Last night I went to my public speaking club – Toastmasters – where you are able to practice giving short speeches and learn how to speak off the cuff. It is also a good social group with a wide variety of people.
Well last night I gave what was my sixth speech – where the way I used words was the target. Rather than give a conventional speech I told the story of a Roman auxiliary – that’s in the Roman Empire – that’s in the first century AD.
I gave the story of one of the survivors of the Vasius defeat by the German tribes. Travelling – staggering – through the woods and a short brutal fight with a local tribe. Although outnumbered our side win as we had a group of slingers – those that use sling shot – a new weapon to the tribesman.
Interesting quite a few people in the audience did not get the reference when I used the Roman greeting ‘Ave’. So when i was talking about Germanic tribes some assumed I was talking about one of the World Wars.
On the whole the performance went OK. Although I missed a great punch line – ‘We entered the clearing a rabble and came out the a fighting unit.’ But in a performance like that you are bound to miss something.
The other two speeches were good – one using gestures – had a discussion with two imaginary people – one always negative and one always positive – the other on Roosevelt’s New Deal. Then there were the short one minute speeches – there was a great one on London being the most expensive capital city and a great one – should people who do stupid things – like row boats across the Pacific – be rescued – the answer was yes – but the fee should be negotiated – before they are picked up.