Meeting Report for 24 September 2012

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Written by Elena.

Introduction

With a guest (visiting from London Athenians club in Hammersmith) taking the Best Topics speaker award and a regular member winning best speaker for a speech about the mystery surrounding Shakespeare’s life, it was another great meeting.

The evening was hosted by past club Secretary and experienced member Kate. Having greeted everyone upon arrival, she went through the evening’s agenda under the theme “The Future of Work”. Grammarian Wayne and Timekeeper Carrie provided functionary support by overseeing good use of language and time management respectively.

Prepared speeches

The first speaker Marco spoke passionately about his subject – Politics in Italy – in a No. 2 speech entitled “Politics or Antipolitics”. He described the background, current political situation in Italy and attempted to solve the dilemma whether future government of Italy should be political or technical. In the conclusion of the speech he stated – it does not have to be as it is!

Ahmed gave his No. 5 speech “Soul/Funk Music – Yesterday and Today”. He explained that soul music comes from America and Ray Charles had been a pioneer in this genre of music during the 1950s. It was also very popular in the 1960s when Ahmed first learned about soul music from his uncle and he has kept passion for this kind of music since then.

Jo presented a well-researched speech No. 7 entitled “Good Will Hunting” about a “mystery” writer – William Shakespeare. She revealed that there are no genuine portraits of Shakespeare or even a written description of what he had looked like. Also, signatures show six different spellings of his name, there is no diary or letters to find out more about his life, and no record (except one) of him speaking his own voice. She also argued that Shakespeare’s language had been very innovative as he had invented 2000 words that we still use.

Joe persuaded the audience to change their attitude to work in his No. 9 speech entitled “This Means Work”. He provided three tips how to do that: to find meaning in your work, work hard (like competitors in the Paralympics) and follow your heart (like Richard Branson). At the end of the speech Joe invited the audience to work hard to help overcome the current economic recession.

Speech evaluations

Angela evaluated Marco’s speech about the Italian political system. She “approbated” (word of the day: approbation = praise) his very clear message, his use of a picture from a newspaper with jokes to enhance it, relaxed pace and natural body language. Angela noticed that speech could have been improved by working on voice projection.

Steven started his evaluation of Ahmed’s soul/funk music speech by stating what Ahmed had done well – equally distributed eye contact throughout the audience so everyone felt engaged, a chronologically organised speech making it easier to understand, and the use of hand gestures to add some comedy effect. In Steven’s opinion sometimes unnecessary movements distracted the audience from the main message.

Evaluating Jo’s Shakespeare speech Christopher pointed out the subject was very engaging and Jo had collected a lot of interesting facts including statistical data. Christopher particularly liked Jo’s description of Mr Fisher (her teacher) and the finale of the speech. The only recommendation was to use the stage a bit more.

The last evaluator Glen evaluated Joe’s persuasive speech about working hard. He commended Joe’s very supportive body language, great eye contact with the audience and the use of rhetorical devices. His main recommendation was to add a call to action at the end to make the speech more powerful.

Table Topics

The Topics Master for the evening was Elena, who prepared interesting and challenging questions for volunteers within the theme “Back to School”. She asked the audience to play the role of a class of 4 to 5 year olds who are “a bit naughty” and ask the teacher lots of questions. Each Table Topics speaker played the role of the teacher who was to teach the children on a given subject and deal with any disruptions and questions.

This evening we had science lessons about:

  • British woodland habitants
  • A comparison of wild cats and domestic cats
  • How do humans differ from animals?
  • Animals found in your back garden
  • Animals with spots
  • A day in the life of a monkey!

Awards

Closing the meeting the club President Femi gave out the awards based on the votes cast during the evening.

The Best Evaluator award was given to Glen for his evaluation of Joe’s speech. The Best Table Topics Speaker award went to the guest from London Athenians Speakers Mendora for her Wild vs Domestic Cats Table Topic, and the Best Speaker award went to the club Secretary Jo for her well-researched speech about Shakespeare.

The President’s discretional award went to Elena for the successful Table Topic section.

Next meeting

Our next meeting is on Monday, 8th October 2012, upstairs at The Clerk and Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1R 5BX.

Contest Report – 10 September 2012

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It was standing room only at the 2012 Humorous Speech and Table Topics contest on Monday evening at The Clerk & Well.

Introduction

The contests were introduced by Carrie who set the scene and explained the format of the evening for the benefit of everyone present.

The first half would be the Humorous Speech section with seven contestants giving prepared humorous speeches and the second half would be the Table Topics section – with eight contestants giving impromptu responses to a mystery question.

Swarajit in his role as Contest Chair welcomed us to the “very special meeting” and explained some of the formalities surrounding contests. He also encouraged everyone to give the contestants as much support as possible with lots of applause.

