Chiltern Speakers is a Toastmasters Club that has been running successfully since 2003 by a volunteer committee who hold our posts for a year from July till June. We don’t always take centre stage at meetings though – all members gets a chance to do that. (see ‘Meeting Roles‘) Here is a quick introduction to the committee for 2011-12.
Club President: Krys Duvall
- Opens and closes club meetings
- Chairs committee meetings
- Oversees the smooth running of the club and the activities of the committee
VP Education: Jane Penson
- Organises the club schedule, making sure that the roles meetings are shared around, giving all members a chance to participate.
- Helps members to understand and gain the graded Toastmasters awards to the extent that they are interested to do so.
Jane is passionate about words, writing and language in general. She likes cats, is interested in birds, and is happy in wellies helping to monitor the health of the River Misbourne. She gave a speech in which she claimed to be a witch once, and nobody is completely sure that it isn’t true.
Treasurer: Mike Kavanagh
- Keeps the books in order
- Collects club membership dues twice a year
Membership: Zaklina Petrovic
- Welcomes new members and provides them with the information they need when deciding to join
- Keeps up to date records of club membership
PR: Phillip Sheahan
Promotes the club’s programme and activities with the aim of increasing the club’s profile and attracting new members.
Phillip is passionate about words and performance both as a business tool and for entertainment. Not surprising then that he acts, writes plays, stories and poetry, and occasionally directs. He also likes to do role play – mainly on the golf course or tennis court where he pretends to be a man whose success is much better than his score would indicate.
Club Secretary: Esther King
- Takes minutes at committee meetings
Sergeant at Arms: David Selwood
- In charge of starting of meeting with the big hammer!
- Responsible for making sure the meeting room and all the paraphernalia are ready for a successful evening for all. But truth is mainly in charge of tea, coffee and biscuits; so be nice to me.
Members
There are roughly 20 other members of the club, some of whom have been coming for years and have collected a string of Toastmasters awards. These people give great speeches, can always be relied upon to support newer members and can fulfill any role if someone drops out at short notice. We are also welcoming new members all the time who range from the quietly confident who are keen to improve their skills, to the frankly terrified. It only takes a short time for them to feel at home with us and to deliver their first speech to loud applause.