Contest Report: 18th September 2017

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Introduction

On Monday 18th September, Bloomsbury Speakers hosted their official Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest during which members and guests witnessed the club’s funniest battling it out for a place in the Area Contest on 27th September.

Roles

The contest started with a speech from the President of the Club Peter R who gave a warm welcome to everybody before introducing the Contest Chair Swarajit. Swarajit talked people through the order of the evening, the rules of an official Toastmaster contest and gave some humorous advice on which topics are best to cover in a speech (basically anything except racism, sexism and homophobia… unless of course you are a white straight man, in which case you can do whatever you like!) He introduced Chief Judge Simon.

Prepared speeches

The first contestant was Margarita with her speech entitled “Midnight Dancer”.  As a result of her love of Irish dancing, Margarita injured herself whilst practicing at home and paramedics were treated to a scene of two Russian girls (Margarita and her flatmate) lying on the floor with a frozen bottle of vodka pressed against her ankle and Irish songs playing in the background!

Next to speak was Yamina with her speech “The Perks of Being a Late Bloomer”. Yamina used to dislike early bloomers but has now come to appreciate that, as a late bloomer, she actually had the time to enjoy her childhood in the south of France. Growing up without a computer helped her to develop her imagination and, as a neuroscientist, she sometimes catches herself daydreaming about her Nobel Prize acceptance speech!

The third speech was “I Love Holidays” by Atul, who confessed to hating airports and has in the past spent time in airport stores when he hasn’t even needed to buy anything. He also questioned the usefulness of the barrage of announcements flyers are subjected to before, during and after the flight – don’t we all know how to fasten a seat belt already??

The fourth contestant was Helen with her speech “The Dinner Bill”. What is the protocol when first daters go out for dinner and the bill arrives? Helen found out the hard way with her date “Dick”, who was baffled when Helen offered to split the bill and then proceeded to lecture her on the fact the men are meant to take care of women. Helen left us wondering whether we should tolerate benevolent sexism.

Swarajit then led the guest introductions.

Table Topics

After the break, we heard from the table topic contestants – Helen, Peter R, Sophia, Lei, Scott, Atul, Margarita and Andy – on the contest question “How has technology changed your life?”. Highlights included Peter’s disdain for social media which has caused a 7 year void on his Facebook profile, and Andy’s admission that technology has not just changed his life but effectively taken over!

A round of friendly table topics followed as the Contest judges finalised their evaluations.

Awards for Speech Contest

First Place: Helen

Second place: Atul

Awards for Table Topics Contest

First Place: Peter R

Second place: Margarita 

Third place: Andy

Next meeting

The next regular meeting will take place at Wedge Issue Pizza & Beer (91-95 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5BX), on Monday 25th September 18:30-21:00. Come over to practice your public speaking skills and enjoy delicious free pizza!

Please feel free to get in touch at info@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk if you have any questions.

Meeting Report: 11th September 2017

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Introduction

It was another entertaining evening of prepared and impromptu speeches on Monday 11th September at Wedge Issue Pizza where Bloomsbury Speakers held their latest regular meeting. We were treated to thought-provoking speeches and a hilarious table topics session, as well as of course delicious free pizza at the end.

Roles

The meeting started with a welcome speech from the President of the Club Peter R who pointed out that the benefits of becoming a member of Toastmasters go beyond improving our public speaking skills. He introduced Toastmaster Pao who announced he would soon be moving to Berlin – we will miss you Pao! Pao then introduced Timekeeper Raymond and Grammarian Sarah.

Prepared speeches

The first speaker was Luisa with her Competent Communicator Speech #3 “Say Cheese”. She talked us through three iconic pictures to show us how great photographers are able to tell a story through the use of lines, colours and space. But she still thinks taking silly pictures on holiday with your friends is pretty fun!

The second speaker was Margarita who delighted us with her Storytelling Speech #3 “Do You Promise Not To Tell?” by confessing to secretly throwing away her flatmate’s large collection of paper bags, including one containing an expensive tray. The moral of the story is: don’t lie to your friend about chucking away her paper bags, because you will end up having to spend your remaining money buying a replacement tray in John Lewis (and also because lying is bad).

Next up was Scott with his Competent Communicator Speech #5 “The Memory Palace”. We were left baffled by the story of his bizarre journey to the venue that evening, which included bumping into a man in a bath washing a ton weight, a guy with a crazy son, another man rubbing quince jam on his Adam’s apple… But it all made sense when he explained that these were just mnemonic images in his memory palace which he used to remember the names of the first 8 presidents of the United States (George Wash-ing-ton, John Quincy Adams, James Mad-i-son… brilliant).

The last speech was Competent Communicator Speech #8 “The Power of One” by Chantal who reminded us of our civic duty to vote and to recycle: what we do as individuals is unlikely to make a difference but collective action is important. Just like some Brexiteers underestimated their own power by voting to leave the EU in protest, we also can sometimes underestimate our power to make a difference by recycling more.

Yamina, our Sergeant at Arms, then led the guest introductions.

Evaluations and Table Topics

After the break, we heard from the four speech evaluators – Peter R, Lei, Swarajit and Atul.

Then Julian, Table Topics Master, led a hilarious session of table topics inspired by his weekend in Bordeaux running and drinking wine. Peter F, Millie, Chantal, Paulina, Sophia, Yamina, Lei and Swarajit cracked us up with their impromptu speeches: highlights included Lei’s story of her most memorable weekend and what she learnt about vomit and sharks, and Swarajit’s sadistic dreams of revenge should he ever become a PE teacher (which we hope he never will!).

Rupert evaluated all table topics speakers.

Grammarian Sarah then presented her report and reminded us of all the grammatical highlights of the evening, including the use of the word of the day “euphoria” which was mentioned a total of 16 times throughout the meeting!

Finally, visiting General Evaluator Paulina from London Victorians evaluated our club and the meeting.

All in all, a pretty euphoric meeting!

Awards

Best Speaker: Scott

Best Evaluator: Rupert

Best Table Topic: Lei

Next meeting

On Monday 18th September we will be holding the Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest at Wedge Issue Pizza & Beer (91-95 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5BX), 18:30-21:00. This is an official Toastmaster contest and winners will go on to represent Bloomsbury Speakers in the Area Contest. Book your place by using our Eventbrite link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/humorous-speech-and-table-topics-contest-tickets-37724179035

The next regular meeting will take place at Wedge Issue Pizza & Beer (91-95 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5BX), on Monday 25th September 18:30-21:00. Come over to practice your public speaking skills and enjoy delicious free pizza!

Please feel free to get in touch at info@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk if you have any questions.