TMV Spring 2023

TOASTMASTERS’ VOICE

TMV SPRING 2023

The National Association of Toastmasters

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear Colleagues and Friends

I hope you are all keeping well and business is picking up for our Active Toastmasters.

We have now had our annual Toastmasters Social Weekend (Sunday, 26th – Tuesday, 28 February 2023) –this year in Bristol.

Arriving on Sunday, 26th, after everybody had settled in their rooms, we had our “Crazy Hats” event. Everybody took a great deal of time and effort to create fantastic head gear. We had flowers, gardening hats, bees, lucky Irish hats to name but a few, but the winners of the competition were Past President Tony Forward who came with a bedecked Policeman’s helmet (not sure if it was one of his old ones!) and Barbara Coulam, one of our regular non-NAT attenders, who created two bespoke Liquorice Allsort Hats. Tony and Barbara both won a bottle of fizz each. We danced the night away to the Apache Disco (a big thank you to our resident DJ, Ian Haskell). After a lovely

breakfast, most people made their way off site to Bristol, Cheddar Gorge, or just to see friends in the Bristol area. We re-assembled in the evening and enjoyed a wine tasting experience from Robin Snowdon of Limeburn Hill Vineyard. The Vineyard is the only biodynamic vineyard in the south west of England, and one of only 7 in the UK. This was followed by a Quiz, delivered in the inimitable style of Geoff and Gayna Harris, on to dancing and then to bed. On Tuesday morning, after breakfast, we all went our separate ways. We have already received several requests for next year, so all is looking good! Watch this space!

We are still looking at organising a summer outing – so continue watching this space!

Wishing you all a very happy Summer and hope to see you soon. Take care.

Best wishes

Tom Reddy President & Fellow of the NAT

TMV Contents

08 - Cyber Security - David Tinney

10 - Wedding Interloper - Si Shirley

Editor introduction and miscellaneous information

Toastmaster Brings Style to Calafornian Cop’s Retirement - Tony Forward

Cyber Security - David Tinney

Wedding Interloper - Si Shirley

Curmudgeon’s Corner

Christmas Lunch Photographs

Bristol NAT Social Weekend Photographs

How I Became an Honorary Member of the NAT - Jancice Dorn Competition - Paul Deacon

Photography Competition

The Future is in Our Hands

What do you Think? - Tim Podesta

14 - Christmas Lunch Photographs from Vintners’ Hall

Welcome to the Spring edition of the TMV, albeit terribly late. Thank you, as always to those who have contributed to this issue.

A massive thank you to Joe Short, wedding photographer extraordinaire, who took time out of his busy schedule to judge our photo competition and congratulations to Past President Peter Thompson, who won and will receive the bottle of champagne.

If you read nothing else in this edition, please take time to look at David Tinney’s on Cyber Security. This is the first in a series and is not just essential reading but a must act upon one!

As I have said before, we are such an eclectic group that I am sure there are many more fascinating articles to be had - please please send them in.

If you have any thoughts about what you would like to see in the TMV please contact me at richard@ cambridgetoastmaster.com with your suggestions.

Happy reading!

Joyful news for the Saward family!

“Dear Fellow Toastmasters, we all know that life brings us highs and lows. The highs sometimes reach unimaginable peaks and the lows can often be quite unfathomable. Following the lows we can sometimes be blessed with a wonderful and beautiful silver lining.

After a tough year, I was blessed with a truly delightful silver lining. Late evening on 6th March, just an hour and a half before what would have been dear Alex’s birthday, I was

thrilled to welcome a third great grandchild; this time a beautiful little baby girl. She is named Isabelle Alexandra and is the second child of my grandson Mark (son of my younger son Miles and his wife Jacqui) and his wife Cassie.

Attached are a couple of photographs - one of baby Isabelle on her own and one of big brother Jake, (who’ll be five in April), with his new baby sister.

COLIN ARTHUR ROBERTS

Born on 18 February 1945 in Surrey, Colin enjoyed school and did well. He met his wife Valerie when she was only 15 through mutual friends and they started dating two years later. Colin and Val married on 16th March 1968 at Trinity Church, Sutton in Surrey and had 55 years together.

He ran the Fox and Hounds pub in Kempton for six years and eventually set up a Financial Services business, Roberts and Associates. On semi-retirement he became a Toastmaster and joined the ranks of the NAT Members in May 2003, becoming a full Member in November 2005. He was a very well thought of Toastmaster in the Bedford area, even officiating at one of our member’s weddings at The Woburn Inn. He also officiated at many Royal functions, including those of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.

