areas to do better in. He also took it a step further by exploring the reasons behind
it. In showing how the root cause can be tackled, he provided great practical advice
not only for Alison but all of us present who have been in similar situations.
Gordon Piggott evaluated Denise Mulligan’s speech which had the use of words
and language as its project focus. Owing to his experience, Gordon was able to
explain the objective for the speech in great detail and put it into context for all of us
to understand the merit of metaphors and alliterations in a speech, to name but a
few. He put this information into practice in his feedback to Denise: His evaluation
was well structured with three points that really worked and one take-away to
improve on.

Graham Gardner (evaluating Gordon Piggott) had a difficult task given the speech
didn’t actually follow the intended structure. Since we were listing to a radio talk
show, the focus was on the voice only, and Graham offered good analysis and
valuable advice, for example with respect to the clarity and repetition of key
messages. His experience as Evaluator showed in details, for example by spotting
the impact of the very realistic studio set-up on Gordon’s voice.

Peter Matthews evaluated Dec Cluskey’s speech. His evaluation was well
structured and compared the individual speech objectives directly with examples
from the speech. Thus he was able to offer a step by step analysis on how Dec had
tackled the challenges set for him in the manual, providing insight into the “advanced
tricks” for the audience. It is always difficult to find suggestions for improvement for
an experienced speaker but Peter handled it well and with humour.

The focus of the second half of the evening was on Table Topics which forces
speakers to think on their feet. Dorothy Margison as Topics Chairman challenged
speakers by asking them to impersonate an item of furniture, and speakers had to
explain its feel, comfort, look and setting. Rocking chairs, dressing tables and
bookcases were only three pieces that made an appearance at Battle Speakers that
night. Unfortunately, the session was kept short in the interest of time.

Susan Kennard as Topics Evaluator proved a careful listener and gave a great
example of how to apply the evaluation rule: What I saw, heard and felt. For the
Topics Speakers, this offered an opportunity to catch a glimpse how their impromptu
speech was perceived on all three levels. Susan was perceptive and gave clear
examples what resonated and the effect it had on her as a listener.

With the final reports, Silvia King as General Evaluator, Giles as Grammarian and
Um and AAh counter, Cat as Timekeeper, the evening then drew to an early close.

All in all, the evening was, once more, an entertaining and inspiring opportunity to
practice and improve our speaking and leadership skills in a friendly environment.
What a great way to start the year!

Meeting report of 15 December 2011
We congratulated Dec Cluskey on his Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) award, the highest award a Toastmaster club can give a member. This is in recognition of his commitment to public speaking, his dedicated service and his leadership.

Our last meeting of the year saw Graham Gardner as Toastmaster, a role he carried out with warmth and ease. We were fortunate to have three very experienced speakers, who each entertained and informed us. Silvia King’s speech title ‘Better than counting sheep’ intrigued us. It turned out that Silvia was light-heartedly recommending radio 4’s shipping forecast as a better way to beat insomnia than the traditional counting of sheep! More helpfully, though, she shed light on the forecast, giving us a well-researched explanation of its background.

It was a delight to have a rarely-given speech from the busy Giles Robinson, and amusing to have his humorous insight into divorce. More seriously, Giles’s enthusiasm and belief in the mediation process for many divorcing partners was clear and encouraging. Finally, Gordon Piggott courageously took on the mantle of representing Tesco in a make-believe local nightmare scenario, whereby Tesco is to take over Battle high street! In only three minutes, Gordon put forward cogent arguments for the supermarket giant to controversially be allowed to dominate local shopping, and then handled the questions of objections from the audience convincingly.

Feedback to the speakers was given by Mark Mulcahy, Dec Cluskey and Susan Kennard, so that even such experienced speakers as tonight’s three, went home with ideas for improvement, as well as an understanding of the strengths they bring to speaking.

The table topics session was based on quotes that Gordon Piggott gave to unprepared speakers to comment on, tell a story about or build a case for. With quotes from Mae West and George Bernard Shaw, and spontaneous story-telling, the audience left in a very merry spirit ready for the festive season, aided first by a social over a drink or two.

Meeting report of 1 December 2011
Three experienced speakers gave us well-prepared, interesting and informative speeches at the latest Battle Speakers meeting. The evening was hosted by Dorothy Margison; the first time she took on the role of Toastmaster. Dec Cluskey demonstrated how he would use a coaching approach, with Dorothy graciously acting as his ‘coachee’. Gordon Piggott’s speech spoke of his enthusiasm and passion for the learning we receive at Battle Speakers, as part of a tried and tested Toastmasters formula that works, and is found across the globe. Our last speaker was Wendy Turner. Telling us about the power of intent, she inspired us to set clear intentions so that the outcomes we want can be met.

Each speech was given detailed, and personal, feedback in evaluations from Graham Gardner, Giles Robinson and Susan Kennard. Cat Bray, another first-timer in a role, created a fun table topics session. Participants were called up from the audience, asked to pick out an object from a bag and then given one to two minutes to sell it to the audience, who were turned into Dragon Den consultants. The idea was to encourage the discerning ‘Dragons’ to invest in the product.

Rob McDonald did the hard task of evaluating each table topics speaker, while Caroline Sherrard gave thorough feedback to the evaluators and other role takers for the evening.

