New Experiences for Carlisle Speakers

During October Carlisle and District Speakers Club held some ‘Introduction to Public Speaking Classes.’ Aimed at improving speaking skills in the workplace. Susan Trafford delivered training on subjects such as Meeting Skills and Chairmanship, Speech Delivery, Presentation Skills, and Spontaneous Speaking in situations such as Media Interviews and Cold Calling.

Participants came from a wide variety of backgrounds, from students to the Business Sector and both the Third and Statutory Sectors were also represented.

                               

Sue Steele (Left) conducted 

a Cold Calling Exercise. 

Whilst Sarah Rayson (Right)

gave a Presentation for Evaluation 

Participants felt the training given was excellent and some useful tips were learnt. Some hope to return to the next club night. They will be most welcome.

The classes involved existing members in a range of new experiences. From the planning to delivery, there were opportunities for some members to be involved at all stages. From going out to speak to business groups such as the Chamber of Commerce and Cumbrian Women in Enterprise, to contacting organizations to offer them the opportunity to participate. Opportunities for members also involved the development of the class programme together with preparation of handouts and certificates. All these experiences reflect workplace skills that members will draw benefit from.

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COMPETITIVE TIMES at Carlisle and District Speakers Club

2^nd. October saw our members taking part in Informal Speech and Topics contests.

This was a real learning curve for our members because we decided that all the members would take part in the judging. Using the judging sheets normally used at formal ASC contests all the members set to, marking the individual contestants.

Judging training had been given during the previous meeting and members found that it was helpful to quickly put into practise all that they had learnt.

All the skills we learn at Carlisle Speakers Club are directly transferable to the workplace. Judging is a useful skill, learning to compare like with like in numerical form, teaching the need to listen to the very essence of something and therefore, can be usefully employed in workplace, for example during the interview process.

There was a tie for first place in the Speech Contest between Abi Lindsay (pictured to the left of the photo) and Sarah Rayson to the right, with Jess SInclair Acting President, presenting their certificates.  Their Speech titles were

“What makes us Motivated?”  and “Real or Not Real?”.

After a well-earned refreshment break the contests resumed with the Topics Contest. Often viewed by many members with apprehension, Topics is a real test of ‘thinking on your feet’. With only 10 seconds thinking time, contestants are expected to make a 3 minute speech on any subject. This time the topic was ‘Seasons’. All the contestants managed their 3 minutes, some with powerful descriptions of colourful leaves. However, ON THE NIGHT, Abi was judged, winner, drawing on her recent experiences of seeing the different stages of Autumn as she travelled the USA.

Acquiring the skills required for topics can be useful for sorts occasions, particularly improving Interview Skills.

No Speaking Contest can be managed without Timekeepers, so we were grateful to former members, and now Friends of Carlisle and District Speakers Club, Christine Shuttleworth and Nora Cooper who came to manage this aspect of the evening.

Chairperson for the evening was Susan Trafford.

 

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