Speakers Clubs I have attended including Singapore (50+), UK, Prague, Thailand, China

I am a member of two clubs in the UK and I have attended more than 50 in Singapore. Here's my alphabetical list by Country.

 CHINA (Club Meetings 7?) Shanghai

 CZECH REPUBLIC - Prague (2)

HONG KONG (2)

SINGAPORE (50+) Advancity AIA Barclays Braddell Heights Advanced Braddell Heights 1 Braddell Heights II Bukit Panjan Bilingual Emmaus TM Eurasian Association Filcom@Cairnhill Francophone Orange Tee Shell Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TMCS) Thomson TLCS (Tamil) Vietnam Toastmasters Club @ Cairnhill

THAILAND (1)

UK Harrovians HOD

USA Conference Las Vegas international convention (2011)

Member: Harrovians; HOD.

Participant:
Evaluation Contest;
Tall Tales Contest;
International Speech Contest.
Judge - numerous clubs and contests.
Chief Judge - Contest rules forbid judges from discussing or revealing where they were judges. As they say, and said in WW2: Loose lips sink ships. Contest Chair - HOD Tall Tales contest Glossary MRT - MRT means railway To find a club go to the website Toastmasters International Find A Club . Angela Lansbury, CL, ACG

Testimonials from feedback for books, websites, confidence

Producing a new book, you find you are told to put testimonials. Years ago I was very anti testimonials. Big companies did not need testimonials. Only suspicious mail order companies wrote themselves suspect testimonials from anonymous or first name people. But now marketing people everywhere are saying that you need testimonials.

Ideally you should have testimonials from famous people. If you can't, you just need testimonials from others. If you are shy and modest, it's hard to get the courage to ask for testimonials. The people asked are worried about committing themselves, are too busy, or don't know what sort of testimonial to give.

However, if you are a member of toastmasters international and go to speakers meeting, every time you do a speech or a role, you get written testimonials in the form of feedback, either in your manuals, or on feedback slips or both; and if you are not a member of a club, but give any kind of service or product, you can enclose a form asking for feedback.

It's important to keep a record of who wrote the testimonial, and what it was about. I ended up with a lot of slips in pockets or bags, with vague statements such as, 'Brilliant', well done.

The solutions are:
1 Ask people at the time to write their names on the feedback forms.
2Write the subject of your speech on the top, even a word, or the date as a reminder.
3 As soon as you get home, either staple to feedback slips to your manual of speeches. Or make up a folder with the speeches in transparent pages and the feedback slips either in a pocket, or help together by a staple or paperclip.

When you start a new book or website on the subject of your speech, go back and find comments.
You can, if you wish, ring up the person who gave their comment and ask for permission to quote their whole name, first and last names. If they don't like that idea, they might agree to be described as, member of ... workshop / college / event.

Whether or not this give potential buyers confidence to buy your book or service, it is a real confidence booster to you.

Angela Lansbury, writer, photographer, tutor, author.

Checklist for speakers, training, contests and other meetings

We just had a setback to a an area training meeting. Only three days before the training we discovered the person who normally books the venue where we meet had not booked it. He now said that the venue had been booked by another group. Other choices included a church hall which would be occupied with religious ceremonies on a Sunday. Other committee members said they had no time and it wasn't their problem.

The President was cross, conceded that the buck stopped with him, but he was out all next day (Friday) and had to find somebody else to fix the problem. You either delegate down or up. So he texted up to the Area Governor.

How can you prevent this sort of disaster happening?

I think the only way is to send around a checklist to every person involved station what you are expecting them to do and asking them to confirm by email that they have successfully decided, done or planned to do tasks including:

1 Book venue.
From time you need to set up until time you have packed up.

2 Arrange catering.
Inform attendees about catering lack or catering and restrictions. (Tea and biscuits provided. Free sandwiches / cake/ fruit provided before, at interval, at end. Please eat first. Please bring sandwiches (any kind - or any restrictions eg no meat in Hindu/vegetarian venue). Please bring drinks/ water. Or no drinks allowed.

3 Organise Props and stationery:
Flip charts, projection, extension leads, computers, thumb drives, banners, certificates, agendas, voting forms, badges. Lecterns.

4 Reminders and directions.
Send participants reminders of date, time place and directions. Google maps. Club website.

Organise key holder and those setting up room.

Contacts
1 List phone numbers of contacts of property owner (in case you reach venue and find it is locked);
2 Tell everybody the phone of the trouble shooting contact: club president, or SAA, or VPE, key holder, whoever is required to be first on the scene.
Tell everybody the contact before and during meeting who has a phone on silent vibrate to help anybody lost en route, near the building, outside, or inside looking for the room.

Angela Lansbury, speaker, photo journalist and author.

