Meeting Report for 9 February 2015

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Written by Svetlana

Introduction

Bloomsbury Speakers Club hosted its regular meeting on Monday 9th February 2015 with an enthusiastic opening from President Jo who emphasized how important guests and new members are to keep Toastmasters meetings vibrant and diverse in talent, and how exactly they can take advantage of Toastmasters clubs to reach their objectives, overcome fears and grow into confident and effective communicators with the help of the enabling learning environment, resources, and expert support from fellow Toastmasters.

Prepared Speeches

After the Introduction, Jo handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the Evening Carrie, whose energetic manner and the theme of the Evening turned the event into the type Bloomsbury Speakers is famous for – true intellectual entertainment and the best place to be on a cold and damp February evening! The theme of the night was our experiences of Tactlessness: whether we were affected by someone else’s tactlessness or acted tactlessly ourselves. Carrie generously shared her experience of being subject to very loving and caring but nevertheless outrageous tactlessness from her dear ones as she was growing into an independent unmarried young lady!

Carrie introduced functionaries of the day: Mengbing the Timekeeper and Jo (our President) the Grammarian. Mengbing’s story of experiencing tactless treatment was short. Someone dared to say to her face that she was not pretty. She thought that they could not be serious! What a great spirit!  Jo introduced the word of the day “ingenious” and encouraged the meeting participants to use it as well as to be aware of their speech habits and try and use beautiful language so she could provide feedback at the end of the meeting on language usage.

There were four prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Tadgh (whose experience of accidentally offending a friend was when he asked very unflatteringly about his friend’s spouse and that spouse was standing next to his friend!  No. 1 Icebreaker Speech Project “Me, My Name, and I” started with a much valued explanation of the pronunciation of his name and some other typically Irish names, then focused on his family and weddings of a large and jolly family, also typically Irish. Tadgh’s speech was quite entertaining and peppered with humour. We all thoroughly enjoyed it!

Peter L. (who is fighting his own tactless behaviour of being late to Toastmaster meetings) delivered Speech No. 5 “Sartorial Semiotics” devoted to the meaning of clothes and that we intentionally or unintentionally disclose a lot about ourselves to the society by wearing them in a certain way. We are judged by our clothes. Our attire sends a coded message about a social group we belong to as each social group uses certain style of clothes as “a uniform” to identify itself among many others. When we try to break boundaries and express personal freedom through clothes we inadvertently fall out of one social group into another. There is no freedom from sartorial semiotics. Peter L. used props – various hats to show how the message was changing with just that one item of clothing.

Sam (who wrote “Happy Birthday” on his colleague’s leaving card) in his advanced entertaining speech called “Predators of the Concrete Jungle”, compared deadly dangers of jungle such as leopard, venomous snake and Ebola virus to hazards, which surround us in cities, such as staircases, ladders, vehicles, and fire. Statistics shows just how much more dangerous these were for people than the feared predators of the jungle. Sam gave us instructions on how exactly we could safeguard ourselves from being injured or worse. His closing piece of advice was to take care not to start a fire as we sit at a candlelit romantic dinner table on St Valentine’s.

Rufina (who finds it tactless when men claim they can discipline women) in her advanced informative speech called “What’s Wrong With Me?” explored why people cannot be content and happy with what they have.  She shared about various stages of her life when she was getting what she wanted but the attainment of the desired things did not make her happy. She found out from reading a research results that the level of happiness sometimes depended on the overall happiness level of people around us and that also depended on other things present in that area, therefore, there were cities and towns where happiness level of people was simply higher than in other places.

We had warmly hosted guest introductions from Carrie and well-balanced and well-structured thorough evaluations from Ash, Joe, Svetlana, and Peter F.

Table topics

Table topics session conducted by Egor (who confessed he didn’t have any sense of tact and could judge his tactlessness by the reaction his remarks make on others; he told a lady that he thought she was the same age as him, and she turned out to be 8 years younger) had a number of quite tricky and interesting questions.