Meeting report of 17 November 2011
The recent Battle Speakers meeting had three good speeches showing the skills of new members. We welcomed Giles Robinson back, after an absence for work commitments, as the Toastmaster and host for the evening. Silvia King gave us an insight into Zurich Toastmasters, when she shared the differences she’d seen on recent visits to the Swiss speaking club.

Our first speaker, Susan Kennard, had prepared an informative and interesting speech about EFT – Emotional Freedom Technique. Susan has had great success with clients with this ‘energy psychology’ technique, which can be used for a range of emotional issues. Peter Carney treated us to his creative thinking, when he spoke without notes, despite being the first time he had given a speech at the club. Rob McDonald was as entertaining as ever – enlightening us on the use of the letter x. It turns out that men are just as concerned to interpret what a text sender might be feeling by how many kisses – x’s – they receive in a text as women!

The speeches were well evaluated by Giles Robinson, Mark Mulchay and Martin Riley, who each gave their personal opinion as to how the speakers could continue developing their skills.

Meeting report of 20 October, 2011, for the Battle Observer
Martin Riley was our professional and humorous host at the recent Battle Speakers Club meeting, linking speakers with skill and linguistic dexterity. Silvia King gave us an unusual speech, reading a section from “Le Petit Prince”, the novella “The Little Prince”, in French, German and English showing that you didn’t need to understand what was being said to get the rhythm, sound and meaning of a language. Catherine (Cat) Bray gave her first speech at the club, and introduced us to her passion for horses, how they have become a large part of her life and how much they have taught her. Al Dixon’s speech took us to London, and his experience of joining the Occupy London camp in its first weekend of protest on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral.

Sylvia King’s speech was a hard speech to give feedback on for an experienced evaluator; so Rob McDonald did particularly well as a first-time evaluator. Dec Cluskey gave positive praise of Cat’s first speech and Mark Mulcahy picked up on Al Dixon’s strong feeling and connection with the Occupy London cause.

Mark Mulcahy created a table topics session that gave people the space and opportunity to amuse and bemuse the audience. Each member picked out an unusual word they had to describe, define or make up a meaning for. Speeches were obscure and oblique, and very funny. These were evaluated by Susan Kennard and the evening as a whole was considered by Caroline Sherrard as General Evaluator.

Meeting report of 6 October for the Battle Observer newspaper
Battle Speakers Club welcomed new members and visitors at our last meeting, all buoyed up by the positive, supportive and encouraging environment. Gordon Piggott exuded warmth in his role as Toastmaster for the evening. Cat Bray took on her first role as ‘Ah’ Counter and reported on the speakers’ use of filler words. We were delighted to hear a tenth speech by Tracey Bond, a milestone in a Toastmaster Speaker’s journey. Well done to Tracey in sharing her inspiring speaking journey with the audience and in achieving the Competent Communicator award. Wendy Turner also inspired us with a touching speech about random acts of kindness and how two generous, kind, thoughtful people had on separate occasions gone out of their way to help Wendy, giving her memories for a lifetime and the motivation to help others.

The two speeches were very competently evaluated by Martin Riley and Gordon Piggott respectively. Their rounded and balanced feedback will give each speaker confidence in knowing what they are already doing well.

Dorothy Margison chaired well-prepared and challenging table topics, with historical, political and through-provoking questions. Speakers were ased to imagine solving the worlds’ problems through past note-worthy people including Florence Nightingale, Ghandi and Henry the VIII. The topics were evaluated by Graham Gardener in another excellent evaluation. The General Evaluator, Al Dixon, kept the high standard of evaluation when he gave a report on the evening’s meeting.

Meeting report of 29 September 2011 for Battle Observer
Occasionally, Battle Speakers Club members enjoy a contest, where we have the discipline of speaking to competition rules. A recent meeting, saw two contests: humorous speech and table topics, which are short, impromptu speeches. The evening was hosted by Rob McDonald, gaining first-time experience of chairing the competition evening. Al Dixon, Dec Cluskey and Gordon Piggott all tried their hand at speaking humorously in prepared speeches that needed to meet a number of criteria, including delivery, speech development, audience response and voice variation.

Dec Cluskey, Gordon Piggott, Al Dixon and Caroline Sherrard participated in the table topics contest and answered a question on their most memorable day from this year without preparation or notice of the question. Al Dixon amused the audience with his strangely similar memorable day to the previous speaker’s, Caroline Sherrard, despite being out of the room and out of ear shot of her speech. Both began with a description of their walking on a sunny day along the Hastings East Hill County Park and continued with their encounter of the nudist beach below!

Other audience members were invited to share some of their fun and stories of memories from this year, while the judges deliberated and tallied up the scores. Congratulations to Dec Cluskey and Al Dixon on their wins: Dec for his humorous speech and Al for his table topics. Both go through to the next round, the area contest. We are back to our normal, relaxed format at the next meeting.

