Meeting Report for 30 March

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Written by Svetlana

Introduction

Bloomsbury Speakers Club hosted its regular meeting on Monday 30th March 2015 with an enthusiastic opening from President Jo.

Prepared Speeches

After the Introduction, Jo handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the Evening, Peter L., who introduced the theme of the day jokes and pranks we like or we are good at in view of the upcoming 1 April Fool’s Day  . 

Femi introduced the functionaries of the day: Sarah the Timekeeper and Tracey, the Grammarian, introduced the word of the day “confounded”; she encouraged the use of rhetorical devices and reduce the amount of filler words.

There were four prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker was Conor who delivered a quite entertaining and informative No. 1 Icebreaker Speech, entitled “It’s Easy, Right?” devoted to his mixed experiences of public speaking, which he finalised encouraging us to open up topics discouraged from Toastmasters, such as politics, religion and sex.

Emma delivered her No.3 speech entitled “Women in Technology” – started off with a quiz to check our knowledge of famous names just to show us how biased we are as we could hardly name any women in STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Emma organised her speech as past: Ada Lovelace, first computer programmer,  Daphne Oram, creator of electronic sounds; present – Lauren Melanie, lead engineer of iPhone, Jess Lee, Google Maps creator; and future of technology – Gloria, the 8 year old London STEM school student, the code cracker. Emma expressed her wish that the future will not be about gender, but about people in technology.

Flavia gave her International Contest speech entitled “The Script” in which she related a dramatic personal story of a relationship where her own faith and support from close friends and family brought her to the idea that if the script of your life is not working for you change it rather than breaking yourself. 

We had warmly hosted guest introductions from Michelle and well-balanced and well-structured thorough evaluations from Egor, Axel, and Bronia.

Table topics

The table topics session was conducted by Alefiyah, who offered the impromptu speakers a variety of questions.

“In life you often come across revelations, or epiphanies, which change our course of life. Which epiphany would you rather be?” went to Swarajit, who chose to be Darwin’s Theory.

“If you were a television what would your day be like?” went to Milo, who assumed the role quite easily and described several different highlights of being a TV set in a hotel or office foyer, at old persons’ home, at average family home, and gave us more than one chance to have a hearty laugh.

“If you were a house what kind of house would you like to be?” went to Olga who among so many choices chose to be a house for positive and caring people.

“If you were a celebrity what would you be famous for and why?” went to Sean, who said he would be David Beckham, because he, as an amateur football player is kicked all the time whether he is playing well or not. So, it would be good to enjoy fame and money while having that.

“If you were a political party what would be your philosophy?” went to Helen who said all current parties don’t provide what they are promising and she would be a party, which would promise anything voters want to vote for just to be elected.

“If you were car what kind of car would you be?” went to Axel who being originally from Sweden, would be a stylish car of Ferrari or Porsche or Aston Martin provided he gets his driving licence later this year.

Carrie gave an impressively thorough and informative evaluation for each of the topics speakers, which was well articulated and with good humour and language throughout.

Grammarian Tracey’s report was accepted with great attention as she evaluated speakers from the point of view of English language usage.

Florian provided an excellent and upbeat general evaluation of the evening providing recommendations to all functionaries of the evening and evaluators who were not evaluated.

Awards

Icebreaker ribbon has handed to Conor; best speaker award was handed to Flavia; best evaluator award went to Carrie; and best impromptu speech award went to Milo!

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting is on Monday, 13th of April upstairs at The Clerk and Well, 156 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30pm.

Meeting Report for 16th February 2015

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Written by Svetlana

Introduction

Bloomsbury Speakers Club hosted its regular meeting on Monday 16th February 2015 with an enthusiastic opening from President Jo who briefed guests on the importance of joining Toastmasters and commended those who made it to the meeting.

Prepared Speeches

After the Introduction, Jo handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the Evening Henry, who went through house rules in his energetic very eloquent and entertaining dry humour manner introducing the theme of the day – what would you bring with you to a desert island!

Henry introduced functionaries of the day: Michelle the Timekeeper and Peter L. the Grammarian. Michelle, who would take a family photo with her to a desert island instructed the audience on her role.

There were four prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Sheldon (who would take a kitchen sink with him to the desert island to dwell on the sheer impossibility of the situation) delivered his  No. 1 Icebreaker Speech “RV Polarstern” shared his story of what brought him to Toastmasters and how he feels about speaking in front of the audience. He did feel like the RV Polarstern, a German Research Ice breaker.

Axel (who is fighting his own tactless behaviour of being late to Toastmaster meetings) delivered Speech No. 2 “Lengthy Court Process” described his experience of the British legal process after a theft. He won the process and produced 30 pounds refund, which he received as a result of his victory.

Mengbing, (who would take solar powered iPad with her to the desert island) delivered Speech No. 2 entitled “How to Learn from Mistakes”. She shared her philosophy that mistakes are important because they provide experience for growth.

Svetlana (who would take a piano to the desert island where she would have plenty of time to play) delivered her No. 8 speech entitled “In Love with Capitalism with Ayn Rand”, gave a gist of the philosophy of the most influential American novelist and philosopher of the XX century Ayn Rand and also explained why she was so influential.

We had warmly hosted guest introductions from Ash and well-balanced and well-structured thorough evaluation reports from Carrie, Bronia, Emma, and Swarajit.