“How can you tactfully reject someone you don’t like?” went to Emma, who told us a story about being rejected in a French manner, being invited to Paris to a nice dinner with a man with a fancy name Fabrice who then let her know he had a wife and children.  She compared it with a manner of rejection, which an Englishman would probably use simply by saying, sorry, I am married and unavailable. It would probably been less embarrassing although maybe just as hurtful.

“What’s your response to a colleague’s tactless comment: speak to HR, forget it, or plan a bitter revenge?” went to Robert, who said he would have pondered all possible ways to react and at the end after rehearsing them in his head he would find that the cons outweighed the pros and would drop the issue and forget about it.

“Should we only say good things about dead people or not to speak about them at all, as the Russian proverb suggested; would you agree with it or not?” went to Svetlana who gave an example of an anecdote of perestroika and glastnost period in the former Soviet Union, when newspapers were obsessed with Stalin’s theme. An old “babushka” said how much she hated Stalin because of the atrocities he was committing every day. When told that he was dead for many years she said then why newspapers were writing about him as if he was alive, and not about current affairs. When we speak of the past we should be more analytical and speak of its relevance for today.  Speaking about the dead we shouldn’t take advantage of them just because they cannot defend themselves.

“Should tactlessness from a drunken person be tolerated?” went to Luca, who said he didn’t drink and didn’t have any excuse if he behaved tactlessly.

“Should we be tactful with religious people or should we be honest and defend equality and freedom?” went to Lio who said she grew in a Christian household and stopped being religious as an adult. Contentious issues arise quite often.  Her policy is to smile, accept it, and have peaceful relationship especially in the family.

Grammarian Jo’s report was thorough and very educational as usual with many examples along with some recommendations to the speakers.

It was followed by General Evaluation from Stephen Costin, ACCA members Breakfast Club, who provided a lot of positive feedback and very helpful recommendations to all participants who were not evaluated. His speech was enthusiastic and peppered with dry humour.

Awards

Icebreaker ribbon has handed to Tadgh; best speaker award was handed to Peter L.; best evaluator award went to Henry; and best impromptu speech award went to Emma!!!

Next meeting

Our next event is our Inspiring Evaluations Workshop on Monday, 23rd of February upstairs at The Clerk and Well, 156 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30pm. To attend please register at: https://inspiring-evaluations-bloomsbury-2015.eventbrite.co.uk.  More details about the event are included in our Feb Newsletter: https://www.bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk/2015/02/february-newsletter-contests-approaching/

 

Meeting Report for 26 January 2015

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Written by Svetlana

Introduction

Bloomsbury Speakers Club hosted its regular meeting on Monday 26th January 2015 with an enthusiastic opening from President Jo who emphasized how busy Toastmasters are honing their public speaking skills and supporting each other through active listening and evaluation. This is the right place to be for anyone who wants to improve their public speaking skills till they truly enjoy themselves through this activity.

Prepared Speeches

After the Introduction, Jo handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the Evening Bronia, whose jovial and creative manner and the theme of the Evening turned the event into a real intellectual and emotional entertainment as usual! Theme of the evening was Sticky Situations and how we get out of them.

Bronia introduced functionaries of the day: Alefiyah the Timekeeper and Peter L. the Grammarian. Alefiyah copes with sticky situations through writing them through and Peter L. indulges himself in blues  till he bounces back to his normal positive self. Peter L. introduced the word of the day “buoyant” and encouraged the meeting participants to use it.

There were three prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Peter F.’s No. 4 Speech Project “Sylvia” was focused on advanced story telling. Peter F. used the opportunity to tell us a remarkable story of a lady who had a difficult life, but who also had a pleasant and sociable character and who managed to make people feel good and enjoy life together with her despite being very ill.

Faith-Rose (who finds solution through sharing and taking advice from her close friends) delivered Speech No. 7 “A New Start” devoted to “Failed Friday” – the 26 January of 2014 and looked into why people fail to fulfil their New Year resolutions. The research identifies some positive factors, which help attain the desired results, which are readiness to change, belief in oneself, taking setbacks constructively, and building up on mental strength.

