This year marks the 10th anniversary of City Limits Speakers, and the club has recently celebrated its 500th meeting. That achievement merits a special speech, but why not a whole online workshop dedicated to creating Speeches for Special Occasions?
Following on from the highly successful Wedding Speech Workshop, Toastmaster Andrew P Bennett DTM devised a session with model speeches and coaching on how to create the speech for your special occasion. This was enjoyed by the club members and guests on November 14th.
The very first speech example came with President David Salamons’ meeting introduction which was a model of how to’ Introduce a Speaker’ correctly. This is so often done haphazardly , but it is an important skill not only for our Toastmasters meetings , but to take out into the world when we are asked to MC at conferences and events of all kinds.
There was something of a seasonal feel to the workshop as TM Sophia White, a sommelier by profession, offered ‘A Toast to Jack Frost’ and TM Serena O’Keefe ‘A Comedy Roast of Father Christmas.’
President Elect Julie Parker and VPM Jill Segal shared the ‘Giving and Receiving of an Award.’ In this instance an award to the Best Dressed Christmas Shopper!
VPE Marc Lottig offered the ‘After Dinner Speech’ using elements from a speech hot off the press that he had given at a breakfast business club just a few days earlier.
A poignant moment came when DTM Andrew, our Workshop Leader, shared a ‘Eulogy’ entitled ‘ Latter Day Viking’ These were words that he had written following the death of his elder brother last year.
Speaking at a funeral or commemoration is one of the toughest situations a speaker can find themselves in. It was important that we discussed how to create and deliver this kind of speech in our workshop session.
Breakout time gave the opportunity for our guests to share the speeches that they were working on and receive feedback from City Limits Members. DTM Andrew had also devised some Table Topics around Special Occasion Speech themes so that everyone got to try out their voice during the session.
Wonderful support was given by Kim Crosby , Zoom Master and Leo Shkembi, Sergeant At Arms.
President Elect Julie Parker
& Andrew P Bennett DTM
Last Updated on 30th November 2024 by Allen Paul