Meeting report of 15 September 2011
We welcomed five guests at the Battle Speakers meeting on 15 September. All seemed enthusiastic about their experience, were brave enough to speak in the fifteen seconds warm-up and said they would be back for more. Silvia King, as creative as ever, gave us an unusual speech, which included a gentle visualisation that left the audience feeling warm and relaxed. Al Dixon’s speech took us to the world of economics, with an imaginary interview on quantitative easing and his view of the economy. Our final prepared speech was given by Mark Mulcahy, who wondered whether exercise was worth the effort. He shared personal anecdotes and added a slice of humour, that many of us could relate to.

Each speech had an evaluator, who provided a personal view on the speaker’s strengths and areas to consider for improvement in a supportive and encouraging manner. Evaluators were Caroline Sherrard, Dec Cluskey and Susan Kennard, who gave her first evaluation with ease.

Silvia King had a second, major, role in the meeting as Table Topics Chair and came up with a range of interesting questions on holiday travel arrangements that built on one another and gave speakers a chance to practice speaking without preparation. From knitting outfits for orphan lamas and the unlikely image of skiing on Machu Picchu in Peru, to expecting to fly to Rome and ending up in Paris, members and guests joined in humorous and creative story-telling, only occasionally bordering on the ridiculous! The evening was positively summed up by Dec Cluskey in his role as General Evaluator.

Meeting report of 1 September 2011
Three speakers, with diverse styles, speeches and stories, provided us with an interesting meeting at the last Battle Speakers get together. Al Dixon, as Toastmaster, was our host for the evening. Dec Cluskey tackled a speech from an advanced manual, which was ambitious and educational: he gave us an introduction to his take on negotiation skills and then courageously role-played negotiating an office move for a neighbouring company, represented by volunteer Mark Mulcahy. It was good to see Martin Riley back giving a speech at the club after a long gap between speeches. We enjoyed hearing his adventure in the Lake District with his son; the long journey with a teenager who wanted to be at the destination faster than British roads would allow, the slow, worthwhile climb up a steep mountain and the beautiful view on reaching the top. Our third speaker, Tracey Bond, urged us to make time for fun in our lives; knowing it was something that many of us put on the back burner and don’t plan into our busy days.

Rob McDonald gave us some excellent table topics, sharing his love of sports and devising questions for speakers around sports situations and personalities: Susan Kennard described a day spent with Andy Murray, Dorothy Margison took out her metaphoric boxing gloves and Peter Matthews found himself in the Middle East watching women’s volleyball. The evening was concisely and well evaluated by Wendy Turner, her first time in the role of General Evaluator.

Report of meeting of 18 August 2011

We had a most enjoyable evening at the last Battle Speaker’s Club meeting. Caroline Sherrard hosted the evening, introducing a theme of enquiry into what speakers love about Britain and see as quintessentially British. Three speakers, early in their Club membership, demonstrated that as nervous as a new (and any) speaker may be, that doesn’t prevent someone giving a great speech. Adam Frampton gave only his second speech to the club and was amusing, intelligent and articulate in his interesting observations of how we hoard things we don’t need. Rob McDonald was also giving his second speech. It was a fascinating look at love, in all its forms, and included his love of his home town, Battle. Denise Mulligan bravely ditched her prepared speech to speak from the heart about authenticity, personal leadership and the need to keep speeches simple.

Each speech was ably evaluated by members Silva King, Dec Cluskey and Mark Mulcahy, who gave their personal view of the speakers’ skills and areas for improvement. The unprepared speeches were chaired by Giles Robinson in his role as Topics Master. Giles was on excellent form, and came up with topical, interesting subjects for speakers to practice presenting their ideas on.

We were delighted to welcome a member from Arun Speakers Club to evaluate the evening as a whole. Mandy Wallace was positive and encouraging of our club, and also motivating in her role as Area Governor.

Meeting report of 4 August 2011
Two advanced speakers in Battle Speaker’s Club received certificates in recognition of their achievement of the Competent Leader award at the last meeting. The prepared speeches came from Caroline Sherrard, who showed the audience how worthwhile it is to give blood, and how easy it is to do so; Peter Matthews, who tried his hand at a business speech, relating technical information to his audience and Tracey Bond, who wondered about the big bang theory, with a delightful practical demonstration and analogy with cake ingredients. We all benefitted from her already-baked cakes later! Each speech was commented on by the Toastmaster, birthday boy Will Hirst, who was an able first-timer in the role and also impressed all with his first-time suit wearing at the club!

Mark Mulcahy gave Caroline’s speech helpful feedback, Dec Cluskey evaluated Peter’s speech with plenty of pointers for progression and Giles Robinson was very positive about Tracey’s speech, recognising how much she has developed since joining the club.

Dec Cluskey’s table topics session was creative and ‘in the moment’. Speakers were asked questions about objects in the room, which lead to an unusual (made-up!) tale of music being the excuse for burning a neighbour’s house down, Kate and Wills receiving a wedding present of a picture, as a substitute for a member’s own work of art, and cake ingredients being turned into a set of timer lights! Silvia King was thorough and complete in her evaluation of the evening.

