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September Newsletter – contest season in full flow and a new VPMM

Hello and Welcome to the September Newsletter!

In the Toastmaster’s world, September means one thing – contests!  We’ve held our club contest (more on that later) and many other clubs in the area have now held theirs.  Many of you have been busy preparing speeches, organising the club contest and taking on the many roles needed on the night so a BIG thank you to everyone who helped out and made the evening a big success.

If you don’t have time to read the whole newsletter, you can skip to the bottom for a short summary of the main points.

What’s happened since the last newsletter?

We had two meetings in August which were full of speeches from newer members with an Icebreaker from Robert on the 11th and Emma, Emily, Faith Rose and Egor giving No2 and No3 speeches on the 18th.  We also held a humorous speeches and improvisation workshop on 1st September. The workshop was led  by Gayna Cooper who finished second in the UK & Ireland with an impressive speech which she recited for us as part of the workshop.  Gayna generously gave us her views on what makes a winning speech and tackled some of the issues which make us nervous such as will the audience laugh.  Her final message was that it’s never too soon to start failing to win contests so that we can work out how to win contests!  A timely message just a week before…

… Bloomsbury Speakers Humourous Speech and Table Topics Contest!

As ever the tension was palpable at the contest with nervous energy from the contestants and great support and encouragement from the audience.  Previous contest winner Janet was a commanding chair and brought some humour to the role as she focussed on making sure the contests unfolded exactly as they should.  Normally she’s entering (and winning!) the contests rather than overseeing them!

There were three contestants in the Humourous Speech contest and five in the Table Topics where Janet introduced the table topic: “If it were biologically possible, should men be chosen to get pregnant?”.  

When the judges’ ballots had been counted and checked, drum rolls were provided by the audience and with suspense built up by the chief judge Ayse the results were announced.

In the Table Topics Speech Contest:

  • Third place went to Joe
  • Second place went to Peter L
  • First place went to Jo

In the Humorous Speech contest, only the first place was announced due to there being only three contestants and the winner was Swarajit.

Swarajit and I will now be competing in the Area Contest to be held on Thursday 25th September at London Underground’s offices, 55 Broadway, St James Park, SW1H 0BD.  We’d love the support but, if you are planning to come, you MUST sign up in advance at https://area34contests.eventbrite.co.uk .  For those of you with more than six speeches under your belt, there may also be an opportunity to judge the contest. If you want to be a judge drop me a line on [email protected].

What’s planned for September?

Due to the contest, our first regular meeting of the month is on Monday 22nd September.  With two advanced speeches from Hari and Joe, it promises to be an entertaining meeting.  As of writing the grammarian slot is still free so, if you are coming along, please sign up for the role.

On the 29th, we will have an ice breaker from new member Rory and there will also be a No2 from Sinead and N04 speeches from Ash and Tracey.

***NEWSFLASH*** – Tracey Alexander takes over as Bloomsbury’s VP Membership and Mentoring

Sadly for Bloomsbury, James Hallinan our previous VPMM has relocated outside of London and will no longer be able to attend meetings on a regular basis.  During the 6 months he was VPMM he managed the club’s waiting list, shadowed new members through the joining process and signing up for Icebreakers and pushed forward the club’s mentoring programme.  On behalf of the club thanks to James for all his hard work.  His role will now be taken over by Tracey Alexander who has been a member for 12 months and is well placed to continue James’ sterling effort.  I welcome her to the Committee and wish her all the best in the role.

Dates for your Diary

If you have ever wanted to get some inspiration and ideas from speakers outside Bloomsbury, the next few weeks are a fantastic opportunity to attend an area contest and see some winning speeches.  As well as Area 34’s contest on Thursday 25th Sept, there are a number of other area contests over the coming weeks.  All the details are here: http://www.thelondonspeaker.com/

Thursday 16th October – the Division L contest (which is Bloomsbury’s division) will be held at CASS Business School.  We’ll be organising a trip regardless of whether Swarajit and Jo get through the area contest so note it in your diaries if you would like to come along.

Key facts – just the stuff you really need to know

  • Our Contest winners on the 8th September were Swarajit in the Humourous Speech contest and Jo in the Table Topics contest.
  • They will now be speaking at the Area 34 Contest on Thursday 25th September at London Underground’s offices, 55 Broadway, St James Park, SW1H 0BD.  We’d love the support but, if you are planning to come, you MUST sign up in advance at https://area34contests.eventbrite.co.uk .
  • Tracey Alexander is taking over as VPMM following  James’ relocation outside of London.
  • Thursday 16th October – the Division L contest (which is Bloomsbury’s division) will be held at CASS Business School. Come along!