News Next Great Meeting Ideas We all know the importance of the various aspects of the normal club meeting, but to conduct the identical meeting, week after week, could cause the meeting to boring and predictable. This document is a compilation of ideas for creating excitement in the meeting and to avoid "always doing the same thing". The basic meeting structure and tasks are kept, but variations are provided to "keep us out the proverbial rut." These suggestions are provided as "food for thought" with the imagination of the meeting planner being the final authority as to how the meetings should be varied. Most of these meetings can be structured to provide the normal activities, including evaluations, table topics as part of the theme, timer, ah counter, grammarian, etc. Click here to read the complete list of ideas Never be lost again! How often do you need to attend a meeting at a different club in your area for Officer Training or a Contest? How often do you find yourself on the phone to a guest trying to talk them to your venue? How many guests do you lose who set out to find your meeting and never find you and never even tell you that? Well, we now have an answer to all of these questions…. Navigation files for your Tom Tom or Garmin navigation device Every time a new club is added in District 71, the file is updated and posted on the District 71 site. This means that once you download and install the file, you will be able to find any club without that messy looking up of postcodes and putting them into your system. Particularly useful for Area Governors, Division Governors and contestants, I recommend that you encourage all your members to download and install the files. But remember, if you put a link to the file on your website, your guests will be able to find you without even trying – and if they move away will still know where their local club is effortlessly. I only have a TomTom so can only give you instructions on how to import the file for that but you will find we have files for both TomTom and Garmin which is available at the bottom of linked page Download the club locations to your GPS Article posted by Samantha Babister Division Governor Jaqui Hogan a Woman in Action Jaqui Hogan a past Division H Governor will be taking part in a 5 mile sponsored walk on Saturday 28th March, to raise money for the Charity 'Women of Action'. Why am I doing this? Apart from this being an incredibly good cause, I was recently diagnosed with Diabetes, and need to lose weight and get more exercise. So I decided that the best way to ensure that I don't chicken out is to do a walk for charity. My aim is to raise at least £216, which will support a group of 6 women for a year. Any donation will be most welcome, no matter how small, and you can either email me your commitment (jacqui@hogan.com) or donate online at the justgiving website. click here to donate to Jacqui's sponsored walk   If you are a taxpayer, please also select to 'gift aid' your donation. Maidenhead man takes double honours again at Area 21 Contest A lively afternoon hosted by the contest chair, Keith Clarke, saw and heard an exceptional collection of speeches delivered by the contestants. The skilled speakers and evaluators pitted their eloquence and oratory against each other in a very entertaining and inspirational way. Ian Rees, from Maidenhead Speakers Club, was the victor in both competitions with his speech entitled 'Go Travelling'. An enthralling evaluation of a speech by a guest speaker Caroline Eveleigh entitled, 'I wouldn't do that if I were you' had the audience captivated and captured Ian the award. The prize trophies were presented by Trish Weller, Toastmasters International Area Governor. Samantha Babister, Toastmasters International District Governor also spoke and gave her congratulations to all competitors. Ian Rees who has previously competed at the Finals of UK and Ireland will represent the Area at the next level, and hopefully beyond. The Division Contest will be held on 25th April at Dorking.   Division Contest Hamwic Speakers launched in Southampton Tuesday 10th March marked the launch of Hamwic Speakers. Toastmasters' newest club on England's South Coast, in Southampton. The club's strap-line is "Gateway to Confident Communication". Club co-founders are the Amy’s who joined Toastmasters in 2003: Ken (President) and Margaret (VP Membership) The launch evening attracted 11 guests and 11 Toastmasters, from Brighton, Solent and Wessex clubs. Three Top Toastmaster ladies attended: District 71 Lt Governor – Marketing, Teresa Dukes, Division H Governor, Sammy Babister and Area 32 Governor, Linda Hooper We had two ‘newcomer‘ ice-breaker speeches - delivered in style and awarded our first meeting’s ‘Oscars certificates’. Brand new guest, Rich Watts, much inspired by Simon Bucknall, won the Best Speech Oscar. We’ve already signed up 5 members and 7 more have said they intend to join. The highly successful evening rounded off with a 'surprise' presentation to Ken & Margaret: a specially-engraved glass coaster engraved with the Bargate and a Certificate of Launch, signed by Teresa, Sammy and Linda. www.southamptonspeakers.org.uk Toastmaster Sending a Cow to Africa Meg Heyworth founder of two speaking clubs, Worthing Speakers and Eastbourne Speakers intends to raise £200 pounds for the charity "Send A Cow". A  great way to celebrating sixty years of life” Click here to read the full story Solent Speakers honour Rabbie Burns On 20th January Solent