May Newsletter – More contest news and a new committee takes shape

Hello and welcome to the May newsletter!

First things first – please note that there has been a late change of venue for Monday’s meeting (12^th May), which will now take place at The Real Man Pizza Company, just across the road from our usual venue.

I’m sure you’ve all been eagerly awaiting the results of a certain competition, but you need wait no longer as I can report that, despite putting up a brave fight, Bloomsbury Speakers’ team didn’t quite have the winning edge in the inter-club ten-pin bowling match. In the end, the inaugural title went to Experience French, but special recognition should go to our member Rebecca who achieved the highest individual score of 131!

Carry on reading for rather more important contest news. 😉

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?

We enjoyed two regular meetings in April, including a speech from Faith-Rose on her passion for hat-making and an icebreaker from new member Emily.

As mentioned above, we also had our dinner and bowling social with Clerkenwell, Experience French and St. Paul’s Speakers clubs and we hope to have more of these events in the future, if only to get our revenge!

Meanwhile, the other divisions around the country held their contests to decide who would represent them at the UK & Ireland International Speech and Evaluation contests this past weekend (with our member Janet having already qualified last month). More on that later in the newsletter.

What’s planned for May?

There are two regular meetings this month, one with a change of venue and the other with a change of date!

• Monday, 12^th May – Regular Meeting – Please note that this meeting will take place at The Real Man Pizza Company, just across the road from our usual venue. At the time of writing, the programme is almost full but there is still space for one more speech evaluator as well as a Sergeant at Arms to greet and introduce the guests. Sign up for the roles on ClubPlan.
• Monday, 19^th May – Regular Meeting (moved forward) – Due to the bank holiday at the end of May, this meeting has been moved forward a week. At the time of writing, there are slots available for a grammarian and two speech evaluators. Again, book yourself in on ClubPlan.

Results from Dublin and district reformation

As I write this, the last ever conference for District 71 as we know it is drawing to a close in Dublin and the highlight of the event, as ever, was the International Speech and Evaluation contests for the whole of the UK & Ireland.

It kicked off on Friday afternoon with our member Janet giving a stunning performance of her speech “The 5 Stages of Grief” to be named in the top three of her semi-final and qualifying for Saturday’s final.

The standard among the six contestants in Saturday’s final was exceptionally high, but Janet did us proud by giving another brilliant delivery of her speech to finish in third place overall – many congratulations to her for being the first (and last*) member of our club to represent us at the national final of the International Speech contest. What an amazing achievement!

The title of District 71 champion went to former president of our sister club Holborn Speakers, Chris Boden with his speech “The Throw”, in which he described his experience of trying out improvised comedy. Chris will now go on to compete in the World Championship semi-finals at the 2014 International Convention in Kuala Lumpur!

The Evaluation contest was won by Simon Bucknall of London Cardinals, who previously won the title in 2009.

* From July this year, District 71 will be splitting in two in order to make room for the expected growth in Toastmasters clubs in the future. The newly formed District 91 will cover southern England and southern Wales and will be headed in its first year by Hilary Briggs, who was elected (unopposed) as District Governor at the district council meeting this weekend. Further congratulations go to our current Area 34 governor Graeme Phillips who was elected as Division L governor for the year ahead.

Jock Elliott ‘Masterclass’ – Friday, 23^rd May, Cass Business School

Discover the essential tools for getting your message across to any audience with Jock Elliott – 2011 World Champion of Public Speaking.

At this amazing event you will have the opportunity to learn the techniques of world class speaking.

• Look ‘under the hood’ at Jock’s winning speech;
• Discover how careful crafting builds towards a powerful and compelling conclusion;
• See how every word is selected for a reason and how reason plus emotion creates success.

You will learn how to:

• Identify your point;
• Know your audience;
• Make your message valuable;
• Add impact to your presentation;
• Touch your audience’s hearts and minds;
• Master the mechanics of your speech;
• Get the right competitive and performance attitude.

This is a great opportunity to have an evening of humour, insight, inspiration and learning. There’s no one right way to do anything but there are always many ways of doing something better.

Date: Friday, 23^rd May
Time: 6:45pm to 9pm
Venue: Cass Business School, 106 Bunhill Row, EC1Y 8TZ
Cost: £5-£7.50
Tickets: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/jock-elliott-world-champion-of-public-speaking-tickets-11475540651

Welcome to our newest members

I’ve been rather neglectful with this in previous editions of the newsletter, so I’d like to officially welcome all of our new members who have joined the club since December: Michelle, Grace, Svetlana, Egor, Faith-Rose and Emily. All six have made progress with their first speeches and we look forward to hearing more from them at future meetings.

If you’re not yet a member but are keen to join, keep reading!

New committee starts taking shape

We’ve had a very positive response from members putting themselves forward for roles on the next committee, which will take over the running of the club from July onwards. However, we’re still looking for a few more expressions of interest for the role of Sergeant at Arms which, as outlined in last month’s newsletter, holds responsibility for logistics and venue management, welcoming guests to the club, collecting and counting votes at meetings and organising club socials. Contact [email protected] if you’d like to be considered for the role.

Meanwhile, we already have one of our new committee members in place. James Hallinan (pictured below) has been Acting Vice President Membership & Mentoring for the last few weeks and will take over permanently from July. He has already taken over management of the membership waiting list, so if you’ve visited us a few times and are keen to join and get started with your first speech, contact James via [email protected].

James is also in charge of the club’s mentoring programme, so if you’re a relatively new member and feel you could benefit from having a mentor (usually a more experienced member of the club), feel free to contact James via [email protected].

Tip of the Month: Two reasons why speeches fail

This month’s tip comes courtesy of 2011 World Champion of Public Speaking, Jock Elliott from his Dublin workshop, On Target: The Nuts and Bolts in which he described two of the main reasons why speeches fail to meet their objectives.

• Failing to make your point succinctly. The process of writing an effective speech can be a long one, but the main message must be short and memorable. You should be able to summarise the main message of your speech in one sentence that your audience can take away with them.
• Failing to connect with your audience. Although many winning speeches involve stories that are important and personal to the speaker, the goal is in fact to express what matters to you in terms that matter to your audience. While people may understand your experiences, they’ll never truly connect until they can relate it to something in their own lives.

You can hear and learn even more from Jock at his workshop in London on Friday, 23^rd May (see above).

And finally…

Here are a few more pictures from this weekend’s District 71 conference in Dublin:

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

• There has been a late change of venue for our first regular meeting in May. Our meeting on Monday, 12^th May will now take place at The Real Man Pizza Company, just across the road from our usual venue.
• Many congratulations to our member Janet who finished in third place at the UK & Ireland final of the International Speech contest and became the first member of the club to represent us at a national final!
• Our second regular meeting in May has been moved forward a week due to the bank holiday and will take place on Monday, 19^th May.
• 2011 World Champion of Public Speaking, Jock Elliott will be delivering a workshop in London on Friday, 23^rd May. Full details and tickets are available at: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/jock-elliott-world-champion-of-public-speaking-tickets-11475540651.
• Welcome to all our new members who have joined the club since December: Michelle, Grace, Svetlana, Egor, Faith-Rose and Emily. Contact [email protected] if you’re interested in becoming a member.
• We’re still looking for a few more expressions of interest for the role of Sergeant at Arms on the next committee taking over in July.  Contact [email protected] if you’d like to be considered for the role.