Colin was also a very keen Freemason.

Richard Heywood was taking his Associate exam at the same time that Colin was taking his Membership exam. Richard recounts “I was having great difficulty in doing up my collar stud. Colin came over, calmed me down, helped me to do up the stud and I passed and was ever grateful to Colin”.

He leaves behind three children: Kelly, Paul and Mandy and was a very proud Grandfather of six: Robert, Adam, Jake, Henry, James and Victoria. At his funeral the family played music to reflect his taste: “Tommy” from Pinball Wizard (The Who), “Jerusalem” (a chorale piece) and I’ve Got You Babe (Sunny & Cher).

Colin passed away on the 9th March 2023 aged only 78. He will be missed by many.

NAT Fellow Appointment

At a meeting of out Executive Committee last week, members unanimously approved a recommendation from the Fellowship Assessment Board that Simon Shirley be appointed as an NAT Fellow.

The Board comprised of Barry Dorn and Tom Reddy, under the chairmanship of Paul Deacon. In their words, “Simon presented

very well and confidently and gave a very good account of himself and proved himself to be both knowledgeable and willing to continue to help other NAT members”.

Simon is now our 25th Fellow and I am sure you will all join me in congratulating him on reaching this position.

Notice

Christine Edgar (cmatoast@gmail.com) has a number of second-hand uniforms in her wardrobe for sale.

Dates for the diary

Annual General Meeting

Sunday 8th October 2023 - via Zoom

Executive Committee Meeting

Monday 11th September 2023 - via Zoom

NAT Christmas Lunch

RAF Club

Monday 11th December

Cyber Security

Recently I was at a conference when I was told about how even the most Cyber Security trained person can fall for a Cyber attack. Luckily in this case there was no impact.

This lady, from a major organisation was rushed, jumping off a plane, trying to get baggage and jet lagged. We have all been there. She was dealing with many issues on the emails coming in and then it happened. She clicked on a link.

It was only then she realised she had been caught and not only caught but caught on her own Phishing campaign (This is a friendly campaign to test staff on links that could be launch an internal attack.

This shows it can happen to anyone and will happen to you.

So, my first question is what is your plan when it happens?

• Do you know what you would do?

• Who you should or who you would go to for help?

• When you should inform your customers or other team members there had been a breach?

• How you would even know there has been a breach and what even constitutes a breach?

• When should you inform the ICO?

Over the next few TMV’s I will take you through some tips and techniques for this and other Cyber Security areas based on the following pillars:

• Identify

• Protect

• Detect

• Respond

• Recover

These 5 pillars are very common in the Cyber Security World.

In the meantime, think about what you might do if you were attacked and compare with the articles to come.

In addition, write to Richard (TMV Editor richard@cambridgetoastmaster.com) and ask questions which I will answer in the next edition. Let’s make it relevant to what you do.

In these articles I will also call out some of the latest breaches which may be of interest or might affect you directly.

This month the most important is Lastpass

Lastpass is a password manager and there has been major breach just before Christmas. If you use Lasspass you must take action to protect you and your customers, friends or team members.

The backup vault and code were stolen! The vault holds passwords and other data! Now the vault is encrypted but it is recognised that it may, just may be possible for the data to be accessed eventually.

My recommendation is that you immediately change your master password for a new password which should be 21 digits or over! This will generate a key change and re-encrypt your data.

The second thing is, I would systematically go through your credentials, within the vault, and update them with new passwords. Passwords should never be less than 12 digits.

To protect yourself from attacks

I will state in every article the main way to protect any access to any app or computer system is engage multi factor authentication. Look for the option in every app or system you have and engage it.

The second immediate action to take is to increase your password for your email systems to greater than 16 digits.

David Tinney

Wedding Interloper

In late summer last year, I was Toastmaster at a fairly standard western wedding at a local venue.

All was set for the civil ceremony. Introductory announcements had been made, guests were all seated, background music was playing and the groom was standing at the front, with his best man, awaiting the arrival of his bride.

I was just finalising entrance arrangements with the registrar when the wedding co-ordinator caught my eye. She was beckoning me over to the door. As I got to her she explained that one of the hotel’s residents, with no connection at all to the wedding party, was asking to sit-in and watch the wedding ceremony. She asked if I would come and discuss it with him.

The smartly-dressed elderly gentleman explained to me that his understanding was that weddings ‘are open to the public in this country’. Being unsure of his assertion, I explained that the room was privately booked for the event and that it would be the decision of the wedding couple as to whether they wanted him in their ceremony. I said that I would ask them.