Report on 07.07.11 meeting for Battle Observer
“Fun” was the name of the game at a recent Battle Speakers Club meeting. A full agenda gave the audience four good quality speeches and much to laugh at in the table topics session. The evening was hosted by the experienced, eloquent and enthusiastic Giles Robinson. We had an ‘ice-breaker’ – a first speech – from Rob McDonald. He made a great start, showing an early ability to speak with humour and write a good yarn, with an amusing tale of his university adventures. Jennifer Beaumont-Whyte asked us “What is your big idea?” and took us through a well-thought out nine step plan to achieve what we want. Tracey Bond gave us an interesting and informative education on the town of Hailsham, while we had a practical demonstration on how to make a shelter, complete with wood props, photos of what the real thing looks when built and a wonderful pre-made model from Wendy Turner.

Each speech was evaluated by a fellow member, who gave their subjective view in a supportive and developmental way. The evaluators were: Gordon Piggott, Graham Gardener, Gillian Reid and Tracey Bond.

Caroline Sherrard chaired a topics session with questions for speakers to answer based on an item they picked out of a bag, with hilarious results. The evaluators and those taking a role, such as time-keeper and grammarian, were given helpful feedback on their speaking skills by the evening’s General Evaluator, Al Dixon.

Report of 16 June 2011 meeting for the Battle Observer newspaper
We all enjoyed hearing a new club member give her first speech to the club at the last Battle Speakers meeting. Susan Kennard titled her talk ‘Strength from within’ and shared how personal adversity and difficult times had helped her find her inner strength. The encouragement, support and learning that come from other club members can quickly dwarf any maiden speech nerves. Tracey Bond particularly impressed with her speech about the social stigma that goes with living in social housing. She is a wonderful example of how much Battle Speakers can help develop confidence and ability, as Tracey gave a solid, coherent and persuasive speech that she could not have delivered a few months ago. Dec Cluskey, an advanced speaker, asked the audience to be reporters and spoke with authority in his assigned public relations role.

Caroline Sherrard, Mark Mulcahy and Al Dixon gave personal views on how each speaker could improve their speaking ability and what skills they already have.

Peter Matthews, whose table topics session was on the theme of summer, gave questions to audience members to speak on without preparation as practice for speaking without notes, and without advance notice of a subject. Al Dixon gave his appraisal of each speaker and Mark Mulcahy summed up the evening with evaluations on each unevaluated role.

Report of meeting of 02.06.11 for the Battle Observer newspaperAt Battle Speakers Club’s last meeting, experienced speakers entertained and engaged the audience, with good timing, good choice of words and good speeches. The host – known as the Toastmaster – for the evening was Al Dixon. Silvia King gave only her fourth speech to the club but, so rapidly has she developed her speaking skills, many in the audience thought her more experienced. She told us of the havoc a bunny has been causing to her vegetables and plants with great vividness and very amusingly, in a speech entitled ‘Kill the bunny’! Dec Cluskey was humorous about the ageing process and Gordon Piggott cleverly opened with a mention of the Rolling Stones’ song ‘I can’t get no satisfaction’ to illustrate his key points on our life satisfaction and making the most of the club to learn skills.

Caroline Sherrard, Peter Matthews and Dec Cluskey provided feedback, which is another opportunity to practice speaking skills, as well as a chance for speakers to receive an evaluation of their speech.

Caroline Sherrard’s topics session gave speakers the opportunity to pick an object out of a bag and deliver a short, up-to-two-minutes speech, on a question. When Silvia King was asked to say how she would use the object she was about to pull out in cooking, she had a daunting task to include a small Buddha statue in her recipes!

Tracey Bond, in the role of General Evaluator for the first time, gave praise and recommendations to those who had not yet been evaluated.

Battle Speakers welcomes beginner and experienced speakers, and encourages speaking skills in a fun and supportive environment. Each meeting is chaired by a different person. Members deliver prepared speeches intended to achieve a particular purpose, such as improving body language, vocal variety or use of humour. There is also the opportunity to practice speaking for up to two minutes without preparation. Another member gives constructive feedback to the speaker. This feedback is crucial, as we never normally receive it in the ‘real world’. We improve, strengths are built on and skills learnt. The club is friendly and sociable and members enjoy ending the evening in a local pub!

Report of meeting of 19.05.11 for the Battle Observer newspaperWe welcomed three speakers at the last Battle Speakers meeting, one of whom, Al Dixon, achieved his Competent Communicator award, an achievement that recognises his progression through ten speeches that build on different presentation skills. The evening was hosted by Dec Cluskey, an enthusiastic and informative Toastmaster. Gillian Reid was brave enough to touch on the controversial subject of religion, with honesty and openness. Mark Mulcahy asked us to consider how judgmental we are and Al Dixon spoke about the human need for freedom, and what it might really mean. All three speeches were thought provoking, interesting and engaged the audience.

We learn public speaking skills at Battle Speakers through evaluations from other members. Graham Gardner, Giles Robinson and Silvia King gave particularly strong evaluations, with balanced feedback, pertinent points for improvements and plenty of positive encouragement.

Will Hirst was our Table Topics Master, giving speakers an opportunity to practice impromptu speeches with his amusing scenarios of complaints to a delivery company. These speakers were excellently evaluated by Gordon Piggott. As General Evaluator, Caroline Sherrard evaluated the evaluators and other roles, so that all speakers receive feedback on what they do well.

