Meeting Report for 14 April 2014

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Written by Rufina

Introductions

Our President Swarajit – opened the meeting by quoting from former World Champion of Public Speaking Darren LaCroix who, in the style of Tony Blair, gave the three most important factors in becoming a world class speaker as stage time, stage time and stage time!

Swarajit then introduced Stella, who was the evening’s Toastmaster. Stella, after running through the agenda for the meeting, introduced her theme “Life is a Circus”, asking every participant “If you were asked to join the circus, would you do so, and why”? She then introduced her supporting functionaries, the Timekeeper and Grammarian.

Michelle, the timekeeper, explained the timings for the programme and demonstrated the use of the lights to signal these timings to the speakers.

On to the next functionary, the Grammarian Jo introduced the word of the day, “Innocuous” which means not harmful or offensive.

Prepared Speeches

The first speech “The Ultimate Accessory” was a No. 2 speech by Faith-Rose, in which she shared with us the manufacturing process, the practice of wearing hats and what characteristics they exhibit. Faith-Rose’s hats compromised a vision, the moment where two cultures (Ghanaian and Malawian) are infused and lastly the feeling of nostalgia which symbolises happiness. To give us a clearer picture, Faith-Rose exhibited three different, stunning hats pressing on us to forget the shoes – it’s all about the hats!

On to the second speaker and Rebecca, with a No. 2 speech entitled “Just My Cup of Tea”, took us back to her childhood where she’d earned the right to be the “best tea maker” in the family and neighbourhood.  Rebecca let us into her three-part secret of obtaining the perfect cup of tea: the context, the content and lastly the process of making it. The tea goes in first before the milk and not the other way round.

The third speaker was Ash with a No. 3 speech called “Taking Love Offline”, where she revealed intriguing information about how dating has transformed from traditional meetings to 21st century online dating. With over half of singletons in London choosing online dating on the 4,100 dating websites in the UK, the deception is endless and everyone is judged by their looks rather than common interests, dislikes and aspirations. The moral is that online dating deprive us of the organic romance with physical people by chasing unrealistic profiles.

Peter, the final speaker with his No. 6 speech entitled “Who is Your Voice?”, reconnected us back to an amazing tool in our body – the voice. Without it we cannot speak nor engage in public speaking. Peter, demonstrating with his own silky tones, informed us that the voice is a machine that needs air, alignment and algorithm of the throat because the wrong posture affects how our voice projects a message. A simple exercise for the voice is to breathe in deeply, slowly release the air and relax.

Evaluations

Ahmed evaluated Faith-Rose’s speech about the “ultimate accessory”. He commended the use of props in a number two speech which added credibility and a sincere touch to it. She was not fazed by the use of props but was confident and the delivery was well executed.  However, Ahmed felt that Faith-Rose could improve on her transitions and use of phrases.

James evaluated Rebecca’s No. 2 speech. He commended her on a very clear and structured speech. It showed her background and the impact it has made on her life while engaging the audience. He recommended combing two stages into one and practice to help with the timing.

Tracey evaluated Ash’s speech on online dating. She commended Ash on a well delivered and confident speech with no signs of nervousness and interjection of humour.  She recommended Ash did not need the notes in her hands and could improve on the speech organisation but, all in all, met her objectives.

Rufina evaluated Peter’s No. 6 speech. She felt he started off with a great opening by using a rhetorical question.  Peter had a well projected voice, relaxed and poised; however some of the action could have been demonstrated to enforce the message. Overall, it was well researched and engaging speech.

Table Topics

Carrie was the topicsmaster with a theme based on the stress of everyday life.

