Meeting Report for 27 June 2011

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Introduction

In her very last meeting as Club President, Nazia Soon opened with the great news that Bloomsbury had recently achieved Select Distinguished Club status – a great accomplishment for a relatively young club.

Describing Bloomsbury as small branch in the much larger Toastmasters family tree she she urged members to really push themselves to meet their communication goals – for some it could be the start of launching themselves into the “stratosphere of public speaking”.

She handed over to first-time Toastmaster Kate Osborne who did a fantastic job of explaining her role as meeting host and setting the tone for the evening. She said it was her responsibility to “keep the energy alive” in the room and to make sure all of the speakers received the warm welcome from the audience they deserved.

Kate congratulated Nazia for having built such a thriving club and introduced the theme of the evening – “What has changed in your life recently?”

Following Kate, the evening’s Timekeeper Terry Freedman opened his own introduction with the surprisingly existential question “why am I here?” before answering his own question – to keep everyone in the meeting to time! He explained the role and then with a cautionary flash of the feared gavel he returned to his seat to start timing the first prepared speech.

Prepared speeches

The first speaker was Glen Long, whose No. 6 speech “Stranger in a Strange Language” (concentrating on vocal variety) used humour to describe his various attempts to learn Spanish for a number of different trips abroad. A highlight was a glimpse into language learning 1970s style with Glen recreating an extract from a Linguaphone language cassette found in his parents’ loft.

Following Glen was Alex Goldsbrough with another No. 6 speech. “A Great Swim Outdoors” told the story of Alex’s recent introduction to outdoor swimming. Initially put off by London’s rather grotty selection of outdoor pools, Alex was lured by way of an altogether more upmarket sounding “lido” into 12 degree waters – considerably colder than he had braved previously.

In yet another No. 6 speech (we don’t have one for ages and then three come along at once!) Todd Wade introduced us to three social networks that he felt went way beyond either Facebook or Twitter in terms of their ability to change the world (or at least improve your life):

  • Busuu – a “crowd-sourced” language learning tools where you can hook up with native speakers to practice a new language, and help them out with English
  • Ushahidi – a platform for collaborative data collection and visualisation – e.g. mapping violence hotspots in Africa
  • Jolitics – a “political networking” platform allowing people to debate, vote and campaign about issues important to them

Our final speech was from club regular and advanced speaker Raj Jain who gave a prepared dramatic speech. In “Changes” Raj told the story of childhood love gone awry – the experience of being replaced in the affections of his favourite “girl” Sonu by a new arrival next door. A sad story indeed until he turned it on its head by revealing that his beloved Sonu was not human but canine!

Evaluations

After guest introductions led by Hari Kalymnios and a short break, the second half of the meeting kicked off with Joyanta Raksmith evaluating Glen’s speech.

He commended Glen on his choice of topic – even the title suggested many opportunities for vocal variety. His main recommendation was although this variety was demonstrated very effectively in the section where Glen played different roles, it could have benefited from more variety in other sections.

Evaluating Alex’s speech, Swarajit Das said particularly enjoyed Alex’s use of an internal monologue at the start of his speech with a corresponding shift in tone to pull us into his thought processes. His recommendations were that Alex adopted a more central position on the stage and made better use of breathing and pauses to minimise the occasional stumble.

Guy Smith evaluated Todd’s speech and admitted that for him, the idea of a speech about social networking and “crowd sourcing” was not particularly enticing, feeling it was a very dry subject. But he confessed he was soon proved wrong by Todd’s nuanced delivery which used tone to great effect to convey emotion and lead the audience. Guy recommended that Todd “showed off his language abilities” when discussing the language learning platform and also varied the pace of his delivery more throughout.

Henry commended Raj on his great presence – like a “young Elvis”! – and the very effective use of his now signature long pauses to build dramatic tension and draw the audience in. He cautioned Raj on his use of possibly contentious language but felt that overall the speech showed “huge economy and great delivery”.

Table topics

Moving to table topics, Topicsmaster Hari Kalymnios introduced a very inventive format for impromptu speaking. He had printed the front covers of several different books (some famous, some obscure) and invited volunteers to “sell” these books to the audience from the standpoint of being the book’s author or simply as an enthusiastic fan:

  • Dave Longley enthusiastically extolled virtues of Internet for Dummies by way of Jeremy Clarkson
  • Guy Smith explained “How I Stole Johnny Depp’s Alien Girlfriend” by starting with a jazz odyssey that ended up on a Hollywood film set
  • Douglas Williams told us how he had made mistakes in his life but “turned his mess into a message” with his cautionary tale “The Afterthoughts of a Worm Hunter”
  • Brand new member Joe Lake had to convince us that “The Da Vinci Code” was worth a read, but cleverly feigned amnesia and asked us to tell him what it was all about
  • And finally guest Karan told us about Guinea Dog – the tale of a guinea pig who thought it was a dog and on stage he made a most convincing author

As stand-in Topics Evaluator, Glen Long commended Dave on his enthusiastic delivery but cautioned against using paper as a crutch; he thought that Guy had a slightly surreal start but gave a great demonstration of the power of a strong ending; he loved Douglas’s improvised “Mess to Message” but suggested he resisted a tendency to creep forward; he felt Joe also finished strongly and recommended an early choice of “angle” and to stick to it; and he felt Karan had a great stance and showed confidence but recommended he fully embrace the conceit of the topic.

General evaluation

Douglas Williams from Northern Lights in Camden gave a very positive general evaluation and said he’d be delighted to come back. He commended Bloomsbury on beng very organised and welcoming. His main recommendation was that we try to fill the room from the front so there were fewer gaps in the audience.