Where's tonight's meeting? Is there one? Frustrated by old websites! Why The New One is A Success

I just lost 30 minutes trying to find out if there's a meeting on tonight. I'm a member of a club. If I were a visitor I would be equally perplexed. Lucky I wasn't working or I would have given up looking or got told off by the boss for wasting time.

I find this problem all the time on older websites. First you go through the whole preamble of sign in as a member.

What's Good
The best websites - even on the old one there was one great feature. Your log in - first commend, very good that the site tells you that you can log in with your email. Lots of sites ask you for your 'username' - what's that, my married name, passport name, maiden name, pen-name, nickname, name I use on blogs, last year's password, the one I changed to after being hacked, the site's own password. At least one good website lets me sign in with my email and tells me to sign in with that.

Hurray! After trying assorted passwords, including my last known password and the default welcome one, suddenly the site activates. (I still don't know which of the previous attempts hit the power system).

Now I can see some useful information: correct spelling of all members' names, useful for my write-up of club meetings, as well as their Toastmaster status such as CC competent communicator. This helps me address them correctly in documents. Later I can give them status on an agenda or website. When I am toastmaster of the evening I can introduce them properly at meetings, handy if I have not had time to research anything else to say. Other bonuses, their qualification level helps contest organisers decide whether members are eligible to enter a contest, judge a contest. For regular meetings, it helps you to know if a new member  should be encouraged to take on a beginners speech or easy role, or a challenging advanced members only role at a meeting.

Later I learned that I was using an old site. That explains why only three people other than myself had logged onto the site in the last month. I was wondering they the president had not logged in. On the other hand, it shows that four of us were hunting on the internet and had inadvertently looked at an outdated site without the latest news.

After trying various links I still don't know whether there is a meeting tonight.

Why don't I know when the next meeting is? The last meeting (a contest) changed venue. I just received an email from a member (another Angela) who missed it by going to the wrong venue because the venue was changed. She had just got off the plane and rushed to the meeting without spending time checking emails.

The club venue has changed in the last year, also the meeting dates (second and fourth to first and third). I have to remember the dates for another toastmasters and a writers group, meeting the same night as the Toastmasters at two different venues according to the week. (Not counting clubs in another country, nor the book group, the gardening club and computer training lessons. They all change date and time and venue, sometimes a week before and sometimes the same week.)

When I try checking the next meeting as a visitor what do I find?

What do I like as a visitor to a site? Seeing information immediately. I now see why the new site is such an improvement.

Down with Dowloads
On the old site, four items all required download. My reaction was, Sorry, I am not downloading. My laptop has jammed up because of too many files. I can't open my photos. I keep getting warnings to delete stuff. Every email wants me to download something and every website. My computer is so full I have had to buy a new one. Spent all week looking at old secondhand out of date computers which are better than the new lightweight models which won't take discs - but have to check the specifications of each to see what's compatible. Hours listening to music trying to get though to get quotes from two companies to compare or change company.

I shall be out of action for a week during the changeover. (More passwords needed for both my mobile phone and laptop. First the temporary one from the company sending the goods.

Meanwhile - even if the visitor wanted the downloads. The first has the unexciting title Corporate info. the first word is too long and abstract. Many toastmasters manuals tell you to avoid jargon and long words. The second word, info is too short, and totally inconsistent in style with the first word. you alienate the texters who like things simple with the first ugly word 'corporate', upset the pundits and erudite with the second word 'info', and the aesthetes and style lovers with the bizarre combination.

Worst of all, it's entirely a sales pitch and doesn't reach the call to action which is COME TO THE NEXT MEETING DATE >>> TIME ??? PLACE!!!

I am one of Toastmasters Internationals most devoted members, member of two clubs. I was a member of three when one club offered half price membership if you were already a member of another club (meaning you already had the manuals and magazine and didn't need the one of joining fee to get you on the HQ system. Then they discontinued the reduction. Now they are flourishing you'd think they might reinstall it. Maybe that's the problem. They don't need members.

Back to the downloads.  No, don't lets go back. I shall now phone somebody. But half the people are creatives like me who won't know.

Who will know? The scientist, the diary keepers, the follow the rules and agenda types. They are called 'Yekkers' in Yiddish, from the German for jacket-wearers. Yekkers know the date and time but get angry if you ask. All clubs are run by yekkers. The membership secretary should be a salesperson who wants you to feel praised and wanted. But the unfriendly accountant is busy following the rules. (That has a plus side - it is great because he or she will not run off with the money).

They will make me feel unwelcome and a failure, an idiot, an unwanted member, by saying to me, "I don't have time to tell you. Why can't you look it up on the website?"

Rant over. What do I want? Call to action!

On the front page of every website. Call to action. Box in top right hand corner with flashing lights all around it.
COME ALONG TO NEXT MEETING.
DATE .........
TIME .........
PLACE ......
FREE PARKING IN .......

