Charlotte Square Club- JCI Edinburgh's Public Speaking, Debating and Business Communication club.

This year has begun with world class trainers delivering fun and engaging workshops on enhancing public speaking skills at the Charlotte Square Club and whatever your motivation for wanting to raise the bar on your own ability there are still practical sessions to come that will interest you.

Andy McKechnie the JCI World public speaking champion 2006 has shared some of the techniques and drills that have made him excel in this field plus guest speaker Erick Rainey international motivational speaker and third place in the Toastmasters World Public Speaking Championships has shared communication techniques with a Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) framework which focused particularly on building rapport superbly.

The first session of 2008 was entitled, "The voice of power and influence" and focused on the characteristics of the voice of an amazing communicator. CSC Manager Andy McKechnie offered many exercises including several on voice inflexion and in structuring speeches. Members putting the drills into practice saw how they ensured that their words will be positively remembered and have a positive impact on those listening to them.

The next session was led by guest speaker Erick Rainey of rainworks.co.uk. An accomplished professional and motivational speaker his expertise in these areas was inspiring to JCI Edinburgh members who attended his workshop. One of the areas that Erick concentrated on was that the meaning of communication is the response you get and as such he shared tools forbuilding rapport with individuals to ensure responsiveness that was always positive.

JCI Edinburgh is entering a team in the national debating competition at the JCI Scotland National Conference in April. The third CSC session of the year focused on the skills needed to be an effective debater at that level and at local level and to have some fun with the format. The evening was introduced by CSC Director Stuart Ullathorne and the debate was chaired by last year's JCI Scotland Debating Competition Best Debater Andy McKechnie and it was a closely fought contest. The motion being debated was, "that this house believes that Scotland is better than England." The winning team was captained by JCI Edinburgh President Alastair Davis who has debated at world level in JCI competitions and whose debating wit and wisdom ensured that the opposition team were left in no doubt that Scotland was better than England.

Still to come in 2008 are more opportunities to practice public speaking skills in a relaxed and supportive atmosphere at the CSC. The programmes have been designed to cover the basics skills of public speaking and debating but each session is individual so regular attendance is not required although many members do choose to regularly attend. On the 5^thMarch Andy McKechnie will lead a session combining public speaking and debating skills and then on the 19^th March the final of the JCI Edinburgh Public Speaking competition will be held. The winner will go forward to represent JCI Edinburgh at the JCI Scotland National Conference. The quality of potential entrants for this competition from both new and established speakers at the club means that this will be an entertaining evening whether you are participating or watching. So for both the March events come along and simply watch or give it a go in a fun and encouraging environment.

If you want any more information please contact the Charlotte Square Club Director Stuart Ullathorne stuart_ullathorne at ejcc.org.uk