Meeting report for 14 October 2013

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Introductions

It was standing room only at The Clerk & Well for our first regular meeting in October. In a warm welcome from President Swarajit, we were reminded of how Toastmasters continues to be a safe and friendly platform to practise and gain confidence in public speaking. The meeting was then handed over to Glen, our Toastmaster, to host.

Glen introduced the theme for the evening as “favourite Toastmasters role” – which for many members was the Toastmaster role itself! – and went on to introduce the other functionaries – Samuel, the Timekeeper, and Marie the Grammarian who gave us the word of the day, “arbitrary”.

Prepared speeches

On to the prepared speeches and Damien started us off with a No. 4 speech entitled “Thoughts as Actions – Imagine That”. He dispelled the conventional view that damaged or ‘dead’ human brain cells cannot be replaced or regain function, with new findings in neuroscience that show it is possible for patients with neurological problems to regain some reflex.

In his No. 6 speech entitled “Twenty-One”, Rajeev shared his experience of training for a half-marathon (21 kilometers) even though his body testified he was ill-prepared for it. His advice to us was to train and execute well if you are participating in a race.

With her No. 7 speech, “Are you a tech’ or social media addict?” we had the privilege of hearing how the damage to Rufina’s smart-phone led her to examine how she might indeed to be one of the 11 million UK social media addicts.

Finally there was a humorous speech – “Parachutes” – from Joe, who narrated a story about a school boy, a wise man, a clever man and a doctor who between them had to strategically fight for 3 parachutes to save their lives.

Evaluations

The second half of the meeting opened with some key tips from our evaluators:

  • Jo, evaluating Damien, commended him on his good body language, great speech structure and clear examples, and recommended more pauses.
  • Henry commended Rajeev on his great conversational style and interesting speech topic. His recommendation was, again, to slow down and use more pauses.
  • Nazia commended Rufina on the use of effective language, on her delivery without notes and her great body language. Her recommendation was to do a bit more research into the subject.
  • Ratan commended Joe on an entertaining speech with a moral, as well as great stage presence and gestures.  The recommendation was for Joe to have woven the story and moral together more explicitly.

Table topics

The table topic talks (also referred to as impromptu speeches), hosted by Ahmed, were based on the theme of the evening.

  • Peter was asked for his evaluation of Prime Minister’s Question Time. 
  • Janna told us which celebrity she thought could benefit from joining a public speaking group.
  • Jo tackled the question of which Toastmasters role most helped her critical thinking skills.
  • Ratan debated whether public speaking should be added to the school curriculum.

Hari, evaluating the table topics, praised participants’ smiling and use of humour as effective ways of connecting. His recommendation was for speakers to not highlight their own mistakes, because no one notices. Other tips included controlled voice projection and he urged speakers to always attempt to answer the question asked.

Awards

The awards for the evening went to:

Best Prepared Speech: Joe for his humorous speech with a moral.

Best Evaluator: Hari for taking on the unenviable task of evaluating the impromptu table topic speakers.

Best Table Topic: Ratan, who entertained us with a humorous table topics speech.

President’s Award: This went to the evening’s grammarian Marie, who is also the club’s loyal Sergeant at Arms.

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 28th October 2013 upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU.

Doors open at 6.30pm for a prompt 6.45pm start.

Notice: Please ‘Like’ us on Facebook for more news and updates – https://www.facebook.com/BloomsburySpeakers.

October Newsletter – Contest results and the Youth Leadership Programme

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Hello and welcome to the October newsletter!

This month kicked off with a healthy turnout of members for a Friday night dinner social in Covent Garden. Socials are a great way to get to know your fellow members outside the club context, and we hope to have another one soon.

The main event so far this month though took place the day after our social; the Division L “Champions Conference” included seminars led by some of the best speakers and former contest champions from clubs around London, as well as the humorous speech and table topics division finals – results are below!

If you don’t have time to read the whole newsletter, you can skip to the bottom for a short summary of the main points.

What’s happened since the last newsletter?

As expected, September was an eventful month with an impressive run of wins in the table topics contests from Glen being a particular highlight!

  • Even with the contests keeping everyone occupied, we still had time for two regular meetings in which Barnaby passed the half-way point in his competent communication manual and I (Swarajit) finally completed my tenth speech to achieve the title of Competent Communicator.
  • In the middle of the month, we had our humorous speech and table topics contest night. Renars won the humorous speech contest with his speech about the English language, while Glen triumphed in the table topics with his discussion about people who believe that aliens built the pyramids.
  • Glen and Renars both progressed to the Area 34 contest in which they competed against the respective winners from other clubs around our part of London. Renars placed second in the humorous speech contest, while Glen won the table topics contest for us with an impromptu speech about the HS2 rail proposal.
  • Finally, just last Saturday at the Division L contests, Glen once again beat the competition with a response on the table topic, “laugh and the world laughs…”. Furthermore, the president of our sister club Clerkenwell Speakers, Ayse Lowe, won the humorous speech contest with her speech “Culture Clash”. Glen and Ayse both progress to the UK & Ireland semi-finals next month – see below for the details.

What’s planned for October?