Battle Speakers welcomes beginner and experienced speakers, and encourages speaking skills in a fun and supportive environment. Each meeting is chaired by a different person. Members deliver prepared speeches intended to achieve a particular purpose, such as improving body language, vocal variety or use of humour. There is also the opportunity to practice speaking for up to two minutes without preparation. Another member gives constructive feedback to the speaker. This feedback is crucial, as we never normally receive it in the ‘real world’. We improve, strengths are built on and skills learnt. The club is friendly and sociable and members enjoy ending the evening in a local pub!

Guests are very welcome; there is no charge. The Club meets on the first and third Thursdays of the month at the offices of Global Reinsurance Consultants Limited, Market Place, Battle, TN33 0XB from 7.15 to 9.45pm. If you would like to know more about the Club please see www.battlespeakers.co.uk or call Giles Robinson on 01424 773972 or Peter Matthews on 07872 126644.

Report of meeting - Thursday 5th May 2011

By Dec Cluskey

Battle Toastmasters Present:
Area Governor Dec Cluskey ACG, ALB, Wendy Turner, Mark Mulcahy, Susan Kennard, John Morris, Tony Seagrave, Mike Edwards, Gillian Reid, Alex Dawson, Al Dixon, Div Governor Gordon Piggott, Dorothy Margison, Tracey Bond, Graham Gardner, Rob McDonald


Guests Tony Dryden
New member joined Susan Kennard


Regrets for absence:
Caroline Sherrard, Denise Mulligan, Peter Matthews CC, Martin Riley, Linda Hooper, Heather Vine-Hall, Giles Robinson ADTM.


Officers for the night:
Sergeant at Arms: Dorothy Margison
Toastmaster: Gordon Piggott
Warm up: Susan Kennard
Timekeeper: Wendy Turner
Grammarian: Al Dixon
Um/Aah: Rob McDonald
Hot Tip: Tracey Bond
Topics Chair: Dorothy Margison
Topics Evaluator: Graham Gardner
General Evaluator: Dec Cluskey

---

So was it good? Or was it good?


It was a bundle of fun … hilarious in parts … we really must stop enjoying ourselves so much
[grin!]
Dorothy Margison got us off to a fine start as Sergeant at Arms. She introduced the dapper and dependable Mark Mulcahy, standing in for our President Peter Matthews. Mark
reminded us that Peter had sent an edict. Get the meetings running to time … Whoops! That puts me in trouble straight away.
Our Divisional Governor Gordon Piggott, as Toastmaster, informed us of an important change that will ensure, we hope, that all speeches etc. run to time … not only will we get green, amber and red lights … but we will get an enormous gavel banging on every 15 seconds over time . Were we worried? Yep! And so, quickly, on to the Warm Up delivered by Susan Kennard … her first time in a role .. and didn’t she do well? Her theme was ‘Love’ … each of us gave a 15secs on ‘Love’ With the descriptions of the Timekeeper, Grammarian and Aah counter roles, we moved on to the Hot Tip … “What Did YOU get out of the Meeting?” … presented by Tracey Bond.
The first speech was to be evaluated by Mark Mulcahy. He explained what he would be looking out for and introduced Jennifer Beaumont-Whyte. Her speech was titled ‘Desiderata by Max Ehrman’. Delivering that longish piece without reading notes was some feat. Well done Jennifer.
Next up was Tracey Bond explaining her role as Evaluator for Gillian Reid. Gillian spoke for 7 minutes on ‘Shows Potential’. Lovely stuff [the speech that is!] [oh well, Okay, Gillian as
well]
John Morris then took on the onerous role of evaluating the suave, the sophisticated, the subtley elegant Al Dixon. We never quite got the title but my, how Al has screamed forward in speaking ability? Altogether fascinating.
After the timekeepers report by Wendy Turner we had the interval to catch our collective breathes.
The Table Topics session, where we each try to speak on an unexpected subject for 2 minutes, was presented by Dorothy Margison. Quite hilarious and exhausting to watch …
what fine ad-lib speakers we all are becoming?
With the Timekeepers report, the topics evaluation expertly delivered by Graham Gardner,
Grammarian’s comments and the not well anticipated Aah counter report, we whistled on to General Evaluation, the evaluation of all the points not already covered by the Evaluators for
the evening. It was delivered by meeeeeself!
I concentrated on the Evaluators for the speeches … giving slight digs in the ribs and, what I hoped would be, good ‘ways forward’. In other words, hints on improving their skills as
Evaluators for the next time.

Gordon Piggott then treated us to an explanation of the Committee roles which will be voted for at the next meeting. He encouraged all present, and those not present, to get themselves
on the executive ladder within the club. Explaining that the club did not run automatically under its own steam he willed us all on to go for the positions available: President, VPEd, VP
Membership, VP PR, Secretary and Treasurer.

With a huge sigh of relief after checking the clock, Gordon handed back to Mark Mulcahy who closed the evening … a good paced meeting with lots of fun and the attention to timing showed how much ‘speed’ helps with the excitement and the entertainment value.

