Learn Public Speaking Skills: Toastmasters, Cape Town

Alison Beere (Breakfast Club secretary) has taken on the task of dealing with all things web, so watch this space for more Club news!

The big win for Alison is that this relatively small administrative commitment will help her fulfill the requirements of a couple of projects in her Competent Leadership manual, moving her closer to her next achievement.

In a toughly contested battle between V. Acant and myself, I am the newly appointed VP PR (Vice President - Public Relations) for The Breakfast Club.

My purpose for this new role is two fold: complete my CL manual by using this position to fulfil some outstanding assignments, (see, I am honest) and to give other members the opportunity to work on some of the more obscure assignments (I am generous too).
 
If you are trying to finish your CL manual, (and who wouldn’t want to achieve that accolade?) then here are a few public relations related topics that you could do to finish it off.

The benefits?

1. It is so cool to have completed a level beyond Competent Communicator which is where most people stop. And to have the acronym after your name on your badge, for which you will have to pay an additional R45 for a new one. 
2. You will be closer to one day achieving your DTM (Distinguished Toastmaster) which is great to have on your CV and is internationally recognized, wherever people speak. And it is achievable. Reference Lois Strachan who is doing it for the 3rd time!
3. You will help The Breakfast Club get another point towards our Distinguished Club program which runs every year. The benefit is a sweet ribbon to go onto our flag to show off to visiting Toastmasters from other clubs.
4. And, even though we are not in this just for ourselves, by working on these projects you can learn some valuable marketing skills that you can apply to your own life, work or career.

Here are the projects and assignments.

Project 6 - Organizing and Delegating

Help Organize a Club Public Relations Campaign
Help Produce the Club Newsletter
Assist the Club’s Webmaster

Project 8 - Motivating People

Club Public Relations Campaign Chairman

Project 10 - Team Building

Club Newsletter Editor or Club Webmaster

How to use these projects

More details on these projects will follow for interested parties, but what I would like to do is work with members who need to finish any of these projects. I will assist you with any newsletter or web site stuff and show you the ropes. I promise that it is not difficult.

We also have the lovely dual assignments in Projects 6 and 8 - Help Organize a Club Public Relations Campaign  and Club Public Relations Campaign Chairman. There are so many opportunities here. A team of 2 or 3 members can tackle any of these projects that takes their fancy, and you can all sign off on assignments in a short period of time.

• We could gather Toastmaster magazines, put our club meeting details in the address block and share them local businesses around Cavendish.
• We could take photos at meetings and write a short blurb and send that to the local media.
• We could contact the local radio stations and offer a short talk around Toastmasters Day in October.
• We can contact other clubs toward the end of the Toastmasters’ year and offer space for them to complete their assignments in time.
• Motivate Cavendish to make mention of our meetings on their Facebook and Twitter accounts, even perhaps their website.
• Prepare a list of speaking tips from our members and share them on the club Facebook Page and blog.
• Get our members’ stories about why they joined and what they have learned, and share that, with photos or even short video clips. Arrange to put that onto the club Facebook Page and blog.
• Run a member invite challenge with a prize for the person to invite the most non-Toastmasters guests to the club over a period of time. A bonus prize for the person who converts the most visitors to members or this or any other Toastmaster club.

Other PR tasks include:

• Writing, or organizing a club member to write, something for both the club newsletter and the blog.
• Taking, or organizing a club member to take photos or videos of each meeting for both the club Facebook Page and the blog.
• Taking some of the Toastmaster magazines to the Claremont Library, surrounding medical offices and perhaps the local high schools for their libraries.
• Update or arrange and handout visitor packs to guests. Include 2 or 3 postcard type handouts that they could pass on to others. The message would be along the lines of “I attended this Toastmaster club at Cavendish and it was great fun. I am planning on going back to visit but I thought I should let you know too as you would enjoy it.”

Folks, I will never get all of this done. That isn't the point. But if just a few of you put your hands up, then we can all complete assignments, get new members for the club, promote Toastmasters, learn some good stuff and have fun.

Please contact me to make some plans.

Regards
Charlotte Kemp
082 491 9252
charlotte@charlottekemp.co.za

~ Sarah Rossouw

After an excellent meeting the week before, mostly because I got over myself and shocked everyone by delivering a prepared speech, I was thrilled to see a full table of faces greet me on Wednesday morning – 14 pairs of eyes stared with anticipation back at me!  We welcomed two guests in this number, Rhona and Leanne, a mother and daughter team out to conquer the world.  We hope to see them again.
 
Francois led the meeting with his usual aplomb and entertained us with stories in between the items on the agenda.  He included one about a young American driver, who, under the influence, was totally unaware he had picked up a newspaper delivery man – through his windscreen!  Francois did, however, get a resounding telling off for not running the meeting to time from our General Evaluator, Brenda.  Well done Brenda!
 
All admiration goes to Wendy Ward who, on the day, realised that she could not deliver the CC 9 she wanted to do, and still do it justice.  She needed more time to prepare.  But instead of dropping the Toastmaster by just pulling out, she honoured her commitment, and filled her time with her blog post, which was most entertaining.  Charlotte Kemp followed with an Eduslot on Impromptu speaking and shared with us 5 useful tips to delivering a great impromptu speech.  I think Charlotte possibly also broke the world land speed record for the fastest speaker in one part of her speech! Wow!  She also reminded us that to become proficient speakers and to always improve we needed Stage Time, Stage Time, Stage Time!  Excellent advice.
 
