A challenge can be so many different things. It can be something as simple having your Christmas shopping done early and economically. For a sportsperson it can be winning the race, the championship or the league. If you are ill the challenge can simply be to get better as quickly as possible. The speaker who gives the message “Challenge yourself and reap the rewards” reaches out to every single one of us because we can all do with improving ourselves or our lives in some way. The businessman might, for instance, accept the challenge of change in business and in doing so ride out the recession. A teacher might respond to the challenge of having a very dull or indeed a very bright student in his class by helping each one of them to reach his or her potential. A soldier might challenge himself to save the life of a comrade injured in battle. For a lawyer the challenge could be to ensure an innocent prisoner walks free. For a government the challenge is surely to look after its people. So it’s a very worthwhile topic for a public speaker. In fact to sum it up for everyone in the audience all he has to say is “Life is a challenge, meet it.”

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Teachers have a lot to say and it’s not always about the subject they are teaching. They speak at open-house meetings and give welcome back to high school speeches. They often have to speak at a school prize-giving, a welcome to a school show or even on a school sports day. The big problem them is that they attend so many of these functions and have to speak repeatedly. Obviously they have to keep to the theme of the occasion but how can they do that and say something new and interesting? It is a fact too that the same parents will be attending the school for years while their offspring progress and they won’t want to hear the same things over and over again. Teachers often have to give motivational speeches to their students and wonder how they can say something that the student will remember for life. This is particularly true when they are speaking at a graduation ceremony. The opening of such speeches is critical. If they can say something that will capture the imagination of the audience at the beginning they will usually have them hooked. Nobody expects a world changing speech on most school occasions but they have to be relevant to the age group in question. Welcome back to elementary school speeches for instance have to be simple enough for the students to grasp while a dean speaking at the anniversary of a university or college will naturally have to pitch his or her speech to more mature students or even past pupils. So know your audience, try to be topical and add a little humour and try again next year!

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French soccer players have been given the boot by the country’s football authorities. They were, it seems, unimpressed with the teams behaviour in the World Cup. Surely, though, it is a question of blaming the wrong people? After all if there were problems in the camp they were there before the World Cup. They probably came to a head because of the pressure of the occasion. So it seems the authorities themselves are to blame. They should have known about the bad feelings in the camp and tackled the problem. They should also have known about the standard of play. They may not have had a Pele on the French team but the squad did have many household names. Then too if the players played badly the fault must lie with the coach and trainers not to mention the management. In the political world a Minister has to accept responsibility for his officials. If they make mistakes the Minister often resigns. Usually if a team fails the Manager resigns. So why in this case are the players suspended? Their behaviour and play was not admirable of course but the real question is whose fault was that? If soccer is the beautiful game some of the gloss has gone off it in France.

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Soccer may be the beautiful game but not in the USA where football fans are coming to grips with the fact that their team is out of the World Cup. They have to grasp the fact that the leading western nation has been beaten by an African country with far less resources. Soccer is not, of course, the national game in the US but interest is growing and there were lots of people watching the World Cup many of whom had never watched soccer before. It raises the whole question of patriotism and what makes people support their own country in a particular sport? Would as many have watched darts or why do some countries specialise in particular sports. Is it something to do with climate or genes that make African runners so good for instance? Brothers can choose to support opposing teams. Football can divide a city or unite a country. Whatever about that the US team has gone home satisfied that they held England to a draw Things can only get better.

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There have been millions of words written about the World Cup. The most important words of all though will be the acceptance speech given by the winning Captain. If the truth were known every Captain has probably had his acceptance speech written in the hope of a victory. Such speeches would have to be gracious in tone. Certainly they would have to include a generous reference to the the skill and determination of the losing team. Naturally too the Captain would want to thank those who made the victory possible. So he would refer to the manager and the coach, in fact the whole backroom team. He would want to talk about his teammates and how they had made success possible. So the speech will include words such as hard work and team-work and sheer grit. Finally, undoubtedly, the speech would refer to the wonderful fans. What a pity that all of these speeches, except one, are destined to be spoken only to the mirror in the Captain’s bedroom!