  • Emily was asked to describe a healthy work life balance in London – she responded that everyone needs to find what works for them and taking a break from work sometimes.
  • Jon was asked if he believes in therapy – he said there is no right or wrong answer, but he likes to work and talk to friends and strangers about his worries.
  • Emma was asked, what do you do to combat stress? She testified to being a walking self-help book from trying therapy to acupuncture and yoga, which is the best.
  • Ahmed pondered what in life makes one happy? There is no constant happiness, he said, but a mixture of fun times and hardship.
  • Robert considered whether we should avoid stressful activities or just accept them. Work hard, he responded – if you go through stress or make mistakes, learn from them. Take a 30-minute break, or a shot of whisky!
  • Marcella was asked to discuss the statement, when it comes to the hard times in life all we need is love. She concurred by saying love yourself, work hard, and take a break in the countryside like she does.

Henry, the table topics evaluator, opened by congratulating each topics participant on their well delivered, engaging and sincere speeches from the heart – especially since they were all guests! Henry went on to give each speaker thorough commendations and recommendations for how they could perform even better next time.

Closing and Awards

Our very own Ratan was the General Evaluator tonight and he gave his assessment of all those participants who’d not previously been evaluated and also presented some great feedback for the club as a whole.

The president Swarajit then handed out the awards based on the audience votes:

  • Best Table Topic Speaker was awarded to Emma
  • Best Evaluator was awarded to Henry
  • Best Prepared Speech was awarded to Ash

The President’s discretionary award went to Michelle for her role as timekeeper for the first time.

Next Meeting

Our next regular meeting is Monday, 28th April in the normal venue: upstairs at The Clerk & Well, 156 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1R 5DU.

April Newsletter – Contest results and joining your leadership committee

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Hello and welcome to the April newsletter!

In a break with tradition, I’m going to lead with the key facts as there’s a lot to report this month!

Key facts – just the stuff you really need to know

  • Our neighbouring Division B’s workshops and contests are this Saturday, 12th April, featuring their International Speech and Evaluation contest finals and a keynote presentation from former World Championship finalist Olivia Schofield. Tickets are available from http://celebrate-diversity.eventbrite.co.uk.
  • Our first regular meeting in April is on the 14th. At the time of writing, there is one slot available on ClubPlan for a Sergeant at Arms to greet and introduce the guests.
  • We’re going out for a dinner and bowling social in Shoreditch with our friends from Clerkenwell, Experience French and St. Paul’s Speakers clubs on Friday, 25th April. Contact president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk if you’d like to attend.
  • On the same night (25th April), our member Mike will be representing Purley Speakers in the Division K International Speech contest final at a venue (TBC) near London Bridge. Keep an eye on The London Speaker for the details.
  • Our second regular meeting of the month is on the 28th. There are still plenty of slots left to fill on ClubPlan, including two prepared speech slots!
  • Congratulations to our member Janet who will be representing us at the District 71 International Speech contest during the King Laoire Conference in Dún Laoghaire, Dublin over the weekend of 9th-11th May.
  • There may be financial support available for any club members who would like to attend the conference in Dublin. Contact treasurer@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk to apply.
  • The club’s committee is looking for its successors to take over in July. Contact any of the current committee members or president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk if you’re interested in taking on any of the leadership roles.

What’s happened since the last newsletter?

Lots! 😉 Our regular meetings in March included an Icebreaker from new member Egor, an informative No. 2 speech from Sarah on the possible explanations for why yawning is contagious and an inspirational No. 10 speech from Henry with which he completed his Competent Communication manual.

The main events in the past month however have of course been the International Speech and Evaluation contests. It all started at the club level, with Janet and me (Swarajit) progressing to the Area 34 finals. Sadly, that’s where it ended for me in the Evaluation contest, but Janet overcame strong competition from the winners of other clubs in the area to reach the Division L finals – where she went on to beat none other than last year’s District 71 (UK & Ireland) Champion William Dempster to triumph once again! Janet will now progress to the District 71 International Speech contest – see further on in the newsletter for more details.

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Meanwhile, our member Mike, who is the current president of Purley Speakers, placed high enough in their club and area contests to progress to the Division K final of the International Speech contest, which is due to take place on Friday, 25th April at a venue (TBC) near London Bridge. Keep an eye on The London Speaker for further details. If Mike wins at this contest, he will join Janet at the District 71 contest in Dublin!

