In March 2020 Bradford Speaks made history by becoming the first Toastmasters International club in Bradford, however, due to the Coronavirus Crisis we had to move our meetings online ever since.

The 6th October 2021 at 6.45pm for 7pm start will be our first face to face meeting since becoming a fully-affiliated club and we know that our members can’t wait to get back together again in person.  We have received so many enquiries from potential new members who have been waiting for us to announce a date of our intention to re-establish face to face meetings.

Our use of online technology has allowed us to stay in touch and continue on our learning journey, and whilst some clubs have thrived online, you cannot beat the real experience of speaking in public, getting that instant feedback from your audience and feeling the fear and doing it anyway.

We’ve also changed our start time to 6.45pm for a 7pm start.

Come and join us, catch up and have some fun.

Tonight, Wednesday 15th September we hosted our first ever local competition for the Humorous Speech and Table Topics categories.  The meeting was our last ever online.

The Contest Chair, Tina Norbury DTM led the inaugural event ensuring a strict and fair competition took place.

It was a fun and interesting evening with some great funny speeches and a table topics competition which as always throws members into a little panic as they have to apply their impromptu speaking skills at lightening speed to deliver a 1-2.30 minute speech.

Our Area Director, Dan Massarano, ACB ALB attended the event and announced the winners.  Janice George-Pinard won the Humorous Speech contest with Philip Cavalier-Lumley and Hauwa El-Marzuq coming second and third place respectively.  Janice also picked up a win for the Table Topics contest which means that she will be representing Bradford at the Area 15 ONLINE competition on 30th October 2021.

Congratulations not only to Janice on her success, but to all members who took part.  Competing in public speaking certainly stretches you, your skills and confidence.  It is one of the great features of being a member of Toastmasters International that members get to put into practice their new found confidence, speech writing and communication skills in a safe and friendly environment.

A grateful thanks to members from around the TMI network who logged in to join us and help run the meeting.

Our next meeting is FACE TO FACE on 6th October 2021 at our NEW START TIME 6.45pm for a 7pm start.

On Wednesday 19th May the committee for July 2021- June 2022 were appointed as follows:-

Janice George-Pinard, President

Tina Norbury DTM, Vice-President of Education

Mo Subhi, Vice-President of Membership

Philip Cavalier-Lumley, Vice-President of PR

Hauwa El-Marzuq, Secretary

Andris Berzins, Treasurer

Sarah Yaccabe, Sergeant At Arms

It always gives me a buzz going to Toastmasters in Bradford: entering the Midland Hotel from its carpark entrance – walking up the ramp tiled and furnished, instantly reminiscent of a bygone era of steam trains and porters, and travellers thankfully resting in the grand splendour of Bradford’s fine Midland Hotel.  That sets the scene as I go into the hotel and take the grand staircase up to the Toastmasters’ meeting room.

As always, there is the welcoming Toastmasters meeting banner and a warm, welcoming, friendly atmosphere in the room, comfortably laid out for the meeting.  Everyone is greeted and welcomed with encouragement and smiles, mostly by Phil, the President; and given a copy of the agenda by Andris.  Though today’s meeting was beset by very many last minute changes due to a few unavoidable absences,  Phil and Andris were able to rearrange the programme thinking on their feet and a few people stepped up at the last minute to fill roles.

Mo was scheduled for the timekeeper role and valiantly also took on the Sergeant at arms role too.  Andrew took on the role of ah counter and Hamza the grammarian.  The word of the day was posthaste, possibly a somewhat old fashioned word – though Phil assured us of his use of this and gave humorous examples!

I was expecting to evaluate a speech and in the absence of the speaker my role changed to general evaluator, and Table Topics evaluator.

Following Mo calling the meeting to order with a reminder about silencing mobile phones and other housekeeping matters, Phil started the meeting in his role as President, informing about the changed agenda as well as reiterating the reasons why we come to Toastmasters.  He introduced Andris as the Toastmaster for the evening, a role that Andris had also accepted at very short notice.  Andris made the usual introductions for Andrew, Hamza and Mo to come up to explain their roles.  They all did very well considering the short time they had to consider and prepare!

Phil did an encouraging educational speech on impromptu speaking which ironically, he gave ‘off the cuff’, that is to say his speech was impromptu!  His advice was very much practical and he demonstrated with a ‘humble 99p plastic pen’. I was captivated by some of his phrasing: “spasm around in the brain” when he was referring to the stress most people have in public speaking; and “we show them they’re still alive” when he talked about how people fear Table Topics but after giving their impromptu speech they find they were actually OK!  I personally found his speech very useful when I was called up to give my Table Topic speech later in the evening!