Speakers club transformed a 'normal' meeting programme into a Burns-themed 'special' Laced with passion, humour and tradition, it was inspired by club member and Scot, Gavin Meikle. His rendition of Tribute to the Haggis was breathtaking sincere, dramatic and word-perfect – without a note in sight. Dressed in tartan, top-to-toe, he processed – to bagpipes - the real haggis into our meeting room. Keith Oliver topped out in his Tam O’Shanter; other members had tartan accessories and our room was draped with St Andrew’s flag. Just before the interval, members were challenged by Toastmaster, Robin Chawner, to sing (for their supper) Auld Lang Syne, in unison. At the interval we enjoyed haggis, shortbread and Irn Bru. After the break we enjoyed gales of Topics laughter at what could only be described as surreal insights into sporrans, cabers and Scots skulduggery. Worthing Speakers Club Maximise on their own Magnificent Seven! A new club on the south coast is making the most of the skills of seven members to grow into joining the Toastmasters International organisation. Numerologists consider seven to be the sum of the spiritual three and the material four, signifying creation. Worthing Speakers are using this power to create a club with a magnificent future. The magical power of the number seven has come to Toastmasters. Starting up a new speakers club in Worthing West Sussex has been an exciting prospect in and of itself, add to that the power of the magic number seven for decision-making and it is destined for greatness! It is people that make the world go round and the rule is the same for the world of public speaking. After only five meetings with guests coming along to experience Worthing Speakers, a group of seven core members has evolved to move towards chartering with Toastmasters International How will the number seven apply to Worthing? Seven is considered to be a perfect number for creative thinking and decision-making. Seven very different talents combined to make a successful club. Like the Seven Wonders of the World, each person offers their own special and unique set of skills that will promote, invite and encourage like-minded people to become new members. These seven talented people offer the new club Networking Leadership, Coaching, Business Skills, Experienced Public Speaking, Professional Writing, Internet Marketing and Public Relations. Over the next few months our core group of seven will plan, communicate and develop a club to be as established as there are seven days in the week. From February 2009 the number of meetings will increase, taking place on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of every month. An hour before each meeting there is the opportunity for a ‘mind shower’ - seventh heaven! The seven pillars of wisdom, Meg Heyworth, Barry Miles, Peter Cornwell, Stevie Lambert, Felicity Lamb, Jon Lawrance and Bob Fisher will extend a warm welcome to all visiting guests. For an experience as original as the seven deadly sins, come along to the Worthing Speakers Club! For additional information or details on how to join the Worthing Speakers Club please contact one of the club members below. Meg Heyworth at meg@heyworth.co.uk Peter Cornwell @ petercornwell1@gmail.com Worthing Speakers Club Beechwood Hall, Wykeham Road, Worthing, BN11 4JD 1st and 3rd Thursday every month Toastmasters helped me become a better Judge Yvonne Forbes, Area Governor for Area 37, was sworn in as a Magistrate on 11th December at Maidstone Crown Courts. Yvonne said “ I have always had an interest in the Courts and in Justice so becoming a J.P. was something I really wanted to do”. Yvonne will start her training in January and will start sitting on the bench in February 2009. Yvonne explained “Magistrates do not need any legal training but you do need to prove you are a fair-minded person of integrity”. I think Toastmasters helped me to present myself well at both interviews. Also at the swearing in ceremony Judge Carey commented on my clear diction and asked me if I was an actress, so I explained that I was not an actress but a Toastmaster! The vast majority of less serious cases are heard in Magistrates Court. Unlike Crown Court, which hears the more serious cases, there is no jury. Rather there is a bench of 3 people who listen to the evidence put before them and make decisions such as whether to give people community service, whether to grant bail, whether to impose curfews, fines or even jail sentences of up to six months “I am looking forward to the challenge ahead of me and I am sure my experiences will give me plenty of material for some interesting speeches” said Yvonne. Advanced Speakers Club Charters Marlow Orators, an Advanced Speakers Club, held a Gala Dinner and Tall Tales Speaking Competition at Bisham Abbey on 4 December. The superb historic surroundings added to the importance of the occasion, the Club’s Charter Dinner to celebrate the founding of MARLOW ORATORS. The club exists to promote and encourage proficient public speaking and self- development. Fluency in public speaking is a huge asset and is so important today for confidence, career progression and success in business. Toastmaster International District Governor for UK and Ireland, Gary Sander, was the senior guest of honour. Gary presented the prize to the best Tall Tales Speech competitor, Trish Weller. Trish had regaled and entertained the audience with her cleverly crafted speech about sea life. The unexpected punch line made the audience