Samuel in his advanced entertaining speech called “The Weight of my Problem”, which could also sound like “The Problem of My Weight”, gave us a gist of his adventures with various diets. At some point he realised that in addition to the support and encouragement from friends, family and colleagues he needed self-discipline. He also planned to do more exercise instead of watching TV.

We had warm guest introduction from Michelle and well-balanced and well-structured thorough evaluations from Damien, Nathaniel, and Ahmed.

Table topics session conducted by Janet (whose way out of sticky situations is to try and dissipate it with good music and other pleasant things) was a fun session with interesting questions and imaginative impromptu answers. Janet’s questions were related to relationships.

“Acceptable age difference?” went to Blake, who said the acceptable age difference was five years, which was enough room to have different experiences for two persons and not too long otherwise it will feel like dating a parent.

“Do you continue to date a person if it feels slightly wrong?” went to Connor, who shared a personal story of a blind date where he met someone for the first time, who had a different picture on social network and he lied about his age. It didn’t work.

“If your boyfriend is not answering the phone between 6 pm and 10 pm. What would you do?”  went to Helen who talked about a different role of phones in the modern life. So, it’s hard to imagine why a person would not reveal his existence via mobile communication for several hours. The only reason she could suggest was for that person to be stuck deep down in the underground.

“Why do you think boys and girls have so much trouble getting along?” went to Aila, who shared her very reasonable thoughts about boys and girls having different interests; they play different games at school, for example. It is just so difficult to get along because they do not have same interests!

“What if a girl you have been dating for a while suddenly removed her teeth would it be a problem?” went to Peter L. who said girls are very strange and weird beings, so, it is more about pushing boundaries. He would be interested in exploring other weird things she might have under her sleeve.

“How long is long enough to have a serious talk in a relationship?” went to Matt who said talk should happen naturally or not happen at all.

“Why there are so many people attracted to the unavailable?” went to Emma who said she was a vivid example of someone who is always attracted to unavailable. The most dreamlike and perfect object or person is the unattainable one.

Egor (whose method of dealing with sticky situations is to sit still and wait till the end of the working day and leave) provided a concise and witty evaluation of Table Topics speakers’ interrupted by cheers and laughter.

Grammarian Peter L.’s report was thorough and very educational as usual with many examples along with some recommendations to the speakers.

It was followed by General Evaluation from Jilly Shaul, Northern Lights Speakers, provided a lot of positive feedback and very helpful recommendations. Her speech was enthusiastic and peppered with humour.

Awards

Best speaker award was handed to Peter F.; best evaluator award went to Nathaniel; and best impromptu speech awards went to Aila, Helen, and Peter L.!!!

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 9th of February upstairs at The Clerk and Well, 156 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30pm.

February Newsletter: The Contests are Approaching!!!

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Hello and Welcome to the February  Newsletter  for members and friends of Bloomsbury Speakers!

Quick warning: it’s quite a long newsletter this month – but that’s because there’s lot to say!

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 happened last month?

We had a great start to the year with two busy meetings and lots of new guests eager to find out more about the club.

We’ve also had several new members so I’d like to wish a very warm Bloomsbury welcome to Zita, Sheldon and Tadhg and I look forward to finding out more about them at their Icebreakers and seeing them improve their speaking skills and confidence over the coming weeks and months.

 

What’s planned for February?  

We have our regular meetings on consecutive weeks this month as we have a special evaluation workshop, with the usual potent mix of prepared speeches, evaluations and table topics:

  • Monday 9th February – this coming Monday and we have a packed speaking schedule but we still need a grammarian and an SAA to do the guest introductions.  Please sign up on Clubplan if you can do either of these roles.  We also need a couple of people to come early and help me set up the room as Swarajit and Michelle who regularly do this are both away.
  • Monday 16th February – fully booked again for speakers but we still need evaluators and a SAA to do the guest introductions.

