Congratulations to Carol, Jim, Lisa and Suzanne for a tremendous performance and commiserations on being so closely pipped to the post by the team from West Kent Speakers Club. Each competing team spoke on the theme ‘A Moment in Time’ for a total of 20 minutes.

Julie took the chair and Adam gave us an accomplished 10-minute maiden speech on Health and Safety. A guest came along to give Adam moral support and gave us a highly amusing impromptu speech. We look forward to seeing him at future meetings.

Our team, Suzanne, Jim, Carol and Lisa ran through their entry for the Kent Hopper Cup team-speaking competition at Gillingham on 23rd June. The theme of the competition is A Moment In Time. It was a polished performance, followed by an audience feedback session. We wish them all the best and they go into the competition well placed to win!! Go Chaucer!!

Leon returned to the Club and chaired a challenging impromptu-speaking session. The theme was holidays and topics included ‘What do you think about when travelling?’, ‘Trips that haven’t gone to plan’, ‘Do you want to be a hobo travelling the world? Leon conjured them up from quotes by famous authors. It was great fun and novel.

It was a really enjoyable evening despite over-running slightly. Our evaluators highlighted speaker’s strengths and gave some suggestions for improvement. Some serious work was done honing our skills.

Our next and final meeting of this speaking season is on 5th July.

Congratulations to Carol Grimmer on winning the trophy for the speaker showing the most improvement this season.

36 guests enjoyed an entertaining evening. Geoff and Barbara and their team are to be congratulated on the high standard of the food and the delightful venue of the Kent and Canterbury Club.

All the speakers for the evening excelled in displaying our art. John Hursey, the guest speaker made the toast to the club, Will responded on behalf of the Club. Suzanne proposed the toast to the guests and Sue Shaw from West Kent Speakers Club responded on behalf of the guests.

Suzanne TW proposed the Loyal toast and Lisa said Grace. Congratulations to Carol, who was awarded the President’s shield for the most improved speaker of the year.

Thank you to all who supported the event and particularly Pete’s friends, who attend all our dinners and deserve honorary membership.

Thanks to our President Julie, who organised the event, with humour and charm, yet with efficiency and the drive to make the event a success.

We enjoyed another interesting, fun and entertaining meeting where we all learnt something and took another step towards perfecting our presentation skills.

Congratulations to Will on achieving his intermediate certificate with an eloquent  speech about his personal experiences of horse racing – The Sport of Kings. Rachel gave a serious talk about Amnesty International and how writing an air-mail letter can save a life. Her speech on 17th June will be her masterpiece speech for her certificate of achievement.

Our impromptu speaking session challenged us to talk for 3 minutes on topics used in recent Association of Speakers Clubs competitions. The topics included; Stormy Weather, The Kindest Cut is the Deepest, Under Fire, Waves and Hope.

Chaucer Speakers Club is a friendly and supportive group of speakers united in our desire to improve our presentation skills. Guests are always welcome to come along and enjoy a meeting with us, free of charge.

Imagine a blue elephant with a squirrel sitting on its back holding an English flag.  When you see an English flag during the World Cup you’ll remember that blue elephant. Use the same technique for any notes for your speeches. Try using coloured pens or highlighters to make particular words or phrases stand out. Why limit yourself to words? Use drawings, pictures and doodles to trigger your memory with only a quick glance at your notes.

Fog = 0.4 x (A + L)

Where A is the average number of words (including short words like ‘a’ and ‘to’) in a sentence.
And L is the number of long words (of three or more syllables that are NOT (i) proper nouns, (ii) combinations of easy words or hyphenated words, or (iii) two-syllable verbs made into three with -es and -ed endings] per 100 words.

A Fog Index of 9 suggests the text should be readable by someone with 9 years of education. Twinkle, twinkle little star has a Fog Index of 3.

We were entertained last night by amusing speeches about road rage and the monopoly of supermarkets. The speakers demonstrated excellent rapport with the audience which was the subject of a training session given by our president. Our warm-up session focused on the silver linings of the volcanic ash cloud. Politics was the topical theme for our impromptu speaking session. Members were asked about the election from diverse viewpoints including tose of bookies and Guy Fawkes. Analytical and incisive evaluations offered specific praise and advice on various aspects of effective presentation.

Our next meeting is on Monday 17th May

If you need to read your notes when giving a speech or evaluation, place the lectern directly in front of you. Looking at your notes will not require a distracting movement of your body.
If you only expect to glance at your notes, the lectern is less obtrusive if placed to one side.
No lectern is required if your notes are written on small cards. Hold them by one corner to leave your hands free for gestures.