Meeting report for 9 December 2013

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Introductions

President Swarajit opened our last meeting of the year by reminding us about the importance of public speaking in different professions. As an example, he used an interview given by Richard Branson after the recent passing of Nelson Mandela. Branson’s speech was full of unnecessary filler words which detracted from his message – however, this is an area that the Toastmasters programme can help people improve through practice.

Swarajit then handed the meeting over to Jo, the Toastmaster for the evening. Jo’s theme was “What is the best or worst Christmas present you have received or given?”

Last christmas_8Jo in action as Toastmaster for the meeting

Just like Santa Claus, Jo introduced her little helpers; Aislinn the meeting’s Timekeeper and Femi and Ayla as joint Harkmasters.

Last christmas_7The meeting’s Timekeeper, Aislinn

Prepared speeches

Moving on to the prepared speeches, Marte with her Icebreaker speech entitled “My First Year in London” shared her experience of relocating from Amsterdam. Marte outlined 3 significant things she’d noticed during her time in London. Firstly, the expensive yet tiny and low quality housing; secondly the generally distant relationships people keep in the office until having a drink in the pub before opening up; and lastly the challenging transport in London as a cyclist, which is much more dangerous compared to Amsterdam.

In his No. 5 speech entitled “Clever Crows” Damien referred to Alfred Hitchcock’s movie The Birds before educating us on how crows are one of the most intelligent and adaptable birds to the human environment. They are found almost everywhere, from the centre of cities to moorlands and the seashore, as well as people’s gardens. They possess advanced qualities such as being problem solvers, facial recognition and planning ahead which includes storing food for rainy days.

Henry, with his No. 7 speech entitled “TV Addict”, informed us that people in the UK watch an average of 4 hours of TV a day. John Reith, who co-founded the BBC in 1922, started it with the intent to educate, inform and entertain. With over 300 hours of TV programs available there are TV documentaries, 24-hours news channels and programmes like Big Brother and The X Factor which achieve these aims. As a self-professed TV addict, Henry believed you can skim through 95% of junk to get the top 5% of good TV.

The final speaker Janet, with her 9th speech entitled “Don’t Take it Personally”, opened strongly by asking the audience if we could imagine working for a boss who despised us, no matter how hard we worked, but then said “don’t take it personally”. Janet’s message was to treat others as you would want to be treated yourself.

Evaluations

Moving onto the evaluations, the key tips from our evaluators are briefly outlined below:

  • Paula in evaluating Marte, commended her on her confidence, great structured speech and timely punctuation. The recommendation given was to use less information in order to not run out of time.
  • Rufina commended Damien on a great opening by using a relevant film, his passion about the topic and its simplicity. Her main recommendation was to use more gestures and facial expressions.
  • Carrie commended Henry on a great choice of topic, interactive delivery and a wonderful use of humour. Her recommendation was to use more pauses in the jokes and to experiment by trying something slightly different from his normal style.
  • Joe commended Janet on a very engaging speech full of passion and emotion in which she picked out people in the audience. However, he observed that the point of the speech seemed to drift after a while.

Table Topics

The table topics section (also known as impromptu speeches), hosted by Ahmed, were based on the theme of the evening and the festive season with an infusion of real life scenarios.

  • Femi was asked, how would you convince Santa Claus to use a ‘Boris bike’ to deliver his presents this Christmas?
  • Kessy discussed her least favourite Christmas movie.
  • Agnes was asked, if you had a call from Santa what would you say to him?
  • Peter pondered who he’d cast in the role of Grinch.
  • Alex spoke about her most memorable Christmas celebration.
  • Glen explained why Christmas reminded him of the state of the economy.

Last christmas_1Rajeev, the Topics Evaluator, telling it like it is

Rajeev took on the mantle of evaluating the table topics and commended the speakers on their great smiles, use of personal language and humour.

Awards

Closing the meeting, Harkmasters Femi and Ayla (Janet’s daughter) tested the audience’s listening skills by posing questions based on what we’d heard during the meeting, rewarding correct answers with delicious chocolate treats.

Last christmas_2Harkmasters Femi & Ayla giving out chocolate

Finally, Swarajit handed out the main awards for the evening.

  • Best Prepared Speech: This went to Janet for her speech on dealing with a difficult boss.
  • Best Evaluator: Carrie won the best evaluator award for her detailed analysis of Henry’s performance.
  • Best Table Topic: Glen won best table topics speaker for his discussion of the economy at Christmas.
  • Marte received an Icebreaker award for delivering her first speech.
  • Damien, after delivering his 5th speech, received a half-competent communicator award.
  • President’s Award: This went to Aislinn for her exemplary performance as Timekeeper.

