What I learned from Manoj at Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Club

AIMING TO BE AN ADVANCED SPEAKER Other clubs have as their entry requirements that you must have completed the ten speeches int he advanced manual, or at least the first six. Braddell Heights Advanced club is not what you expect of an advanced club. As the evening's opening speech and the agenda explains, you can join the club even if you have not yet completed, or started your first manual. It is a club for people who want to be advanced speakers. In 2017 I was lucky enough to attend a meeting visited by Manoj, who has previously been winner of the Singapore championships and been to America for the finals. He had returned to the club to donate to the club a cup he won. He said he now had many cups. That is impressive. He gave his speech on the coconut tree. The coconut tree is the symbol of a tree reaching for the light and not getting tangled with others. BROTHERS' RIVALRY His story was about how he had argued with his brother. His father used the symbol of the coconut tree to explain that he should concentrate on his own aims in life, not in fighting others. The story is relevant to business. But it is also relevant to Toastmasters speaking clubs. So many clubs are filled with wrangles. I have seen it at Toastmasters clubs, contests, and between individuals. But it happens in many social and professional organisations. I have also seen it or heard about it, in sports clubs, tennis clubs, running clubs. In the old days a club would exclude, or try to exclude, different races, religions or sexes. In many countries this is now illegal. But members try to exclude those they do not want, sometimes on a personal basis. It might be the elderly agains the young. The prudish versus the outrageous. The traditional versus those wanting change. Those aiming to keep the olde worlde culture, versus those wanting to make money with the latest building, even knocking down the club house and building another. I have stood behind a mother and children in a supermarket and watched one child attack another. Eventually the mother turns around and takes sides. What a pity she was not watching earlier, and telling them to not to fight but to behave in public, that it is a matter of family honour. At the first level, one member tries to get the other excluded from the club. On the second level of dispute, one member tries to complain to the police about a verbal or physical assault. The subjects are various. In families such as between two brothers, it is an ongoing battle for the older brother to beat down the rival younger brother, whilst the younger brother avenges hurts or attacks the older, trying to replace him in parent's affection, financial or gift gain, or praise and status. WRITERS' RIVALRY The same happens in clubs. Sometimes an elderly person takes exception to a newcomers style. I saw this once at a writers' convention. A retired teacher who was teaching about classic books with crafted sentences, walked out of the opening night speech by a successful author who wrote popular chick lit and pushed her way to popularity by phoning editors and TV programme producers and generally marketing herself and her shocking pink hair style and short skirt and cleavage. The two women disagreed one everything. I was friendly with both. Neither of them could understand the other. I can see that the message Manoj gives is relevant to many organisations. Of course my description is not as vivid and memorable as when he delivers it. I bought his book. You can read his book. Mastering leadership The Mousetrap Way by Manoj Vasudevan. Manoj - world number 3, World Championship of Public Speaking. Angela Lansbury, author of: Quick Quotations for Successful Speeches.