The 2012-13 Toastmasters year was an exceptionally busy one for the club, with lots of extra meetings, ‘speakathons’ and workshops. Since then, our new sister club Clerkenwell Speakers has got off to a strong start and so Bloomsbury Speakers will be winding back down to its usual two meetings a month for the rest of the year. The committee will of course keep this under review and will consider reintroducing extra meetings should there be further demand for them in the future.

  • Monday, 14th October – Regular Meeting – We have a full agenda for our first meeting this month, which will be chaired by our reigning table topics champion Glen, but there are a few pre-bookable table topics slots up for grabs on ClubPlan if you’re quick.
  • Monday, 28th October – Regular Meeting – While the prepared speech slots are all taken for this meeting, we’re still looking for an advanced speech evaluator, a timekeeper and a grammarian for the night. Again, book yourself in on ClubPlan if you’d like to take part.

District 71 UK & Ireland conference and contests – 8th-10th November, Colchester

Full details of this season’s Toastmasters District 71 conference – including the UK & Ireland semi-finals and finals for this year’s humorous speech and table topics contests – are on the official website, but here’s a quick summary of all the important details:

  • The conference will take place over the weekend of Friday, 8th-Sunday, 10th November at the Crowne Plaza Resort in Colchester.
  • The nearest rail station is Kelvedon, which is a 49-minute journey from London Liverpool Street. Off-peak day return tickets are priced at £20.70.
  • The resort is still a further 10-15 minute taxi journey away from Kelvedon station – local firm WoW Cabs can be contacted on 01206 331 000.
  • While the conference spans three days, ticket prices range from £35 for the Sunday morning to £190 for the full weekend.
  • The programme for the Friday includes two workshops, the humorous speech contest semi-finals – in which Ayse from Clerkenwell Speakers will be competing – and (optionally) a buffet dinner plus fancy dress disco.
  • Several members of Bloomsbury Speakers are planning to attend on the Saturday, which includes a choice of four workshops, the humorous speech contest final and the table topics contest semi-finals – in which Glen will be competing!
  • Financial support may be available for club members to meet the cost of their conference ticket. The level of this support will depend on demand, so please contact our treasurer Ahmed at treasurer@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk to apply.

Youth Leadership Programme

Although there is a requirement that members of Toastmasters clubs should be at least 18 years old, Toastmasters International provides a way for younger people to benefit from the tried and tested format of club meetings. Last month, Bloomsbury Speakers’ founding president Nazia embarked upon the Toastmasters Youth Leadership Programme at the UCL Academy in Swiss Cottage. So far, she has been ably assisted by our member Hari, and below is his review of the experience so far.

As part of the Youth Leadership Program, Nazia has volunteered to take Toastmasters into an after-school program. I’m her (lovely!) assistant and last week I had my first visit to the school –  in fact, my first visit to any school in almost 20 years! Wow! And what an experience it was.

The meeting is typically only an hour and the kids aren’t really known for their punctuality, so getting the agenda items completed was challenging. The kids seemed full of laughter though and after some (well, much) coaxing, we got three of them to perform ‘prepared’ speeches. I say ‘prepared’ because they mostly winged it, which just goes to show that if teenagers can talk for up to 5 minutes unprepared, we shouldn’t be daunted by table topics!

I instructed them on the art of giving feedback – the classic Toastmasters sandwich style – and they all seemed very responsive in giving some great feedback back to the speakers by following this format.

Next week we continue into more prepared speeches and even table topics. It’s certainly very different to running a meeting at Bloomsbury, but they seem to have just as much fun, if not more! For more information on the Youth Leadership Programme, speak to Nazia, or to hear more about my experiences, just get in touch with me.

If you’re interested in getting involved in the Youth Leadership Programme, feel free to get in touch with Nazia or Hari via ClubPlan.

Reminder about PechaKucha 20×20 – The art of concise presentations

This is just a reminder to contact Helen – me@yafetica.com – with expressions of interest to take part in a “PechaKucha” event. See last month’s newsletter for more information.

You can read more about the PechaKucha concept on its official website and the Wikipedia entry.

Tip of the Month: Visit other clubs

In London we’re quite spoilt for choice with over 50 Toastmasters clubs to choose from. Here are just a few reasons to get out and sample some of them for yourself:

  • Learning from others. Although we like to think Bloomsbury Speakers is probably the best Toastmasters club in London, if not the world, that doesn’t mean we’re perfect and can’t learn from others. In fact, the idea of awarding ribbons to mark the half-way point in the Competent Communication manual was one that we lovingly borrowed from St. Paul’s Speakers, and if you spot any other great ideas that other clubs use to recognise their members or improve their meetings, we’d be glad to hear about them!
  • Speaking to a different audience. A potential drawback of speaking to the same group of familiar faces in your own club is that you become too comfortable. Most clubs will prioritise table topic slots for Toastmasters visiting from other clubs, and smaller clubs may even have prepared speech slots available, giving you the opportunity to speak to an unfamiliar audience and keep pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.
  • Networking and being a general evaluator. Toastmasters clubs attract people from all sorts of backgrounds and professions and are a great way of meeting new people. Furthermore, clubs (ours included) are always looking for general evaluators to come and evaluate their meetings and will usually be happy to set up reciprocal arrangements. Being a general evaluator also counts towards certain projects in your competent leadership (CL) manual, and achieving the CL award entitles you to a discount on your next membership renewal.

