Fareham Lord Mayor helps Solent Speakers celebrate 20th anniversary

The club, who host meetings in Fareham’s Lysses House Hotel, welcomed the town’s Lord Mayor Fred Birkett and Mayoress Lisa Birkett for a special birthday get-together.

Solent Speakers showcased what a Toastmasters club is all about with three prepared speeches from members and impromptu speaking opportunities known as Table Topics.

Toastmasters is a not-for-profit global organisation that aims to provide tools and a safe space to practice public speaking skills.

Solent Speakers have a variety of members from all walks of like and experiences, who join the club for various personal or business reasons, all aiming to gain confidence in public speaking.

One of their newest members, James, gave his ‘ice breaker’ speech, the first speech in the educational programme Toastmaster provides.

The Lord Mayor also spoke about the merits of public speaking skills and his own journey.

He told attendees: ‘You’ll start to build reserves of experience and experience is the foundation of confidence.

‘This confidence will truly aid you in general life activities, make you a much more confident person, employee, leader, and quite obviously public speaker.’

For those unfamiliar with a Toastmasters meeting, there are usually two halves to the night, and a break for networking.

One of the main traits of Toastmasters is the ‘on the day’ feedback for each speaker, called evaluations. These give the opportunity to highlight positive feedback as well as points of improvement.

Feedback is always constructive and is one of the tools for improving speaking skills and boost confidence.

Solent Speakers committee member Gavin Meikle said: ‘Toastmasters is a fabulous organisation and Solent Speakers are an excellent club.’

Apart from planned speeches, there is also a section on spontaneous public speaking, Table Topics. The club had several visitors bravely step up to the stage, as well the Lord Mayor, who won the award for best Table Topic Speaker.

Solent Speakers vice-president Sau-Wan Lai remarked: ‘I joined Toastmasters in 2021 and I enjoy the meetings because they are fun and I learn a lot.

‘Each time something new resonates or I gleam a nugget of advice that will help me improve my public speaking.’

Sau-Wan Lai is a co-founder of commercial surveying firm Wheeler & Lai Chartered Surveyors and discovered Toastmasters through networking.

Solent Speakers provides a hybrid meeting every first and third Tuesday of the month, held at Lysses House Hotel, High Street, Fareham (7.15pm-9.30pm) as well as over Zoom for online members and visitors.

Most Toastmaster groups allow guests to visit a few times for free before signing up for a membership.

Visit toastmasters.org for more information.