Introductions
In his introduction Club President Femi expanded upon the old adage “practice makes perfect” by saying that it is in fact “practice with insight” that makes perfect – so feedback is essential. Which is why it is such a fundamental part of the Toastmasters experience.
He also spoke about an article from the “Toastmaster” magazine (which every member receives) about making not just eye contact but meaningful eye contact and encouraged those members present to take another look at this valuable resource.
Jo, the evening’s Toastmaster, encouraged the audience to give each participant a warm round of applause in order to keep the energy levels high. Her theme – inspired by the Oscars – was “Awards” and prior to the meeting she’d asked each participant to name an award they had won in the past or felt could – or should – win in the future.
Starting the ball rolling, Jo said she felt she should win an award for most time spent on the Internet researching trips she never actually went on!
Eugenia, in the Timekeeper role, told the pertinent story of being kept waiting in the cold while a colleague took 26 minutes to tell her just three things. The moral of the story being that the ability to communicate information within a fixed period of time is crucial!
The Grammarian was Chris (who felt he deserved an award for being completely awful with money). He explained that it was important to be “clear, precise and well understood” and told us he would be looking out for effective uses of language during the meeting. He also introduced the word of the day – “interminable” – meaning relentless or neverending.
Prepared speeches
In a very impressive icebreaker entitled “The Bicycle Diaries”, brand-new member Rajeev (who said he deserved an award for always going to the pub for just one pint but staying for many more) told us about his childhood growing up in Sri Lanka where he learned to ride bikes which were much too big for him. He also described swapping sunny blue skies for damp grey ones when he moved from Sri Lanka to the UK at the age of 21.
In her No. 3 speech the second speaker Angela (potential winner of the “changing her hairstyle frequently” award) told us about the “invisible to do list” that she suddenly felt she needed to get through as she approached the age of 30. In “13 Days ’til 30” she also talked about the “upgrade generation” and its attitude to relationships, the difficulty of saving money in an expensive city like London, and getting her “baby toe” on the property ladder. In the end she decided to postpone it all until 35!
Regular member Paula (who felt she deserved the award for most unworn items in her wardrobe) gave her No. 5 speech entitled “Weekend Magic” in which she described the special moments in those two days off per week that can make a weekend magical. She herself enjoyed watching Columbo, doing aerobics and generally being active and jumping around. In a particularly entertaining segment she told us about the various characters she had met on a raw food weekend, including “Mr Miserable” and “Miss Sexy”.
Hari (wanted to win numerous awards including an Oscar, an Emmy and a Nobel Prize – but felt he was most likely to win one for daydreaming!) was the final speaker with an advanced speech entitled “Eliminate to Invigorate”. He told us about a seven and a half day fast and detox experience in Thailand and gave us details of a rather severe cleansing process which involved a bucket full of coffee, a long tube and an open mind. He said he was “in Thailand, but thinking of England”.
After the last of the prepared speeches, President Femi led the guest introductions where new visitors to the club were given the opportunity to introduce themselves and say a few short words.
Evaluations
After the break it was time for the evaluations, where each of the four prepared speakers received detailed spoken feedback from a fellow member.
The first evaluator was Gemma (who hoped one day to win an award for being an inspirational teacher). She evaluated Rajeev’s ice breaker speech and started by reassuring guests that it had been exceptional and most people did not start at this level! She felt his descriptions were fantastic, particularly the comparisons between Sri Lanka and London and thought he made good use of opening questions.
The next evaluator was Mike (who felt he should receive an award for always coming second!) giving feedback on Angela’s No. 3 speech. He said she had made a “fantastic start” which got him thinking about his own 30th birthday some years ago. He used the analogy of a “clothes horse” – on which Angela had draped various areas of her life. He loved the strong ending – postponing her responsibilities until 35.
Elena (who would like to win a speech award at the next contest) was responsible for evaluating Paula’s No. 5 speech. She loved the use of hand gestures and body language but recommended “counting off” her magic moments so that we could follow them more easily. She also felt Paula could have used fewer but more expressive examples to support her main points. She liked Paula’s choice of language, her entertaining style and the strong conclusion.
The final evaluator was Adam (he wanted an award for excessive coffee drinking) who evaluated Hari’s advanced speech (also coincidently coffee-related). He told us up front he would be looking at the speech’s “purpose, structure and language”. He felt Hari’s strong introduction had led us through the speech very effectively, liked the level of personal detail and particularly loved Harry’s “Dr detox” character. He was also very impressed by the use of props and humour.
Table Topics
Swarajit (wanted to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics, but didn’t know enough about Physics) introduced the Table Topics session by describing the benefits of participation – speakers would become “more and more un-phased” by real-life situations involving speaking without preparation.
Swarajit’s theme was Business and Careers. He invited members and guests to tackle a range of questions including:
- What is your dream job?
- How would you argue for a six-day week?
- What charity would you set up?
- What would you be fired for on The Apprentice?
- What business idea of yours should we invest in?
Table topics evaluator Glen (who felt he deserved an award for “Best DIY Procrastinator”) evaluated all six of the table topics speakers providing praise and recommendations for each, including numerous specific examples.
Grammarian Chris returned to report 11.5 (!) uses of the Word of the Day and was impressed by “a fantastic array of rhetorical devices”.
The General Evaluator George from Berkeley Square Speakers evaluated all those participants not yet evaluated and themed his commendations and recommendations around the idea “Less is More”.
Awards
Closing the meeting President Femi handed out the awards based on the votes cast by the audience members during the meeting:
- Best Table Topic went to brave guest Mark for his topic about his (non) cooking skills
- Best Evaluator went to Glen for evaluating all the topics
- Best Speaker went to Hari for his speech about detoxing
The President’s discretionary award went to the PR team behind the meeting reports and website: Glen, Elena, Jo and Swarajit.
Next meeting
Our next meeting is Monday 4th March, upstairs at The Clerk & Well, 156 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6.30pm for a prompt 6.45pm start.