roar with laughter. Other commemorative certificates were also presented to Founder Members of the Club to recognise their effort and enthusiasm, plus Keith Clarke formally received the President’s Medal. The likeness between the presenter and the recipient was purely coincidental, and the suggestion that it was an audition for Father Christmas, whilst topical, was not true. Marlow Orators meet at All Saints Hall, The Causeway, Marlow on the last Thursday of each month. They can be contacted via www.marloworators.org.uk   The Same but Different! On a business trip to Montreal I and a colleague called in on McGill Toastmasters. To the uninitiated McGill is one of Canada's leading Universities. We were made so very welcome, and were able to participate in the meeting of around 35 attendees. The meeting fundamentals were identical to our own, in that the meeting clearly centered on the development of the individual's confidence and competence in speaking in public. Just as we would have there were prepared speeches, table topics and proper helpful and supportive evaluation. The opportunity for many to participate, the warmth of the welcome and the quality of both speeches and evaluations were impressive. There were some differences, and there were three in particular which are different to the way meetings in the UK are run - nevertheless worth mentioning. The speeches were filmed providing the speaker the opportunity to review their performance later. Thought for the day and Tip for the day. The day I visited was 11 November - and this is as important to the Canadians as a day of remembrance as it is to us. The Thought for the day was on a remembrance theme. I was asked to provide a minute or so on Tip for the day - and I selected "Practice makes Perfect - but ONLY if you have evaluation that enables you to practice perfect". What I did not realise was that one of the prepared speeches was on exactly the same topic. Poor man had to rework a little of his opening! but his speech was excellent nevertheless. The entire meeting voted anonymously for the best speaker, evaluator and table topic - as a mini competition, and the winners awarded a winner's ribbon. Whilst the meeting was the same as ours, it was also different to ours. The message and purpose was identical with genuine warmth of greeting and inclusion - and I really look forward to reciprocating the reception when any of our “Cousins” from across the pond visit us. Thank you McGill Toastmasters for a very enjoyable and memorable evening. I really enjoyed your company. Gordon Piggott   Division H Competitors for Division B Champ! A sunny Saturday afternoon in Dorking, Surrey saw the Division H Finals of the 2008 Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contests. A full house of 80+ included visiting Division B club President Mahin Driskill of London Athenians. A number of other visitors were having their first experience of Toastmasters. They left suitably impressed by the high standard of impromptu and humorous speeches. The table topic set was simply: "fish and chips". This led to a range of answers from "best of British", reminiscences of Scottish and Irish childhoods, a humorous view of the complex journey from sea/field to plate... to a punning winning answer based around micro-chips and micro-fiche. The speeches were similarly wide ranging in style and content. From a stately deadpan delivery of race day mishaps (including leaving his wife at a motorway service station) to the winning speech of lessons learned from youthful holiday exploits. Ian Rees, won the 2008 Division H Table Topics trophy for the second year in a row Alan Donegan, won the 2008 Division H Humorous Speech trophy. Thank you to all the competitors and to Meg Heyworth, and the team of organisers for giving us such an enjoyable afternoon. Report by By Dorathea Stuart Left to right: Alan, Samantha Babister Division H Governor and Ian. Alan wins with amusing taless A Winchfield man hopes to be in full voice when he competes in the UK finals of the Humorous Speech Contest Alan Donegan will travel to Kilkenny in Ireland for the finals from November 7-9. He joined Guildford Speaker’s Club only about six months ago after a best man’s speech went particularly well. Mr Donegan said: “I had only been at the club for a couple of months when the president Nicola Coutts emailed me and said she had entered me into the humorous speech contest and I had better write a funny speech! “So I started with a few ideas and hit upon telling people about a trip to Brazil when I was 21.” Mr Donegan gave his speech at club level, coming second in the humorous speech category and first in the improvisation category. A few days before the next round at Sun Microsystems in Farnborough, he got a call saying the speaker who came first had lost his voice and could not perform so would he step in. It meant Mr Donegan would be up against the top speakers from five clubs. He said: “I spent the next two days frantically improving my speech and rehearsing. I performed in front of 70 people and came first in both the improvisation and the humorous speech.” He then gave his speech before more than 100 people at the divisional final in Dorking. “I was so nervous — even more so than at the last stage,” he said. “I ended up winning the humorous speech contest and coming second out of five in the improvisation contest.” Now he is looking forward to the UK finals. "I'm so excited,” he said. Alan Donegan in sight of another trophy.