As it was our last meeting of the year, we wound things down with a bit of extra food, drink and socialising at the end of the meeting.

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Next meeting

Our first meeting of the New Year will be held on Monday, 13th January 2014 upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU.

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

Meeting report for 2 December 2013

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Introductions

It was a sensational evening as the meeting started off on a festive note, being the first week of the Christmas season. Our president Swarajit assured us that Bloomsbury Speakers and Toastmasters as a whole provide a friendly atmosphere in which to practice speeches and make mistakes without any repercussions. He went on to encourage everyone to take up a mentor where you can get encouragement and direct feedback on your progress.

He handed the meeting over to Renars, our Toastmaster for the evening, who stressed the importance of Toastmasters as it’s become one of his greatest skills. He introduced the theme for the evening which was “How do you prepare for Christmas?” along with the functionaries – Rebecca, the Timekeeper, and Femi the Grammarian who gave us the word of the day, appreciate.

Prepared speeches

Kicking off the prepared speeches, Nathaniel started with his phenomenonal ice breaker speech entitled “Path to London” by giving us the gist of how some of Margaret Thatcher’s policies as Prime Minister led to his birth in Malaysia before coming back to England, even though his parents were resident in the UK. This, combined with travelling around the world, stirred up the desire to pursue his diverse interests.

With a No. 5 speech entitled “Christmas in Singapore” Peter declared himself a Christmas humbug. He took us through his memories of the festive season in Singapore as a young boy, particular the unforgettable year of 1966. During this year he got to decorate, deliver his mum’s scrumptious sweets and serve as the senior altar boy in church.

In her No. 6 speech, “The Story That Defines Us” Bronia reminded us of the fact that London can be a cold place both emotionally and physically. A lot is focused on developing individualism. However you can find people who have a common play or interest in a big crowd to connect with.

The final speaker, Glen, with his advance speech entitled “Going Pro for a Day” spoke about how he’d recently had the chance to really show off his speaking skills from Toastmasters in a professional context. He related his doubting moments and sleepless nights as he prepared to take his daunting role as an MC in front of 600 people successfully.

Evaluations

Moving on to the evaluations, the key tips from our evaluators were:

  • Joe in evaluating Nathaniel, commended him on his grounded, articulate and polished speech. The recommendation given was to build on connecting with the audience.
  • Rajeev commended Peter on his great conversational style, a well-paced story and the use of rhetorical devices. His recommendation was to make more use of movement, gestures and facial expressions.
  • Kate in evaluating Bronia commended her on her warm smile and described her as a great storyteller and very likeable. The recommendation was to use more vocal variety in her speech.
  • Nazia commended Glen on an engaging opening and how he took the audience through the journey of conquering his demons. The recommendation was to manage the time effectively.

Table Topics

The table topic speeches, hosted by Rufina, were based on the theme of the evening and the festive season.

  • Femi spoke about how he’d make a difference in someone’s life this season.
  • Jairzina was asked, if you won £6million this Christmas what would you do?
  • Anna considered the question, if you had one wish this season what would it be?
  • Paula was asked, if you had the opportunity to wine and dine with a star, who would it be?
  • Egor considered which holiday destination he’d like to go to for Christmas.
  • Svetlana was told she could have a job of her choosing as a Christmas present and asked what it would be.

Henry commended all of the table topics speakers in his evaluation:

  • Femi as the connector, incredible at hand gestures and weaved around the question before answering.
  • Jairzina as the elegant state person, good hand gestures and a well thought answer
  • Anna as the brave heart, full of smiles and good body language.
  • Paula as the professional, beautiful structure and a well rounded up speech.
  • Egor the jazz talker, free style and danced around the question before answering.
  • Svetlana as the linguist, confident and brave lady.

Recommendations given as a whole by Henry included not ending speeches abruptly, being too laid back, standing to one corner of the room and concentrating attention on the topics master.

Awards

The awards for the evening went to:

  • Best Prepared Speech: Glen won the best speech.
  • Best Evaluator: Henry won the best evaluator.
  • Best Table Topic: It was a tie between Femi and Jairzina.
  • President’s Award: This went to Rebecca for taking on her first functionary role.

Next meeting 

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 9th December 2013 downstairs The Real Man Pizza Company, 91-95 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU. This will be the last meeting of the year.

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

And finally…

We had a great time mingling with our friends from Clerkenwell Speakers and other toastmasters from around London at the Area 33 Christmas Social on Friday!

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December Newsletter – Season’s greetings, plus news of two joint social events!

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Hello and welcome to the December newsletter!

It’s December and the festive season kicks off now! See below for all the important details of our plans for the month ahead as well as the New Year.

