Sutton Speakeasy Wider Society Work

During the Autumn of 2020, Sutton Speakeasy worked in collaboration with the London Borough of Sutton, LBS, and community-based organisation Rotary International to design a public speaking contest for school children. The public speaking contest was part of a series of COP26 activities delivered by the LBS.

Drawing from my own experiences as President and committee member of the local Toastmasters International club, I was able to add value to the design, delivery and evaluation process of the project. Sutton Speakeasy created a contest scorecard and criteria based on scorecards used in previous Sutton Speakeasy speech contests. Sutton Speakeasy also helped to shape the organisation and structure of the contest. The contest attracted participation from a diverse set of schools within the borough. Thought was given to ensure an inclusive range of students for the contest. The contest encompassed students of different ages, genders, ethnicity, ability and background. There was even participation from a pupil referral unit.

Current President of Sutton Speakeasy, Mohammed Ali served as the Chief Judge and was joined by the Past President, Inis Esezobor-Oyekan. The contest was in line with the climate emergency raised by the LBS to become a net zero carbon borough. The contest helped to raise awareness of global climate change and create a call to action in order to tackle it. The involvement of young people in this project showed the importance of inclusion in the global climate change dialogue.

——— Mohammed Ali
——— President of  Sutton Speakeasy for the 2021/22 programme year