Why not improve your public speaking?

TOAST Wendy Benson and Keith Oliver celebrate receiving their Silver and Gold Awards with Spinnaker Speakers

Spinnaker Speakers is your local public speaking club where you can improve communication, public speaking and leadership skills.

I have been a member of Spinnaker Speakers for 14 months and have seen a dramatic improvement in my confidence and skills.

Spinnaker Speakers meet on the second and fourth Monday of each month at St Luke’s Church, Southsea; on occasion, we also run training events and competitions.

Through attending meetings, members work through a series of manuals comprised of various speech tasks, from the first icebreaker, to speeches looking to develop specific valuable skills that will make people sit up and take notice of you!

Manuals also set a path for becoming a competent leader in addition to a competent communicator, and members are encouraged to take on various roles at club meetings to help one another, such as being timekeeper.

Spinnaker Speakers is now celebrating two of its longstanding members receiving prestigious awards.

Wendy Benson, after four years with Toastmasters, received her Competent Communicator Silver, which means that she has completed at least 30 prepared speeches.

The next step for Wendy is to work towards her Gold award, which she is aiming to complete by the end of this year.

This means Wendy would need to give 10 more speeches on subjects such as public relations and special occasion speeches.

Our second remarkable member, Keith Oliver, received his Competent Communicator Gold, which means that he has completed at least 40 prepared speeches.

After 12 years with Toastmasters, Keith is now only one award away from becoming a Distinguished Toastmaster, the highest award possible within Toastmasters.

I would encourage anyone wishing to improve their communication, public speaking and leadership skills, or anyone who just wants to try something new and sociable, to get involved in their local speaking club.

If you would like more information on Spinnaker Speakers, our club president, Wendy, can be contacted on 07530748213 or email [email protected].

Alternatively, you can visit our Facebook page at facebook.com/SpinnakerSpeakersToastmasters or visit spinnaker.toastmasterclub.org.