What I learned from Shell Singapore Toastmasters - The Shoe Speech

I was invited to a meeting at Shell on an island.
I like going to toastmasters meeting at community centres. I catch the MRT train. The MRT trains runs every three minutes. A community club is marked on maps.

When I heard the word island, I thought, islands are trouble. Islands have ferries.

Ferries have tickets.
I have been on small ferries to small islands, off the larger island of Singapore.
Ferries don't go in bad weather. Ferries are small and if you don't have the right ticket, somebody gets left behind. Ferries are infrequent. If you miss one, it's a long wait to the next one.

I had nothing better to do. So I went. That was a mistake. I had lots of better things to do. Listening to music. Sleeping. Anything is better than an entire day of non-stop stress.

The journey
I got lost on the way. I was wearing sandals so I could run.

I was not going to be late and miss the ferry. I left an hour extra, two hours, for a one hour journey.

I reached the MRT station and was told those four ominous words. You can't miss it. Meaning, they can't miss it, because they know it well, and won't bother to describe it properly, because they think you can't miss it. It was half way between the two stations.

I missed it. I walked for thirty minutes until I reached the next station. I spent fifteen minutes walking back, Then ten minutes along a narrow slip road. Then a queue of people for the pass onto the ferry. You have to leave your passport or ID.

Shoes
The man on the desk would not give me the ferry pass because I was wearing the wrong shoes.

I said, I can't go home to change. I live an hour away. A two hour round trip. I'll miss my ferry and my group organiser. We are a lunch time meeting.

I was wearing the wrong shoes. You have to wear closed shoes.
I asked,  Do you have any overshoes.
No.

Any spare shoes?
No.

My organiser has not yet arrived.

You have to watch a video.
I said, maybe she's watching the video. Can I go to the video area? Over there.

She wasn't there. But I watched the video. It says you must wear closed shoes.

She arrives. She has a pass, although she is wearing heels.

The visit organiser, call her Kate, turned up in high heeled shoes.

The man on the security desk called me over. He asked what size shoes I wore.

He was willing to lend me his shoes.

I took mine off.
I tried his on.
They were size eleven.
My sandals are a size too big, not 5 but six.
However, too small for him.
Never mind, he says.
I ll go barefoot until you come back I sit at my desk all day. How long will you be?
About two hours.

They called the ferry passengers.
A long walk.

We arrived at the island. Nobody to meet us. You can't leave the dock wihtout an escort. No reply from their phone.

When he turned up, very apologetically, at 2 pm. He'd been working, and his phone had been off.

I saw why, when we drove to the office block. We passed the huge cylinders of oil, bedecked with warning signs, hundreds of warning signs, in the parking area, on the road, on the stairs, on the sides of the petrol tanks: no naked lights, no phone phones. Imagine a spark from a phone, setting off a fire, with all that oil.

As we

The Moral
Check the dress code. Companies demanding closed showed should keep spare overshoes. Just as Evaluators saying the speaker would dress in a tie, should carry a tie to hand to the speaker.

The person supposed to collect us was not there to meet the seance ferry and not answering the phone. (I always ask for two phone contacts.)

We arrived at the meeting, no sign of lunch. I can't concentrate, it's 2 pm and I need food. I ask, do you have any food, anything to drink except water?

Oh, yes, we have boxes of packed lunches for you. We assumed you had eaten.

No, we didn't leave our bench seats. We could not walk off the pier. We had no escort. The restaurant is for staff only.

We ate lunch. I was allergic to everything, the shellfish, the pickles, I never eat noodles. I ate it all. If I dropped dead, I didn't care.

Speaker
Langeline gave a great evaluation of a speaker who got upset about the illness of his mother (and presumed death) - he was too overcome by emotion to reach the end of the sentence. We missed the first ferry

I am not sure whether it was the event which he recalled which was so upsetting, or the extra excitement of giving a speech which meant that he was overwrought. Probably some of both. What can you say? You will find your next speech easier for two reasons, it is not the ice breaker whose subject all about your life history. You are not performing a speech in front of others for the first time. You know which subject upset you and can avoid them.