Dec Cluskey


See you at the next meeting? With a guest or two?
For more information contact
Dec Cluskey 01323 430403 or dec@makehits.com
Peter Matthews 07872 126644 or peterglobalreconsultants.co.uk
Giles Robinson 01424 730945 or gilesr1@ukonline.co.uk
Mark Mulcahy 0800 612 92 23 or mark.mulcahy@mradebthelp.co.uk
Diary Dates

NEXT MEETINGS
Thursday 19th May, Thursday 19th May
Global Reinsurance Ltd, Market Square, Battle TN33 0XB
7.15 pm for 7.30 pm prompt start With a guest or two?

General Evaluator's report on the meeting held 21/4/2011

Did you jack-it or jack-et? Mark needn’t have worried about a pre-holiday exodus as the Toasties flooded in to the meeting and the seats soon filled up with the well-dressed and the more casual (their excuse: the weather).


Jennifer Beaumont-Whyte (who also filled the role of Ah counter with plentiful demonstrations) called us to order in an imperious manner and we were off! Toastmaster Giles Robinson seamlessly glued together the various parts of the meeting with his usual elegant and ironic wit. Our Warm-up Gordon Piggott translated the weather into words with his eponymous ‘warm’ warm-up. Those who were there will already know what ‘eponymous’ means as it was Grammarian Graham Gardner’s word of the day. The rest will have to look it up….


When Timer Dorothy Margison and Gordon had finished closeting themselves sorting out the recalcitrant timing machine, the speeches got under way. Two speeches by Tracey Bond and Mark Mulcahy were derived from personal experiences. Tracy was not ashamed to relate the embarrassing events which took place on an RAF airfield (you can’t imagine - it involved handbag bombs, stockings and suspenders), and Mark took us on a vividly reproduced and fondly nostalgic journey to the Ireland of his youth. The third speech, Dec Cluskey’s shocking exposé of cancer treatment left us all reaching for the apricot kernels (not so easy to find in the shops). Dec has done the equivalent of sailing round the world single-handed in achieving the complete TM programme, and is now starting again with the CC manual. He obviously needs a challenge, so don’t you think we should make him do it all again standing on his head?


After the break Alex Dawson needn’t have apologised for her brilliant combination lucky dip Topics – a pet and a family situation. It couldn’t fail! Our evaluators of the evening Al Dixon, Peter Matthews, Dec Cluskey and Will Hirst all offered close critical analysis and encouragement.


I have one final question: Why was the President wearing sun glasses on his head at 9.30 in the evening?



GE report on TM meeting 21/4/11 by Judy Tarling

PRESS RELEASE Monday 18th April 2011
Keep on talking!
Malachi Talabi wins South East England public speaking contest with his speech - “Keep on walking”


What do these seven people have in common? A local government officer, a retail shop manager, an HR consultant, a live events technician, a GP, a teaching assistant and a retired social services manager?


They are all people who enjoy speaking in public! These were the seven contestants in the South East England speech contest held in Marlow on Saturday 16th April. They are all members of speaking clubs belonging to the world-wide organisation of Toastmasters International – www.toastmasters.org


A large and enthusiastic audience of 90 friends, supporters and fellow speakers packed into the Liston Hall in Marlow to enjoy an educational and inspiring afternoon, entertained by seven of the top speakers from Toastmasters Clubs in the south of England. They were treated to speeches on topics as diverse as the rescue of the Chilean miners, the power of positive thinking, speaking in extreme situations, overcoming racism, baking bread, the beauty of Uganda and the perils of old (er) age!


The winners of the speech contest were:


1st place – Malachi Talabi with his speech entitled, ‘Keep on walking’. Malachi has been a member of the Croydon Communicators club for less than a year and presented a powerful story of how he had ‘kept on walking’ in spite of several setbacks in his life.


2nd place – John Webber with his speech entitled ‘Alive’. John is a member of the Solent Speakers club in Fareham. He described the emotional story of how the Chilean miners were rescued.


3rd place – Robin Poole with his speech entitled ‘Loaf’. Robin is a member of the Canterbury club. He described with great humour his latest passion for baking his own bread!


After the speech contest, another valuable skill learned at Toastmasters clubs was tested competitively. Every speaker in a Toastmasters club receives an oral evaluation – personal thoughts and tips from another member. If you think speaking is hard, try preparing and presenting a three minute evaluation of someone else’s speech that provides positive and helpful advice. A brave speaker, Dorothea Stuart from the Riverside club in Twickenham, presented her speech on decluttering. Seven evaluators then had to present their three minute evaluations to Dorothea. Dorothea had never received so much useful advice!


The winners of the evaluation contest were:


1st place – Chris Boden from Maidenhead speakers club.


2nd place – Rich Watts


3rd place – Faith Warn


Winners from both contests will now compete at the UK & Ireland speech and evaluation championships at the organisation’s annual conference to be held in Windsor on May 7th/8th.


The winner of that speech contest will go on to represent the UK & Ireland at the world championship of public speaking in Las Vegas in August.



In addition to the contests, Amanda Bouch from the Maidenhead Club told a ‘tall tale’, a particular type of speech that has to be highly exaggerated and improbable. Amanda’s tale described how the baby of two professional pick-pockets, managed to steal the midwife’s wedding ring … you had to be there to hear the whole story!!
Another speaker, Trish Weller from the Windsor club, demonstrated yet another skill, that of the stand-up comic! Trish presented a hilarious five minute spot that would have graced ‘Live at the Apollo’!


