Some Speeches

Warning! Never plagiarise a speech written by someone else. It doesn't help you much, you still have to deliver it and that's what Toastmasters is all about.

But you can get ideas for speeches from what others have done. There is very little that is truly new under the sun but you should try to be as original as you can. These speeches are included here for beginners and for those who might be considering joining Toastmasters. Never be put off by what other people can do. You do not know what their starting point was. In any case it is always up from where you are. The best way to decide if you could do it is to come along to a meeting and see others present their speeches.

• Democracy! God help us!
• Just A Matter Of Attitude
• another speech

Title : Democracy! God help us! Project: Competent Toastmaster 2 Time : 5 to 7 mins. Toastmaster : Shay McInerney

Mr Toastmaster, fellow toastmasters and welcome guests.

George Bush, Dick Chaney and The Grand Old Party would have us believe that the cure to all the evils of the world lies in the democratic system. Balderdash. Nonsense. Rubbish. Humanity is simply too complex an animal for democracy to serve any purpose other than the aggrandisement of the rich and powerful.

Life today is too complex for democracy. It was invented, the yanks would have us believe, by a bunch of backwoodsmen, farmers and fortune hunters who left Europe to make money by stealing land from the native Americans. Nothing has changed really. Democracy is a simple system for simple minds. Lets face it - the minds of men. One man, one vote. Nothing too complicated about that. But far too simplistic a system to serve the complex, emotionally intelligent, multitasking, female mind. For men, complex ideas have to be reduced to simple, clichéd and jingoistic slogans in order to be able to vote on them. Complex ideas are reduced to simplistic phrases and statements, voted on by walking into one of only two rooms, on the lead of a whip, just in case they forget where they are going.

The early democrats solution to complexity was to elect a representative. And whom did they represent: the rich and idle, that's who. Those who could afford to leave their land and business to head for London, Paris or Philadelphia and spend their time making speeches. The connection between Toastmasters and politicians is not accidental. It is clearly in the TOAST. Just as people were beginning to cop on to the crass stupidity of the democratic system, a series of masterstrokes were pulled to draw more poor souls into the web of deceit. The simplicity of having only the idle rich, who held the power any way, vote was further complicated by letting all men over 21 vote. The frontal lobe doesn't develop until about 25 years of age, so a complete brain does not seem to be required. Let's face it, that's why you make an X to vote in most elections. Democracy groaned on under the weight of it own inadequacies, when the problem was doubled - by giving women the vote. Not content with adding men whose brains had not fully developed they again made it worse by reducing the voting age still further to 18. Now consideration is being given to allowing 16 year olds to vote. I have three teenagers. I listen to them every day. I already know what they think. It's not safe.

Finally democracy created the party activist as its greatest injury to the collective intelligence of humanity. These wannabes have no morals, no beliefs, no values, no causes, no goal except one - to win that election. Power for the sake of it, for the smell of it. To be on the winning side is all that counts and they will gladly prostitute themselves in the mistaken believe that winning an election gives them power. The power is knowingly handed over to the party candidate or representative, who in turn hands it over to the party leader. By way of election, God help us. Then it is given to the select few that make up the cabinet, who quickly realise that real power lies with that small section of the people called civil servants who are appointed by a system that specifically forbids canvassing of any kind. And Why? Because they know full well that the canvass runs the risk of putting the lunatics in charge of the asylum.

Remember it was democracy that gave us Hitler. It was the democratic west that sold Saddam the weapons that are now been used to such devastating effect in Iraq. Democracy gave us Haliburton and the multinational corporations that really rule the world. It is democracy that has produced a winner takes all system that leaves division, sectional interest and disillusionment in its wake.

