Speak Out report for 25 June 2015

Our last Speak Out before the summer break started with visiting speaker Paul giving a speech based on Project 2 from The Entertaining Speaker entitled "A Big, Grey Lump". Opening with an anecdote of his first experience of feeding elephants at the circus, Paul went on to tell the story of a man known as Elephant Bill.
        Bill was an Englishman who went to Borneo in the 1920s to work with elephants. The mammals were used to pull felled trees to the river so they could be transported to the mill on other side. After a monsoon caused the logs to pile up, compromising the safety of a nearby bridge, two elephants were tasked with saving it from collapsing, which they managed due to their great perseverance.
        When war arrived in Borneo, Bill had to take the elephants to safety in India, facing many challenges along the way including climbing a sheer cliff, but was able to overcome them thanks in no small part to the fortitude of his animal companions.

George gave an educational speech for a High Performance Leadership (HPL) project, about his time as Area 6 Governor. Seeing potential areas for development in an already high-achieving area, George decided to focus on creating speciality clubs, while still making sure the performance of the area as a whole continued to improve.
        George's approach to this was to use measurable targets, such as geographical availability, member retention and the usual measures in the Distinguished Club Programme (DCP). His next role is as Area Director for another area in which he will try to repeat his success in raising the performance of its clubs.

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting, and Freddie's first as president is on Wednesday, 8^th July at the Fitzrovia Community Centre. Arrive in time for a prompt 7pm start.