Introduction
Our last meeting was on Monday 26th February at Wedge Issue Pizza, where we enjoyed four high-quality speeches and a great table topics session.
Roles
Peter R, President of the Club, welcomed everyone to the meeting and pointed out how being members of Toastmasters can gradually help us become better communicators. Toastmaster Swarajit then took over, explaining the agenda and introducing Timekeeper Nigel and Grammarian Stella, who chose “selfie” as the word of the day.
Prepared speeches
The first speaker was Daniel from Croydon Communicators with his Competition Speech “42 Million”. Daniel explained to us the importance of a single minute, and how sixty seconds can change our lives. He urged us to seize all the minutes we can and make the most of them.
The second speaker was Marti from Holborn Speakers with his Competition Speech “Not Another Speech about Recycling”. Marti wondered whether the recycling agenda was not being pushed on us a bit too much, and concluded by telling us to keep doing what we were already doing.
Third to speak was Andy with his Competent Communicator Speech #2 “2+2”. Andy talked us through different cognitive systems within the brain, and how automatic processes and conscious thinking can sometimes collide to produce unintended consequences.
The last speaker was Peter with his Storytelling Speech #1 “Spring-Heeled Jack”. Peter took us back to London in the 1830s, where people reported seeing a mysterious figure who would attack people before springing 10 feet in the air and disappearing. The moral of the story? There isn’t one!
Scott then led the guest introductions.
Table Topics
After the break, we heard from the evening’s evaluators – Sheldon, Atul, Luisa and Scott.
Table Topics Master Sarah then led a fantastic table topics session centred around the theme of the evening: movies. Scott, Marti, Anya, Sterling, Luisa, Andy and Rafael participated. Highlights included Andy confessing to his childhood fear of dinosaurs and Jurassic Park, and Rafael commenting that the movie “Into the Wild” is all about the importance of family.
Yamina evaluated all table topics speakers.
Grammarian Stella then gave us a report on the great uses of language throughout the meeting – surprisingly, not many people used the word of the day!
Finally, visiting General Evaluator Nick evaluated our club and the meeting.
Awards
Best Speaker: Peter
Best Evaluators: Yamina and Scott
Best Table Topic: Rafael
Next meeting
Our next regular meeting will take place at Wedge Issue Pizza & Beer (91-95 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5BX), on Monday 12th March 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 [email protected] if you have any questions.
