Guest Speaker Inspires Audience

Last night, Powertalk Waimea was honoured to host guest speaker, Firooz Zadeh, an American Kiwi born in Iran.  Firooz entertained members with his humorous stories of mastering the English language – down under:  the use of “oxymorons” was a hurdle in itself.  How does a person who is learning English understand something that was “found missing” or a “minor catastrophe” or something that is “pretty ugly?!’  His relaxed manner of presentation was warm and inviting as he shared his many experiences as an immigrant from Iran to America to New Zealand.

Firooz spoke about his life as a poor child, lost from his parents, in Iran to his rise as firstly a professional football coach, then to an internationally acclaimed author and educator around the world.  His award winning books, some with a cheeky look at understanding English and others about the education and understanding of Islam and the Culture of the Middle East, are informative, interesting and entertaining.  His dream is to return to Iran and open an orphanage to educate and help children.

The audience was inspired and moved by his amazing life – a truly remarkable man with a truly remarkable life.  Website: http://www.speaker-author.com

Powertalk Waimea invites visitors to attend club nights at 7pm on the 1^st and 3rd Wednesday of each month at 360, Annesbrooke Drive, Stoke, Nelson.

Years 7 & 8 Inter-schools Speech Contest 2017

Year 7 and 8 students, all winners at their own schools, presented outstanding speeches at the 2017 Inter-schools Speech Contest, organised by the Richmond Lions and Powertalk Waimea clubs, enthralling audience and judges alike.  Judges commented on the maturity and diversity of the speeches as well as the excellent speech construction and use of the 4 Ps in public speaking, pitch, pace, pause and projection.  Special congratulations go to:

Year 7:  1^st Leilani – Nelson Christian Academy,  2^nd Bronte – St Joseph’s,  3^rd Nicholas – St Paul’s

Year 8:  1^st  Flo – St Joseph’s,  2^nd  Millie – Nelson Christian Academy,  3^rd  Lucien – St Paul’s

Year 6 Inter-schools Speech Contest 2017

Monday night, the first night of Interschools Speech Contest for 2017, was as spectacular as ever with seven year 6 students competing with speeches that showcased the schools in the district.  Judges had a very difficult job to be able to select a winner from the very professional and talented line up.  Speeches inspired and informed the large audience of very proud parents, grandparents and teachers; topics included the future, earth disasters and the inspiration of our NZ athletes to being rich and the disasters of siblings. The ability of the students was outstanding and the standard of the competing extremely high.

Congratulations to the winner, Amelia from Appleby School, with her speech “Life in the Future.”  Congratulations also go to Mia from Richmond School was awarded 2nd Place and Brooke from Ranzau School gained 3rd Place.

 

Young Leaders Seminar comes to a close

Monday and Tuesday nights saw the 2017 Young Leaders Seminar come to a close.  But what an amazing two nights of speeches it was.  All students who completed the course were presented with a certificate to be added to their CVs.

The students on the Monday night spoke from the heart, and presented strong speeches with passion and emotion that brought tears to the eyes of the presenters and audience alike.

Subjects ranged from a cheeky play on words from nursery rhymes used during the course to help students with vocal effectiveness to an amazing speech of personal experience in saving the life of his father, to  Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and how it helped one student recover from concussion; human trafficking in NZ and torture were also harrowing subjects.

All of the speeches were of such a high standard, with students all taking the opportunity to showcase their newly acquired skills, that this made for a very tight decision in selecting the male and female speaker of the night.  All students were worthy of an award for their commitment to the course and the extra training.

Speakers of the seminar, Rachel and Taine, both spoke with passion on serious subjects and both showed a maturity and professionalism well above their young years.

Then on Tuesday night, the young students again spoke on subjects drawn from  personal experiences, from badminton to hunting,  adventure camp and animals: the standout speaker for the night, Sam, spoke with passion and wisdom on drugs in sport, with riveting and interesting reasons why not.

Overall, students started in week one being a little quiet and unconfident in the art of public and effective speaking and graduated in week four as young men and women with a real stories of passion and emotion to share with pride, using the 4Ps of effective speaking; pitch, pace, pause and projection, along with content and connection.

John Ford said, “you can speak well…… if your tongue… can deliver the message in your heart.”