 | | | | Feel free to contact us with any questions, suggestions or feedback. | | | | | | | 31 March 2009 | | | | 31st March 2009
The Toastmaster for the evening Joan Jardine commenced by asking us to 'say something positive to each other'. Have you done his recently to anyone close to you? It can be more difficult than one imagines but nevertheless much praise and positive feedback was received by all.
Topics for the speeches started with a trip to the Caribbean. Neil Lockhart shared with us his adventures of the 'Battle of the Bands'. As he soaked up the heat, noise, sound and colour sitting on elastic moving benches erected 30 ft above the ground, listening to the sounds from upturned drums and watching chicken sellers. This was sensory overload.
Each day we are affected by it. Abbi Greene's 'Passion is colour'. She shared with us colour boards of blue, yellow, and red and how each colour affects our moods and thoughts. She gave us the example of the vibrant colour of red in a fast food outlet how it can stimulate us to eat quicker. Watch out for those who want to loose some weight. So her advice to us is 'ignore colour at your peril'!!!!!
This is now mainly used by journalists and what a valuable tool to learn. Have you ever seen your name in shorthand? Philip Freeman spent a lot of time translating each of our names into shorthand. He supplied each of us with a list of letters, words of Tee Line a form of shorthand. Philip said that it would not take a long time for us to learn this type of communication. Then Toastmasters is for us, to develop and improve our ways of communicating.
Sudanta Abeyakoon gave us an interesting and thought provoking insight into 'Body Language'. As we communicate do we realise that 60% is through body language. We use our bodies to effective communicate well. It is not only our words but also our actions, our expressions, our hand movements, our voise, our pacing and our eyes. Energy, sincerity and purpose can be protrayed not only in our words but also in our actions.
Sudanta on Tuesday 21st April will be doing the second of his training programme. Whatever topic he choses will be most useful in our daily lives.
We had an number of 'Firsts'. First time to the meeting was Angela Clarke who hails from Manchester and told us about her first time in Croydon.
Aki Sully who that evening become a member of Toastmasters. Congratulations. He told us about his first arrival in the country and how he felt.
Deirdre Hynes told us about the interview she had which eventually lead to a first day at work. Agnes Hards gave us a lesson on how to cook green bananas. I hope she will do a speech on this topic as there was so much more she had to tell us.
The evaluators were Vanessa Buck, Frank Thatcher, and David Langworthy and as one said this is 'a learning laboratory'.
So dont forget Tuesday 21st April to hear Sudanta on the second training programme. This will be thought provoking.
Deirdre Hynes
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