What I learned from Advancity Toastmasters - Monday Meeting

I was the Grammarian giving word of the day. I asked if there was a whiteboard. Yes. Unfortunately, nothing to write on it. Whiteboards, Flipcharts and Pens Even a meeting run by experienced toastmasters can be lacking in the basics. You must take your own print out of the word of the day, your own erasable marker for a whiteboard. Roles Come prepared with cards or props needed to do any role. They may decide somebody is absent, or somebody needs to do the role which you thought was yours. Advanced English Speakers And Foreigners and Singlish Prepare for a group with poor grasp of English who cannot deal with a complex advanced word or idea such as oxymoron. My word oxymoron was not used by anybody. A hard word to grasp when you can't see it written up. (On the other hand, a university group all looked it up on the internet on their smart phones and every speaker or functionary used it several times. The word and an example two or three times in speeches and roles. PRINTING I went home and printed the word. After a day's delay getting black ink for the printer. Why had the printer run out of ink? If it is not in use for a while the ink runs dry. The person in charge had let it run dry. If you are away from the office, no point in refilling it with expensive fresh ink if it will soon be left unused to run dry. Download a form for introductions and write an introduction to yourself to give to the Toastmaster Of The Evening. Angela Lansbury, CL, ACG

Jurong Toastmasters meeting gave insights on Happiness and Leadership

The meeting consisted of four speeches and evaluation and an educational by the president. To stick to the two hour time slot we had no topics and no GE nor Grammarian although there was an ah counter. The ribbon winner was a speech about how the speaker was a premature baby and felt inferior, a perfectionist at school, where teachers or pupils made him feel inferior, had an appendicitis operation and felt vulnerable, then discovered happiness after seeing an optical illusion showing a glum face one way up, turned upside down is a happy face, implying it's your decision,the way you see life which makes you happy. Call to action - be happy - it's your choice. Speech by Mr Chan. Excellent presentation by the president on the paths you take. Advice on being a leader, based on a book on persuasion. Basically, do favours for others and they will do the same for you, so take any roles needed to help out other clubs, and they will make space for you at their following meeting so you can race thorough the tasks to complete your manuals, as the speaker did. The slides were excellent. I liked the healthy fruit, grapes, melon of two colours, guava and sour something powder. I went without the green circular pandan sponge cake. I prefer the bite and nutrition of carrot cake or almond cake. What did this club do especially well which I would like to suggest to clubs in London? The thumbnail size photos of the committee members (Called ex co short for executive committee) on the agenda or programme. Slides on a large screen showing photos of previous winners and club members who achieved goals at the start of the meeting. Slides shown at the end, including one of the new member who had just joined during the meeting. What could they improve? What is done in London which I can suggest? Name badges for both members and guests. 2016 Aug 19 Friday, Jurong Green CC. Nearest MRT stations include Bukit Batok on the red north south line or Lakeside on the green east-west line but you have to take a bus. Meets twice a month. See Toastmasters International Find a club. Angela Lansbury, ACG, CL.

Mentoring a Speech - and ideas for speech and props

It is very true that teaching others helps you to learn. I have just mentored somebody with their speech. One idea I gave them about props I have just used for my own speech. Can you guess what it is? Read on.

I wrote to my mentee: What project is it? Five? Your body speaks?

Video yourself and note the gestures you make and exaggerate them and write them into the draft in another colour. Make sure you have a gesture or movement every couple of sentences.

From what I remember of your test speech at Harrovians’ contest, as well as other people’s, you had good stage control already, and lots of conversation. Although this project is not about voice, you need to remember these 

points:

1 When asking a rhetorical question pause, raise eyebrows. If you don’t want shouting and heckling tell them to make a mental (or written) note.

If expecting an answer, show the audience you expect an answer.

2 If this is a speech to Toastmasters (eg to deliver as an officer training workshop or a training for newcomers, rather than simply rehearsing at Toastmasters for another occasion such as a wedding speech) make every other sentence related to Toastmasters, (eg climbing through the manual). You could alter your tone for each part - eg extra enthusiasm, smiling, speaking louder for all the sentences relating to toastmasters, or vice versa. 

3 Avoid being monotone - find a word to emphasise and underline it in the speech

4 Allow extra time if you are crossing the stage without saying anything or if walking about will slow down your delivery.

5 Try to get the important word  at the end of the sentence. Don’t tail off at the end of the sentence, going quieter or losing the last word. eg end on mount TOP, rather than top of the mountain. Add a few shorter sentences for variety.