Meanwhile, we’re continuing to get a full house of members and guests at our regular meetings. If you’ve visited us recently and are interested in joining, contact membership@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk to be added to the waiting list.

We’re still giving priority to those guests who continue to attend regularly and are willing to jump straight in with their icebreaker when they join, so start thinking about your first speech and get in touch!

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?

Since the last newsletter, we’ve admitted one more new member – Rebecca – who has already taken the plunge and given her icebreaker speech. I’m sure we’ll all make her feel as welcome as possible.

We had another packed couple of meetings in November. As well as Rebecca’s icebreaker, we also had a debut speech from Aislinn, a semi-impromptu speech from Femi and an emotional, persuasive speech from new (but experienced) member Stella.

What’s planned for December?

With the Christmas party season upon us, we’ve had to make a few changes to our normal schedule. Our two December meetings are booked in for the first and second Mondays of the month (rather than the second and fourth). Furthermore, both meetings will take place downstairs at The Real Man Pizza Company, just across the road from our usual venue, but on the plus side we’ll be having pizza at the end!

  • Monday, 2nd December – Regular Meeting (moved forward) – Our first meeting this month has a full programme of speakers, though we’re still looking for someone to act as Sergeant at Arms for the meeting, which involves greeting the guests as they arrive, asking them to sign the guestbook and then running the guest introductions section just before the break. There are also pre-bookable table topic slots available. Sign up on ClubPlan.
  • Monday, 9th December – Regular Meeting – Our last meeting of 2013! At the time of writing, there is an Icebreaker slot available for anyone who is waiting to give their first speech at the club, as well as topic slots and the Sergeant at Arms role explained above. Again, book yourself in on ClubPlan.

Christmas social in Shoreditch

In the past at Bloomsbury Speakers, we’ve really only ever marked the Yuletide period with some extra drinks and nibbles at the end of our last meeting of the year – which we still intend to have on 9th December. However, thanks to some eleventh-hour negotiations on the part of our VP Public Relations Rufina, this time we’re also tagging along with our friends from Clerkenwell Speakers to the Area 33 Christmas Social. Here are the details:

Date: Friday, 6th December
Time: 7pm onwards
Venue: Juno, 134-135 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6JE
Dress code: RED or Xmas fancy dress
RSVP: info@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk

It’s free to attend, though there will be a £10 cash charge if you want food (let us know in your reply). Come along to network and have fun partying with lots of other Toastmasters from our part of London. See you there!

Bloomsbury’s membership of Clerkenwell Speakers extended

Clerkenwell Speakers has got off to a fantastic start this year and, as its main sponsor, Bloomsbury Speakers’ members have enjoyed free membership of their club for the first six months.

The good news is, Clerkenwell have now agreed to extend this arrangement for a further three months meaning that all Bloomsbury members can continue to book roles and speeches on their ClubPlan up to the end of March 2014.

We highly encourage all of our members to take advantage of the extra opportunities to speak at another club, as many have done already. If you don’t yet have an account on their ClubPlan, contact president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk and we’ll get you added.

‘Clerk-bury’ New Year social and special event

Clerkenwell and Bloomsbury Speakers clubs are collaborating as ‘Clerk-bury’ (or should that be ‘Bloom-enwell’?!) on a couple of events in January:

  • Friday, 17th January – New Year social – The date is set so put it in your 2014 diary once you have it, though the venue and activity are still to be decided. Suggestions are welcome!
  • Wednesday, 29th January – Special event + workshop – This promises to be a big night with a workshop and speeches from several former humorous speech champions. Details will follow nearer the time, but save the date.

Tip of the Month: Evaluate everyone

It sounds like an impossible challenge, but this is effectively what our visiting general evaluators (GEs) do for us at each meeting. But why bother if you’re not a GE yourself? Well, aside from preparing you for the GE role in future, there are some major benefits to informally evaluating every single role and speech you hear at a Toastmasters meeting:

  • It makes you a better listener. Even if you don’t yet feel ready to give a verbal evaluation of someone else’s speech, evaluating everyone forces you to practice and improve your listening skills – which are applicable both in and outside the Toastmasters context.
  • It makes you better at the roles you’re evaluating. Thinking about the commendations and recommendations you might make about someone else’s performance as a toastmaster, speaker or evaluator will mean that you’ll automatically consider and apply those points when it comes to performing the role yourself.
  • It makes you a better problem solver. Regularly evaluating everyone enhances your analytical and critical thinking skills by getting you into the habit of considering things objectively and making suggestions about exactly what could be done differently where necessary.

So have a go at evaluating everyone at the next meeting and, as well as all of the above, it’ll get you prepared for the evaluation contest in the spring!