Don’t be shy – book yourself in for one of the spare roles. Remember – all meeting roles provide an opportunity to speak in front of an audience.

The above meetings are on consecutive weeks is so that we can have an International Speech & Evaluation Workshop on Monday 23rd February.  We’re hosting a special event featuring workshops from Simon Bucknall.  See below for the details.

International Speech & Evaluation Workshop – Monday, 23rd February

In preparation for the upcoming speech contests, we’re very privileged to welcome UK & Ireland Evaluation Contest champion Simon Bucknall to give his special workshop Inspiring Evaluations on Monday, 23rd February. 

Your ability to evaluate others in a concise, effective and empowering way is a vital skill – not just in the professional world but in our personal lives too. In this practical and interactive session, Simon will share some of the key tips and techniques which helped him become the reigning UK & Ireland champion.

The session includes video footage from both the ‘test speech’ of the contest along with Simon’s winning evaluation. As well as this, you’ll have the opportunity to put your learning into practice by evaluating some test speakers on the night!

Key take-aways include: – how to make YOUR evaluation stand out from the crowd; – valuable practice before the contest season; – how to evaluate without notes; – how to adopt an empowering mindset for the benefit of all.

Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to refine your skills for the upcoming contests and give yourself that extra edge for these and future competitions! Unfortunately there are only a limited number of seats available, so please only book yourself in if you can definitely attend (and cancel your booking if you find out later that you can’t make it).

To sign up please go to:

https://inspiring-evaluations-bloomsbury-2015.eventbrite.co.uk

 

What’s on the horizon?  International Speech and Evaluation Contests!

For those who are new to Toastmasters, twice a year every club holds two contests. In the Spring it’s the International Speech and Evaluation contests. In the Autumn it’s the Humorous Speech and Table Topics contests.

Contests are really good fun, a great way to get experience of speaking in a (slightly) more formal environment and also an opportunity showcase and celebrate the various skills learned in Toastmasters during the rest of the year.

As it says above, our contests are being held on Monday 9th March at the same venue as the regular meetings. We’d love as many members as possible to enter these contests. However, there are some restrictions.

Contestants in the International Speech Contest deliver a prepared speech of 5 – 7 minutes:

  • You must have completed 6 speeches from the Competent Communicator manual by the date of the contest to participate
  • You may use a speech you’ve delivered before – as long as it is original and your own work
  • The speech can be on any topic of your choosing (within normal Toastmasters limits – i.e. nothing that would make your Granny blush).

(BTW The reason it’s called the International Speech contest is that it’s a global competition with the winner of UK & Ireland going to the US to compete for the glory of the “world title”. So there’s everything to play for!)

Contestants in the Evaluation Contest all evaluate the same (mystery) speaker. Everyone gets the same amount of time to write up their notes – these are then taken away until it is your turn to evaluate.

Why You Should Take Part

If you are even slightly inclined to participate (and you meet the requirements) then I strongly recommend it. It’s a great experience and although their is an extra layer of formality to make sure everything is fair, it’s still a very supportive environment and conducted with a sense of fun.

And you’ve still got a month to write a speech (or polish your evaluation skills).

(Note: you can book yourself in as a contest speaker or contest evaluator on ClubPlan, but due to a limitation of the software you can’t book yourself in both contests – just book one slot and email Helen at education@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk to say you’d also like to participate in the other contest too).

If you can’t (or don’t want to) compete this time round then why not take on an official role, such as one of the timekeepers or a vote counter? Or you can be a judge at another contest.  Email Helen (education@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk)  if you’re interested. We rely on all members’ contributions to making this contest as successful as our previous contests so please get involved.

 Tip of the Month – throw yourself into the Club!

It’s an often quoted phrase but, when it comes to Bloomsbury Speakers and Toastmasters, it’s definitely true: “The more you put into Bloomsbury, the more you get out of Bloomsbury”.