When it became time for the award-giving, the prize for best speaker went to Todd for his speech on social networks, best evaluator to Henry for his critique of Raj’s dramatic speech, and best table topic to Guy for his tall Hollywood tale. Well done all!

Awards and announcements

With the meeting almost over, it was time for Nazia to hand over to the brand new committee: Kate Osborne (remaining as Secretary), Swarajit Das (Treasurer), Dave Longley (VP Education), Hari Kalymnios (VP Mentoring), Fabrizio Palmucci (absent but VP Membership), Adam Horne (Sergeant at Arms) and Glen Long (President).

Glen thanked Nazia for her hard work and dedication in building up the club from nothing and presented her with an engraved crystal decanter on behalf of the club.

The next meeting is Monday, 11 July, upstairs at the Rugby Tavern as usual.

Meeting Report for 13 June 2011

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Introduction

Club President Nazia Soon opened the meeting with a reminder that Toastmasters is an “experiential” learning environment – it’s all about learning by doing. She gave a topical example from the world of tennis – that Andy Murray didn’t get good at the sport just by reading about it!

As the evening’s Toastmaster, Alex Donald introduced the theme of “injustice” and spoke about his personal view that it was injust that so many young people left education without reaching acceptable standards of numeracy and literacy, or being able to communicate effectively. Perhaps the curriculum should include more elements from Toastmasters he ventured!

Passing to a fellow Alex, he introduced Alex Goldsbrough as timekeeper who explained the purpose of the role – to keep all the speakers to time. He explained how he felt his timekeepers’ stopwatch was a symbol of the forthcoming Olympics – an event for which he had singularly failed to get tickets. He promised to channel his frustration into his timekeeping and use the gavel without mercy for those speakers who overran their allotted time.

Despite the Toastmasters “rule of three” almost demanding the appearance of a third Alex, we instead were met with Adam Horne in his role as Harkmaster. Adam invited us all to listen carefully to the meeting as he would be testing this at the end and rewarding good listening.

Prepared speeches

Toastmaster Alex then introduced the first speaker, club stalwart Henry Playfoot, who took as his subject – breakfast and its myriad possibilities. For Henry, the very first meal of the day afforded a great sense of freedom and he painted a vivid picture of key stages in his life via the breakfasts that had characterised them.

Our second speaker was a visiting member from another Toastmasters club, Jennifer Zou, who delivered an advanced speech focused on storytelling. Jennifer treated us to the story of St Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio, an enchanting tale excellently told whose moral was that sometimes it is better to befriend your enemy than to fight him!

Our third speech was another advanced speech, this time from club regular and recent international speech contest finalist Raj Jain. In Giving Effective Feedback, Raj gave numerous useful tips including a powerful reminder that the overriding responsibility of the evaluator is to provide feedback that will be helpful to the speaker. He warned us against losing sight of this, perhaps by trying to entertain the audience, or even by using the evaluation as an opportunity to deliver a mini speech of our own.

Evaluations

After the break, each of the speeches was discussed by an evaluator, no doubt with Raj’s wise words still ringing in their ears!

Hari Kalymnios evaluated Henry’s breakfast-inspired speech, commending Henry on his use of language and fluid delivery and confessing that he himself found it quite hypnotic. He also commended Henry on his natural gestures and body language but cautioned him not to allow them to distract from the verbal elements of the speech.

Next, Kate Osborne gave a very confident evaluation of Jennifer’s children’s story which she found “extremely entertaining” and “great for adults too”. She loved Jennifer’s smile and use of vivid language but invited her to use more vocal variety.

Thirdly, Glen Long took on the task of evaluating Raj’s advanced speech on giving feedback. He was impressed by Raj’s confident introduction which had included various improvisations to incorporate elements from the evening itself. Glen also commended Raj on his insightful and helpful tips but challenged him to keep an eye on maintaining an even tone throughout.

Table topics

As Table Topicsmaster, Swarajit Das challenged willing volunteers to speak for 1 to 2 minutes on some challenging topics of his choosing, including:

  • Should premiership footballers have the right to keep their extramarital affairs out of the newspapers?
  • Should the rich be taxed more to help the poor?
  • Are human rights more important than animal rights?

As Table Topics evaluator, Nazia had praise and pointers for all participants…

She commended Todd for his great presence and booming voice but felt his speech ended a little too abruptly. She commended Fabrizio’s philosophical view of his topic and his “valiant attempt” at a rule of three. Returning guest Joe gave a “balanced view” but Nazia encouraged him to share eye contact with both sides of the room.

Nazia liked the way that Dave took control of the stage, paused a moment to pick his subject then “just went with it”. Michael’s speech was confident and humorous but she invited him to keep his eyes on the audience rather than the floor. Hari made a good argument but could also have benefitted from sharing his eye contact around the room more. And Mehnaz developed a considered response but Nazia felt it was a little short – she would have liked to hear more.

Other reports

Returning as Harkmaster, Adam tested our listening skills with a series of questions and rewarded correct answers with chocolate – many going to a particularly attentive Hari!

Carlos Johnson from Broadgate Speakers provided a general evaluation, giving some useful hints for improving the club and also providing evaluations for all those participants not yet evaluated. He said it had been very interesting for him to witness the progress of this “Holborn offshoot” and commended Bloomsbury on its “unique style”.

Awards

Bringing the meeting to close, Nazia handed out the evening’s awards, based on votes cast throughout the meeting by the audience. Best Table Topics Speaker was awarded to our guest Michael, Best Evaluator to Kate, and coveted Best Speech award went to Henry. The President’s discretionary award went to Alex Donald for his performance as the evenings Toastmaster.

Next meeting

The next meeting is at 6.45pm on Monday 27 June at our normal venue – upstairs at the Rugby Tavern.