Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Manningham Speechcraft week 5 16-11-09

The passion shone through

Now we come to the business end of this speechcraft course.  What a transformation in confidence and speaking skills I have witnessed.  We were privileged to hear 4 passionate speeches this night.  Passionate in not just the belief in the topic that was discussed but passionate in the delivery of the topic. Again I had the speechcrafters who where not presenting speeches introduce and evaluate the speakers.  The introductions were smooth and professional and the evaluations were supportive and insightful.

We have a regular 8 speechcrafters who are very committed to the course and are getting a lot out of it.  These speechcrafters have now completed 3 speeches in 5 sessions.  Thats a big undertaking for people who came into the course scarred of public speaking.  They have been brave and taken this on despite their nerves and broken through this fear barrier to come out the other side much better communicators.   I'm so proud of them!  This now means if they join Toastmasters they will get credit for 3 speeches towards the 10 speeches required for the competitent communicator award.

Unfortunately I had an email from one of the other speechcrafters who said she is unable to continue with the course.  She wrote to me to say she has enjoyed it immensely and would be interested in future speechcraft or perhaps joining Toastmasters. She is a great speaker and speech writter so I sincerely hope she does pursue developing her speaking.   That's not too bad having two out of 13 drop out of the course.  Six weeks is a big committment and sometimes things crop up and you are unable to committ. That is why it is always better to take on extra participants, even though it is difficult when scheduling the agendas. 

So we started off with 13 have 8 regulars, 2 dropped out that leaves the other 3.  One of which I have not seen since the first meeting, another the second meeting and the other who has been held up at work on several occasions.  I have invited them to come to the last meeting which is a celebration, they can present their 2nd or 3rd speech on the night if they wish. And of course can join the Manningham club as a member, this may suit their life schedules better.

Apart from the speeches we had a swift and well run round robin session.  An entertaining table topics session.  The speechcrafters really enjoy this challenge and I believe look forward to it.

I gave an educational on vocal variety which outlined the different qualities of the voice, we had a practice example and I read a passage without and then with vocal variety to demonstrate the difference.  I also spoke about the importance of word selection. To demonstrate this I invited a fellow Kew Toastmaster to present an amazing and entertaining speech with great examples of precise word selection.

I feel I have now done my job I have armed my speechcrafters with basic communication tools to be great speakers.  So far they have learnt and practiced:
  • Speech structure
  • Speaking with passion an in earnest
  • Vocal Variety
  • Word Selection
  • Body language
  • Introducing speakers
  • Giving an award
  • Recieving an award
  • Evaluation that motivate
  • Impromtu speaking
  • Speech writing
But practice is the key word.  PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE at every opportunity given, to not loose the skills and confidence and build on it.  That's why joining toastmasters is a great way to practice and grow.

The speechcrafters have the opportunity to showcase their skills next week in their final speech.  I believe they will use all the skills learnt so far.  It will be a celebration night where they can bring a friend. We will have speeches, improptu speaking and presentation of awards, food and drinks.  I can't wait but am also a little sad it will be all over.  Its been such a journey for my speechcrafters all my fellow toastmasters I have taken along and especially me.  :)

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