Club Achievements 2008/2009
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Club Competition Winners
Humorous Speech contest - Joydev Nandi Table Topics contest - International Speech contest - Joydev Nandi Evaluation contest - |
Area Competition Winner
Humorous Speech contest - Joydev Nandi Club Workshops Evaluation workshop - Lilian Nandi |
A word from Lilian - Club President 2008/2009
I feel very privileged to be a member of Toastmasters International and West London Speakers. To have served as the Club President of West London Speakers has indeed been an honour. In this brief transcript I would like to share with you how my ideas on public speaking have evolved since being a member of West London Speakers. All ideas are open to debate and discussion. There are three points I would like to make.
Firstly, I believe public speaking is by and large an acquired skill as is reading. We and the education system recognise that reading is an acquired skill but have forgotten that public speaking is also an acquired skill and no one is born able to speak. As such learning how to speak in public deserves as much time, effort and energy devoted to it as we devote to teaching children how to read. Our predecessors understood this very well. For the past 5000 years schools worldwide actually taught their students the art of public speaking and it was a core and compulsory subject. It is only recently public speaking has stopped being a core subject in the school curriculum. Ancient civilisations such as the Greeks, Romans, Chinese, and Indians all understood this extremely well. It was even well understood in the early 20th century. Winston Churchill, one of the greatest orators of the 20th century, made a conscious decision to master the skill of public speaking and it is interesting to note that one of the greatest orators in the world also had a stammer! It is said that Winston Churchill even decided at which point in a speech he would take his glasses off. Churchill practised endlessly in order that he could appear natural. Even being natural takes a great deal of work.
Secondly, it is about practice, practice, practice. The more we do the better we get. There is no secret. It is like learning how to play an instrument. What we think of as a lack of confidence is actually a lack of familiarity.
Thirdly, public speaking is an art form - a beautiful art form - for me it is not all about being functional, which is not to decry the very important functional aspect of public speaking - but personally it is the artistic dimension which I find the most attractive. A really good public speaker, I believe, has developed a good appreciation of structure and form of the language. Those public speeches that have stood the test of time have a certain degree of elegance to them.
My personal objective is to master and become proficient in all the different forms of public speaking such technical presentations, debating and even panel discussions. Furthermore, my secret ambition is that one day I will be good enough to be invited to become a panel member of the TV programme 'Question Time'.
To conclude, I hope this has provided you with some insight into the world of public speaking and has inspired you to find out more. As mentioned before all these ideas are open for discussion and debate.
Firstly, I believe public speaking is by and large an acquired skill as is reading. We and the education system recognise that reading is an acquired skill but have forgotten that public speaking is also an acquired skill and no one is born able to speak. As such learning how to speak in public deserves as much time, effort and energy devoted to it as we devote to teaching children how to read. Our predecessors understood this very well. For the past 5000 years schools worldwide actually taught their students the art of public speaking and it was a core and compulsory subject. It is only recently public speaking has stopped being a core subject in the school curriculum. Ancient civilisations such as the Greeks, Romans, Chinese, and Indians all understood this extremely well. It was even well understood in the early 20th century. Winston Churchill, one of the greatest orators of the 20th century, made a conscious decision to master the skill of public speaking and it is interesting to note that one of the greatest orators in the world also had a stammer! It is said that Winston Churchill even decided at which point in a speech he would take his glasses off. Churchill practised endlessly in order that he could appear natural. Even being natural takes a great deal of work.
Secondly, it is about practice, practice, practice. The more we do the better we get. There is no secret. It is like learning how to play an instrument. What we think of as a lack of confidence is actually a lack of familiarity.
Thirdly, public speaking is an art form - a beautiful art form - for me it is not all about being functional, which is not to decry the very important functional aspect of public speaking - but personally it is the artistic dimension which I find the most attractive. A really good public speaker, I believe, has developed a good appreciation of structure and form of the language. Those public speeches that have stood the test of time have a certain degree of elegance to them.
My personal objective is to master and become proficient in all the different forms of public speaking such technical presentations, debating and even panel discussions. Furthermore, my secret ambition is that one day I will be good enough to be invited to become a panel member of the TV programme 'Question Time'.
To conclude, I hope this has provided you with some insight into the world of public speaking and has inspired you to find out more. As mentioned before all these ideas are open for discussion and debate.