The chairman of the contest, Steve Catchick from the Marlow Orators and Maidenhead clubs, was congratulated on his organisation skills for putting together such an entertaining day.


About Toastmasters International( www.toastmasters.org )
The first Toastmasters Club opened in 1924. Since then, the organisation has grown steadily to become a truly international, worldwide organisation of speakers clubs. Currently, there are more than 12,500 clubs and more than 260,000 members in 113 countries.


The UK & Ireland forms District 71 in the Toastmasters family. There are nearly 250 clubs in the district and it continues to grow as members see the need to start new clubs in towns and cities all over the country. There is no better way to improve leadership and communication skills than to join your local club. More details can be obtained from the District’s website – www.d71.org


A Toastmasters meeting is a learn-by-doing workshop in which participants hone their speaking and leadership skills in a friendly atmosphere. A typical club has 20 to 40 members who meet weekly, biweekly or monthly. The average meeting lasts 1.5 – 2 hours.
About xxxx Speakers Club [Provide meeting/contact information for your club]
xxxx Speakers Clubwas formed in


Battle Speakers is a member club of International Toastmasters and meets twice a month. See the home page of this site for meeting details.

Typical programme …

The club provides a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every individual member has the opportunity to develop oral communication and leadership skills. These skills quickly result in improved self confidence and personal growth.
Contact David MacLeod, Past District Governor for photos. There is a photo of each contestant receiving their certificate of participation, plus group photos of all contestants and the winners of both contests. Include a photo of YOUR club member with local paper.
david.macleod2@btinternet.com; 07719 215242, 01628 671573

Speech contest
Speech contestants:
Francis Farrell, Farnham, ‘They walk among us’
John Webber, Solent, ‘Alive’
Jeff Grace, Eastbourne, ‘Extreme Toastmasters’
Malachi Talabi, Croydon Communicators, ‘Keep on walking’
Robin Poole, Canterbury Communicators, ‘Loaf’
Eric Skates, Wessex, ‘A step of faith’
Janet Rose, Marlow Orators, ‘Lock the fridge’


Evaluation contest
Test speaker – Dorothea Stuart, Riverside Communicators, ‘The dark side’
Contestants
Chris Howell, Lewisham Speakers
Julian Gee,
Claire Carpenter, Eastbourne Speakers
Chris Boden, Maidenhead
Bob Nisbet, Camaberwell Speakers
Rich Watts,
Faith Warn, Canterbury Communicators

Meeting on Thursday April 7th 2011
Mark Mulcahy was an able Toastmaster at a recent Battle Speakers Club meeting, hosting the evening professionally. As our Vice-President Education, Mark has the unenviable task of putting the agenda together and the meeting was no exception to our norm: we had three great speeches given by members and a good table topics section.


The first speaker was Al Dixon, who passionately shared his vision of the education system insufficiently educating children for life and the needs of our society. Jennifer Beaumont-Whyte’s interestingly titled speech, ‘How to be Wise + Wealthy + Healthy + Hot!’, in which she told us some of her personal story, and how it has lead to learning in life that she is now sharing with others, turned out to be as interesting as the title. Dec Cluskey demonstrated some do’s and don’ts for using our voice when presenting through great voice variation, volume and pace.


The speeches were evaluated by Tracey Bond – who ably, and bravely, gave feedback to an experienced speaker in her first evaluation – Dec Cluskey and Caroline Sherrard. Mike Edwards gave a well-prepared topic section. He asked audience members to take on a role and a dilemma and say how they would handle it. There were inspired speeches given without preparation on a range of topics. We had a scientist discussing a remedy cure, careers advice given to a disengaged student and an audition for a spot on a cookery programme. Caroline Sherrard evaluated the topics speakers and Gordon Piggott evaluated the evening as a whole.


Battle Speakers welcomes beginner and experienced speakers, and encourages speaking skills in a fun and supportive environment. Each meeting is chaired by a different person. Members deliver prepared speeches intended to achieve a particular purpose, such as improving body language, vocal variety or use of humour. There is also the opportunity to practice speaking for up to two minutes without preparation. Another member gives constructive feedback to the speaker. This feedback is crucial, as we never normally receive it in the ‘real world’. We improve, strengths are built on and skills learnt. The club is friendly and sociable and members enjoy ending the evening in a local pub!


Guests are very welcome; there is no charge. The Club meets on the first and third Thursdays of the month at the offices of Global Reinsurance Consultants Limited, Market Place, Battle, TN33 0XB from 7.15 to 9.45pm. If you would like to know more about the Club please see www.battlespeakers.co.uk or call Giles Robinson on 01424 773972 or Peter Matthews on 07872 126644.

Report of meeting Thursday 16th Dec 2010
By Dec Cluskey


Venue:- Global Reinsurance Ltd
Battle Toastmasters Present: Peter Matthews CC, Caroline Sherrard CC, Martin Reilly, Area Governor Dec Cluskey ACG, ALB, Giles Robinson ATMB, Gordon Piggott CC [Division
Governor], Peter Stott, John Morris, Mike Edwards, Linda Hooper, Mark Mulcahy, Denise Mulligan, Alex Dawson, Kirsti Matthews, Gillian Reid, Wendy Turner.
Guests: Adam Frampton, Richard Jessop
Regrets for Absence: Dorothy Margison

---

Freezing outside … warm and cozy inside




… a perfect way to describe the meeting of Battle Speakers on Thursday the 16th December.


