The mission of a Toastmasters club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every individual member has the opportunity to develop oral communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth.
Many of us, even if we have been trained, still fear public speaking. In fact, some people would rather be ill than or miss an important event than speak in public. In this day and age, few of us can get away with not speaking and communicating confidently. Every time we are asked to give a report, pitch for business or go for a job interview we need to master our nerves, control our voice and gestures and organise our thoughts clearly. These are the skills that you can learn at Toastmasters.
Training can work but once we are back in our day to day lives bad habits slip back in and you lack the support to keep trying out the new skills you have learnt.
This is where Toastmasters can help. We aim to build a new habit. A habit of enjoying speaking and developing your communication and leadership skills in a supportive and friendly environment. In a structured programme, we focus on a number of steps that will help you improve how you communicate with and manage people.
We are a relatively new club with mixed levels of speaking experience and would love to welcome you to come along and try it for yourselves.
Meetings start at 7.15 for 7.30 on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month at Lochaber Hall, Manor Lane Terrace, London, SE13 5QL
10 Tips to overcoming your nerves and speaking successfully in public:
1. Speaking in public is not inherently stressful, we just learn to fear it - children rarely have these nerves.
2. You don't have to be brilliant or perfect to succeed - as long as you get your message across and give the audience something of value.
3. All you need is two or three main points - don't try to cram too much in. People's brains can only take in a limited amount of ideas at once.
4. You need a purpose that's right for the task. Think about what you want the audience to think or believe. And remember you don't necessarily need them to like you for you to achieve your objective.
5. The best way to succeed is to not consider yourself a public speaker - just be yourself and talk to the audience as individuals not a mass.
6. Humility and homour can go a long way. They break the ice and establish a human connection.
7. When you speak in public, nothing "bad" can really happen - everything that happens can be used to your advantage.
8. You don't have to control the behaviour of your audience - just think about what you can control. Your voice, your gestures, your posture and your emotions.
9. Preparation is good but don't over-prepare. If you work from a script you are sure to feel anxious about forgetting your words or losing your place.
10. Your audience wants you to succeed. Think back to a speech you have seen and remember how you listened to it with interest and a positive attitude. Why would your audience be different?
Bonus point: BREATHE! The breath allows your butterflies to settle down and your voice to steady any trembles.
Upcoming events:
Lewisham's very own 'Speakers Corner'
4th September, Manor Park
Come along and experience the adrenaline of speaking in public. You will get the chance to improvise on a mystery subject for between 1 to 2 minutes. It's a great exercise to think on your feet and face your fears of fluffing your words. At the very least, you'll be entertained (hopefully!), learn something new and can combine it with some shopping at the Farmer's Market.
This impromptu challenge is based on a Table Topics format that is always a part of our regular meetings and is designed to help people feel less anxious about not sticking to a fixed script. For the first time ever, Lewisham Speakers Club and members from other clubs in the area will speak in a completely public area and hope to encourage some members of the public to step up too.
Come along and join in the fun.
Humorous Speech and Table Topics Competition
An Opportunity to Push Through our Fears
I encourage us all to consider entering the Humorous Speech Competition and know that Competitions can be, and are, won by any Toastmaster regardless of your experience. You do not have to have done ten speeches to enter and win. Just enter and see what happens. By entering you are a winner (and your speech can count towards your overall speeches goal).
I learned so much from entering my club competition that now I tell anybody to just do it, whether they feel ready or not Susan Barrera
The club speech contest is a great way to stretch yourself. Participation forces you to be better than you have ever been, and its a wonderful opportunity to put into practice the techniques you have learned in the Toastmasters program. Mark Brown Toastmasters World champion 1995
Humorous and Table Topics Competition Details:
Wednesday 6th October at Lochaber Hall
You choose any theme and your speech has to be substantially original, any quoted material must be identified and you should have an opening, body and close and not give a series of one liners (a monologue). Avoid objectionable language, anecdotes and offensive material.
Our overall winner will compete against the winners from the other four clubs in the area on Saturday 16 October and will be hosted by Bromley Speakers - more details will follow in due course.
This is followed by the Division H Contest (Southeast England) on the 30th October and the final level District 71 Contest (UK and Ireland) will be at the Dublin Conference on the 12th-14th November.
For more information speak to Dave Longley, Julie Kertesz (last year's winner and Vice President for Education), Simon Maggs or Winston Marshall since they have knowledge of competitions.
Check out the links on the left under the main menu
(Humour Technique Tips, Mastering The Laugh and District 64 Humorous Contest Clip)
Just enter and do it!
Now that you are interested, please ensure Julie Kertesz knows your plans and contact her on
Dave Longley, President:
Lewisham Speakers Club
Summer dinner
On Wednesday the 21st July the Lewisham Speakers Club celebrated a year and a half of running and the introduction of a new president (Dave Longley) and committee. The evening was entertaining and most enjoyable. Well run by the Toastmaster for the evening Winston Marshal who kept us well informed of proceedings and added a bit spice and zest to the evening and people who had spoken for the first time in the past year (given their Icebreaker speech) were recognised. These included Katy and Jon below.
