Here is a six-part conversation by some of the World Champs of Public Speaking. These are the guys that you get to hang out with if you attend the Toastmasters International Convention.

Here is a six-part video – Conversation with the Champs. For many more free educational videos from Darren, check out his YouTube site.

Anyway, here are the videos – enjoy!

In this message, presented to District at Toastmasters Club Officer Training, held on 20 June, 2009 I discuss how the young average in Africa (19), and the troubling economic times provide a huge opportunity for Toastmasters in Africa, and in particular in Southern Africa. It is a message of growth for our organisation.

Excuse the background – the training was in a ballet hall! I guess I have spoken in strange venues. Anyway, the main thing is to listen to the message, and not to watch the background.

• Are your presentations dull and boring?
• Do you want to add spice to your images?
• Are you looking for quality images that you can use for free?

If so, you need to watch this 4 1/2 minute long video. It shows a simple step by step process that you can follow to find quality royalty-free images for your next presentation!

It uses the photo-sharing website – www.flickr.com to find images that you can commercially use at no cost.

Monday evening was the annual humour-hopabout contest, hosted by Table Bay Toastmasters club in Cape Town. Since I am a Toastmasters district officer, I am usually not allowed to enter contests. However, because this is not an official contest, I was able to enter.

The humour-hopabout contest has been running since 1980 and it always draws fierce competition, a large audience, and lots of laughter. To compete, you need to present a 3-4 minute long humorous speech. I believe that the more you speak, the more you learn (stage time), so I entered the contest.

Well, imagine my surprise when I won the contest with my speech, which examined the lighter side of mobile phones. Clearly, I must be learning something from the Champions Edge. I also re-listened to Darren?s Make em Laugh set the week before the contest, which helped me to focus on and edit my speech.

So, at least for the next year I am the humour champion in Cape Town!

Oh, and I have just realised that this is my 100th post on my blog!

Here is the audio-only version.

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Speech presented by Lois in February, 2008. She speaks about who you see when you look in the mirror.

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Speech presented by Lois in November, 2007. A humorous speech based on the story about the boat and the lighthouse.

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