Meeting report for 19 August 2013
Introductions
Our President, Swarajit, started the meeting by getting everyone’s energy flowing with a humorous anecdote. He reminded us that public speaking often requires us to embrace our inner two-year-old by letting ourselves be embarrassed rather than fearing failure.
Swarajit then introduced, Mike, who despite being an advanced speaker, was performing the role of Toastmaster for the first time. The theme of the meeting was “Sale day” and thus Mike introduced each functionary and each speaker with a brief story about his or her experience of sales and shopping in general.
- Peter – the Timekeeper – explained the use of the green, amber and red lights using the metaphor of a journey, warning us that the gavel indicates that the speaker has, “just fallen off Beachy Head”.
- Renars – the Grammarian – introduced the word of the day, “cohesive”, which he had chosen somewhat by accident (he had initially had “coherent” in mind).
Prepared Speeches
Rufina spoke first about varying interpretations of time across cultures. The title of her speech – “4:00, 4:30, 5:00 GMT” – was a reference to the flexible interpretation of 4:00 in her native Ghana to include 4:30 or even 5:00. Rufina introduced the concepts of monochromic and polychromic time, as well as giving humorous personal anecdotes to illustrate her points. She concluded that she treats individuals according to how they treat time – an attitude of patient flexibility.
Marie gave a very informative speech on meditation, presenting a wealth of scientific evidence of its benefits. She quoted studies that demonstrated that meditation can improve immune response, change the grey matter in the brain to reduce the experience of stress, and increase electrical activity in the areas of the brain associated with happiness. She invited us all to give meditation a try, especially since as little as one minute per day can be beneficial.
Carrie began her speech quite provocatively by introducing herself and then asking the audience whether we would choose her as a friend, or as an employee. Her opening highlighted the power of first impressions, and of intuition as a whole. Carrie went on to give tips on how to become better attuned to your intuition, concluding by pointing out that only 5% of the mind is conscious thinking, whilst the other 95% goes on without you knowing.
Samuel spoke about Shaka Zulu – aka “Ishaka” – whom he described as a, “vicious totalitarian warlord”. His speech was peppered with humour which helped make the uncomfortable subject matter more palatable, without detracting from the seriousness of the atrocities Shaka Zulu committed. In researching the topic, Samuel learned a lot about Shaka Zulu and indeed formed new opinions, contrary to those he had acquired whilst growing up. These he shared whilst tracing the life of the warlord from birth to death, showing a drawing of him to help us visualise him.
Evaluations
Glen opened his evaluation of Rufina with a great deal of praise. He found her calm and confident, with fantastic eye contact and varied gestures which punctuated the content of her speech. By way of recommendation, he pointed out that her notes, which she held in her hand, may have limited her hand gestures somewhat, and that the purpose of her speech was not entirely clear. Overall, though, he found the speech enjoyable, with a very interesting idea at its heart.
Joowon evaluated Marie by explicitly stepping through the objectives of her speech. She commended Marie’s choice of topic and the thoroughness of her research. Joowon recommended a better summary but was nonetheless satisfied with the speech’s structure. She suggested that Marie could work on her transitions a bit more rather than relying as much on, “so…” though her body language was very good and her voice was clear.
Nazia did not hesitate to point out that Carrie had met her objectives with her speech – she used a comfortable stance, appearing relaxed on stage, and her gestures were pertinent to the point she was making. Nazia found Carrie’s speech engaging and well balanced between facts and figures and personal anecdotes. Her main criticism was that the speech ended abruptly – Carrie could have given us tools on how we could develop our intuition.
Joe described Samuel’s speech as a masterclass in keeping it simple. While in many cases, speakers can get lost in the analysis of a #7 speech, Samuel told an informative story with well-placed humour. Joe suggested adding a touch of theatre – perhaps illustrating the use of a spear through mime. He also thought that the humour Samuel used could have gone a bit further, because Samuel is a naturally funny guy.
Table Topics
Jo, our Topicsmaster, reemphasised the importance of Table Topics because in real life, you often have to think on your feet (or, depending on the environment, on your seat). Her chosen theme for the evening’s topics was, “Life”.
- Swarajit was asked, simply, “Describe your birth”. He responded very humorously, mentioning that his birth had in fact been filmed, as well as his reactions to having seen the film. He rounded off the topic by saying that knowing you have a start reminds you that you have an end, and to make the most of what you have.
- Ayse was asked what she got into trouble for most when she was young. She described a youthful phase when she thought of herself as a rocker, with the clothing and the hair to match. Her parents, of course, were not impressed.
- Helen was asked for a comparison between arranged marriages and love marriages. Her humorous response focused on the pitfalls of dating and how much simpler arranged marriage must be by comparison.
- Julio, a guest from another Toastmasters club in Spain, was asked, “What is success?” His answer was that success consisted of doing what you really want to do in life, citing examples in which happy people do what they want. His advice, “Follow your heart.”
- Asked what he would do if he only had 24 hours to live, Graham suggested that we should already be living this way, quoting a saying, “Live as if you will die tomorrow, plan as if you will live forever.” He gave many humorous examples as to why we should enjoy life as it comes.
- Iva was given the question, “What would you like people to say at your funeral?” She responded that, for her, life is continuous. There is no death; there is a continuation of evolution, of which we are a part. She concluded profoundly by saying, “We are a part of the world that will always be.”
Rajeev gave an extremely well-structured evaluation of the table topics speakers by addressing them chronologically, giving a commendation, recommendation and then commendation to each in turn.
Reports
Renars confessed that grammar has been a challenge for him in the past, especially as English is his third language. He gave numerous examples of good uses of language from the evening’s speeches and evaluations, before cheerfully announcing that the word of the day had been used two and a half times.
Ayse, President of Clerkenwell Speakers, was our General Evaluator for the evening. She spoke about how friendly and welcoming our club was before evaluating each functionary and evaluator individually, giving commendations and recommendations to each.
Announcements
- On Monday 2nd September, there will be a Table Topics workshop for members. Places can be booked on ClubPlan.
- Our Humorous Speech and Table Topics contest night will be held on Monday 16th September; all are welcome to attend but the competition itself is only open to members.
- Members are needed to judge contests at other clubs, please contact education@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk if you are interested in doing so.
Awards
- Rufina and Carrie both received awards for having reached the halfway mark on their Competent Communicator journeys.
- The President’s Award was given to Mike for the excellent manner in which he performed the Toastmaster role.
- Best Table Topic went to Helen.
- Best Evaluator was Rajeev.
- Best Speaker was awarded to Carrie.
Next Meeting
Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 9th September upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU.
Doors open at 6.30pm for a prompt 6.45pm start.
