Archive for the ‘Toastmasters’ Category

GUEST BLOG ALERT!!! Colin William chimes in!

Jan 15th, 2010 | 0 comments

Colin William, one of the finalists of the 2008 World Championships of Public Speaking, sent us a pretty amazing account of his experience with the contest. I’ll waste no time with my own words. Great to hear from him! Here ya go:

“I never knew it would become so all-consuming.

I was one of the contestants in the 2008 WCPS, filmed by Paul and Brian and their crew. When you watch the movie you’ll see bits of me.

I haven’t seen the movie, so I don’t know what to expect, but there’s one thing I hope it captures – the sheer insanity of it all. See, that version of me that you’ll see on the screen isn’t so much me as it is a man possessed.

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Like most contestants, I entered with the hope that I’d contend, but never seriously thinking I’d make it all the way to the final. I did, though, and along the way I experienced something I never expected – the thrill, the fear, the excitement, the pressure and the insanity of competition.

(more…)

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CATEGORIES | Toastmasters, documentaries, editing, public speeches

2010 Toastmasters World Championships of Public Speaking

Jan 14th, 2010 | 1 comment

Yup, I shall be asking this question over and over until I get an answer. I’m persistent that way. We’re obviously very curious to see who will be holding this trophy as the World Champion of Public Speaking in August. This was Lance Miller…
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CATEGORIES | Toastmasters, fear of public speaking

new poll is up

Jan 13th, 2010 | 0 comments

are you afraid of public speaking?

View Results

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The documentary film about the fear of public speaking and the Toastmasters World Championships of Public Speaking has a new poll up. Vote!! Just a click. (We’re trying to have as much fun as possible while waiting on our festival submissions and final cut to be locked). Leave a comment! Tell a story about a bad public speaking moment!! Bad wedding toasts!! Anything!

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CATEGORIES | Toastmasters, fear of public speaking, public speeches

lotsa lotsa lotsa notes

Jan 12th, 2010 | 0 comments

Over the weekend we started to give the editor our notes – this is no time to screw around, we went shot by shot, piece by piece, pulling apart almost every note of the film and making sure it’s being questioned, justified, and put in the exact right place. Painstaking, but we have the big picture right now. Most of the structure is ready… now it’s time to dig in again and do this. We basically want more of the drama that was the World Championships of Public Speaking than we wanted fear of public speaking. We’re trying to make two films become one.

However, we need more stories of bad public speaking moments!! Anything! This documentary film about the fear of public speaking and the World Championships of Public Speaking needs your help!!

In the meantime, there’s more of this going on every minute of the day:

p303301-Brussels-The_Thinker

CATEGORIES | Toastmasters, Uncategorized, celebrities, destinations and locations, documentaries, fear of public speaking, positive energy, public speeches

Yep, it’s 2010, which can only mean one thing…

Jan 5th, 2010 | 0 comments

…our film will be finished and seen by the world. Suffice to say, this is pretty darned exciting. It’s been such a tough slog – delays with financing, long editing days and nights, re-shoots, endless therapy sessions (haha), and every other etcetera you can possibly imagine has been part of this process of cutting over 400 hours of footage (it’s still mind boggling) to 95 minutes. There’s just been soooooo much ground to cover.

Tonight, we see a long awaited new cut of the film, beginning to end. Chris Leong was all over it over the holiday season. After tonight, we’ll be seeing the finish line, even after we give him our notes to work on. We’ve had all sorts of new ideas to solve some narrative problems over the break, so we may be bringing those to the editing room. I’m sure Chris’ Jack Russell Terrier, Bolt, will have some editorial suggestions as well.

We’ll keep you posted on our progress tomorrow – fingers crossed. But it’s thrilling that the world’s only documentary film about the fear of public speaking and the World Championships of Public Speaking will finally arrive in 2010.

