Body Language with Steve at Harrovians Meeting Monday 16 November 2015

The scheduled highlight of the meeting was the workshop on body language by Steve C a t c h i c k.  (I had to separate the letters with spaces. A spell check crept up on me after I closed the post and changed his name to hat check.)

He is also an expert on NLP - spoken language. He said you can use both NLP and body language to create a good first impression of confidence on anybody, any time, eg just walking down the street or in a shop.

Steve C a t c h i c k at Harrovian Speakers Club. Photo by Angela Lansbury

On arriving I said to Steve, "I think I've met you before," to which he wittily replied, "I didn't do it. It wasn't me - it was my brother!"

He demonstrated how stance affected your confidence. He asked for a volunteer and threw them off balance by simply poking them with just the tip of a finger.However, when Steve demonstrated standing firmly, the other person was unable to make an impact on the equilibrium of Steve.

He named the centre of the stage as the power point. Going too far forward invades the space of the front row of the audience. But retreating to the back 'as you step back you have less control'.

I'd heard many of these suggestions before, presented in different ways. For example, posture is described as walk tall, or pretend you have a book on your head. However, he reinforced forgotten messages for the old-timers, and introduced these ideas to newcomers with new words which made the ideas memorable.

For example, he had several suggestions beginning with the word p, posture, point of power or power point, purpose of walk and walk with purpose, pause, pleasing smile.

He said we could use posture to demonstrate confidence, like the President of the USA, Obama, and previous presidents with presence such as Clinton.

A useful tip when appearing on TV is to keep your hand gestures above waist height so your movement is caught on camera. (My thought - so you don't unnerve the audience by creating that suggestion of hand fumbling in pocket doing who knows what.)

The packed audience on the right of the Harrovians venue. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

In addition to the workshop we were treated to two interesting speeches and evaluations. Jesus spoke from the Storytelling manual telling the story of Joseph from the bible.

We heard about Joseph and his coat of colours and his dreams which made others jealous. He was sold into slavery and taken to Egypt.

He was a moral man because he resisted the advances of the wife of his boss Potiphar. His foresight in saving grain for times of famine brought about a happy end when his brothers came to buy grain and they were reconciled and his father was able to live and die happy at recovering the son he thought he had lost.

Amparo Villamil spoke about Anne Frank. She quoted Anne: Nobody becomes poor by giving.

She ended by calling on the audience to remember Anne and be inspired by her to fulfil her dream of a tolerant world. Siddhi evaluated.

Steve (front left) beside President of the club, Seema. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Parking - Creating Space
The room was packed with 27 people and the car park was full. We managed to park by backing up, filling the drive in. This saved the inconvenience and delay of driving around looking for a space elsewhere.

Being backed up meant the latecomers blocked in the early birds and had to leave first to let out the others. Several of us had given or accepted lifts from others, which has the double advantage of freeing up a space in the car park and allowing you on the drive home to socialise and discuss the meeting you have just attended and future meetings.

Normally if I were driving to a venue which is short of space, I would leave a note with my phone number on both the windscreen and back window. I would write either my phone number or my name and venue I was visiting so that anybody else using the car park could contact me.If you plan to do this it is handy to have some paper and a felt tip pen in your car's door pocket or glove box.

Harrovian Speakers' meetings
If you wish to attend Harrovians meetings, they are usually on the first and third Mondays of the month and occasionally the fifth Monday (notable exceptions being bank holidays). You can arrive from 7 pm, preferable by 7.15 to allow time to network and socialise, find a seat, maybe volunteer for a role, before the speeches start prompts at 7.30.

In the interval you can drink tea or coffee and have a biscuit or two and sometimes a piece of cake, especially if a member or guest has generously bought something or brought home made food. Jesus had brought a home baked apple crumble. We also enjoyed Kit-kats and assorted biscuits.

The GE was our jovial visiting area governor, who looks after the group of up to half a dozen clubs. We had visitors from three local clubs, President Peter of HOD which meets in Harrow, and members of Watford Speakers and an in-house club, plus several guests.

We went home entertained and enlightened, benefitting from a handout from Steve.
More details about Steve from
www.PerformanceCounts.co.uk
Contact him if you wish to buy training materials or would like a training session at a Toastmasters International club.

For more details about meetings, see the Harrovians Speakers Club website, Meetup, or Facebook, or Toastmasters International find a club.

Angela Lansbury, CC, ACG, member of Harrovians, HOD and visitor to numerous clubs in Singapore. I am the author of two books of quotations, Quick Quotations, mainly one liners or short quotations on themes such as time, the other on days of the year, people born or died on that day, or events. I can also give workshops on impromptu speaking and making props at the last minute.