Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Angela, queen of props - for table topics

Problem
I am hunting for suitable pictures to go with a flyer on queen of props.

Why am I called the Queen of Props? When I prepare a speech I often have four or five props on the table.

I am a collector, a hoarder. in the UK my props include:
Four carrier bags of soft toys labelled a-d, e-k, l-r, s-z. I have props such as a parrot puppet, a teddy bear, an own whose head turns, a stick rocking horse which neighs when you pull its ears, a scarecrow. I used to go into a charity shop and ask for any tee-shirts or puppets or toys which made a noise.

I won a club humorous speech contest with the scarecrow and the rocking horse about conquering fear. The funniest part was that I could not turn off the neighing horse. Eventually I had to dump it in the waste paper bin in the corner of the room, where it neighed at intervals.

After Christmas I would look for unwanted puppets being sold secondhand, or at a discount in the January sales.
My prize puppet is the Harry Potter own I bought from the Warner Brother Studio Tour. I would talk to it, asking rhetorical questions. I assured the audience it was listening or agreeing with me. Eventually I would ask a question and it would turn its head.

My greatest successes were
1 The mobile phone
2 The yellow Daffodil
3 The Toastmasters Manual
4 The Bounty Bar

Bounty Bar Prop
What do you like about your prize-winning destination?
I was in Harrovians toastmasters Club in London and the food for the break was laid out, including Bounty bars with pictures of palm trees. I thought of picking up one to put it in my pocket for later.

When I volunteered to speak on a table topic, my topic was:
Paradise - obviously I was going to choose Singapore which I know well. Singapore seems exotic to those in the UK.
I edged across the stage towards the table with the food, grabbed the Bounty bar. I held up the bar and talked about the coconut palm trees and the coconut being used in the bars being sweeter than fresh coconut.

 So there I was:,
a) topic I knew well, 
b) interesting information -
c) and a prop!
Bounty-Wrapper-Small.jpg (596×167)

If I were to enter a table topics contest again, I could buy a bounty bar, or save a Bounty Bar Wrapper, or print a photo of a bounty bar and keep it in my props box.

Books as props. Hold the book still.

Ribbon as prop. Best evaluator. Who is presenting to whom? look carefully and the presenter has his arm behind the recipient. I have two hands clasping the ribbon. HOD in London, England.


Timing cards as props for the timers to show their role.


Sina at HOD Toastmasters in London demonstrating climbing a mountain in Iran.
Props needed: Chair, table, climbing pole, flag, large plastic flower, backpack, food container bag attached to waist, outdoor sports jacket.



Two chairs as props.

Here is the speaker at Harrovians using the chairs to lift himself. Props - two chairs, own body. Story of heart attack or hospital bed or exercise.


Achieving DTM, party at a restaurant. Balloon with word congratulations.


Cards for mentor and mentee. Print word large in bold.


Mentor card.



Halloween ghost. Pack of white paper ghosts for decoration, made larger by holding towards the camera.

Halloween mouse.


Halloween spider placed on pack of chocolates for contrast.

Mask worn by Indra - my mentor at Harrovians who taught me to use props.

Printed prop. 

Harrovian Speakers, London, England. Pumpkin prop


Two small props used to decorate the break time food.


Slides as props.

Halloween theme bowl to collect votes at Senja-Cashew in Singapore.

Senja-Cashew couple - she is wearing Halloween horns.

The flickering candles video behind the table topics speakers.


Angela Lansbury's ribbons from 2018 in Singapore. in a frame.  
(I have another frame with two more. Plus more than 50 framed on the walls on London, England.)

Angela Lansbury is Best Evaluator at Toastmasters in Christ, 2018. 

Halloween. Everything costs two dollars at Daeso, Japanese company in Singapore.

Fold-down cheap and quick to produce prop for those who don't have access to a computer or a projector. Can be make any size by taping together pieces of paper, fold up concertina style, remove tape to reveal word hidden below, next idea, or answer to a question.

Bow ties for pets, can be used as props for people. From Daeso.


Blow-up giraffe and big balloon.

Daeso - price always two dollars.

Gloves costing two dollars from Daeso. Black for Halloween, orange.

Table decoration.

Plastic pumpkin containing break time treats.

Wall hanging for Halloween.

Bridal ribbons on car handle


Christmas tree or Halloween horror tree. From Bukit Timah TmC.



Bananas cut with chocolate button eyes and mouth.


Leng Kee Advanced Toastmasters. Diver from Thai cave rescue, wearing the diving association t-shirt, and his colleague wearing diving gear.


Life sixe figures outside a restaurant. For weddings you can order lifesize cardboard cutouts with photos of the bride and groom to set up at the venue entrance to welcome guests. (The same life-size portrait could be made showing a VIP speaker, event or subject of the speech.)


Season Diwali decorations on a downtown train which runs through Little India MRT station.


Diwali decorations on the Singapore MRT train on the Downtown line which runs through Little India.

Chairs as props. A large chair in the Sheraton Towers Hotel. I posed in this and got a lot of comments on Facebook.

Shapes and paper hearts as props. A pack of hearts, used for feedback and thanks to visiting toastmasters. I received one as thanks for being the Language Evaluator. Can also be used for Valentine's day, meetings on the theme of love in the month of February.


Photo of 6th Avenue station to show the Chinese number six in the middle.


PEOPLE AS PROPS
Take the three figures on the left and you have an arch. Take the three on the right and you have a u. Line them in height from right or left and another shape. Stand the taller ones behind the smaller ones for another effect.

EMBARRASSING TABLE TOPICS
Talk about love between a dog and a human from a dog's point of view.
One girl who was given this topic was outraged and walked out.

I couldn't believe it. The topic was perfect for acting and humour. Everybody knows of elderly people who dote on dogs, and dogs which have platonic love for humans.

Start - my owner is tall dark and handsome. So tall - look up.
When away I am sad. When they return I wag my tail.
I get dinner, from a tin. Doesn't everybody like dinners from tins. Tinned dinners are the best. The dog on TV says so.

Speech Structure
Beginning, Middle End

End Dramatically
Tear up a piece of paper and throw it in the air.
Throw a flower into the audience.

Move
Dance off the stage.
Run off the stage.

Noise
Shout with triumph.

Or end framing - back to where you were.

End Ironically
Contradict your vow or advice. eg
"How will I celebrate losing 2 stone? With a seven course meal."

Angela Lansbury ACG ALB








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