What’s planned for April?

Easter may be on the way, but we still have time for two regular meetings as well as a special social event this month:

  • Monday, 14th April – Regular Meeting – The programme for our first meeting this month is almost full, but we still need a Sergeant at Arms to greet and introduce the guests. Sign up for the role on ClubPlan.
  • Friday, 25th April – Dinner and Bowling Social – A special combined event with three other clubs! See immediately below for the details.
  • Monday, 28th April – Regular Meeting – There are plenty of slots left to fill for this meeting, including two prepared speech slots! Again, use ClubPlan to book yourself in.

Dinner and bowling social – Friday, 25th April

Members will have already received a personal invitation for this, but on Friday, 25th April we’ll be joining our friends from Clerkenwell, Experience French and St. Paul’s Speakers clubs for a night of fun and friendly competition at All Star Lanes, 95 Brick Lane, E1 6QL. The evening will start with pre-drinks from 7pm followed by dinner at 8pm and then, the main event, an inter-club ten-pin bowling match!

The bowling costs just £8.95 per person and we’re looking for a team of seven players to compete against the other clubs. Don’t feel you need to be especially good at bowling to take part – it’s just for fun, so please reply to president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk if you’d like to be on the Bloomsbury Speakers team!

Even if you’d rather not bowl, please do come along for the dinner and drinks beforehand – we’ll be going for pre-drinks at the BrewDog, 51 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA and the restaurant menu for the bowling venue is available here: http://www.allstarlanes.co.uk/venues/brick-lane/food-drink/restaurant-menu/. Again, please confirm your attendance.

Date: Friday, 25th April
Time: 7pm onwards
Venue: All Star Lanes, 95 Brick Lane, E1 6QL
Cost: £8.95 per person per game (plus optional food and drinks)
RSVP: president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk

‘Celebrate Diversity’ – Division B contests and workshops this Saturday, 12th April

Although our own division’s contests took place last week, neighbouring Division B has a bigger event planned for this Saturday, 12th April. The day will start with talks from speakers including Immediate Past District Governor Freddie Daniells and a keynote presentation from former World Championship finalist Olivia Schofield.

The second half of the day will consist of the Division B International Speech and Evaluation contest finals, where we’ll be able to see some of the best speakers from west and south-west London and may even gain some insight into what Janet will be up against in Dublin! Details are below.

Date: Saturday, 12th April
Time: 9:30am registration or 1:30pm for contests only
Venue: Freemasons Hall, 60 Great Queen Street, Covent Garden, WC2B 5AZ
Cost: £10 or £5 for contests only
Tickets: http://celebrate-diversity.eventbrite.co.uk

District 71 spring conference and contests – 9th-11th May, Dún Laoghaire, Dublin

A highlight of the Toastmasters calendar, this will be the last ever conference under District 71 as we know it (as the district will be splitting in two later in the year). Spanning a whole weekend, the King Laoire Conference in Dún Laoghaire, Dublin will include several educational workshops on different aspects of public speaking and leadership, as well as the semi-finals and finals for the UK & Ireland International Speech and Evaluation contests.

Since at least one of our members (Janet) will be competing in the International Speech contest, the club is once again looking at providing a financial subsidy to members who may want to attend the conference. The size of this subsidy will depend on demand and will only be paid on return from the conference. If you would like to apply for a subsidy, please contact our treasurer Ahmed via treasurer@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk.

Date: Friday 9th-Sunday 11th May
Venue: Royal Marine Hotel, Marine Road, Dún Laoghaire, Dublin
Cost: See website
Website: http://www.kinglaoired71conf.com/

Tip of the Month: Join your leadership committee

Joining your club’s committee is a fantastic way of gaining and putting in to practice those leadership skills that you may not have the chance to work on in your day job – and, just like a regular meeting, a Toastmasters committee is a safe and friendly environment in which to do so. There are roles to suit all levels of skills, experience and time commitment and, not only will you have the opportunity to pick up new skills as well as refine existing ones, but you’ll also have a direct impact on the day-to-day running of your club.

