Sunday, 8 July 2012

BISC - 27 June 2012

Those of us in the audience on Wednesday night could really see the progress all participants have made over the year.  I really take pride in seeing how speakers, presenters and evaluators have improved and how professionally everyone undertakes their role.

We were a relatively small group this evening – only 9 members turned up but so did 4 guests, giving the applause a lot more volume.  Jin was first up with his maiden speech and as it was on the theme of ‘Corridors of Power’, the politician in him shone through.  Having already proved himself as a champion debater, this newcomer will be one to seriously watch as the next speaker competitions come round.  Following Jin was Lorna, the most experienced speaker in our group, who showed us all how these things should be done.

Our evaluators for the evening, Josie and Lyn, gave excellent feedback – commenting on what was done really well and giving at least one suggestion for improvement to each of the speakers.

Mercedes made a great presenter – welcoming everyone and keeping the evening running smoothly and with great enjoyment for all.

The club news covered highlights of the Regional conference and an announcement of the club social on 25th July.  Lyn is organising this and will be in touch with everyone soon with further details but for now, we know it will be at the venue we enjoyed so much last year – the canalside Pitcher and Piano in Brindley Place.

The workshop following our coffee break was led by Allan on the use of a lectern.  I don’t think anyone could imagine how Allan was going to make this interesting, let alone fun.  But in giving us really useful tips, illustrated by his observations from our own good and not so good practices, he made it entertaining.  And he really drove his point home when he asked for a few volunteers to give a one-minute speech, first using the lectern and then repeating the same speech without the lectern.  There’s no doubt that a speaker is more engaging, more alive, when they put the lectern aside and remove all barriers between themselves and their audience.

Carole Manship

BISC President

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