Title : Just a matter of attitude Project: Competent Toastmaster 9(?) Time : 5 to 7 mins. Toastmaster : Bernadette Walshe

Fellow Toastmasters & welcome Guests - how much do you think we in Ireland spend on alcohol each year? i.e. purchasing alcohol? Well, according to the second report of the Strategic Task Force on Alcohol, we are currently spending  6 billion of our personal income annually! [it works out at approx  1,942 for every adult over 15 yrs of age]. On top of that it is estimated that alcohol-related problems are costing us more than  2.65 billion annually. And these are just the economic costs! We also pay of course when a colleague fails to turn up for work, when a driver gets into a car having consumed alcohol and cannot make the sharp bend on the way home. The family pays when a member is aggressive or abusive. The list is endless. We all pay one way or the other!

Irelands drinking culture is very different from that in continental Europe. If you go out for an evening in Holland, France or Italy, you'll see parents sitting outside bars having maybe one or two social drinks while their kids play around the fountain. People of all ages mix in a completely mellow and non-threatening manner. Now contrast this with the small hours of a Saturday or Sunday morning in many towns and cities around Ireland. People spill out of the pubs and nightclubs taking over the streets. I recently experienced this coming through Carrigaline around 1:30 in the morning. It's quite intimidating. Fights break out with one misinterpreted look or one accidental bump into someone.

Irish people continue to be the highest consumers of alcohol in the world with binge-drinking or drinking to get drunk being a very serious problem. The Celtic Tiger has brought with it an explosion in binge-drinking, so much so that binge-drinking has become a shameful fact of life in this country. It's not unusual to see someone puking in a doorway or the paralytic drunk being assisted by friends or sleeping it off on the corner of the dance floor. Our biggest problem in relation to alcohol is one of cultural acceptance - although it might be more accurate to say cultural indifference. We have all been guilty of a laissez faire attitude to alcohol. The phrase 'Sure, what's the harm in a few pints?' is familiar to us all. There is nothing wrong with enjoying a drink. However, for a large portion of the population it does not stop there. Almost daily we hear of yet another fatal road traffic accident; the problems in our Hospitals and particularly A&E departments are continuously being aired in the media. A significant number of these problems are symptoms of our relationship with alcohol.

Let me just throw out a few facts to you: " More than 30% of all road traffic accidents are associated with alcohol (150 road deaths). " More than 25% of patients in A&E departments are there as a DIRECT result of alcohol. " GPS and Hospitals see patients everyday who have all sorts of health and social problems that are related to alcohol. These range from blood pressure, hypertension, headaches, cancer, liver disease, depression, sleep disturbance, anxiety, skin problems, stomach problems and sexually transmitted diseases. Patients present with these problems without relating the symptoms with their consumption of alcohol. It really is time that we copped onto ourselves!

What a difference we could make to our healthcare resources if this serious issue was tackled. There are a lot of people hurting from alcohol-related problems and our communities are unsafe and unhealthy because of the way in which we drink. Although the solution is not easy, we can all start by looking at our own attitudes, our own acceptance and collusion in this problem. Do we as adults, parents or family members turn a blind eye? Do we provide an appropriate example to those younger by our own behaviour? Do we smile benignly at the friend, relative or family member who has had too much to drink and behaves inappropriately? Do we regard such behaviour with amused tolerance? Do we ensure that alcohol is not easily accessible in our homes or at the very least consumed with adult supervision. Because, if we are careless in these ways, we are saying to our young people that this excessive drinking and associated poor behaviour is okay and can be excused. And by doing this we help perpetuate the current social climate of a culture of drunkenness. It needs to become socially unacceptable for people to be excessively drunk on our streets.

It needs to become socially unacceptable for people who are excessively drunk to behave inappropriately. It needs to become socially unacceptable for people to cause public order offences. This change can only occur when we all stop excusing such behaviour. Ladies & Gentlemen, the figures speak for themselves - we could build 10 children's hospitals with  2.65 billion. If we tackled this serious issue we could dramatically reduce the huge numbers clogging up our A&E departments and we could dramatically reduce the high numbers of fatalities on our roads. Fellow Toastmasters, I put it to you a change in our own attitudes is the only real solution to this problem.

Title : Democracy! God help us! Project: Competent Toastmaster 2 Time : 5 to 7 mins. Toastmaster : Shay McInerney

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