Bloomsbury Speakers’ committee is currently recruiting its successors for the next Toastmasters year (which runs from 1st July to 30th June). Some members have already expressed an interest in certain roles, which is great as we want people who are enthusiastic! However, if you’re not sure what the different roles on the committee actually entail, here’s a quick summary:

Sergeant at Arms (Incumbent: Marie)
The SAA is in charge of logistics. They are responsible for:

  • enlisting others to help them prepare the venue for each meeting and also clear up afterwards;
  • welcoming guests as they arrive at each meeting and running (or delegating) the guest introductions section of the programme;
  • organising club socials and liaising with venue management on behalf of the club.

Treasurer (Incumbent: Ahmed)
The treasurer holds responsibility for the club’s finances. Their duties include:

  • keeping track of the club’s income and expenditure to ensure financial stability;
  • paying dues and other costs on behalf of members to Toastmasters International;
  • making sure members pay their renewal fees to the club on time.

Secretary (Incumbent: Paula)
The club secretary is responsible for club administration, particularly with regards to committee meetings and decision making. Responsibilities include:

  • arranging and communicating the dates, times and venues for forthcoming committee meetings;
  • recording and circulating the minutes and action points from club committee meetings;
  • ordering stationery and equipment (with permission of the treasurer) on behalf of the club.

Vice President Public Relations (Incumbent: Rufina)
The VP Public Relations is responsible for raising the club’s profile and attracting new guests e.g. via social media. Regular tasks will include:

  • putting a team together to help write up the meeting reports after each regular meeting and contest;
  • keeping the club’s website and Meetup page up-to-date, along with other media;
  • maintaining the club’s guest book and mailing list and sending out e-mail campaigns.

Vice President Membership & Mentoring (Incumbent: Rajeev)
The VP Membership & Mentoring converts guests into happy members! They will do this by:

  • keeping track of the membership waiting list and inviting an appropriate number of guests to join as new members each month;
  • ensuring that new members have all the information they need when they first join;
  • assigning a mentor to each new member and monitoring their relationship.

Vice President Education (Incumbent: Jo)
The VP Education is the second most senior position on the committee and is responsible for putting the programme together for each meeting along with keeping track of the educational progress of individual members and the club as a whole. Regular responsibilities will include:

  • ensuring all the speech slots and functionary roles (including general evaluators) are filled for every meeting and arranging printing of the programme;
  • tracking individual members’ progress through their communication and leadership manuals and submitting educational achievements to Toastmasters International;
  • administration of ClubPlan and enlisting the help of other members in organising club contests.

President (Incumbent: Swarajit)
The president has overall responsibility for the successful running of the club by supporting committee members in their roles (including all of the above) as well as opening and closing every meeting, writing these newsletters and helping the club meet its goals in the Distinguished Club Programme – and much more besides!

 

Intrigued by what you’ve read here? Well, why not consider joining the next committee in July? It’s a great way of giving back to the club and you’ll be certain to benefit immensely from the experience yourself. If you’re interested in filling any of the roles above in the coming year, feel free to contact the incumbent member directly or write to president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk to express your interest – and if you’re a member of another club, get involved there too!

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

Swarajit Das
President
Bloomsbury Speakers

 

Meeting Report for 24 March 2014

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Written by Svetlana

Introduction

Our President Swarajit opened the meeting by giving a concise description of what Toastmasters is about and how it can help build confidence in public speaking and leadership skills. He went on to speak about Bloomsbury Speakers itself and its executive committee, which includes, among others, the Vice President Education Jo, Vice President Public Relations Rufina and the club’s Treasurer Ahmed and is now planning for its succession in June.

After that, Swarajit introduced the evening’s Toastmaster Ratan who has been with Bloomsbury Speakers since its creation.

