The Bromley Speakers Club is meeting this Thursday at the Ripley Art Centre for an evening of short speeches, table topics, evaluations and more.

It’s fun, it’s friendly and guests are welcome to come along to see what it’s all about, free of charge! We meet at 7:15pm and finish promptly at 9:30pm and then those who want to are welcome to join us in the pub afterwards.

David Henson is doing a speech entitled ‘Four Letters From France’ and we are intrigued to know what it’s all about!

Hope to see you there!

Our Top Tip at Bromley Speakers last week was ‘give yourself permission to fail’. But no-one likes to fail, do they?

What’s important to realise is that failure is an integral part of our path to success and that when you give yourself permission to fail, this actually makes you stronger and more resilient.

If we are participating fully in life, failure is something that can’t be avoided. People who embrace failure are more likely to try new things and aim for more challenging goals, without worrying about damaging their ego.

Here at Bromley Speakers we want our guests and new members to know that this is a safe place to fail. We create a comfortable environment where we can all practice our speaking skills so that when we are in situations outside of the club, such as at work or speaking to an audience – or even in a social environment – we can feel more confident in our speaking ability.

We are here to encourage and guide you; to give you honest and helpful recommendations on what you can do to improve and move forward. That’s why we have mentors to support you on your journey of failures and successes.

But what actually is failure? Failure sounds like a very negative word doesn’t it? The dictionary says that it’s the lack of success, and lack of success doesn’t sound so negative. It just means that we haven’t succeeded…..YET!

Failure is all about perception. It’s the fear of failure itself that holds us back. And the fear of failure is an entirely natural feeling, but it’s just a feeling. It’s a feeling that is brought about by our thoughts and past life experiences.

We need to fail to grow. If we haven’t failed, we’ve probably not been trying hard enough, or ventured far enough outside of our comfort zone. Failure is an opportunity to learn more about ourselves. When we fail, or don’t succeed, it’s a great opportunity to reflect on these experiences and notice if we can learn anything from them.

Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently

Henry Ford

So….. move outside your comfort zone, take a risk – it’s ok to fail. It’s an opportunity to come back stronger and more confident!

Bromley Speakers meets on the first, third and fifth Thursdays of the month at Ripley Arts Centre

Wow what a great first meeting of the Toastmasters year!

Bromley Speakers welcomed three guests, Vicky, Jane and Arun. It’s always a pleasure to welcome guests at the meeting and it was interesting to hear how different an English meeting was to that of one in Dubai, where one of our guests has recently returned from.

The evening started with our Presiding Officer telling us of her success story. Susan Rayner has worked her way up the ranks to become the Vice President Public Relations of District 91, which encompasses the UK South. It’s a fantastic achievement, especially considering that Susan has only been a member of Toastmasters for five years.
Success stories are an initiative started by our Past President, David Henson AKA The Slide Presentation Man. It’s definitely a positive and upbeat way to start the meeting and we intend to keep them coming!

David Henson was our Toastmaster for the evening and ensured that the meeting ran smoothly.  

Simon Maggs, our timekeeper was as humorous as always, and Rajesh Deshmukh kept us on track by counting our ums and ahs. It’s his first time as ‘Ah counter’ and he did a fantastic job.

The hot tip for the meeting was given to us by Ross Taggart: ‘Give Yourself Permission to Fail’. It’s an important message of course, and there will be a blog about that soon, so watch this space!

We all warmed up our vocal cords with Ben Lopez by telling the meeting what our biggest achievement or proudest moment of 2019 was so far and it’s a great way to get to know more about our fellow members and guests.

The Speeches
We had three interesting and informative prepared speeches to kick off the first meeting of the Toastmasters year. The first was delivered by James Kirkby who took us on a bumpy ride entitled ‘The Hell of The North’. It was James’ first speech, known as The Icebreaker, which is usually quite challenging for newcomers, as you can imagine. James rose to the challenge wonderfully and managed to stay in the saddle to the finish line!

Luca Fortuna then entertained us with his tales of ‘The Fancy Rats of the Sky’. I’m not sure many of us knew that he was going to talk about pigeon-keeping but we flew with him on the journey of the history of pigeons which finished with a humorous conclusion. Which reminds me, I must wash my car soon.

The third speech was entitled #deletefacebook and was John Vickers’ seventh speech of the Competent Communicator Manual. The speech was full of fascinating facts about Facebook and social media and it’s amazing (but maybe not too surprising) to find out that a quarter of all people in the world have a Facebook account.

Well done to all the speakers, what an entertaining first half of the meeting.

After tea break we had the Table Topics, led by Jenny Taggart. The general topic this week was ‘Happiness’ and I think it’s fair to say that we discovered that happiness comes from within.

So on that happy note, we went to the pub to put some happiness inside us. Cheers everyone!

Bromley Speakers meets on the first, third and fifth Thursdays of the month at Ripley Arts Centre

We are looking forward to the start of the Toastmaster’s year and the first meeting of Bromley Speakers this evening, with a great agenda of three prepared speeches, three evaluations, a tea break and then some Table Topics. Followed by a drink in the local pub for those who want to socialise a bit longer.

The start of the Toastmaster’s Year also means the birth of a new committee. Have a look at who the new committee members are here.

Committee members are working away behind the scenes to ensure that the meetings run smoothly and that Bromley Speakers is a successful, respected, professional and fun club.

Guests are welcome to come along free, so see you there at Ripley Arts Centre, Bromley. Get there before 7:30 for a prompt 7:30 start.

Bromley Speakers member Susan Shaw will be at the door to meet members and guests.

Can’t wait!

#bromleyspeakers #speaking #publicspeaking #confidence #meeting#bromley #kent #local

Bromley Speakers meets on the first, third and fifth Thursdays of the month at Ripley Arts Centre

Last week our members met at The Manor at Bickley for the Bromley Speakers Annual Dinner.
As always, the weather was extremely kind to us and it was a glorious sunny evening.

The annual dinner is a great opportunity for the members and guests to get to know each other better in a relaxed atmosphere and it was certainly enjoyed by all who went.

Past President Welcomes New President

The Past President, David Henson handed over to our new President, Christine Morrell who then welcomed the new committee for the coming year 2019-20.

Dressed to Impress

Everyone dressed to impress! The sartorially elegant Neil Pettigrew did a fantastic job of being Toastmaster for the evening, really doing us proud in his dinner suit and bow tie.

After Dinner Speaker

One of our members Susan Shaw gave an interesting, enlightening and humorous speech about fragrances, flowers and friendly folk, and we enjoyed her tales of her exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show.

Table Topics

Deborah Goodman was our Table Topics Master for the evening, keenly assisted by her guest Nick Abbott, who was keeping time.

There were some awards given too; for the best Toastmaster of the year, the most improved speaker of the year, the most supportive member of the year and the most dedicated member.

All in all it was a brilliant evening and we are all looking forward to another amazing year ahead.