Immediately afterwards, as I was explaining this to groom, one of the registrars overheard and offered to come with me to outline the legal position to the man. Interestingly, she backed me up in the way I had handled his request, but explained that, in this country, there is a statutory right to attend a wedding ceremony as anyone has a right to air an objection to the marriage taking place and as such all weddings are, in essence, public events.

However, she then commented to me, privately, that there is currently a consultation underway and one of the proposed changes is to remove this legal right. The basis being that as there is a 28 day advance notice of marriage published, this is plenty of time for anyone to raise a justified objection. It does make me wonder what other proposals may also be undergoing consultation though.

Rather to my surprise, when I asked her as she was preparing to walk down the aisle, the bride actually had no issue at all with the gentleman sitting in the back row of her wedding. He sat quietly on his own, as his wife had turned down his invitation to accompany him. At the point in the ceremony where registrar asked if anyone present knew of any lawful impediment to the marriage, he simply turned, looked across the room at me and winked!

Simon Shirley March ’23

Curmudgeon’s

It has been a while since I have contributed to TMV, for a variety of reasons, none of which are of any interest to fellow Toastmasters. However, this does not mean that I have not been keeping a keen eye on things that are happening, or more to the point, not happening within the NAT, and whilst I am one of those members who does not ostensibly contribute a great deal, I do follow the activities of an association I am very fond of quite closely.

So as an organisation how healthy are we?

We have the TMV under the care of Richard Mitchell. Slick and professional.

We have Christmas Lunch in the City. Something of a tradition and, despite weather and strikes, still apparently going strong.

We have the NAT social event. The most recent in Bristol was, I understand, very successful.

We have the occasional regional meeting by Zoom and face to face for the midlands and the south.

Curmudgeon’s Corner

I like the two-year presidency. It provides stability and an opportunity for a dynamic president to put plans into action. In this respect we have been lucky both with our immediate past president and with our current. As for the future? Who knows?

All rather busy and positive. Isn’t it? Let’s take a closer look.

My heart goes out to the editor of the TMV. For every edition he is forced to put out desperate pleas for articles. The ideas for content are varied and original yet still there is a shortage of pieces. Ultimately it seems to be the same people contributing every time. This must be soul-destroying.

The Christmas Lunch is the Christmas Lunch. Everyone who goes appears to have a good time. It is expensive, for a couple to travel to London and have the lunch. There is not much change out of £350-£400, and it will be increasingly so because of our economic climate. It would seem that the days of us being able to treat a number of important clients to the event may be gone, but nevertheless it is a wonderful occasion and I am always pleased to see the number of Toastmasters there, both active and retired.

The Social event. Now I hold my hands up here as not being a great supporter of this event. However, I understand that they are great fun and all of the people who go have a good time. The sad thing is that there were only five working Toastmasters at this year’s event.

Regional meetings. Over the past twelve months or so there has been one regional zoom meeting and I was informed that it was very poorly attended, despite it being open to the whole membership. Apparently it was the usual suspects. President, vice president, a few fellows and a couple of newly qualified TMs wondering what it was all about and it ended up with a spat between two senior members over the length

of the session. Not particularly edifying. These Zoom meetings are open to all the membership, so where are the senior officers? Current VP, Treasurer, Secretary? If they cannot attend, why should anyone else? Where are the members who have questions to ask?

All this boils down to is just what do people want from the NAT? The insurance? You can get it cheaper elsewhere. The comradeship? With the exception perhaps of the Christmas lunch where is it? The TMV? To read articles written by the same group of people four times a year? The social event? Very nice, but a lot of work to be attended by five active Toastmasters. The ongoing training? It all started so well with Zoom didn’t it? Perhaps we need another executive post, a communications/development officer to develop this area.

So the point of this diatribe? It is a push to ask you all what you want from your NAT membership. Do you want to be a part of an active organisation that keeps you up to date with what is going on in our professional world and supplies a network of experienced professionals from whom to seek advice, or an organisation that requires expensive training, expensive fees and provides you with a medal and public liability insurance?

Up to you really.

at Vintners’ Hall December 2022

Bristol NAT Social

Sunday 26th –

Tuesday 2023

Social Weekend

Tuesday 28 February

HOW I BECAME HONORARY MEMBER

1977 was a year of upheaval for the Dorn household. Having spent 5 years in Birmingham, Barry’s job moved us back to the London area, the housing market was in chaos, but we eventually found a house in Twickenham. Chris (11) moved his education forward by taking a place at Barry’s old school, Latymer Upper, in Hammersmith. Greg (9) went to the local school.