Ratan gave a brief overview of the Toastmasters competent communication programme before running through the agenda for the meeting. His theme of the day was “Why I joined Toastmasters” which he’d put as a question to all the evening’s participants. His own reason for joining Toastmasters was to gain confidence with public speaking, and it had also helped him a lot in his professional and social life.

Ratan then introduced the functionaries of the meeting who would assist him that evening:

  • Svetlana, the Timekeeper [she said she was at the start of a new career in London and polishing her public speech skills and her goal is to balance the fear and excitement of her new life.]. She explained the format of the meeting agenda and the use of the “traffic lights” to signal timings to the speakers, and that one of the skills to be practiced in speech training was that of expressing a thought within a specific time.
  • Kate, the Harkmaster [her reason for joining Toastmasters was to improve her confidence and speaking in groups]. Kate explained her role and encouraged the audience to listen to the speakers carefully as she would check their attention and memory in a quiz at the end and reward the correct answers with chocolate incentives!

Prepared speeches

With an Icebreaker speech entitled “Chance and Destiny: A Little Case Study” Egor [who wants to become a better all-round communicator and story teller;] introduced himself to the club. We all feel a need to be in control of our lives, but it is mostly chance that changes and shapes the human destiny, Egor explained. Many people born in the former Soviet Union experienced unfathomable changes in their life situations. Others had encounters that affected their private lives in unexpected ways. Egor shared his story of how he ended up in the UK pretty much by accident. “If you want to make God laugh, tell him about you plans” – pretty much sums up his dense and personal speech.

The second speaker, Tracey, used her No. 2 speech “The Introvert Advantage” to share with the audience the main message of the topic: that introversion can be beneficial. She cited some interesting research which showed that introverted people differ from so-called “extraverts” in that they recharge themselves from within, while extraverts do so from the people they communicate with. Introverts spend more time reflecting and are capable of high level of concentration, which enables them to have deeper understanding of things; they prefer one-to-one communication. These were features that underlined the difference between introverts and extraverts.

Our third speaker was Carrie who gave her No. 6 speech “An Alternative Option” and encouraged the audience to become entrepreneurs. After giving a short overview of the tremendous business successes of the McDonald brothers and KFC founder Colonel Sanders who started from scratch or even from initial failures, Carrie shared her 5 points of advice distilled from entrepreneurial experiences: 1. Have an idea; identify a need; find a solution; develop a credible product. 2. Create a product or service which you absolutely love. 3. Network, learn from people, use shortcuts. 4. Learn to love your failures because with each step you get closer to success. 5. Have faith. She concluded by sharing her business idea of creating personal development services similar to Toastmasters.

Our fourth speaker Henry gave his No. 10 speech entitled “Live Ferociously” starting off with a quote from Socrates: “The unexamined life is not worth living”. He shared a very emotional as well as intellectual and concise review of his own life so far, taking us through the milestones and turning points when he made decisions, such as leaving a comfortable and prestigious job at the BBC to become an entrepreneur. And now too, he was at the point where he had to decide which definition of success would be more suitable to his values and would give him a feeling of success and deep inner satisfaction. He shared that his set of attributes would include being incurably curious, interested in the world, courageous, open to new ideas and people, not to conforming to stereotypes, being passionate about what he did and possessing integrity. He demonstrated an exercise with a string, which revealed to everyone that, in fact, even a long life is much shorter than we assume and it is worth living ferociously, living it for real, without wasting a minute.

Evaluations

Bronia evaluated Egor’s Icebreaker speech and commended him for being brave and able to connect with the audience without fear of being vulnerable. Egor had a good balance of humour, eye-contact and movement on the stage. Her recommendation was to train to project his voice. Bronia praised Egor for a level of poetry, which was probably the influence of Russian literature, a skill which should be enhanced.