If you are nervous about public speaking then the better you know the audience, the more you know how friendly and supportive they are.  Try starting a conversation with the people sitting near you at the next meeting or congratulate one of the speakers or evaluators after the meeting.  Come along to one of our socials (we are planning another for March) to meet a few members away from the regular meetings.

If you prefer task -focussed interaction, we also have many small tasks related to running the club which we need help with throughout the year whether that’s setting up the room and greeting attendees at meetings, helping to write meeting reports or helping to organise special events such as the workshop or socials.  If you can spare an hour or two at any point throughout the year to help out with ‘Club business’ then please speak to anyone on the Committee at one of our meetings.

It only takes a small effort from each Bloomsbury member to keep the club going from strength to strength.

 

Key facts – just the stuff you really need to know

    • February Meetings: We have our regular meetings on consecutive Mondays this month 9th and 16th Feb.  There are still a few roles available and we also need one (or two) people to be SAA and come early to help set up the room and do guest introductions as Swarajit and Michelle who regularly do this are both away.  Sign up on  ClubPlan.
    • Our Evaluation Workshop is on Monday, 23rd February.  Sign up at https://inspiring-evaluations-bloomsbury-2015.eventbrite.co.uk asap as places are limited!
    • Our International Speech & Evaluation Contest will be held on Monday, 9th March. Invitations will go out to members in the next couple of weeks, but booking for contest places and functionary roles is already open on ClubPlan.
    • Tip of the Month – throw yourself into the Club! It only takes a small effort from each Bloomsbury member to keep the club going from strength to strength.  If you can spare an hour or two at any point throughout the year to help out with ‘Club business’ then please speak to anyone on the Committee at one of our meetings.

Newsletter written by Jo

Meeting Report for 12 January 2015

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Written by Svetlana

Introduction

Bloomsbury Speakers Club hosted its regular meeting on Monday 12th January 2015 with an enthusiastic opening from President Jo who mentioned that Toastmasters was the right place if one wanted to get rid of fear of public speaking, the palpitations of being nervous and learn to enjoy it.

Prepared Speeches

After the Introduction, Jo handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the Evening Joe, whose easy and elegant manner and the theme of the Night was a good way of returning into the grove of our delightfully busy meetings. According to Joe, after the razzmatazz and the glitz and glamour Christmas, we enter a somewhat cold long month of January. In these times, he is looking forward to the evenings getting lighter, not having to eat turkey for another 12 months and spending some Monday evenings among Toastmasters! For introductions, Joe used answers to one question: however small or big, what we are looking forward to in January or later this year.

Joe introduced functionaries of the day: Hari the Timekeeper and Glen the Grammarian.

There were three prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Alefiyah’s No. 2 Speech Project “The SSLANGmobile (self-study language-mobile)” was a very informative, instructional, and well-organised description of a self-study language learning methodology, which uses modern internet and mobile applications. She offered a number of easy tips and pieces of advice among which consistency was named as the most important one for good results and maintaining strong motivation.

Peter L. (who in 2015 was determined to promote vegetarianism as a protest against the death of millions of turkeys that have to be slaughtered every Christmas) delivered his Speech No. 4 “The Big Piece of Paper” devoted to the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. Peter L. addressed three questions: what it was for, what its name meant and what it meant for him. He used his personal experience of judicial system, a well-known occasion when David Cameron was asked about Magna Carta. These events brought Peter L. back to the notion of Magna Carta, which effectively limited the powers of monarchy and laid a foundation for many modern fundamental laws, such as habeas corpus, speedy trial, and due process under the law; thus, indirectly, it continues protecting main liberties and individual rights and continues being the source of law.

Damien (who looks forward to the Rugby World Cup) in this his No. 7 Speech Project entitled “The Forgotten Parrott” related a detailed account of controversies, facts and figures, which shed light onto the less known 150 years of history of records set by professional and amateur long-distance runners since 1770 when James Parrott, a fruit seller, who was also a long-distance runner, set the first record of running 1 mile under 4 minutes, but it was forgotten due to methods of measuring and recording results and lack publicity.  Since then, there were other talented and strong runners who ran the distance under 4 minutes before Roger Bannister whose result in 1954 was the first one to be officially recorded.