We began to catch up with friends, some of whom we had not seen for 5 years, and gradually life began to normalise. Our longstanding friends Sally and Martin Nicholls came for a drink one evening, and in the course of conversation Martin said that he was about to set up his own accounting business, and was looking for a ‘girl Friday’ – would I be interested? We settled on my giving it a ‘go’ and working a short day, so that I could take and collect Greg from school.

The business was quite busy, but Martin having had a long chat to his good friend Bryn Williams, decided that he would also become a toastmaster and ‘run’ the two jobs together.

I then had a double role to play, being a ‘girl Friday’, as well as booking Martin for functions, and in the process learning quite a lot about the role of a Toastmaster too. All very fascinating.

After a few years Martin, along with Bryn, Barry, and some of the other members of the NAT (most sadly now deceased) decided to create an intense training system for toastmasters. The idea being that there was a gap in the ‘social’ market for more, and better qualified toastmasters. Therefore,

following the Spring General Meeting of the NAT in 1987, they formed a company called Toastmaster Training Limited (TMT).

My job then became to attend the TMT interview processes, meet, greet and relax those coming forward, and generally make myself useful, plus keeping the accounting business going too.

The training company was very successful, and some of the members reading this will remember their own training with TMT, albeit some time ago. TMT hired small rooms at The Institute of Directors for interviews, and I remember one person who arrived looking very smart, with a big smile on his face and I said, “Good morning, Mr Hunt, do sit down, and tell me what makes you interested in becoming a Toastmaster?” For years afterwards he used to tease me every time I saw him by saying with a cheeky grin, “Good morning ,Mrs Dorn”.

Once the interviews were over, and everything discussed between the interview board, time was booked at the University of Birmingham for three, two-day intensive courses spread out in January, February and March. Fortunately, from my point of view, it was not necessary for me to attend the courses, and I carried on running the office.

Whilst all this was going on Martin had taken on the double job of being both Secretary and Treasurer of the NAT. Consequently, my job meant that now I had a lot of contact with all the members of the association, for

BECAME A PROUD MEMBER OF THE N A T.

queries etc and got to know them all really well, plus attending various meetings to take notes etc.

Life moved on, all seemed to be well and busy, and then in late 2004 everything changed, and not for the better. My brother (living in Canada) was diagnosed with mesothelioma (commonly known as asbestosis) and Martin was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus, so within the year my life changed dramatically. They died within three weeks of each other in July and August 2005. I was devastated.

At the NAT/AGM in the autumn of 2005 I was totally taken by surprise, when I had the privilege of being presented with a delightful brooch badge as the first female Honorary Member of the NAT. A most generous gift, apparently for the many hours etc which I had very happily spent assisting Martin with NAT business. I was both surprised and delighted and have worn it with the greatest of pride at every NAT function which I have attended since then.

There are now 6 honorary members of the NAT – who have all made huge contributions, in their own field, to the continued success of our wonderful association, and long may it last.

Janice Dorn.

Dear Members,

I would like to say a huge thank you to all the Members of the Association for the great honour which you bestowed on me at the AGM. When I said this has been the worst year of my life, the words were not lightly said. Many of you may not know that my only brother died just three weeks before Martin, so I feel as though my life has been turned upside down.

Martin was one of the most enthusiastic Members of the Association and it has been a pleasure and privilege to assist him with all the various offices which he has undertaken. I was totally in shock at the AGM, but absolutely delighted, to be made an Honorary Member and I wish to say thank you to all and assure you that I shall wear my badge with the greatest of pride.

Yours faithfully

Janice Dorn

As part of my service I offer couples before the day a review of speeches and make suggestions to improve them.

I’ll give a bottle of champagne to be presented at the AGM to the best solution as to how to reply to this Father of the Bride draft. You might send an email with advice or try to rewrite the speech. What other action might you take?

Please email the editor with your suggestion and he and I will decide the winner and publish the result in the next edition.

Paul Deacon

I’m J, N’s father and would like to welcome you all to this delightful venue. Thanks for coming today to witness the marriage of Mr and Mrs L.

1. N would like me to say a few kind words about her so this speech should be short and sweet?

2. N was no problem as a child, so it was with sadness we felt when she left home for Uni, mind you it was even sadder when she returned.

3. N originally thought about a career in nursing but when she attended the radiology department, they could see she wasn’t committed, they saw right through her.

