I gave my first ‘Contest’ speech in more than 20 years on Saturday .. I was a contestant in the Toastmasters District 69, Eastern Division, Area 27 Humorous Speech contest. Which sounds a bit more spectacular than it actually is. Essentially it means that I was one of two people representing my Toastmasters club against contestants…
I could almost hear my wife shaking her head, as my mother described her reading style last weekend – Mum used to devour books in a single sitting but then go back and read them a second time, to pick up the stuff she missed the first time around. That of course is also the way…
I heard some excellent advice last night – advice that I am going to try to adopt. I was at a Toastmasters meeting when one of my fellow members talked about how we agree to try something – then talk ourselves out of it. That, I suspect, is something that we all do – but…
There’s a story out of Sydney today, where a Channel Nine reporter had eggs thrown at her while she was doing a live cross in a street where terrorism raids had taken place. And there are some, especially on social media, who are arguing that as a reporter, she was ‘fair game’ – that the reptiles…
Its now been just under 10 weeks since I gave up the security of a regular paycheck and full-time work, to hang out my shingle as a freelance travel writer / voiceover artist / whatever. And I’m still having a blast – but I have to say, things are slowwwww … Oh, I’m keeping the…
As a travel blogger / writer, I follow lots and lots of other travel bloggers and writers. And I noticed today that many of them regularly post pics of food. As do I. That prompted me to take a quick look at the number of food pictures we have from our travels. And particularly of street…
I spotted a post earlier this week on a blog I follow which referred to one of the little-known jewels in the North Queensland crown, Lake Barrine. In the post, blogger Michael Lai speaks of the lake’s pristine water, it’s beautiful flora and fauna, and (quite rightly) of ‘the best scones and tea we ever had’. But…
Recently, I was in Rome at the end of an amazing cruise (It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime things: me and five middle-aged women, going around the world by plane and ship – I’ll tell you about it some other time). Anyway, as we checked into our hotel, one of our party spotted a flyer…
Cairns Communications is the Freelance Journalism / VoiceOver / Training / Travel Writing company of Graham and Shirley Cairns. Training and Education Graham and Shirley Cairns have been involved in training for decades, in Public Speaking and Journalism education. For many years they were key figures in the growth and development of Toastmasters clubs in…
Cairns Communications 