Features of the Club

Clubs within ASC often have features or characteristics that, while not in conflict with the overall national pattern, do confer some degree of individuality. Some such features are to be found in Wharfedale.

Personal profile

Roughly every fourth meeting, a member is invited to give a Personal Profile. This is a short speech, with no evaluator, in which the speaker introduces selected aspects of his or her life, e.g. unusual experiences or hobbies, which are likely to be of interest to the audience. It’s a great way of getting to know fellow members better.

Prescription speeches

This new concept, developed in Wharfedale Speakers Club, does not seek to replace the excellent training in speaking skills currently available. It is, rather, an extra dimension in which the speaker writes down beforehand (prescribes) what change/s he hopes will occur in the minds of his audience (his objective) as a result of his speech. He then delivers the speech and the audience decides if he has achieved his objective. In addition, the evaluator will, as before, comment on his speaking skills.

Taking the main emphasis off skills and putting it on personal objectives, allows each speaker to pursue his own needs in relation to work demands, social activities or aspirations. The exercise becomes much more relevant to him and, because he is trying to achieve his own specified objective, his speech invariably has greater substance and is appreciated more by the audience. In addition, the audience feels the involvement and shared responsibility of deciding the outcome.

Prescription speaking works well for us. We commend it to others.

Questions

For a speaker, the ability to handle questions at the end of a speech can be very important. For members of the audience, the ability to ask questions, given the opportunity, can also be important. So, whenever possible, we allow a couple of questions after each speech.

Wharfedale cups

Quite a lot of clubs have internal cups. We have three.

The Topics Cup	A small cup awarded to the member giving the best topic of the evening. It is held only until the next meeting
The President’s Cup	Awarded annually by the President to the most improved speaker in the year
The Silver Jubilee Cup	Awarded annually by vote of the membership as a whole to an individual member for services to the club. ‘Services’ can have a wide interpretation.