PS Final gripe. Harrow Council wants to cut the free parking at Harrow Leisure Centre. After widespread protests they agreed to consider allowing free parking for two hours. The main letter from a bowls club member says that's not enough. You can't meet and go off for coffee or lunch afterwards.  Any meeting to which you invite another club is likely to last four hours. You can't have everybody dashing off at assorted intervals to move their car or feed the meter or check or go home early.

Summary and reiteration of main point:

By the time your website reader has been distracted by the delivered local newspaper, the postman, a phone call, the server has gone down, and your ember or guest has accepted the invitation to do something else such as go to dinner or coffee with a neighbour or friend.

When I'm in Singapore or America I meet somebody in the lift (elevator to any Americans reading this). I have one minute to tell them, 'When you are in London go to the Toastmaster Speakers club in Harrow / wherever. Just look at the website.'

I am told that our committee have spent unpaid and unappreciated hours upgrading our websites. It's great that the BBC and other sponsors are helping the next generation to be technically trained on computers.

For those who set up websites, which club and committee members have to spend hours adapting and transferring information - it's great to have the vital information on page one answering the classic questions you are taught at the start of any journalism course on news reporting:
WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE WHY?

PUT THE NEXT MEETING ON PAGE ONE OF A CLUB WEBSITE VISIBLE TO BOTH MEMBERS AND GUESTS!
Thanks for reading my rant. Hope this helps you make user-friendly event sites.

PR for clubs - about contestants for contests, winners, and good losers

You don't plan to fail, you fail to plan. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, said, Preparation is the key to success.

PR like speeches is much easier if planned in advance. Surely planned means in advance? Yes, but I was going to say well in advance. However, speakers are often not finalised until the day of the contest - sometimes even in the last few minutes. So how can you plan?

Start by working out who are your contestants. Usually fewer then ten, because in a two or three hour contest you don't have time for more.

When you are running a contest, the speakers will all be from your club. Make a list of members of your club. How many are eligible?

Most clubs have between 15 and 45 members, the majority having 15-25. But in some contests, only those who have completed six speeches will be eligible. Those who have just joined and not yet given two or three speeches are unlikely to want to enter. So you have perhaps a maximum of ten speakers. The people who are judges cannot also be contestants. One or two people will have warned you that they cannot attend. They may be on holiday or overseas working, in hospital, or away because of a birthday or bereavement.

You can then prepare a press release about the winning speech and speaker in advance. In Toastmasters international the speakers are asked to fill in a form giving the title of their speech, and another about themselves listing their local or nation newspapers.

If they do not supply this, twenty minutes research on the internet will find the speaker's current home, their workplace, their country of origin of different. That will supply ideas for local and national newspapers who can be contacted.

Check the length of article published about events in local and national papers. Some newspapers might simply include a photo of the speakers and the name of the contest they won.

You can take a photo at the speech rehearsal at your club, or another club in the centre of the city. Or at the speaker's home. Or in the centre of the city. Or a well-known coffee shop or pub before the contest.

Check the newspaper deadlines. Send advance notice of the club contest to the paper. Follow up by  phone and ask if your local paper wants to send a reporter or photographer - or to present the prizes!

In advance prepare a set or questions and email them to the speakers so they have time to find interesting, detailed, coherent, original answers.

Photograph the speaker with their main prop or some item of interest. For example a local landmark in good weather, perhaps with an animal such as their cat or dog or pet, or in their their garden. At their home or workplace or club pick an item showing their hobby or favourite sport or club such as tennis racquet, dictionary, golf club, football supporters shirt, previous certificate or award, or pretty tree or flower such as an orchid, their toastmasters manual or club banner.

You can ask every speaker, what will you say if you win? What will you say if you lose? What will you say to the other speakers? What will you say to other speakers? What do you think of  ... (place where the contest is held). What do you think of ... (the company they work for/the club they represent/their mentor).  Who has helped you? Who has inspired you?

Ask: 'How will you celebrate your win?' If they don't have an interesting answer, suggest: Pub, restaurant, drink, food, phone family overseas, tell boss, tell employees, thank mentor, tell club, thank God, watch your video, make notes for your next speech, at the club or at next level?

How do they cope with fear, with losing? Is this a one-off or 3rd or 25th attempt, despite never winning?

What they won't do, if they don't drink, or don't take time of work, can be equally interesting.

End with a call to action for the reader, such as links to your club website, and the speaker's contacts or business if relevant.

You might need short and long versions for different papers, such as under 200 words for your local paper, or 500 or 1000 or even 2000 for a magazine national paper doing a double page spread.

Take photos of all members of the club and (if they give permission) put them on your club website and on the social media such as Facebook. If local media need photos in a hurry they can take the photo from the public source or use the profile to fill out their own article and research it.