Don’t forget, all members of Bloomsbury Speakers still have FREE membership of Clerkenwell Speakers until the end of the year, meaning you can book speeches and roles on their ClubPlan.

However, visiting Toastmasters clubs as a guest is always free, and if you’d rather not go by yourself, why not invite one or more of your fellow members to go along with you? A full list of clubs in and around London is available on The London Speaker.

That’s all for now. See you at a meeting soon!

Swarajit Das
President
Bloomsbury Speakers

Key facts – just the stuff you really need to know

  • We have two regular meetings in October. There are still some table topic slots up for grabs on Monday, 14th and timekeeper, grammarian and speech evaluator slots on Monday, 28th. Sign up on ClubPlan.
  • Bloomsbury Speakers members still have FREE membership of Clerkenwell Speakers until the end of the year and can book speeches and roles via their ClubPlan.
  • Congratulations to Glen for winning the Division L table topics contest last Saturday. Glen will now go on to compete in the UK & Ireland semi-finals at the District 71 conference below.
  • The District 71 UK & Ireland conference and contests will take place on the weekend of 8th-10th November at the Crowne Plaza Resort in Colchester. Full details are available on the official website and financial support may be available for members via our Treasurer, Ahmed (treasurer@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk).
  • We’re looking for expressions of interest from members to take part in a “PechaKucha” night jointly run with Clerkenwell Speakers, most likely in November. Contact Helen via me@yafetica.com.

Meeting report for 23 September 2013

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Group_new‘Clapping and cheering for our speakers as they make their way up onto the stage to deliver their speech…’ our president, Swarajit, explained in his opening remarks before handing over to Ahmed, our Toastmaster, ‘…is one of the simplest and easiest ways to inspire confidence and to encourage our speakers’.

On taking over from Swarajit, Ahmed subsequently introduced the theme of the evening around the notion of ‘going out of our comfort zones’, which was fitting given that this was Ahmed’s first stint as Toastmaster himself. He was ably supported by Grammarian, Jo, who gave us ‘Vivacious’ as the word of the day, and Liz the Timekeeper.

We were treated to an entertaining number 4 speech about the history of pole dancing from Helen who entitled her speech “Pop! Six! Squish! Uh uh! Cicero! Lipschitz!”

In her number 6 speech, “The Expensive Occasions” Rufina shared her twined bewilderment and frustration with the exorbitant amount of money that weddings cost nowadays, and how the occasion – particularly the reception ceremony – can sometimes become so drawn out.

‘Pace yourself’,  Paula urged us in her number 8 speech – “12-Minute Workout” – as she demonstrated an exercise regime commonly known as interval training which involves a series of gentle to intense workouts punctuated with relief periods.

Finally, in a number 10 speech entitled “Why Won’t God Heal Amputees?” our very own president, Swarajit, invited us to consider the notion that we are better than God; this is evident, he claimed, in how we innovate and ultimately solve difficult problems – artificial limbs for amputees being case in point.

Key tips from our evaluators, namely Michael, Peter, Barnaby, Renars and Joe, included:

  • Vivid language and descriptive words are always welcome.
  • Fonts on visual aids should be big enough for the audience at the back to see.
  • Hand gestures that are larger than the outlines of your body communicate a large idea or concept. But if all your hand gestures are large they can become distracting.
  • Create more interest in your voice by changing the pace or speed with which you speak. Add more expression by changing the volume and/or pitch when you go higher for light, sweet moments or deep down/quiet for serious moments.

The table topic talks (or impromptu speeches), hosted by Bronia, were on the theme of interview questions, and with the exception of Glen, all the participants were guests!

  • Glen had to answer the question “If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and throw into a blender, how would you get out?”
  • Nathaniel had to choose any two celebrities to be his parents and explain why
  • “How would you explain what Facebook is to your grandmother?” was addressed by Janna
  • Vehno was confronted with the question, “Have you ever stolen a pen from work?”
  • Another guest was invited to discuss what she thought about when she was in the car
  • Madeline was asked to reveal what makes her happy in the office on a Friday afternoon
  • And Robin tackled the challenging question, “How many cows are there in Canada?”

 

The awards for the evening went to:

Best Table Topic: This was a tie between Glen and Janna.

Best Evaluator: Joe won the best evaluator’s award for the evening after taking on the unenviable task of evaluating the seven impromptu table topic speakers.

Best Prepared Speech: Helen – who took us through the history of pole dancing from its origins in the circus, before it became synonymous with strip clubs, to its present use in mainstream gyms and studios.

President’s Award: This went to Cheska, our General Evaluator from our sister club Holborn Speakers, for doing a fantastic job at the role she was performing for  the first time.

Swarajit completed his competent communication manual.

Swarajit 3

Our next meeting is on Monday, 14th October from 6:30pm, upstairs at the Clerk & Well pub. See you there!