Swarajit (who looks forward to the next Christmas) in his advanced speech “Probability Problems” from Manual “Speaking to Inform” told us about odds of probability, statistics and our perceptions of probability, which differ.  He used an interactive probability game with a chocolate prize to test the probabilities and show us that the reality is counterintuitive and mathematics of probability is shocking.  This should help us accept the public domain discourse especially from journalists who don’t know what they are talking about with a pinch of salt.

We had warm guest introduction from Michelle and well-balanced evaluations from Egor, Faith-Rose, Svetlana, and Femi.

Table topics session conducted by Peter F. was a fun session with interesting questions and imaginative impromptu answers. Peter F. gave very positive instruction, inspired and encouraged speakers, facilitated the session with warmth.

“What is your favourite childhood memory?” went to Svetlana, who said she had lots of happy memories but told us the one that was most memorable and which gave her flashbacks from time to time; it was about her very first and last gymnastic lesson, which made her extremely happy but after which she couldn’t find her way back home. She was only 7.

“If you had a chance to do a makeover what would you do differently?” went to Henry, who said he would change the way he looks at the world and make over his soul to be happy, productive, to oose smiles and feel incredibly positive. He would try everything to find what would work – from a magic pill to change of climate.

“If you had a chance to travel where would you go and why?” went to Rachel who told us that she travelled to Moscow, New York, Ireland and visited Copenhagen, after which she decided she would go to Scandinavia, Iceland, Norway and she told us how much she liked those countries and was interested in them.

“What teacher in school made the most impact on you and why?” went to Georgia, who told us about her English teacher who instilled in her the love of arts and literature.

“What was your most defining moment of your life?” went to Graham who named quite a few defining moments starting with visits to a dentist but the most important one was meeting his current partner.

“What is your strongest quality?” went to Tom who said that it was persistence which helped in so many cases and circumstances throughout his life, such as learning languages and some others.

Hari provided a thorough evaluation of Table Topics speakers’ with lots of commendations and useful recommendations.

Grammarian Glen’s report was a thorough, very educational report on the language usage of the day which contained many examples along with recommendations.

It was followed by General Evaluation from Isabel de la Cour, Phoenix Speakers, provided a lot of positive feedback and very helpful recommendations. Her speech was enthusiastic and peppered with humour.

Awards

Best speaker award was handed to Peter; best evaluator award went to Hari; and best impromptu speech award went to Henry!!!

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 26th of January upstairs at The Clerk and Well, 156 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30pm.

Meeting Report for 9 December 2014

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Written by Svetlana

Introduction

Bloomsbury Speakers Club hosted its regular but slightly unusual meeting on Tuesday 9th December 2014 with not so many participants due to being the last pre-Christmas meeting of the year. President Jo announced it open and handed the Santa Claus hat over to Nathaniel, the Toastmaster of the evening, saying that the hat will pass from speaker to speaker throughout this special meeting.

Prepared Speeches

Nathaniel announced the theme of day – favourite Christmas presents ever received and introduced the functionaries of the day. Alefiyah the Timekeeper (whose favourite Christmas present is a homemade cake), told us a memorable story of a bus and opportunity costs related to switching lights of the Timekeeper, which speakers should observe to be time-conscious! Our President Jo (whose favourite present was watching a glacier in South America) acted as the Hark Master and advised us to listen carefully to the speeches as there would be a competition where she would ask questions towards the end of the meeting to test how attentive we were and win chocolates!!!

There were three prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Mengbing’s Icebreaker Speech Project “Who Am I?” started with a story of her name and continued with a story of her and her twin brother, who was a more talented one. She wanted to challenge herself and to see how different she was from her twin brother and how her own talents could show. This accounts for some amazing life experiences and wisdom she picked from travelling, living abroad, studying at the university in Switzerland, learning foreign languages, working for a charity in Africa, moving to London, and, finally,  joining, Toastmasters.

