Speech criteria

In this blog i will deal with gestures in the context of public speaking. Gestures are an important ingredient,they convey a message, they focus attention on the speaker, they also can enrich a speech. When a speech is delivered from behind a lectern gestures can be limited, best to move around and use simple and natural gestures. Body language should be comfortable for the speaker and enjoyable for your audience. We all have heard the expression, he talks with his hands. Next time you see a public speaker take note of the gestures, are they simple, natural, add meaning to the message.? If yes enjoy them.

A Donegal Afternoon

On yesterday May16th I attended a very enjoyable event in Temple Bar. It was Donegal Live- a showcase of Donegal through music and song. I first heard about it on "Morning Ireland" on Friday morning. As was correctly stated on radio Donegal was so long referred to as the forgotton county owing to its geographic situation and access, now the situation has changed owing to a better road system and its local airport. The event yesterday really consolidated all that is positive about the county in its cultural and musical tradition. Donegal has a great record in this sphere, mention Bridie Gallagher, Daniel O!Donnell among others. Music transcends all barriers and especially traditional irish music played in any location. Pakie Bonner who will ever forget Italia 90 in Genoa. As I already stated it is great to be in a position to showcase your native county in all its positive aspects. Every county in the country would benefit from such an occassion. We live in a multicultural society, everybody is welcome to savour our great Irish culture. Failte gach duine.

Organize your Speech

Greetings hope you are enjoying my blogs (Public Speaking) so far. The last blog dealt with the first speech to a toastmasters club. (The Icebreaker) There are ten projects in the basic manual. I will now deal with Project 2, the main criteria here is to organize the speech. This means to select an outline. a clear message and conclusion. Outline: Opening sentence, quotation or maybe a question. the purpose here is to capture the attention of the audience. All this leads to the body of the speech, (main point, support material.) After this is the conclusion, (review or summary, maybe a memorable statement) Time for this speech is 5-7 minutes. The main word to describe this project is organization. The technical elements described in a previous blog(voice projection and speaking rate, eye contact apply to all project speeches. I will leave it at that for the moment. happy speaking.

The Conference

Hello everybody and well done on a great show yesterday,it really will remain in my memory for a long time. Everything went perfect,the rehersal on Tuesday certainly paid off in no small way.I feel the great message is press ahead intergenerational learning has many positive aspects both for the learners and the students, and this was endorsed by everybody yesterday. As I mentioned in my speech great friendships have been established and this is so enriching on so many levels at any age. I attended the health workshop and really the message was to take time out and be still, we all need to do this. Finally lets remember yesterday as a defining moment for the Intergenerational Learning Project.

Speech Evaluation

When a speech is being evaluated in a toastmasters club the important criteria is how it was delivered not its content. Eye contact, projection of voice, dress, pace and general presentation are all important elements. (1) Constructive suggestion as to how presentation could be improved for future speeches. The first speech from the basic manual is called the icebreaker. It is 4-6 minutes and the main idea to introduce yourself to your fellow toastmasters, ( nothing too personal) what you are comfortable with. Notes encouraged for the early stages. I will deal more with notes in a future blog. P. J.