Mar 06
It seems that whenever newspapers run out of stories, or need something to fill a couple of pages, they drag up the can women be funny debate. This time though it’s being tied into International Women’s Day which takes place this Sunday.
This time the debate appeared in Wednesday’s Metro. Personally, I am finding the debate incredibly dull because I thought we all knew the answer? Continue reading
Mar 04
The International Speech Contest and Evaluation Contest is just around the corner here in the U.K.
I recently managed to secure an interview with Hilary Briggs, chairman of ACE Group 29, The Academy for Chief Executives, Area 33 Governor and, most importantly for the purposes of this blog, U.K. and Ireland Evaluation Champion 2008.
I wanted to be able to get some useful tips from a champ to help my Toastmasters readers who might be competing in the Evaluation Contest this year (or some other year depending on when you’re reading this). There is also some useful info in this interview for evaluators in general.
So here we go… Continue reading
Mar 02
Even though this post is from the perspective of being a member of Toastmasters International and the Humorous Speech Contest, there are certainly some lessons that can be applied to any speaking or presentation.
The Humorous Speech Contest
During my time at Toastmasters I’ve had an opportunity to deliver and watch a number of different humorous speeches; obviously none more so than in the humorous speech contest.
What I find quite interesting is the number of speeches that strive for originality (one of the rules of the humorous speech contest). Whilst this is perfectly admirable it’s not something that always works in your favour. What, I hear you say? We should just regurgitate old hackneyed topics instead? Not exactly no. Continue reading
Feb 27
“Speeches fail because they focus on the speaker not on the audience” – Phillip Khan-Panni
In the run up to the International Speech Contest Division B put on a public speaking seminar with Phillip Khan-Panni, former three-time U.K. & Ireland Public Speaking Champion, silver medallist in the World Championships and also former member of my home club Grosvenor Square Speakers. Continue reading
Feb 26
I cannot believe that it’s been 16 years since the legendary American comedian Bill Hicks died. I included him on a previous post I made about the 32 Most Influential Comedians. It only seems like yesterday that I had discovered his comedy on a compilation cassette tape (told you it
was a long time ago) when I heard that he’d died. Channel 4 aired a tribute show called “It’s Just a Ride” which also featured his last U.K. performance titled “Revelations”.
Here’s the quote that inspired that documentary’s title and also the
title of this post: “The world is like a ride at an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it, you think that it’s real because that’s how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round.
Continue reading