4. N had a rethink and was soon employed in the care industry. She was soon taking the inmates on trips to the Isle of Wight and then to Paris where she left one of the parties on the Metro. Fortunately, they were able to track down the missing lady. She liked to take them out at every opportunity. One lady had a habit of screaming obscenities which was bearable in the street but a bit of a problem in the cinema. Time to change professions!

5. So it was to education in the prison service she turned. The highlight being an appearance on Gareth Malone’s prison choir programme at Aylesbury although N seems to have been banished to solitary confinement somewhere in the wings.

6. We were on holiday with our Australian friends when our son phoned to say there was another man in the house, Aiden, he thought his name was. He always drops his aitchies! Next thing we know Haydn has moved in. In all fairness he only stayed for two years!

7. He did at least request my daughter’s hand in marriage, I suggested he didn’t just take the hand.

8. Haydn tells me he had an interesting experience on his stag night. He went into a pub and the barman was serving a person with a head only. The customer ordered a Heineken beer, after one sip a torso appeared. Another sip and two arms appeared. Finally, another gulp and two legs materialised. He was so excited he ran out of the pub and was run over by a bus. The landlord turned to Haydn and said that chap should have quit while he was a head!

9. To finish on a traditional note, I hope you will both be as happy as my wife, and I have been.

10. Please raise your glasses and drink a toast to the happy couple.

Paul Deacon

Toastmaster brings Cop’s retirement

When I was still serving in the police, I was a frequent visitor to Los Angeles County in California. I met several officers in different city police and sheriff departments, one of whom was the Deputy Chief of Torrance City Police Department, Captain Jim Weyant. We have kept in touch well beyond my retirement and becoming a toastmaster. He and his wife have visited me in the UK and I have visited their home in the States.

He was intrigued with the knowledge that in retirement, I had become a toastmaster and asked me if I would act as such when his retirement was due. I agreed. A few months before his retirement he reminded me of our agreement.

I flew to Los Angeles on a Friday where I was picked up at the airport in a police car and driven to a hotel in the city of Torrance. I checked in and found that all expenses had been taken care of. My air fare had been paid for me. There was no fee involved as I was doing this for a friend. The function was to take place on the following evening at the same hotel and my return flight was on the following day.

There were about 100 people at the event, including many senior police officers

and council officials from Torrance and surrounding areas. Speeches were made by the Chief of Police, the City Mayor and one of Jim’s senior colleagues. Then he asked me to make a speech. I had nothing prepared but picked up some of the themes from the previous speakers and did so in my best English, much to the interest of the assembled Americans. Mention had been made of the fact that he was moving, in retirement, to the District Attorney’s staff and would be working from a new facility. This was mentioned a number of times. In my speech, I informed the audience that in England if someone asked for the facility, they would be directed to the toilet! Raucous laughter followed.

Gifts were presented and we were then entertained by a short display of drill by the Torrance City Police Honor Guard (Honor spelt the American way). The photograph shows some of the Guard members with Jim facing me and behind him is his chief. The flag on the right is the flag of California. The members are ordinary police officers who have volunteered for the ceremonial role on special occasions and have the special uniforms. Note their white shoulder patches. You may have noted by the colour of my collar that I was very early

style to Californian retirement

in my toastmastering career.

Our editor recently suggested items that members might consider submitting for publication. One of them was hobbies. In my frequent visits to police in the USA, I collected their shoulder patches and when I had enough to frame, I did so and they now hang on my study wall. The white patch in the second row is the Torrance City Police badge.

Article by Tony Forward

Photo Competition

Second

Mitchell “Facing a choice – tea, sparkling or seagulls”- Joe Short said, ‘This is a very close second. The image of the dog is beautifully edited and technically extremely well done.’

– Richard

The Winner - Peter & Animals - A fly”. Joe winning image is the most good sense of humour because must look like to a fly!’

Under an Umbrella – I said it would rain Rodger Oatley

Don’t Work with Children Michael Myers

Don’t Work with Children– When the boy was asked what he thought of the meal, the little chap said he preferred MacDonalds! – Peter Sumner

Competition

Short said, ‘I think this most striking, showing a because this is what we

Peter Thompson “Children

Facing a Choice –Does this Lippy Go with this Handbag –Si Shirley

Waiting – Richard Mitchell

Under an Umbrella – A man for All Seasons Rodger Oatley

Light at the end of the Tunnel Peter Thompson

The National ASSOCIATION The Future is

According to the dictionary, an “ Association has to do with things that ARE TOGETHER……..”

