


Money Can’t Buy Me Love – (I Love Feb #2)
The Beatles, pop group of the 1960s swooned …. “I’ll buy you a diamond ring my friend if it makes you feel alright. I’ll get you anything my friend if it makes […]

The Five Es – High Performance Leadership part II
Laura is close to the end of her journey towards Distinguished Toastmaster. This is the penultimate project towards Advanced Leadership Silver. In this speech Laura takes a long hard look […]

To Boldly Go … Down Pathways –
Laura McHarrie has chosen to deliver her penultimate Advance Communicator Gold speech as part of her Area Director visit, as forthcoming changes to the Toastmasters learning programme lends itself to […]

COT MOP – Area Director’s Diary
(Club Officer Training – Mop up! Part 1) The joint area 1 and area 42 club officer training turned out to be a tremendous success. In pooling our resources, Diane […]

Talk Up Toastmasters – Area Director’s Diary
Talk Up Toastmasters is one of three challenges during the Toastmaster’s year to engage five new members to each of our clubs. Every club achieving five new members in this […]

Grow and Be Strong Pt 2 – Speeches by Management #3
Hey Hallmark Speakers – how are you doing? Me? I’m not doing too bad … now … after a few false starts and some key learning. In fact the learning […]

Breaking the Rules – Speeches by Management #5
Houston, we have a problem! Tis not as bad as the Apollo 13 incident but neither are we NASA. However, according to the 2016/7 speech contest rulebook says a club […]

Grow & Be Strong – Speeches By Management #1
Laura McHarrie, introduced a project as part of her high performance leadership project in October 2015. The project floundered in the first few months. Having reviewed the initial plans, […]

Over to You! – Special Occasion Speeches #1
The Toast – On 6th July, Laura McHarrie officially handed over the running of Toastmaster’s Area 42 to her successor Linda Parkinson-Hardman, simultaniously completing another in the special occasion speeches manual. […]

Wrapping Up … A Toastmaster’s Area Director’s Diary
Wrap up, tie up any loose ends and reflect before gifting! With little over a month to go before the end of the Toastmaster’s year, it is time to do […]

Beat The Clock – A Toastmaster’s Area Director’s Diary
As we draw to the close of the Toastmaster year, nothing stops! The clock keeps ticking! With two months to go we still have a lot to play for; not […]

Robert’s Rules of Order
In the last 9 months I have been involved in a number of political (small p) meetings where Robert’s Rules of Order have been applied. Whilst I have been to […]

Passing the Baton – A Toastmaster Area Director’s Diary
What are you doing to ensure the ongoing success of your club? Planning an effective succession strategy for your club’s committee is not easy. We are all busy people, but […]

Variety is the Spice of Life – an Educational Speech
Introduction “Laura McHarrie, is here on her 2nd official visit to the club in her role as Area Director. Laura is close to getting her AC Silver award this year. […]

It’s All About the Numbers – a Toastmasters Successful Club Speech
How to be a distinguished club Take your felt tip pen and change the Goals Met in the top right-hand corner from four to five! As of 6 pm tonight […]

Step Out Tuesday – An Area Directors Toastmasters Diary
I mentioned Blue Monday in a blog post yesterday, it affects many of us in business when all the good intentions of our new year resolutions have dissolved. My antidote […]

Smile; It’s Blue Monday
Are you feeling a little overwhelmed with your stay of execution of this year’s resolutions? If, like me, you are experiencing a step back every time you take two forward; […]

Pit Stop! A Toastmaster Area Director’s diary
We are now a third of the way through our time as leaders of the Dorset Toastmasters clubs. How do you think we are doing? If you are anything like […]

Going Public in Dorset – High Performance Leadership part I
Laura McHarrie has chosen this Contest to deliver the first of two speeches in relation to her High Performance Leadership Project. As its name suggests, the aim is for the […]

Be Bold! Be Brief! Be Gone! – A Toastmasters Area Director’s Diary
I think I’m addicted to the Corporate Club Meetings. Having been to three at Chaseside, the JP Morgan Toastmasters club – I think I should reveal their hidden secret. There […]

The Golden Quarter – A Toastmaster Area Director’s Diary
“Everything we do in the first three months of the year is amplified when it comes to our overall performance in the year. Every new member of an existing or […]

Stepping In or Stepping Up – A Toastmaster Area Director’s Diary
I went to Ferndown Speakers in my official capacity as Area Director this week. An unbelievable example of people ‘stepping in’ at the last minute to ensure the meeting was […]

Follow Through and Follow Up – A Toastmaster Area Director’s Diary
For a period of five years, I was the Regional Controller of what became a very successful remote team of New Look Area Managers. The success was theirs and theirs […]

One Small Step – A Toastmaster Area Director’s Diary
What a brilliant day! The evaluations from the officer training day suggest there is some room for improvement so I look forward to honing my skills for the next one […]

One Trick Pony – A Toastmaster Area Director’s Diary
I joined Toastmasters in 2008, to learn to talk on an ad hoc basis without stumbling over my words or the content; that’ll be mastering Table Topics then! Seven years […]

Tiny Things Matter – A Toastmaster Area Director’s Diary
Toastmasters International Area 42 is located entirely within the beautiful county of Dorsetshire. It is currently composed of four clubs: Hallmark Speakers – Bournemouth | Ferndown Speakers – Ferndown | Casterbridge Speakers – Dorchester and […]

Evaluate to Motivate – a Toastmasters Successful Club Speech
Not all that long ago I did a presentation on my top tips for beginner speakers. They were Breathe! Prepare! Practice! I’m going to repeat the same mantra for beginner […]