Table topics

Table topics session conducted by Ahmed was devoted to deserted islands. Ahmed emphasized how important the skill of impromptu

“If you were a director of the film about deserted island who would you take there?” went to Swarajit, who would take Johnny Depp, Jack Black, and Shia LaBeouf to such island because he doesn’t think they are good actors.

“What would you do to put off wild wolves chasing you?” went to Ga Lok, who said he would use a box of chocolate with marshmallow so that chocolates stick to their teeth and they stop chasing him.

“What would be the one animal as a pet to a deserted island?” went to Concetta who would choose a lizard or a dolphin.

“Which things you would choose to have on a desert island?” went to Jo, who said she would like to see a cupboard with a fully load iPad and a helicopter and a tent with a funky looking helicopter pilot to get home after having some nice time on the island.

“What person you would not want as a companion on the desert island?” went to Emma who said it would probably be Napoleon. She would love to be there with Mother Teresa and Florence Nightingale.

“What kind of song would you like to sing at the desert island?” went to Ash who would start with a jolly song, followed by a sad song and finish by a really different song to get her out of that island.

Thorough evaluation of all table topics speaker was provided by Hari.

It was followed by General Evaluation from Ga Lok, who provided a brilliant feedback and very helpful recommendations to all participants who were not evaluated. His speech was enthusiastic and contained useful recommendations and humour.

Awards

Icebreaker ribbon has handed to Sheldon; best speaker award was handed to Axel; best evaluator award went to Hari; and best impromptu speech award went to Ash!!!

Next meeting

Our next event is our Inspiring Evaluations Workshop on Monday, 9th of March upstairs at The Clerk and Well, 156 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30pm.

Meeting Report for 27th April 2015

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Written by Svetlana

Introduction

Bloomsbury Speakers Club hosted its regular meeting on Monday 27th April 2015 with an enthusiastic opening from President Jo who compared Toastmaster Competent Communicator Manual to Marathon. Beyond that Manual there are a variety of manuals, which enables you to continue the process of self-improvement as a public speaker.

Prepared Speeches

After the Introduction, Jo handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the Evening, Henry, who introduced the theme of the day which features of human character do you like and why. 

Henry introduced the functionaries of the day: Zita the Timekeeper and Janet (whose preferred feature of character is confidence), the Grammarian, introduced the word of the day “incandescent” and encouraged to use language as power.

There were four prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker was Olga Kruglova (whose most cherished character features are kindness and tact) who delivered a very thoughtful and informative No. 1 Icebreaker Speech, entitled “With a Little Help of My Friends” devoted to a personal story of her early life in London to this day. Throughout her journey of a young IT professional her friends were her greatest asset.

Conor delivered her No.2 speech entitled “Becoming a NOMAN” – was a personal story of how he research and was deeply moved by the plight of people with HPV and decided to raise awareness about this preventable disease. He also decided that the best way to do it would be fund raising; he currently devotes all of his free time to power training to participate in a canoeing competition for that cause.

Sheldon delivered her No.2 speech entitled “Nature’s Best?” in which he educated us on so many paradoxes about what is good and what is bad disguised by advertisers. 

Helen delivered her Speech No. 10 entitled “Taste and Smell” in which she educated us on the importance of savouring flavours and tastes of any food or drinks, which we consume. It makes life more enjoyable and food habits more healthy as our brain receives and processes information brought to us by thousands of taste buds.

We had warmly hosted guest introductions from Swarajit and well-balanced and well-structured thorough evaluations from Michelle, Peter, Bronia, and Ahmed.

Table topics

The table topics session was conducted by Svetlana (who favoured sense of freedom, sense of responsibility, and compassion – qualities that characterise sound mind and kind heart), who offered the impromptu speakers a variety of questions linked to the theme of the day – whether we like certain things and why.

“Do you like spring and why?” went to Hari, who said he was a summer person and spring wasn’t his favourite season. However, he appreciated spring for the spirit or renewal it carried and changes he could see taking place in the nature and people.

“What colour do you like and why?” went to Paul, who said he preferred white for surroundings and blue for clothing because those seemed to be his most comforting and harmonious colours.

“Which political party you prefer and why?” went to Philip who said it Tory although he wasn’t too happy with of the parties out there.

“Do you like arguing and why?” went to Kola, who said he certainly liked arguing because it posed a chance for intelligent victory.

“Where do you prefer traveling – in Britain or abroad and why?” went to Hannah who said she travelled abroad a lot and she travelled to many places in Britain as well, but perhaps there was more to explore in Britain which she hasn’t seen yet.

“Do you like your weekends and why?” went to Amira who said her weekends were packed with training in boxing, body building, yoga and other power and health oriented practices.

“Do you prefer reading books or watching movies and why?” went to Egor, who said he certainly preferred reading because they had a big library at home where he grew up and that explained his love of books.

“Do you like Toastmasters clubs and why?” went to Abdo, who said he is researching and exploring various Toastmaster clubs to decide which one to join. He needs public speaking skills for his professional development and he thinks he tends to like TM.

Emma gave an impressively thorough and informative evaluation for each of the 8 topics speakers, which was a record number of speeches on our memory.

Grammarian Janet’s report was very encouraging, substantive, and entertaining.

Sandra provided an excellent and thorough general evaluation of the evening with recommendations to all functionaries of the evening and evaluators who were not evaluated.

Awards

Icebreaker ribbon has handed to Olga; best speaker award was handed to Helen; best evaluator award went to Peter L.; and best impromptu speech award went to Amira!

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting is on Monday, 13th of April upstairs at The Clerk and Well, 156 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30pm.