After one very impromptu evaluation and one excellent evaluation (it’s fantastic to see Simric getting up there and learning the ropes of evaluating), it was my turn to present my Table Topics.  No pressure on me to follow Charlotte’s detailed presentation of what makes a good Table Topic topic and what doesn’t!  But I think I did okay.  Kudos to Leanne, our guest, for being brave enough to give it a shot.  Good job, Leanne!  Of course, Nathan walked off with the prize AGAIN!  Man, he’s good!  I hope he’s going to compete in the next Impromptu Contest.
 
After another entertaining, interesting and fun-filled meeting, we all waved good bye and went on our merry inspired ways for another week.  See you all next time!  Ciao
 

Toastmasters from across the country gathered in the Mother City this past weekend for District 74's annual MiniCon, which was hosted at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. It kicked off on Friday evening and didn’t stop until the last booty had been shaken late on Saturday night.

It’s been said that once you have attended a conference you will be hooked for life, a truism if ever there was one. District 74 Conferences are renowned for providing great value for money, fantastic speakers, a high level of contests and of course, the BEST parties.

Keynote speaker, Alan Committie, had the audience in stiches on Saturday morning as he did his best to ‘dissect a butterfly’ in order to explain its beauty. He’d been tasked with sharing comedy tips with the eager crowd and that was the odd, but uncannily apt, analogy he came up with to make the point that trying to explain funny just isn’t funny.

Not to be outdone, our Humour Contest participants in both the English and Afrikaans categories were equally hilarious. After much pencil chewing and agonizing the judges eventually arrived at a decision.

Biddy White with her speech, Sole Proprietary, won the English contest and Breakfast Club member, Verity Price, took second place. Adri Rothman won the Afrikaans Showcase with her speech, Want boot gaan ons boot. 

There’s unfortunately no direct translation for this delightfully descriptive phrase, but in a nutshell it means we’re going to sail that damn boat no matter what.

The Breakfast Club is soon to be represented by member Verity Price at the District Contest for Humourous Speaking that will be held at Kirstenbosch on the 13th of October at the Flower Power Mini Con. 

Verity won the Division Contest on the 27th September that was held at The Alphen Hall in Constantia with her speech 'Me, Myself & I'. This makes her the Western Cape and Nambia winner and she will now compete for the title of Southern African Champion at the District Contest.

To book your place at the conference go to www.toastmasters74.org

At just over a year old and already 59 meetings in, I think we can safely say that The Breakfast Club is way past “the little train that could” stage and now in a league all its own. Catch us if you can is probably more apt these days.   We enjoyed another fun meeting this morning, with lots of old faces and even a few new ones. It was great to have such a big turnout.

Unfortunately Thobeka made a last minute apology, which left Angela not only as the first speaker on the agenda, but also the only one. She handled the unexpected turn of events like a pro however, making no attempt whatsoever to bolt for the escalators (at least not that we noticed).   Thank you to Sarah for giving Angela such an in-depth and well put together evaluation. Table Topics madam (Evan’s word, not mine), Berni, kept her victims on their toes by giving them each a quote, saying or phrase based on the meeting’s theme: Lighting a candle.

Burning the candle at both ends. According to Francois this is a way of being energy efficient. Now that’s some out of the box thinking.  It is better to light a candle than curse the dark. Tambu told us that for some people candles are their only means of light. Thank you for the reminder to not take things for granted Tambu.  A Candle loses nothing by lighting another candle. Ayesha said that she learnt from a young age the value in helping others. She also encouraged us to visit the elderly, which I think is a splendid idea!

How to blow out a candle without spraying wax all over the table. Instead of offering practical advice, Nicky took a different approach by using wax as an analogy to remind us that our experiences are to be treasured, not discarded or avoided simply because they don’t measure up.   I remember when the candle shop burnt down. After first having to establish what exactly a candle shop was, Gideon went on to regale us with a wonderful story about the time that the community’s candle shop went up in flames. What a disaster!

Verity, our grammarian and um counter for the morning, was on top form. Not a single um or ah was missed. She did soften the blow with chocolates though, so we’ll probably let her do the role again sometime.The meeting ended with a real treat, again from Verity, as she performed her winning speech from the humorous contest for us. Hilarious doesn’t come close!

The Division finals are being held next week Thursday at the Alphen Hall in Constantia, so if you’re looking for a fun evening night out, be sure to come along! Tickets are R70 if you book via EFT or R85 at the door. Snacks are included.

Wishing you all an ‘ab fab’ week until we meet again.

At the Area Contest held at Good Hope Toastmasters' venue in Tokai, on of our members Verity was placed 1st in the Humourous Prepared Speech Category.  This was our Club's first time to enter a competition as a newly chartered club, so it is very exciting to have one of our members be placed first!

Verity will be representing The Breakfast Club at the Division Contest on the 27th of September at the Alphen Hall in Constantia. She will be competing against all the Area winners from the Western Cape and Nambia.

Good luck!

On Wed 5th September The Breakfast Club hosted its first ever Humourous Speaking & Impromptu Contest! As a newly chartered club it was an exciting moment for all our members, and the contest didn't disappoint. With a fantastic selection of Humourous and  Impromptu speeches, the morning was an undoubted success!

Humourous Speaking
1st Place:     Verity Price
2nd Place:    Nicky Seymour

Impromptu Speaking
1st Place:     Berni Le Clus
2nd Place:    Francois Rossouw
3rd Place:     Thobeka September

Congratulations to everyone at the club for a fantastic first contest and lots of luck to the first and second place winners when they represent The Breakfast Club at the Area Contest on 12th September.

The Breakfast Club’s first meeting was on Wednesday 6 July 2011 with 14 people in attendance. 

It was the brainchild of Francois Rossouw and Jason Sandler, who kicked the idea around for some months before a venue was found and the first meeting was organised.  Since then the club has had 58 meetings and grown its membership to 20 members.

The club was chartered on 27 June 2012  - a huge and exciting milestone for the club and all its members!