The Association of Speakers Clubs is a mutual self-help organisation. A group of people who come together to help each other gain in confidence and learn a valuable life skill while having some fun. Anyone who comes along to one of our Clubs and hopes to learn how to be an effective speaker and help others to be an effective speaker will be delighted with the outcome. That person will be given the opportunity, the support, the knowledge and the feedback in a relaxed friendly environment which is the most efficient way to become an effective speaker. It does not happen overnight but it does work.

Our System works because there is no substitute for experience gained by having a go, gaining feedback and absorbing experience by watching and listening to others.

We use a ten-stage programme that is monitored to ensure that all members have the opportunity to develop to the point where they deliver a Masterpiece speech with confidence. This programme has been proven to work over many years but is totally flexible and means that new members are able to move at a pace they find most suitable.

The programme will cover the following skills:

* Making a start
* Mean what you say
* Speech construction
* Use of gestures
* Use your voice
* Vocabulary and word pictures
* The use of notes
* Smile please!
* Audience rapport
* The Masterpiece

You will also have the opportunity to learn the skills involved in chairing a meeting and entering various competitions should you wish to do so.

Please see the District News page for details of this year's Speaker of the Year Dinner, which is to be held in Birmingham this year on Saturday November 6th.

The Speaker of the Year is our own Nick Owen from BBC Midlands Today.