Meet a Leader – Simon Bucknall

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Simon is a very busy man. As we approach the International Convention in Vancouver, our District 91 International Speech Contest winner spends his spare time hopping on and off trains travelling to practice his two contest speeches in clubs across the district. Nigel Oseland (NO), our new D91 PR Manager caught up with Simon Bucknall (SB) on a slow and noisy train from Kent.

NO> Simon, I’m quite good at accents but can’t quite place yours; in Hamwic Speakers’ video of the District 91 Contest, you appear to be based in middle-England.

SB> I live in Streatham in South London, Guy applied artistic license to the outside of the house, but I was interviewed at the piano in my living room. I’m originally from Worcestershire but we move around a lot and I have lived in twelve different places.

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Toastmasters International Convention, why did I attend? By Arnaud Sartre

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After attending the World Championship of Public Speaking (WCPS) Finals in Las Vegas, in 2015, I discovered something new, something I did not quite understand at the time, but something that left me wanting more. To paraphrase Dananjaya Hettiarachchi (WCPS, 2014), I saw something, but I did not know what it was … So I decided to attend the Convention in Washington, DC in 2016. I wanted to experience the event from start to finish whilst visiting a city I had never been to before – this is always a bonus!

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Pathways Update, Chief Ambassador, Andy Hammond

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Pathways Update

In the latest Pathways webinar, which I and your local Pathways Ambassadors joined, it was announced that the roll out schedule has been extended.

How does this impact on our District? What does this mean?

This means our Region (we are in Region 11), based on the revised schedule we will not now be getting Pathways until 2018.

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The Only Thing I Needed for Public Speaking I Found in My Tackle Box, by Ben Starling

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Similarities exist between fishing and speech-making? Surely not! Bear with me as I remember how, as a boy, I caught my largest pike…

Know Your Audience

It was a wily old fish that lurked amongst gnarled tree roots at the bend of an oozing river. Others had failed to catch this mighty pike and I’d have failed too if I hadn’t taken the trouble to understand its habits: how it responded to the weather, to river conditions, and what it fed on. Many years later when fully grown, I realised I needed the same understanding of audiences’ traits and habits when making presentations.

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Media Room at the District Conference

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During the conference a Media Room will be set up. The purpose is to allow members to come along and film a short promotion clip for their club. This will be a piece to camera, which will be edited to a 3-5 minute media file for use by your club and the District, to promote your club on websites and social media. Interested?

 

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