Hence, the National Association of Toastmasters has a dual meaning in that Members have a common interest in achieving and maintaining the highest standards of Toastmastering, through training and CPD AND doing this TOGETHER.

As a Profession, we work mainly on our own and, on rare occasions with colleagues where a job requires more than one Toastmaster. This, of course means that we are not often (enough) “TOGETHER”.

The Association in its glory days had two major Social Events, the Annual Banquet and Ball and, of course, the Christmas Lunch. The Banquet and Ball became unsustainable in……….

The Christmas Lunch has carried on, attracting upwards of 120 Guests, the vast majority of whom are “Our Guests” with something like 20 Toastmasters attending out of a total

Membership of 67 (43 Active, 18 Retired and 6 Honorary). This last Year, in part due to weather conditions and industrial action, only 80 Members and guests were present.

Our “Meetings” are most frequently held on Zoom so in reality there are currently only TWO occasions when “The Membership” can actually “Come Together” – The Christmas Lunch and the Annual Social Event. The latter is held in February/March each Year from a Sunday to Tuesday Morning, to enable us to get the very best “deals” from the Hotels selected by the President. These events now comprise the Association’s Social Programme and are, I believe, the very essence of what we are . Without a Social programme, properly constructed and well supported, the “Association” will inevitably die.

Christmas lunch

The Christmas Lunch is traditionally held on the second Monday of December each Year. It is a great event and, for many, heralds the start of the Christmas Season. In 2021 and 2022 the

ASSOCIATION of Toastmasters is in our hands.

Event was held in Vintners Hall and the cost was in the order of £85 a head, including a fabulous Meal, Christmas Carols a great Party atmosphere and half a bottle of decent wine per person, all representing extremely good value – After all, look at the ticket price of the events that we manage, and they are well north of £85!

Social Event

The Social Event was introduced in 2014 as a way of involving the Membership in a totally social atmosphere where toastmaster Regalia of any kind is banned and Members, their partners and friends can mingle over a couple of days and enjoy two nights of Dinner (with the obligatory half bottle of wine pp), Bed and Breakfast WITH a disco both evenings and a “surprise” feature. This Year, the cost is £390 per couple which really does represent extraordinary value for money.

The Challenge

This event takes organisation and research

to put these events together. It also requires several site visits at a personal cost to the President and his/her Social Adviser(s) If each and every Active Toastmaster were to allocate just 5% of Toastmaster earnings to support the “Association’s” Social Events, then a Toastmaster acting at, say 25 events a Year at a fee level of £350 would have some £440 “saved” which would enable attendance at the Social Event for 2 or, Attendance at the Christmas Luncheon for 2 with a little left over for travel and perhaps a new frock!

The National Association of Toastmasters is OUR Association and we need to take ownership of it to secure its survival and future. I believe that a Social Programme is essential to the survival and growth of an Association such as ours and I urge all Members, Present, Past and Honorary to consider their responsibility in ensuring their/our future which is intrinsically linked to the future of our Profession by supporting the Association’s Social Events.

What do you think?

I was inspired by the message from Michael for stories to share and remembered the picture I have attached below of me in the all-too-common wedding ‘photobooth’ picture.

After 6 years as a professional toastmaster and working many wedding events, fairs, showcases and weddings, I have come across the huge industry that provides services to weddings. My question is, who are your favourite suppliers? As toastmasters we get to know other suppliers very well, whether as part of a wedding fairs or at wedding receptions. From my training as a Toastmaster, I remember the coaching, as a toastmaster your role is to help the event run smoothly for the bride and bridegroom and help all the suppliers be able to deliver their

service. This requires having good rapport with all suppliers. I have many stories about working with other suppliers, particularly photographers. What stories can we share? One for me is the all too common ‘photobooth’ and often I am asked - do you want a picture of yourself? I normally decline whilst looking to retain a respectful level of dignity. However, on one occasion I was persuaded to have a go and I hope this passes muster as being respectful enough to share within the NAT network - I have not put it on social media generally. What do you think? I have other stories to share as well and would be interested in learning from other members experiences.

Tim Podesta

How to be a part of the Summer edition of the TMV

1. So, the summer is in full flow - plenty of family or work occasions for a great photo opportunity. We have a bottle of Champagne for the best photograph in the following catagories:

Garden Games

Champagne

Bikes

Dog wash

Princess wands or pirate swords

Tea party

2. DJs and magicians are marketing themselves as alternatives to Toastmasters – what are your thoughts and what are you going to do? The views expressed in this magazine