Toastmasters International Conference at Portsmouth
Naughty Fancy Dress
The fancy dress party theme on Friday night was Nautical, because we were near the port of Portsmouth, so I dressed as a
NAUTI-
CALL
GIRL
at the Toastmasters International conference at Portsmouth, the highlight of May 2007.
Before supper a costume suppliers sold me a long blonde wig, long red gloves, long black gloves, short lacey black gloves and a red parasol. I wore the wig and carried the parasol.
I discovered that the long gloves covered my fingers which meant that my rings could not be displayed. I suppose that could be handy when travelling on a train or in public. Also to conceal chipped fingernails. So gloves are a lightweight but handy addition to my travel kit, making a glamorous evening outfit or fancy dress.
Interesting characters included lots of captains in peaked caps plus pirates wearing glamorous three-cornered black hats. A blind man led by his patient black dog was also in fancy dress as a captain. He could not see how dashing and disntinctive he looked (he might have had some vision) but he enjoyed the attention he got.
The band at dinner played with a strong, catchy rhythm. I jumped to my feet and ran on to the dance floor and grabbed the hands of anybody I could to start a circle of dancers.
The Marriot hotel's leisure centre, easily found on the ground floor, contained a small swimming pool, a spa bath and a sauna. I'd used these on Friday afternoon as we arrived early. The 75 mile car journey from London took from about 11 am to 2 pm with a lunch stop at The Devil's Punchbowl. And a detour around Portsmouth looking for the Marriott hotel which is on the outskirts. I had a satnav called a Tom Tom but had forgotten the cable which links into the car's cigarette lighter.
Sightseeing Portsmouth
On Saturday morning the spouses went on an interesting coach trip to Portsmouth which has Nelson's ship Victory, and the ill-fated Mary Rose which sank on its maiden voyage, and was recently recovered
, and the sail-shaped viewpoint called the Spinnaker. The latter is a huge landmark and seen from the motorway as you drive into Portsmouth. The city also has Dickens's birthplace museum.
The most modern and striking tourist attraction is the sail
Voting For Representatives
World Class Speaker On Speaking
On Saturday the Keynote speaker Jana from America was tiny but had her blonde hair piled up elegantly, caught in a long roll at the back. Smartly dressed, she held our attention as she tirelessly limped up and down the main aisle pointing to members of the audience.
Her overhead projector presentation also taught me something new. I noticed that she included pictures on each slide, whilst the presenter advertising next autumn's conference had few or no cartoons on her slides.
Jana also covered up the lower half of the slide, hiding the second three of the six bullet points.
So she had only three to remember and we had only three to look at. Then she uncovered the last three. Again, just three points. Very easy for her to remember and for us to follow.
Competition Speeches
Speech Evaluations
The sample speech being evaluated was about the speaker being a romantic and loving books by the Brontes and Jane Austen.
About eight speech evaluators, winners of club competitions around Britain and Ireland, made commendations (praise) and recommendations.
One of the cleverest evaluations took a word, I think it was sailing, and used that as the structure, e.g. 'S is for structure - and her structure was excellent.' This topical word-play could have been a mere gimmick. But it helped her and the listeners remember the order and title of the aspects of the speech she wanted to cover.
Because her evaluation was good this device gave her evaluation and extra edge of originality and memorability. So although she was not the top speaker, who would win a trip to the international finals in the USA, she was in the top three.
At local level coming second is jolly useful, because often the person who comes first is a professional whose work takes them overseas so that if you are second you are called on to represent your club. I once represented HOD Toastmasters and speakers' club of Stanmore as Speaker. I once represented Harrovians (of Harrow Weald) as speech Evaluator.
Comedy
The fancy dress party theme on Friday night was Nautical, because we were near the port of Portsmouth, so I dressed as a
NAUTI-
CALL
GIRL
at the Toastmasters International conference at Portsmouth, the highlight of May 2007.
Before supper a costume suppliers sold me a long blonde wig, long red gloves, long black gloves, short lacey black gloves and a red parasol. I wore the wig and carried the parasol.
I discovered that the long gloves covered my fingers which meant that my rings could not be displayed. I suppose that could be handy when travelling on a train or in public. Also to conceal chipped fingernails. So gloves are a lightweight but handy addition to my travel kit, making a glamorous evening outfit or fancy dress.
Interesting characters included lots of captains in peaked caps plus pirates wearing glamorous three-cornered black hats. A blind man led by his patient black dog was also in fancy dress as a captain. He could not see how dashing and disntinctive he looked (he might have had some vision) but he enjoyed the attention he got.
The band at dinner played with a strong, catchy rhythm. I jumped to my feet and ran on to the dance floor and grabbed the hands of anybody I could to start a circle of dancers.
The Marriot hotel's leisure centre, easily found on the ground floor, contained a small swimming pool, a spa bath and a sauna. I'd used these on Friday afternoon as we arrived early. The 75 mile car journey from London took from about 11 am to 2 pm with a lunch stop at The Devil's Punchbowl. And a detour around Portsmouth looking for the Marriott hotel which is on the outskirts. I had a satnav called a Tom Tom but had forgotten the cable which links into the car's cigarette lighter.
Sightseeing Portsmouth
On Saturday morning the spouses went on an interesting coach trip to Portsmouth which has Nelson's ship Victory, and the ill-fated Mary Rose which sank on its maiden voyage, and was recently recovered
, and the sail-shaped viewpoint called the Spinnaker. The latter is a huge landmark and seen from the motorway as you drive into Portsmouth. The city also has Dickens's birthplace museum.
The most modern and striking tourist attraction is the sail
Voting For Representatives
World Class Speaker On Speaking
On Saturday the Keynote speaker Jana from America was tiny but had her blonde hair piled up elegantly, caught in a long roll at the back. Smartly dressed, she held our attention as she tirelessly limped up and down the main aisle pointing to members of the audience.
Her overhead projector presentation also taught me something new. I noticed that she included pictures on each slide, whilst the presenter advertising next autumn's conference had few or no cartoons on her slides.
Jana also covered up the lower half of the slide, hiding the second three of the six bullet points.
So she had only three to remember and we had only three to look at. Then she uncovered the last three. Again, just three points. Very easy for her to remember and for us to follow.
Competition Speeches
Speech Evaluations
The sample speech being evaluated was about the speaker being a romantic and loving books by the Brontes and Jane Austen.
About eight speech evaluators, winners of club competitions around Britain and Ireland, made commendations (praise) and recommendations.
One of the cleverest evaluations took a word, I think it was sailing, and used that as the structure, e.g. 'S is for structure - and her structure was excellent.' This topical word-play could have been a mere gimmick. But it helped her and the listeners remember the order and title of the aspects of the speech she wanted to cover.
Because her evaluation was good this device gave her evaluation and extra edge of originality and memorability. So although she was not the top speaker, who would win a trip to the international finals in the USA, she was in the top three.
At local level coming second is jolly useful, because often the person who comes first is a professional whose work takes them overseas so that if you are second you are called on to represent your club. I once represented HOD Toastmasters and speakers' club of Stanmore as Speaker. I once represented Harrovians (of Harrow Weald) as speech Evaluator.
Comedy
posted by Angela Lansbury Author at 2:33 PM
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