Damien evaluated Tracey’s No. 2 speech, pointing out that it was convincing, had a good strategy and effective use of questions, which helped her organise her speech. She managed to link the main messages of the speech to herself, which made her speech very clear and relatable to the audience. As a recommendation, Damien advised to use cards instead of notes and to concentrate on deeper breathing to cope with nervousness. Tracey had a clear stable voice, good eye contact and confidence.

Peter evaluated Carrie’s No. 6 speech with a number of commendations, such as her presence, poise and strength of voice. In fact, she made her audience listen to her, which was a great skill in itself. Her speech had structure, the body of the speech contained instructions and reflections on what she wanted to do and her voice changed. The instructional part of her speech was clear with the right pitch and good articulation and, overall, Peter felt the speech was inspiring and he wished her good luck with her aspirations.

Swarajit evaluated Henry’s No. 10 speech, which was a milestone in competent communication programme. Henry exuded confidence from start as he opened his speech with a quote from Socrates and launched into several personal example. The trick with a string was a good use of visual aid in getting his message across. His arm gestures were very effective too. The only recommendation concerned Henry’s stage position as he was too rooted in one place while occasionally shifting his weight between his legs. He could have probably done better if he either had a more solid pose or walked around the stage. The interaction with the audience was very good.

Table Topics

The table topics (impromptu speeches) section was chaired by Ahmed who explained the “rules of the game” as being able to think on your feet and produce a speech with a beginning, middle and end. He asked the table topic speakers various questions, which they never heard before.

The first question went to guest Peter: which role would he choose and why if he were to auditioned for an acting role? Peter said he would choose Superman, because it would hopefully help him acquire some of his skills and make his life more efficient and effective and more super.

David answered the question “what was the single funniest scene in the films you have seen?” Although all comedy films escaped his mind in the beginning, he resorted to the audience for ideas and nonetheless managed to entertain everybody.

James discussed the question, “How would you convince the government to give more money to the film industry?” He said it was difficult to convince governments to give money for anything, although films are worth funding. The example of that is French film industry, which is funded by the government. French films are known everywhere and possess the unique flavour and keep the idea of French-ness while the only English film funded by the government is “Four Weddings and a Funeral”. We need more films, which could deliver the idea of Englishness to the world much better than the image of Hugh Grant drinking tea, James concluded.

Rory had the question, “Why are X Factor and The Voice bad for the music industry?” Rory said that X Factor was a horrendous charade and not much about music anyway. The Voice, in his opinion, was a more interesting concept as contestants are judged by the voice and not appearances.

Nate had to answer the question “Which film villain is the worst ever?” he managed to mention quite a few of them off the cuff. Then, he asked his own question, “Why is being a villain such a bad thing?” He answered that maybe to be a villain is a good thing as the villain is integral to any story – and if the villain is not very good then the film or the plot is not that good either. Thus, the worst villain is not bad at all!

Robert’s topic was “worst film you’ve ever seen”. His answer was it was a film which he had to watch together with his little sister, who loved fairy tales, while he, in contrast, loved horror films. That particular film, although it had a dragon in it, was still the worst film he had watched in a decade.

Tracey’s question was about “music on CDs vs MP3”. She said MP3 music was much handier to deal with, but she was sorry for the authors who were losing money because free or very cheap downloading was available and people were not buying CDs these days as they used to in the past.

Jo evaluated the topics session by commending all who took part for rising to the challenge, being very natural, delivering with good energy and humour with the general recommendations to use more body language and use the stage more.

Awards

After Harkmaster Kate had done a quick quiz with chocolate rewards, Swarajit brought the meeting to a close by handing out the awards:

  • The president’s award went to Svetlana as the evening’s Timekeeper and report writer
  • Best evaluator went to Jo
  • Best table topic went to Nate
  • Best speaker went to Henry

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 14th April upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30pm.

This Friday, 4th April (7pm onwards) our member Janet will be competing in the Division L International Speech contest final at the City Temple Conference Centre, Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2DE. Please go along and show your support!