A packed house and an anticipation of good fun, lots of joshing and great speeches made for a good start to the evening. Kirsti Matthews, as Sergeant at Arms, called us all to order and introduced our President Peter Matthews. Keeping the pace fast [more of that later] he introduced Caroline Sherrard as Toastmaster for the nigh.t


Caroline did a masterful job of explaining what was to happen through the evening, mainly for the benefit of our two welcome guests. The pace was obvious from the start and added hugely to the excitement and enjoyment. Having learned lessons from our last meeting, which was a tad elongated, we all smiled internally at the pace of all the contributions.


The 'warm up' session, designed to warm up the vocal chords gently, was delivered expertly by Kirsti Matthews. The theme was 'what were you late for?' with each member and guest present giving differing and delightful 15 second accounts of their experiences of being late.


After a description of the roles by Timekeeper Martin Reilly, Grammarian Mike Edwards and Ah counter Alex Dawson [first time in a role], we moved swiftly on to the 'Hot Tip' by Mike Edwards. Mike quoted the immortal, always black clad, champion golfer Gary Player "The more I practice the luckier I get". He advised us all to adopt that maxim in our Toastmaster's life.


Denise Mulligan was first up with the main speeches. Entitled 'The Luck Factor' and her Icebreaker, with the objects explained by her evaluator Giles, she delivered a rather expert 6 minutes: mainly on her life experiences. Her use of triads [three similar descriptive words in succession] showed her innate skill in speaking.


Gillian Reid was up next, with objects explained by her evaluator Wendy Turner. Her delightful speech was entitled: "Risk v Reward - do you turn left or right?" A great, jokey reference to the choice of turning left or right when entering a plane depending either on your wealth or willingness to 'risk' in life. John Morris delivered a heartfelt appreciation of Ernest Hemmingway. He explained that reading his works had affected him profoundly.


His objects were explained by evaluator Mark Mulcahy [with his 'young' hairstyle ... all the men present were jealous?] The three evaluators, Giles, Wendy and Mark gave precise comment with good compliments coupled with clever and reasoned ways forward to improve speaking skills. Masterful.


After a quick Interval we turned to the fun part of the evening … 'Table Topics' … 2 minutes of extemporaneous speaking on a given subject. Linda Hooper had prepared a topical Christmas theme for the topics.
She chose a wrapped present for each participant and invited them to practice 'extreme' appreciation …. "say what you really think about the present" … good fun with the two Peters, Stott and Matthews, guest Richard Jessop, Martin, guest Adam Frampton, Mark, Kirsti, Giles, Wendy and Mike Edwards bringing up the rear. Funny, fabulous and fanciful at times … all good fun.


After a timekeepers report, expertly delivered in his own inimitable style by Martin Reilly, we had an evaluation of the Topics participants by our Divisional Governor Gordon Piggot.


Mike advised us on our use of the 'word for the night' "Bizarre" and our good and bad use of grammar. Alex Dawson, in a meeting role for the first time, surprised us by her expert appraisal of our use of 'ums and aahs' … the dreaded non-words of Toastmasters.


Dec Cluskey then gave a detailed General Evaluation concentrating mainly on the items not evaluated already. He gave many suggestions for ways forward based on his observing those good methods and systems used by other clubs in the Area 32.


He was particularly complimentary on the speed of the meeting and the warmth and coziness of the meeting venue. After a quick Timekeepers report, our Toastmaster, Caroline, handed over to President Peter Matthews to close the meeting [5 minutes early?] … he issued the traditional invitation to assemble in the Kings Head for a festive drink. A good meeting and as Dec said: we loved the 'softness, sophistication and the sweetness of all the members present' …. See you at the next meeting?


Area Governor Dec Cluskey ACG, ALB dec@makehits.com

Report of 07.07.11 meeting for the Battle Observer
“Fun” was the name of the game at a recent Battle Speakers Club meeting. A full agenda gave the audience four good quality speeches and much to laugh at in the table topics session. The evening was hosted by the experienced, eloquent and enthusiastic Giles Robinson. We had an ‘ice-breaker’ – a first speech – from Rob McDonald. He made a great start, showing an early ability to speak with humour and write a good yarn, with an amusing tale of his university adventures. Jennifer Beaumont-Whyte asked us “What is your big idea?” and took us through a well-thought out nine step plan to achieve what we want. Tracey Bond gave us an interesting and informative education on the town of Hailsham, while we had a practical demonstration on how to make a shelter, complete with wood props, photos of what the real thing looks when built and a wonderful pre-made model from Wendy Turner.

Each speech was evaluated by a fellow member, who gave their subjective view in a supportive and developmental way. The evaluators were: Gordon Piggott, Graham Gardener, Gillian Reid and Tracey Bond.

Caroline Sherrard chaired a topics session with questions for speakers to answer based on an item they picked out of a bag, with hilarious results. The evaluators and those taking a role, such as time-keeper and grammarian, were given helpful feedback on their speaking skills by the evening’s General Evaluator, Al Dixon.