Gavin Allinson

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I joined Oxford Speakers Club in December 2004. I had heard a number of my clients mentioning that they were members of Toastmasters so I thought I would investigate.

I was impressed by the breadth of experience and capability of the people at Oxford Speakers club, there were a couple of speakers who I thought wow they should be on the stage and there were some others who just froze and couldn’t get their words out.

"What was great was the encouragement that everybody received and the identification for areas of improvement. In the corporate world it costs a lot to get that type of training and feedback.
When I joined I didn’t really have any fears about public speaking, but I realised that I had a long way to go before I could consider myself an effective communicator from the stage.

The area I have seen most improvement in is my impromptu speaking skills. A regular part of each meeting is the table topics session where the speakers are called upon to give a 2 min speech on something they have had no preparation for (my most recent topic was to ‘sell grey squirrels to the audience’).

When I first started I would be quaking in my boots about being selected; now I am disappointed if I don’t get a chance to participate.

During the time I have been a member it has been amazing to see the development of the people who have come consistently and progress through the various assignments and that is a testament to the friendly atmosphere there is at Oxford Speakers Club."