It proved to be another great night. Almost 30 people attended with a good 8 or 9 getting up to give it a blast. Speeches covered included, out of the box thinking, gratitude, thoughts from Hector and Iliad and interview techniques of Kinnock and Thatcher. As always, Mr President was on blistering form doing the welcome and facilitation like only he can.

What an opening night! With around 50 people in attendance the BSC got off to a flying start last night. Mr President was on blistering form as he introduced speakers new and not so new.
It was great to see so many newcomers having a go at the podium. The Circle is back!

Hello Blog readers, the Circle had a most enjoyable Annual dinner last Monday evening, the 4th April, at Ormeau Golf Club.  We were very pleased with such a good turn out of people.   Everyone appreciated the talk by guest speaker Aidan Campbell, and the excellent meal, followed by presentation of trophies.  I was pleased to make comment on all the positive happenings in the Circle since last September, in my role as President.  I also thanked the supportive committee and in particular our Hon Secretary Maureen Barnes, for all her help and advice throughout the season. 
 
The AGM of the Circle will take place on Monday 11th April at the usual time and venue.

The Speakers' Circle had a most enjoyable evening on Monday 7th March, where members read out passages of their favourite prose or poetry and gave some background details about the writers and the reasons why their work appealed to them.
 
After some refreshments, there was some discussion about the forthcoming annual dinner and the necessary preparations for this event.
 
If you are a member, or have been a former member, our Secretary Mrs Maureen Barnes will have mailed to you details of menu choices, time and venue.
 
If you are a visitor to this site, but are interested in learning more about the Circle you will be most welcome to join us for the dinner on Monday April 4th at 7 for 7.30pm, at Ormeau Golf Club, Belfast.   Our Guest Speaker will be Mr Aidan Campbell who has written many books on the history of East Belfast.   Please contact our Secretary at [email protected]  before 26th March who will give you details of cost and menu choices.    Looking forward to seeing you, members, friends, supporters and visitors on Monday 4th April

Welcome Blog readers to our site.   We were very grateful to our Secretary Maureen for the clearly presented list of topics for debate and an information sheet on the role descriptions for this activity - Chairperson, the proposer and opposer of the motion.
 
I was most impressed by the persuasive eloquence,and the skilful use of facts in presenting logical arguments.  Michael's team tackled the motion that  'This House believes it is always better to tell the truth', but the masterful wordsmithery of William led to the opposition carrying the motion.   
Next was Tom's team to lay out their arguments for and against the motion that, ' This House believes that patients should be charged if they miss appointments'.  In spite of Kate's impassioned case for the motion, Maureen persuaded the House to the contrary.
After some refreshments, and some discussion a decision was made to have a festive lunch on Wednesday 9th December at 2pm in Belfast Indoor Bowls Club, which is just after the Ramada Hotel, Shaws' Bridge.    Again, members and guests will be most welcome.
 
The season begins again on Monday 11th January when the activity will centre around the contents of Pandora's Box.   I will be going off on holiday, and would like to extend my thanks to our very supportive Secretary Maureen Barnes who will stand in for me.  
 
With every good wish for the Festive season and the New Year.

The Circle was pleased to welcome back as adjudicators, two past Presidents, Desmond and Hilary Stephens, last night.  They reminded us of former years' activities when meetings were well attended by  a range of occupational groups, all keen to develop and refine their public speaking skills.   The current President, yours truly, welcomed them to the meeting and outlined, for participants, the requirements of the practice skills and the timings involved.    Then Desmond spoke about the kinds of things he and Hilary would be looking for in an effective speech.
He referred to the five 'p's' that's to say - voice projection, pitch, power, pause and poise, and of saying something the audience can relate to. The speaker should move on to the main body of the speech, progressing to a well-rounded finish.
 
Suitable primed members, had four minutes maximum to address their chosen topic.  That first task completed, the Extempore titles were distributed and ten minutes given for preparation with maximum time of three minutes.  Surprisingly, this activity saw more spontaneity, so obviously less time to ponder what to say, was an advantage here.
 
The adjudicators gave helpful opinions and pointers as to how particular speeches could be improved etc.  The President then thanked Hilary and Stephen for the most valuable awareness -raising of techniques to improve our public speaking skills.  Our Secretary presented them with a token of thanks and the meeting finished with some refreshments.
 
Next week's activity on Monday 30th November, will be on the theme of Debating techniques and once again, we will be pleased to see new people come along, whether to observe or participate.

Members and guests at the Circle were intrigued by an exercise involving question asking and information giving last night. They were individually given the task of selecting the name of a well-known character randomly, and describing him or her, as if they were that person, for up to thirty seconds.  The audience then asked questions to which replies could only be yes or no.  Powers of astute logical deduction, were dazzlingly in evidence, or maybe not?  The winner was determined by the longest time taken to guess who they were.   

Afterwards the topics for next weeks prepared speech adjudication were  distributed.  For those of you who couldn't make it along last night, here they are: 1.The love of money is the root of all evil?

2.Health is wealth.   3.I couldn't live without...............4. Has Society progressed?     5.My ideal address.   6.Can we believe what we read?

Hoping to see you all next week.  Just a reminder that we hope to go out for a meal to La Scalinis on Monday 7th December, so please be in touch with our Secretary for more details if you wish to be part of the group.