Faith-Rose (whose favourite ever present was a family photo on the eve of the New Year because normally they all live in different places) whose No. 6 speech was entitled “Determined”. It was a personal story of overcoming challenges and being determined. She didn’t believe in good luck but in being determined and faithful. Being a member of Toastmasters International and overcoming challenges of public speaking helped her overcome the challenge of passing her driving test even through it took her three attempts to do it.

Svetlana (whose favourite Christmas present was a tea-maker with excellent green teas from her family) delivered her Speech No. 7 entitled “Sharing Life Hacks With Friends”. Svetlana started with a humorous story of how important it is to share the knowledge and experience with others and that what you share stays with you and but you don’t share in forever lost. She shared useful knowledge about healthy life style and easy tips on how to stay healthy, slim and fit at no cost.

We had warm guest introduction from Michelle.

Evaluations

Michelle (whose favourite ever childhood present was a bike) evaluated Mengbing’s Icebreaker speech. The speech was interesting and personal, light-hearted and serious, concise and well-structured and delivered without notes; it was an excellent speech for an Icebreaker as evaluated by Michelle.

Swarajit evaluated Faith-Rose’s speech as a beautiful performance, advanced speech with a confident, humorous, convincing manner with a strong message.

Rufinah’s best present was getting married in addition to all wonderful presents she received so far. Rufinah evaluated Svetlana’s speech, which contained a lot of useful learning experience from childhood to adulthood, was quite entertaining at times too, was enlightened by her smile, and she didn’t use notes. However, she should have used references to formal researches, sources, and scientists to underpin the life hacks, which she mentioned.

Table topics session conducted by Helen was really entertaining as she explained that there are situations, which the impromptu skill can save. We had a good laugh. Helen’s questions were focused on holidays.

 “If you had one day access to Santa’s elves workshop for free what would you do?” went to Rufinah. She had wonderful time in Mexico in October, and she would go back to there. The weather was wonderful, food was amazing; the sea and the beach were like heaven; people were friendly and polite.

“What would be your favourite present in childhood, which you wanted but never received?” went to Jamie, who brooded over her childhood memories when her parents’ family was somewhat broken, therefore, her best Christmas present would be being together and watching movies and eating Christmas food.

“The worst Christmas present, which you received?” went to Alefiyah. Her nightmare moment of a Christmas would be Christmas dinner without gravy because chicken would be so dry or if the TV was broken and she wouldn’t be able to watch EastEnders with the most interesting Christmas episode.

“Which do you prefer: the white Christmas or the green Christmas?” was answered by Yu Ling, who would love it equally white or green as long as the whole family was having happy time together.

“Make us believe that Santa Claus is real” went to Swarajit. He started with how implausible the whole Santa Claus idea seemed to the majority of people that he travelled overnight and put presents though chimneys. In fact by Einstein’s theory of space-time compression this is possible. Einstein proved mathematically that it’s possible and Santa Claus was the one who put it into practice. He used a special machine to compress the space.

“Convince Boris Johnson to replace cabs with sleighs during Christmas holidays” went to Glen who staged a persuasive conversation with Boris at his own apartment. He would commend Boris on his achievements and, particularly, Boris Johnson bikes. He offered him an idea of using sleighs instead of bikes and come back to office year after year again and again.

Femi provided a candid and most valuable evaluation of all six Table Topic speakers.

Hark Master Jo’s contest was very popular and successful and all questions were answered at the first instance and chocolate went out to prises very fast.

In the absence of the General Evaluator we used a very innovative way of Group Evaluation facilitated by Glen.  It was very interactive and provided a number of comments.

Awards

Icebreaker Ribbon was handed to Mengbing; best speaker and best Christmas dress award was granted to Faith-Rose; best evaluator award went to Femi; and best impromptu speech award went to Swarajit!!!

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 12th of January downstairs at The Clerk & Well, 91-95 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5BX. Doors open at 6:30pm.