Written by Margarita
Introduction
On Monday 13 March Bloomsbury Speakers held their regular club meeting downstairs at Wedge Issue Pizza & Beer. It was an evening of inspiration, learning and great fun!
Roles
The meeting started with a welcome speech from President Sheldon who shared with the audience his observations on importance of public speaking for people of all ages. Then Toastmaster Hari set out the theme for the evening – inspirational women – and introduced Timekeeper Olga and Grammarian Peter.
Prepared speeches
The first speaker was Paul, who joined Bloombsury Speakers just two weeks ago, but already got the second place in the International Evaluation Contest and represented the Club on the Area level. His Icebreaker speech entitled “Tourettes, Neuroscience and Me” deeply touched everyone in the audience. Paul explained how his experience of Tourettes led him to a career in neurology.
Rupert was the second to speak. His highly informative speech ? 2, entitled “Looking Back”, was devoted to the Cuban missile crisis. Rupert enlightened the audience on the background of the crisis and inspired even those who are not too keen on history to learn more about this greatest event of the Cold War.
The third speaker was Helen. She gave the first speech from advanced manual “Speaking to Inform”, which was entitled “Are you still playing this $%^&! Game?”. In a very fun and engaging manner Helen explained that the viral Pockemon Go! game exploits basic human needs known since prehistoric times that are hunting and gathering, unexpected awards and social inclusion.
After the speeches our Sergeant at Arms Sarah invited guests to introduce themselves.
Evaluations and Table Topics
After the break, we heard from the three evaluators – Tracey Alexander, Atul and Chantal.
We were then introduced to our Table Topic Master Swarajit, who structured his questions around the International Women’s Day. We heard from Dan, Yanik, Sarah, Chantal, Nigel, Anna and Peter, who all gave impromptu speeches for up to two minutes. Olga, the Timekeeper, then gave us the timings for each impromptu speech.
Margarita gave an evaluation of all the impromptu topics speakers, followed once more by Olga, who updated us on the timings for each evaluator’s speech.
Finally, our visiting General Evaluator, Rachel, evaluated our club and the meeting, including participants who had not received feedback during the session. Sheldon, the President of Bloomsbury Speakers, wrapped up the evening by announcing the awards:
Awards
Best Speaker: Rupert
Best Evaluator: Margarita
Best Table Topic: Nigel
Next meeting
Our next meeting will take place on Monday 27 March at 18:30 at Wedge Issue Pizza on Clerkenwell Road. Looking forward to seeing you there!
Please get in touch at [email protected] if you have any questions!