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

  • Welcome to our newest member Rebecca who joined in November and has already given her icebreaker speech!
  • Our regular meetings in December are on the 2nd and 9th at The Real Man Pizza Company (not our normal venue). See ClubPlan for the available roles and speaking slots.
  • We’re having a joint Christmas social at Juno in Shoreditch on Friday, 6th December with Clerkenwell Speakers and clubs from Area 33.
  • Bloomsbury Speakers’ free membership of Clerkenwell Speakers has been extended to March 2014. Book your roles and speeches via their ClubPlan.
  • We’re planning a New Year social with Clerkenwell Speakers on Friday, 17th January. Suggestions for a suitable venue/activity are welcome.

Meeting report for 25 November 2013

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Introduction

Swarajit, our President, opened the meeting by speaking about James Arthur – last year’s X Factor winner – and the fact that his lack of media training has reflected poorly on him. He, Swarajit suggested, is one more person who could benefit from the public speaking experience we gain at Toastmasters. Swarajit then introduced our Toastmaster for the evening, Ahmed.

  • Stella – the Timekeeper – spoke poetically about time before explaining her role and the timings of the programme.
  • Carrie – the Grammarian – introduced the word of the day, “utopian”, likening our Toastmasters club to a “modern day utopia in an otherwise soulless city.”

Prepared Speeches

Aislinn’s icebreaker, entitled, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you always get what you’ve always got”, focused on the importance of stepping out of one’s comfort zone and develop dormant skills. Aislinn accomplished this through personal anecdotes about her Irish background, her career, and her friends’ reactions to her joining Toastmasters.

Rebecca also presented an icebreaker speech, recounting her life’s journey from Shropshire to Nottingham and then eventually London in search of bright lights.

Rajeev spoke passionately about road safety, citing recent accident statistics and reminding us all that each death is “one too many”. He called on all Londoners – pedestrians, cyclists and drivers alike – to think in order to ensure safer roads for us all.

Paula spoke to us about our dreams, goals, aspirations and secret desires, all of which add fuel to each of our lives. She gave us examples of formidable women that she admires, reminding us all that, “You can do it!”

Evaluations

Jo commended Aislinn’s choice of a relatable topic, which she livened up by injecting humour and self-analysis and using a clear structure.

Henry was impressed with Rebecca’s confidence and sense of ease in front of the audience. Her use of “I” and “you” throughout the speech made it personal and conversational, creating a sense of intimacy.

Peter was confident that Rajeev had met the criteria for his speech as Rajeev is a very competent speaker. He recommended that Rajeev use his notes less and support his facts with punchy questions. He commended Rajeev’s powerful, thought-provoking language.

Bronia described Paula’s speech as “one of those speeches we all need to hear”. Whilst she thought Paula could have looked more confident and authoritative, Bronia was impressed with Paula’s storytelling skills and her powerful use of language, particularly repetition and sentence structure.

Table Topics

Renars – the Topicsmaster – introduced Table Topics as a useful skill for impressing a date and his or her friends. Even if you have no idea what he or she is talking about, you can still have something to say.

  • Asked what he would do if he had to spend £3 million in 3 days, Henry said that he would invest and divest – buying things that had residual value whilst giving some to friends and to charity.
  • Helen was asked what she would ask in a conversation with Napoleon. She focused humorously on his reputation for having been short.
  • If Nathaniel had superpowers for a day, he said that he would be Spider-Man – jumping, climbing, having fun and building webs.
  • Simon humorously enacted his response to a phone invitation from David Beckham for a game of football, using his mobile phone as a prop.
  • Afsana explored possible uses for invisibility, including spying on her friends, but also benevolent uses that could help people.
  • Josina was asked what celebrity she would like to be for a week. She chose Michelle Obama, because she would like to get involved in the initiatives she’s involved in, and to help others.

Joe carefully evaluated each topics speaker, giving commendations, recommendations and more commendations for each.

Reports

Carrie reminded us that if you didn’t use the word of the day in the meeting you can try to use it in the rest of the week. She also gave examples of beautiful language used throughout the meeting.

Our general evaluator for the evening was Gary, President of our sister club, Holborn Speakers. Gary evaluated each of the functionaries giving both commendations and recommendations. In particular, he reminded us that every role is an opportunity to speak and should be treated as a speech.

Awards

  • Aislinn and Rebecca each received an Icebreaker award for beginning their journey at Toastmasters.
  • Ahmed earned the President’s award for helping set up the room and for doing a great job as Toastmaster for the evening.
  • Best Evaluator was a tie between Jo and Joe.
  • Best Table Topic went to Helen.
  • Best Prepared Speech went to Paula.

Next Meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 02 December at the Real Man Pizza Co, 91-95 Clerkenwell Rd.

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