Summer gives way the Autumn

For many September is the start of the new year - well the new school year anyway. Members renewed their dedication to West Herts Speakers and we had a jam packed room on Wednesday full of enthusiasm for the run of meetings up to Christmas.

We were led through the agenda by Kriss as Toastmaster for the evening. Stuart, as General Evaluator, introduced his team: Laurence, Ah-Counter; Liz, Grammarian; Amanda, Timekeeper.

The Table Topics, which forms the first part of each Toastmasters' evening, was directed by Karen, who posed questions to six unsuspecting members who then spoke for up to two minutes thinking on their feet, with no preparation. We were treated to the answers to:

• How would you use an extra hour a day productively?
• Which charity would you volunteer for?
• What would you like to get back that your have lost?
• What subjects would you introduce to the school curriculum?
• What advice would you give to a pupil entering a school of the opposite gender?
• How did you deliver a recent piece of good news?

Well those questions certainly got the grey matter whirring!

The second part of the evening continued with the prepared speeches. Anthony kicked off with a speech entitled ' A Little House on the Prairie'. He evoked scenes from a visit to the bowls club where his father is a member and conjured up a detailed picture so the audience felt as though they were actually there. Anthony is a master of understated humour and definitely a member to learn from.

Gwendoline, who is one of our most experience speakers, then gave a speech entitled 'Floordrobe' which was full of advice on how to organise our, sometimes less than tidy, rooms. She interacted with the audience and took questions from the floor in an altogether professional manner which shows that Toastmasters really does develop a whole raft of speaking skills for engaging an audience.

Finally, Omer gave his ice-breaker speech - this the term we give to a new member's first speech. The title was 'Rich' and he gave us insights into his early working life in a variety of jobs. He left us to ponder the notion that money doesn't necessarily make you happy and that there is more reward in life from helping others.

In summary, the evening was filled with some great speeches which were both educational, enjoyable and thought-provoking.

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In our next blog, we will look at the roles of the evaluators.