Humorous Speeches

The first speaker was Christopher – fresh from success with his recent best man’s speech – with a speech entitled “The Real You – The Do’s and Don’t’s of Exposing Yourself”. He tackled the gnarly subject of how much of your true personality should you reveal to a new girlfriend or boyfriend and how soon?

The second speaker was Ratan with his “Father of the Bride Speech” from his daughter’s recent wedding. Ratan gave a touching and humorous account of his relationship with his new son-in-law and shared fond memories of his daughter growing up.

The third speaker was Renars with “Fitness Today – How Insane!” and he came dressed to impress in a striking costume – think 1980s fitness instructor! In a very animated and amusing speech he gave us his insight into the three types of exercise regime we might encounter: army-style conditioning classes, body combat or beach bootcamp.

Michael was our fourth speaker with a speech entitled “The Great Fire of Hillbury Road”. Michael shared the humorous story of the time his in-laws offered to help him build a large fire in his back garden. With a heady mix of contrasting personalities it’s perhaps not surprising that things got out of control!

David was the fifth speaker with his emotionally-charged and energetic speech “I’ve Lost My Security Pass”. David’s boss has asked him to do one simple thing – send an important email by 9.15am – but David is challenged by late trains, packed lifts and – of course – a lost security pass.

Joe was the sixth speaker with his speech “Bad Drivers”. Joe loves driving but he’s on a mission to identify and eliminate the 5% of drivers whose bad driving can make the roads a misery for everyone else. If you’re a middle lane driver – watch out – Joe’s got you in his sights.

Glen was the seventh speaker with his speech “The Rise and Fall of a Bokashi Master”. Glen revealed himself as a fanatical recycler and described his attempts to recycle his leftover food with Bokashi – a Japanese-style of home composting.

Tables Topics

Opening the second half of the meeting, Swarajit shared a personal story where his experience with Table Topics at Toastmasters had paid off in the real world. That day he’d attended the London 2012 Parade and had been interviewed by a Sky News reporter.

He then introduced the Table Topics contest, where each contestant was required to give a 1-2 minutes response to the same question:

“In your opinion what is the greatest invention ever made, or yet to be made?”

Contestants were brought in the room one by one to speak, so that everyone had the same amount of time – just a few seconds – to think about their answer before speaking.

Each contestant tackled the topic in a distinct way:

  • David felt that the world’s greatest invention would be different for everyone – for his daughter it’s hair tongs but for him it’s his Flymo
  • Ratan believed that the greatest invention not yet invented is something to help control the butterflies he feels when speaking
  • Joe felt the best invention was the whoopee cushion for its ability to take people back to their childhood – particularly when you put one under your boss’s chair
  • For Chris the greatest invention was the Tazer gun for its ability to stop the bad guys without causing permanent harm. In fact he felt that they should be made available to the general public!
  • Renars thought that the railway was the greatest invention with its ability to transport goods more easily and promote tourism
  • Glen decided the greatest invention would have to enrich people’s lives, be available to everyone and make us happy and came to the conclusion that the answer was Guinness.
  • In Paula’s view the greatest invention ever was the juicer. Who needs cows, pigs or chickens when you can turn raw fruit and vegetables into nutritious liquid food?
  • Jo felt that best invention would be a device which could freeze time so she could come up with the perfect answer with the help of Google and a glass of red wine

The Results

When all the contestants had spoken, club president Femi took the opportunity to thank all of the judges and those others who had helped to make the contest happen. This also gave the Chief Judge Jakub time to compile and double-check the results!

On returning to the room Jakub said he felt he had the best job – because he got to know the results before anyone else!

With “drumrolls” provided by the audience, Jakub announced the winners of the Table Topics contest: David was first, Ratan was second and Paula came third.

He then announced the winners of the Humorous Speech contest: Glen came first, David was second and Renars was third.

This year the top two places will go on to compete at Area level, so Glen and David will go on to represent the club for the Humorous Speech contest and David and Ratan for the Table Topics contest.

Next meeting

Our next meeting is back to the regular format and is at the normal venue: 6.30pm upstairs at The Clerk & Well, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU.

September Newsletter – Membership Unfreeze, Contest Night and Table Topics Boot Camp

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Hello and welcome to the September newsletter!

August was the month when the Olympics brought the world to the British Isles and in particular to this great city of London. And Bloomsbury Speakers benefited from the influx.

Yes we saw Toastmasters from overseas clubs visiting us during their short stint in London, and they had nothing but praise for us. They also said they felt as if they were at home, because our club meeting experience was similar to what happens in their clubs in their respective countries.