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School sports day is a red letter day on the calendar. It is a day when students are freed from their classrooms to jump and run around freed from the fetters of learning. It is a day for mothers to wear their summary best and fathers to cheer on their sons. It’s a day when children who may struggle with academic subjects show that they can race faster or jump further than anyone else. It’s a day for red faces and perspiration where t-shirts and shorts are the order of the day. It’s a day for starter guns or teachers with whistles. School sports day is a day for cameras and videos and smiling faces. It’s a day for triumph and disasters, for successes and failures. Speeches are given and medals are presented and, overall, it’s a day for sportsmanship and making memories.

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It’s summertime and that means more outdoor events, more prize-givings and more speeches. You may for instance be asked to speak at the  Opening of Charity/Fundraiser/Fete. What you will say depends of course, on the charity and the event in questions. Certainly though you will have to speak graciously of the organisors and welcome those who attend the event and urge them to support the cause as generously as possible. You might be at a School sports and find you have to speak about the importance of sportsmanship and to speak motivationally about losers as well as winners. Perhaps you are viewing an Independence Day parade and you are asked to speak. If so you will have to refer to the history of the day and what it means still in today’s world. Even if you are speaking in the great big outdoors your speech should follow the same rules that apply inside.

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Where are you giving your speech? Professional speakers usually give their speeches in venues that are professionally equipped. And soundproofed. For the speaker who is giving a eulogy for the death of a friend or the incoming President of a sporting organisation that may not be the case. So if you are giving a speech in less formal surroundings it is a good idea to check the venue first.
A church will usually have a microphone system but if you are speaking at a funeral home or a graveside this won’t be the case and your eulogy will have to be delivered in a loud, clear voice. Your venue may be beside a motor racing track or a nosy factory? If so, your speech could be drowned out by the sound of the engines racing or machines working and you will have to allow for the fact when speaking. Does the microphone work? It’s too late to discover it doesn’t when you start your talk. Practise using it and ask someone to check that they can hear you from the end of the room.
If you are speaking at your mother’s birthday or your grandson’s Bar M mitzvah the party may be held at home. If so you will probably not have a microphone at all and you should practise throwing your voice so that your wonderful toast can be heard by all present. Another tip would be to arrange beforehand for a little stand of some sort. When people gather around the table where the birthday cake is placed for instance you may not be seen by those in the back of the crowd. That is, of course, unless you are seven feet tall!
Even professional speakers can have problems with venues. If they are opening a business conference in a hotel for instance the room may be beside where the beer crates are unloaded and that’s a very noisy procedure. Alternatively, there may be a wedding in another room with a band belting out tunes. You need to be sure too that you won’t be interrupted while giving your speech so arrange for dishes to be cleared away before you begin. So whatever the occasion or wherever the speech is being given check out the venue first. That way you can be sure of getting your message across.

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Tiger Woods will be back soon, or so it is said. His supporters say that his private life has nothing to do with his magic at golf. His detractors say that a man is known by his actions and that a cheat is a cheat. His sponsors wanted him to be squeaky clean.
Certainly he has admitted to cheating on his wife. Yet there is no doubt but that someone in his position is likely to be targeted by women, especially when he is away on tour. The tabloids, of course, have had a field day but it is worth asking if they too have not sinned? After all their reports must have caused untold misery to his wife and children.
We live in a world where extra marital affairs are taken for granted. They don’t sound so exciting though when you call them adultery. Women who throw themselves at men in the limelight may be beautiful but the names they can be called aren’t quite so pretty. Those who keep their marriage vows may be in the minority these days but they don’t break hearts or break up families. Such good news of course doesn’t sell newspapers and that says something about all of us.

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Is Ronaldo worth all those millions or is the price paid for him another example of why we are in the midst of a recession? In other words have we lost any sense of true worth or value for money?
He is a wonderful footballer of course but are we paying for his entertainment value alone? Are fans prepared to pay inflated prices to watch such players while those who do necessary and often unpleasant jobs are paid a pittance?  Think of the money paid to nurses or home helps and their contribution to society and then compare it to someone kicking a ball. No matter how brilliantly he kicks it he is still, in the end of the day, only kicking a ball. He is definitely not helping the elderly, the handicapped or the lonely.
Isn’t it time we got the balance right between entertainment and what is necessary for the functioning of our world. Yes, we all enjoy being entertained but we can live without it. We can create our own entertainment or even kick our own balls. We cannot nurse ourselves when we have a heart attack or make our own meals when we are elderly and infirm. Being like Ronaldo is only a dream for most of those who watch him but, surely, the price of that dream is too high.

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