Written by Margarita
Introduction
On Monday 13th June we met upstairs at the Clerk and Well, in the heart of the City of London, for a regular meeting of Bloomsbury Speakers. We had two fantastic Icebreakers on the night followed by two speeches from more experienced members and got some news regarding changes in club’s leadership.
Roles
Club’s President Helen started the meeting with the empowering statement that each of us has a voice and we all have something to say. She inspired club members and guests to spread their voice beyond the club as some of the Bloomsbury speakers have done already (Remember Hari giving a TEDxtalk or Janet giving a keynote speech on communication?).
She then introduced the Toastmaster – Clare. It was Clare’s first experience in this role and she did an absolutely fantastic job! She explained the other roles, starting with Timekeeper Stella. An experienced Toastmaster, she reminded the audience of the importance of time-keeping. The meeting then proceeded with the Minute of Silence in tribute to the Orlando victims.
Prepared speeches
After opening remarks, the first speaker was Jack, who delivered a No. 1 Speech entitled ‘Justice for Jack’. He told us about a heartbreaking experience of having his bike stolen, and gave us a thriller on how far he went to get it back.
The second speaker of the night was Chantal, who delivered a No. 1 speech entitled ‘Beating the Pessimism’. She gave an exceptionally honest speech sharing with us her two true passions – literature and environment.
The third speaker was Matthew, who gave a No. 3 speech with the title ‘How to achieve a Duracell bunny success’. He shared with us three components of success – setting high goals, maintaining energy and having proper rest, using great visuals.
The next prepared speech was delivered by Helen, who gave an Advanced Speech with the title ‘Your audience has feelings too – Pathos and the “Appeal to Emotion”’. Helen presented Aristotle’s work on pathos and suggested future speakers connect with the audience through emotions, bearing in mind evocation, appropriateness and action.
After the break, we heard from the four evaluators who had been preparing feedback for the first batch of prepared speeches – Sebastian, Peter F, Ahmed and Margarita.
Table Topics
We then held a session of table topics, hosted by Sergey. Peter chose the topic ‘News’, and invited Swarajit, Christina, Piotr, Abraham, Matt and Francis to speak. Finally, we invited the Table Topics Evaluator, Sheldon, to present feedback on each of the impromptu speeches we had just heard.
After the Timekeeper’s report, the visiting General Evaluator, Marco, summarised the evening’s speaking and offered feedback for those who had not yet been evaluated. Marco mentioned that he particularly enjoys reading our Meeting Reports, so we hope he would like this one as well.
News
This meeting was very special for Bloomsbury Speakers as it was the last time when Helen acted as Club’s President. After one brilliant year as President she is passing the role to Sheldon, the Club’s VPE.
Awards
Best Speaker: Jack
Best Evaluator: Peter F.
Best table topic: Piotr
Next meeting
Our next meeting will be Monday 27th June at the Clerk and Well (though the venue may be subject to change). Please get in touch at [email protected] if you have any questions!