Either way, we sure hope we’re feeling this, just a little tiny bit, as we talk to audiences after screenings of the film.

fear-of-public-speaking

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CATEGORIES | Toastmasters, editing, fear of public speaking, public speeches

Prison Toastmasters is now perfect

Nov 19th, 2009 | 15 comments

We’re so glad you enjoyed the Prison Toastmasters clip we posted yesterday. However, we failed to notice a couple typos in the clip. This is the spell checked, perfect version of Prison Toastmasters. If you posted any comments yesterday about Prison Toastmasters, we love if you could repost them again. Thank you all so much for the great feedback!

Brian and our intern Beca edited this little promo/short from the prison footage we shot for SpeakEasy. It’s not going to be in the final film, so, I mean, we went and shot it for god’s sake, might as well do SOMETHING with it, right? So here’s a little glimpse inside the prison walls. We would like to turn this into a full blow feature about the Forgotten Voices, so if you know how to get financing for something like that…. cough cough wink wink… let’s do it.

Special thanks to the staffs and inmates at Louisiana State Penitentiary @Angola and California State Prison @Norco. And special thanks to Frances Morrison, the honorable Robert Downing, and Lt. Michael Brownell at Norco for all their help. Hope you enjoy watching and please feel free to comment on this clip. Thanks! Join our community!!! Sign up for the e-newsletter for updates!!!!

Prison Toastmasters from SpeakEasy Movie on Vimeo.

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CATEGORIES | Toastmasters, clips, documentaries, editing, fear of public speaking, positive energy, public speeches

Thanksgiving for public speaking documentaries starts… tonight?

Nov 18th, 2009 | 0 comments

Brian is going away for a couple of weeks to get his leg worked on and attend to his appetite for high tryptophan foods. Unfortunately, the process of SpeakEasy has left him with a debit of home cooked meals and turkey and stuffing induced naps. I think it’s holding up the process, quite frankly, so off he goes to the greater New York/New Jersey area.
He will also ponder bad wedding toasts, the fear of public speaking, and practice acceptance speeches for awards and speeches to introduce the film at screenings.
I will revarnish my coffee table, or, you know, sit with Chris Leong and get this sucker done.
Join our community!!! Sign up for the newsletter!!! Become a part of the team!!

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CATEGORIES | Toastmasters, fear of public speaking, public speeches

Has anyone ever given a bad wedding toast?

Nov 16th, 2009 | 1 comment

We’ve learned – on our seemingly endless journey through the world of public speaking – that most people have a great fear, no matter who you are, of giving a toast at a wedding. It’s nerve wracking, and while you’re looking dapper in your tux and trying to enjoy yourself, the entire day and night – I mean, the whole weekend – you can be as nervous as the bride and groom to be. First rule is to speak from the heart, then you have to be funny and insightful and dazzling and clever and… all that.

Has anybody ever heard a great wedding toast? Or a terrible god awful, I’m-embarrassed-for-his-family one? Let us know!!!

Join our community and the e-newsletter!!!

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CATEGORIES | Toastmasters, fear of public speaking, public speeches

some song footage on its way

Nov 11th, 2009 | 1 comment

I swear! Later today!!
Join our community!!! Type exclamation points with me!!! Get excited!!

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CATEGORIES | Toastmasters, documentaries, fear of public speaking, music

Welcome Mongolian Public Speakers

Nov 10th, 2009 | 0 comments

One of the great thrills of this project, and of creating this site, has been getting attention from speakers and Toastmasters from all over the world. Speakers and fans from over 30 countries have visited our site. We think that’s cool. The fear of public speaking is a universal human fear, after all, so it does make sense. Toastmasters is also in over 100 countries, so we’re still playing catch up.
On Saturday, however, we received a visit from Ulan Bator, Mongolia. One speaker in Ulan Bator found out about SpeakEasy. It’s not like it’s Chicago, or even Peoria. It’s ….Ulan Bator, Mongolia.
Yes!!! We’re coming your way Mongolia!!! Let’s do a screening!!!

mongolia

Brian is already working on his moves. In this scenario he pops his leg off and calls for peace.

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CATEGORIES | Toastmasters, fear of public speaking, public speeches
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