Speakers in the Square

Rose Saliba

Saturday 25th of May was our first adventure into Hitchin Town Square. Our purpose was to let people in the local community know about our club and how it could help them to achieve their personal goals.

I have to say that it was a great success. The weather was great, the town was packed and we had a strong and committed group of Toastmasters who made the day. We even had a Toastmaster from Harrow and a Toastmaster from Stevenage Speakers club.

Salman, Karl & John meet spiderman!

Before the event, we had very little in the way of publicity material. We didn’t have any flyers or a banner to put up on the gazebo. Our club worked together to get the copy and designs done for the flyers and the banner which we used along the back of the gazebo. There was some work to do and compromises to made to suit all the members of the committee but we got it all done in just under two weeks! A special thanks to Salman, Lynne, Andrea and John.

Dorothy

Of course there are some things that we would have done differently. If we were to do this again we would have started working on the publicity a lot earlier and we would have had separate meetings dedicated to the design of the publicity material. This would have been much easier but the reality is that we all have day jobs and family so finding the time can be tricky.

Mandy (Stevenage Speakers)

For myself, I would aim to be more positive. I was worried that we wouldn’t have flyers, that I would forget something or that I would be alone at the stall! My anxiety about the event going wrong was not motivating, yet our club rallied round the idea and it was a great day. I really enjoyed the enthusiasm of everyone and in reality there was only one small problem which was sorted out by 10am!

David Phelops (Harrow)

David even sang “O solo Mio!” which certainly stopped passers by in their tracks.

The microphone and PA made a big difference. So much more interesting than a table full of flyers. Of course you would expect a speakers club to do some Public Speaking wouldn’t you?

Karl Hope

Funnily, we were all a bit reticent to use the mic at first!

We also managed to get members of the public to get up and speak which was great. Some people also asked us if we could help them to train students or to help out with providing some speakers.

It takes courage to speak.

Well done everyone! Let’s do this again!

Next time don’t forget the sun lotion!


Many Awards

Johns Kendall DTM finishes to Pathways paths!
John Kendall – 2 Pathways completed

This week’s meeting saw a flurry of educational awards so there were happy faces all round. You can see above a photo of John Kendall receiving two awards.

John attained his level 5 Pathways award in Dynamic leadership and his Pathways level 5 award for Presentation Mastery.

Rose Saliba Competent Communicator
Rose Saliba Competent Communicator

Rose Saliba completed her 10th Speech and received her Competent Communicator award.

We were again gifted with a number of visitors, three of which decided to join our club this week. In fact one of our visitors, Andy Scapelhorn, not only became our newest member but also won the Best Table Topics Speaker award this week!

Andy Scaplehorn Best Table Topic Speaker
Andy Scaplehorn Best Table Topics Speaker

Best Evaluator was won by Dorothy Molloy

Dorothy Molloy Best Evaluator