In the second half of the meeting, Phil was the Table Topics master and gave a very interesting selection of topics.  His choice of topic for a father and his son visiting for the first time, and brave enough to step up to take on Table Topics, was inspired and the resulting talks these two gave were really very very good! The son’s topic was: ‘ What would you do if you were 37?’ and the father’s topic was: ‘ What were your dreams for your life when you were 11?’

Overall, the standard of the Table Topic speeches was very high and highly entertaining!

The final item on the revised agenda was when the President closed the meeting with a joke that linked to one of the earlier Table Topics – a smooth finish.

For me it was a highly enjoyable evening learning new roles and gave me a feeling of a little more confidence in impromptu speaking.

Norma

With a whole two months left of this decade why not grab it by the scruff of the neck and try something new for November?

If you want to get your heart racing you don’t need to head to the gym, many people find the challenge of public speaking enough to have that effect! It doesn’t have to be that way though. Like going to the gym, the first time you do it, it’s likely to be pretty challenging but you’ll be guaranteed to feel good afterwards. Also like going to the gym, public speaking is like developing strength, the more you practise, the better you get, and the more you diversify what you practice the better and more well-rounded your performance will be. UNLIKE going to the gym, which can be a pretty boring and solitary experience, staring at rows of people on treadmills or going nowhere on a bike, Bradford Speaks is a warm, welcoming club where being sociable and inclusive is part of our ethos. You can often find us in the lobby of our meeting venue before our meeting time, grabbing a bite to eat and having a good catch up and getting to know new people.

People come to Bradford Speaks for all sorts of reasons, some people need to deliver presentations at work and would like to improve their confidence and impact, some members want to improve their general confidence and communication skills, and others simply want to meet new people and learn new skills at the same time. Whatever your reason for coming, you’ll fit right in.

We regularly interact with other Toastmasters clubs, being invited to local events such as speech contests and workshops from master speakers. Toastmasters as an organisation is nearly 100 years old, with over 350,000 members, in 143 countries, in 16,600 clubs. It’s ways of working have stood the test of time and membership is growing.

Toastmasters isn’t related to officiating ceremonies, as per a common UK misconception. (You could of course do that if you become a professional speaker)…

We are an organisation which gives you freedom to:
– Improve your public speaking skills
– Build leadership skills
– Work on networking in a small and supportive environment
– Gain a competitive advantage in the workplace
– Build self-confidence and self-awareness
– Maximise your potential
– Have fun!

If you’d like to join us for our first November meeting, you can let us know your coming by completing this form – or just turn up on the night – 6:15 for 6:30 at The Midland Hotel, Bradford.Look out for the board in the hotel hallway directing you to our meeting room.  There is free parking at the venue and the station is right on the doorstep.

If you’d like to speak to someone before coming, get in touch with the team by filling in this form – and we will be happy to chat to you.

On Wednesday 7th August we hosted a humorous Speaking evening whereby a member of Toastmasters, Kate Trafford from Warrington came to Bradford and delivered a humorous speech followed by a humorous speaking workshop from Jean Stewart, a Toastmaster member from Doncaster.

In addition and as is customary, we planned our table topics session within the meeting and this allowed members to have a go at practicing their impromptu speaking skills. Whilst it is great to practice your speaking skills it is also very important to have an audience so that your can experience the pressure and learn to cope with it.

This event did not disappoint….. we were full, full, full and below are some of things, those who attended, described the evening.

• ‘What an incredible night of energy and engagement. Everyone seems to be buzzing from the atmosphere and the sense of belonging was at an all time high.  As a new club Bradford has really started to lift off and it’s great to be along for the ride.’

• ‘Being at Bradford Speaks last night was a buzz.  A bustling hum of excitement filled the room, as an ensemble gathered for a night of humour.  Two wonderful speakers entertained, enlightened and enthralled the audience in the art of humorous speaking.   An impromptu speech section, Table Topics, brought the nervous, experienced and those in-between, to the fore, with hilarious mini speeches about innate objects such as a cloths peg, Easter bunny and a hat!  Can this happen anywhere else?  I look forward to being at the next meeting. Thank you Bradford Speaks.’

• ‘Great night yesterday ! Thank you.’

• @bfdspeaks Just visited Toastmasters @ Bradford. This was my first visit and everyone was so friendly. The speeches were amazing especially the table topics.