Plant the seed of proper speaking skills and you’ll grow into a lifetime of being comfortable in front of people.
‘Sowing seeds and pulling weeds’ was the theme of a much-enjoyed meeting at the Florida Toastmasters Club recently. Consensus was to pull one’s roots out of areas which are unfruitful and focus on planting different seeds for different results.
Delivering a Toastmasters speech in a competitive environment is much like pitching a business proposal to investors. Both require additional preparation which should be customised to the situation. Michael Glencross presented the educational session on speech contests within the club environment with these thoughts.
Lindley-Anne McKenzie delivered her first official Toastmasters speech, based on the question, ‘Who am I?’. Paul Muller was the next newbie to break the ice with ‘It’s just me’, reciting the infamous quote from Mark Twain, “The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why.”
Charlene Firmin steered the night into a different direction with her speech, ‘Raising children with an attitude of gratitude’, reminding her audience that one of the keys to happiness is being grateful. In his turn, Tebogo Legodi taught her audience to harness the powerful health benefits of laughter, saying, “Laugher is the best medicine.”
Maggie Temana shifted the focus to agriculture with her speech on cattle farming, raising the question, “Will Africa be the next bread basket?”
Margaret Roodt in her speech weighed up home working life and office working life and questioned whether people should rather work from home, while Elize Ellis taught her audience the importance of sales skills and techniques in successful business deals.
At the end of the night, Ellis walked away with the trophy for the best prepared speech while Glencross got awarded for being the best speech evaluator of the night. Firmin and Temana were awarded their Competent Communicator 1 and 6 certificates, respectively.
If you are interested in growing your speaking skills, join the Florida Toastmasters where they meet at the Huguenot Restaurant in Flora Centre, Florida every first and third Tuesday of the month. For more information contact Tebogo Legodi on 072 130 4849 or via email at tebogo19@gmail.com
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