All of this reminds me again of what a global phenomenon Toastmasters is, and how through the same format combining regular practice with feedback, the organisation is helping multitudes around the world to become better speakers and leaders.

Now here in a nutshell is what happened in August in case you were away and haven’t read the meeting reports…

(Remember, if you’re in a hurry, you can scroll to the very end of the newsletter to get a list of the key things you need to know!)

What’s happened since the last newsletter?

In August, we returned to our two standard meetings a month which were well attended despite strong competition from the Olympic Games and the holiday season. Yes, we saw record numbers of guests in the meetings and members turned out in their droves.

There was an ice breaker speech and speeches from members across the experience spectrum. This is why I enjoy coming to Bloomsbury because whether you are an advanced speaker or a newbie there something appealing for everyone!

What’s planned for September?

We’ve got two meetings in September – on the 10th and 24th September.

However, our first meeting Monday 10th September is not a regular meeting; instead it’s our Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest night. This is the club-level round of the autumn contests, featuring humorous prepared speeches and table topics.

We already have lots of eager contestants but our Contest Organiser Swarajit tells me members still have a few hours left to register for the contest. Contact him directly at education@bloomburyspeakers.org.uk by the end of today (Friday 7th September).

If you’re not taking part or acting in a functionary role, please come along anyway. This contest meeting is usually one of the most entertaining on the Bloomsbury calendar.

As for Monday 24th September 2012 – This is a standard regular meeting and while speaking slots are already booked up, we are still looking to fill the Toastmaster role. Alternatively, you can put yourself down for a table topics slot.

Tip: an experienced member to watch in this meeting is Hari Kalymnios (our previous VP of membership and mentoring) who is already a Competent Communicator.

What’s on the horizon?

We’ve got two meetings in October – on the 8th and 22nd.

  • Monday 8th October 2012 – Regular Meeting – again this first meeting is already booked up speech-wise, but you could book in as an Evaluator which will not simply help you develop your speaking skills but will go some way in developing your leadership ability. Alternatively put yourself down for a table topics slot – there are still three up for grabs. Finally, seasoned speakers to watch out for are David Jones and Kaveh Pourvand (both from Holborn Speakers) who are our GE and guest Toastmaster respectively. There’s also Henry Playfoot who will be our Grammarian that night.
  • Monday 22nd October 2012 – Regular meeting – There are still two Evaluator slots to fill here so don’t delay book your slot now before they are gone! Once again Henry Playfoot – who will be chairing the meeting as our Toastmaster – is one to watch.

Membership freeze coming to an end!

As you know, we have frozen membership to cope with demand on speaking slots. But membership will re-open at the end of September.

We already have a waiting list of people keen to join and they will be given priority when we start enrolling new members.

If you would like to join but haven’t done so already, please contact the membership VP Joe Lake (membership@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk) to put you on the waiting list.

As always in the meantime, we continue to welcome guests to come to our meetings.

Want to improve your impromptu speaking and get extra table topics practice between meetings?

Now I’d like to hand over to our past president Glen for some information about a brand new resource that members – particularly those who’d like to improve their table topics skills – could find very useful.

Hello! I know many of you, like me, enjoy the challenge of a good table topic.

But I used to get frustrated about only being able to do one or two table topics a month. It never seemed quite enough to improve as quickly as I wanted to.

That’s why workshops – like the one Hari ran a few weeks back – are so great. You get to do lots in one evening!

And this got me thinking: Is there a way to realistically practice table topics – and perhaps learn a few new techniques – between meetings and workshops?

The result is the Table Topics Boot Camp.

It uses exercises and specially-recorded audio topics to allow you to practice in front of your computer or even from your smartphone, recreating as closely as possible the experience of doing a table topic in a meeting.

Currently there are 10 exercises and 30 practice topics.

I would love for a few of you to check it out and give me some feedback saying whether you found it useful.

There are no strings attached, the content is totally free and doesn’t require any kind of email sign-up or other commitment.

In the interest of full disclosure I should point out that this is a personal project rather than a Bloomsbury Speakers initiative. It comes with no guarantees, etc. but I hope some of you find it useful.

Thanks and see you soon!

Glen

That’s all.

See you in a meeting very soon!

Femi Asaolu
President
Bloomsbury Speakers

Key facts – just the stuff you really need to know

  • Our next meeting is our Contest Night on Monday 10th September. If you’re competing – good luck! If not, coming along and watch the fun.
  • Our next regular meeting is Monday 24th September – and we’re still looking for a Toastmaster.
  • Our meetings in October are on the 8th and the 22nd
  • The club is re-opening to new members from end of September – email membership@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk to get on the waiting list
  • Check out Glen’s new, free resource – Table Topics Boot Camp – to practice and improve your table topics skills between meetings