Well, I must say this was a really interesting and useful night.  How enjoyable/challenging it is, to be given a list of topics, then ten minutes to prepare what you're going to say to a supportive audience, for a maximum of 4 minutes.  
President Kathy introduced the theme and welcomed members and visitors.  She talked interestingly about some amazing sights from nature, right on her own doorstep ( which was under the flight path of migratory birds ) and of rescued stray swan, Maria. 
Then we started preparations for the activity.  Here's the list of topics.
1. My favourite book.  2. Manners maketh the man.  3. Lipstick powder and paint. 4. Health is wealth
5. How I would deal with the Health Crisis.  6. Will we ever win the fight against crime? 
7. You can't choose your family, but you can pick your friends.   8. What I would like to see for my neighbourhood.   9. Roses are red, violets are blue, my garden is my haven, what about you?
10. What a difference a day makes.

Anyhow maybe you might have some strategies as to how you would go about talking for up to 4 minutes on your choice of any of the above?   As usual members and some visitors took on the challenge and made interesting, entertaining speeches.

When everyone who wished to speak had finished ( it's always voluntarily at the Speakers' Circle), the guest adjudicator for the evening, Mavis Turner, distributed written critiques and gave  her observations and some very useful tips on tackling this type of activity.  She considered it important to choose your topic carefully, then stick to it, and clarify it, in the ten minutes available as preparation time.
Stance was important, relax, drop your shoulders etc. even smile - Announce your subject, then stop and take a breath.   Have bullet points in your prepared notes, and to help you smoothly from one point to the next, use link phrases like, ' be that as it may', however etc.    Keep your hands by your side, don't fidget as it distracts audience.  Keep eye contact, scan audience etc.   Use of recall can bring back memories.  Be careful of using lists of things as this can become monotonous.   Be careful also of your tone of voice - if you start too high, you've nowhere else to go.  Diction also requires care - take time to finish words.   If you think you are going to exceed the time limit, prepare your last sentence and try to tie in the end of the speech with the beginning.

Kathy closed the meeting by thanking the adjudicator for her very helpful advice and invited everyone to take some refreshments.

Next Monday, 3rd November, we have our Hallowe'een Party night, so scary costumes and ghost stories welcome............and of course, any of you, out there who care to join us.

Once again the Belfast Speakers' Circle was pleased to welcome visitors and hopefully prospective new members to its meeting last Monday evening.   Kathy made everyone welcome and introduced the theme of this evening - which was to have chosen one of the topics on last week's circulated list, and to speak to it, for up to four minutes.  Since an adjudicator hadn't been able to make it this evening, she described how informal mentoring of members speeches could be a useful substitute activity.  Relevant comment could be made about strong points of presentation or about aspects that could be improved upon. 

From the list of topics, members seemed to favour the following themes - 'Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm'.   Three members outlined how they were impressed by these words of Winston Churchill's and found inspiration from them guiding their own lives.   One of our members gave a most entertaining speech on the theme, of 'You are what you eat' - and in the course of so doing admitted of his own liking for pigs' tails!    Some members talked about their experience of Tweeting - the pros and cons etc. 
One member even talked about the pros and cons of ' Why I would like to live in a lighthouse'.!

So, as you see, the evening was varied, entertaining, inspiring and challenging, but above all a worthwhile way of spending an hour or two on a Monday evening.

Kathy concluded the evening by thanking everyone for their contributions including the guests for being supportive listeners and invited everyone to have some refreshments.   Next week's activity would be the exciting one of extempore speaking- that's to say only five to ten minutes preparation time.   So go on, surprise yourself.  After all, how true is it, that you don't know what you think until you've said it?   :  <   ))  

Check us out next week again - and maybe see you there? 

Kathy welcomed everyone to the meeting and referred to last week's enjoyable readings of selected poems from around the world.  She introduced member Ann Hunter, who outlined a few helpful points in relation to this evening's practice activity.  Ann advised letting your eye run ahead to the next few words, so as to allow time to look up at the audience.  Stand slightly to the side, and avoid covering your mouth with the page. Let your voice reflect emotion, and don't be self-conscious about the possibility of misprononcing words.  Bearing the above in mind members gave some hilarious renderings from Graham Norton's Problem pages or selected more factual articles.
Kathy then distributed the activity for next week, the 20th October - a list of topics for a prepared speech lasting up to four minutes.

So just imagine how YOU might approach the following?  Isn't it a valuable activity to clarify your thinking, and challenging yourself?  Why not visit us, even to listen to how others tackle the tasks.  You just might be inspired into doing even better yourself !

1. To tweet or not to tweet.......that is the question!

2. Art's most fundamental importance is not as decor but as an avenue of intellectual communication.

3. You are what you eat.

4. Should we grow old gracefully?

5. 'Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm'. (Winston Churchill)

6. Does travel broaden the mind?

7. Why I would like to live in a lighthouse.

Maybe see you next week?  You'd be very welcome.

We were pleased to see quite a few visitors come along to investigate what the Speakers' Circle activities entailed last Monday evening.    Hopefully they were impressed with the standard of spoken expression of some inspirational poems  and that we'll see them revisit us.   So if you're reading about us on the website, do check the activities from week to week and once again you will be made most welcome and can be assured of a supportive audience. 

Next Monday, we will be practising sight reading skills - a chance to focus on groupings of words, raise our eyes from the page, engage the audience directly, and aim to communicate clearly and audibly.   I don't know if you agree with me, but why is it, when you attend meetings, or take part in group discussions, some people fail to make themselves audible, pronounce words unclearly and seem unaware that their audience cannot hear what they are saying.   Such a shame because maybe we missed out on something really worth hearing.   I'll get off my soap box now :  <   ))................................and maybe see some of you next week?