You already did a good job of conversation in your last speech. Maybe you can invent an imaginary mountain climbing guide, perhaps with a German accent, encouraging you or not allowing you to fall back or ignoring your protest.

Which country is the mountain? Plenty of scope for two different accents. 

I hope this helps.

Now, dear reader, you may have gathered which tip I am using in my speech.

 Two or three copies of the photo in progressively larger sizes.

Angela Lansbury BA Hons, CL, ACG.

How To Use Speech Structure To Write & Promote Writing

I recently gave a workshop on Using Speech Structure in Your Writing and Promotion to the Watford Writers. I met Lyn of that group in the computer room at Swanwick Writers Summer School last year.

I gave a three-part workshop to Watford Writers, teamed with my friend Indra Sikdar from Harrow Writers' Circle. He introduced me to Harrovians Speakers' Club a couple of years ago and was my mentor.

First we showed half a dozen speech structures and how they are used in fairy tales and Indian legends. Indra told the story of the sun and the wind. I hunted for props and had downloaded a picture of the sun. For Indra's version of Aladdin I supplied a lamp.

I told the story of Cinderella. My prop was a silver sandal. The only sugestion for improvement I received was that the slipper was too big. It was a silver shoe size 6. I've replaced it with a slipper size 3.

Then we demonstrated how we each gave a brief impromptu speech. We invited every member of the audience to do an impromptu speech.

This was hilarious. The Watford club serves wine and cheese on evenings when speakers are invited so we had a very jovial and warm audience who laughed at all our jokes and they enthusiastically gave several humorous speeches.

The funniest was the man who was asked to describe his most memorable meal. He described being asked to eat guinea pig, in South America. Later another speaker was asked to speak about his favourite pet. He said his favourite pet was a guinea pig. The punchline was something about being wary of South Americans coming to dinner.

I wish I had recorded it. I have a video on my mobile phone. But it won't stand up and is a bit fiddly to use.

Anyway we finished with questions and answers about using public speaking to promote your work. One of the questions was about hecklers.

Generally you try to be positive. Even if ironic. Where you have a 'friendly' audience where most are friendly to you or each other, respond warmly:
Isn't he/she sweet?
In a hostile place, such as a political meeting with opponents, or a public place such as Speakers' Corner, you can be negative:
You can't win them all. You wouldn't want to.
Where are from? ... When are you going back? ... Lovely! ... They must miss you. ... Who sent you here? ... There's a great discount on fares to ...

We invited The Watford writers to our next meeting in Harrow which was on poetry and a few of them came along. We intend to visit other groups in the London area with our speaking structure workshop.

We are willing to travel outside our area for a fee and reasonable expenses. Harrow Writers' Circle has a website which has pages for members with a poem or article from the member - of course I am on it - and lists of forthcoming meetings. Harrovians Speakers Club also has a website. So does Watford Writers. And so do I.

Useful websites:
Harrow Writers' Circle
Poetry, novels, short stories, articles, beginner's to professional.
http://www.harrowwriters.org.uk/

Watford Writers
Evenings include workshops to help beginners.
http://www.watfordwriters.co.uk/

Harrow Speakers
Free to visitors. Members follow a course of 10 prepared speeches with feedback.
http://www.harrovians.org.uk/
HOD Toastmasters is in Stanmore. To find a club near you go to the website of Toastmasters International then the Find a Club page in your country and area. I have been to half a dozen in London, Singapore and Shanghai. And one in Thailand.

Author Angela Lansbury
Home tutor: English GCSE, O and A level, teachers' exams, creative writing, EFL conversation and business and speaking to promote yourself and your business on radio. Speechwriting and rehearsing and presentations for weddings, business presentations, conferences and confidence.
annalondon8.googlepages.com
angelalansburyauthor.blogspot.com

Writers' Holiday at Caerleon in Wales
29 July-3 Ug 2007
£379
Includes all day classes, accommodation and food, optional free excursion to Hay on Wye/Cardiff and free pick-up from station.
www.writersholiday.net

Writers Summer School, Swanwick, Derbyshire
Aug 11-17 2007
Includes accommodation at various prices, classes and food. Optional excursions and station pick-ups small extra charge.
www.wss.org.uk