Meeting Report for 1 December 2014

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Written by Svetlana

Introduction

Bloomsbury Speakers Club hosted its regular meeting on Monday 1st December 2014 with a very short but energetic and upbeat introduction from President Jo.

Prepared Speeches

After the Introduction, Jo handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the Evening Ahmed, our seasoned member, awarded with the title of Competent Communicator, who dutifully explained the structure of the agenda and the procedures, such as filling up evaluation slips following commendation-recommendation-commendation format, shaking hands with the Toastmaster and supporting the speakers with warm and loud applause – and why we do that.  The theme of the Night was about our favourite jobs, which we haven’t got (yet).

Ahmed introduced functionaries of the day: Peter F. the Timekeeper (who wanted to become a CEO in the local government authority but thought it wasn’t such a great idea as he might have to deal with corruption and he decided not pursue it). Peter L. told us a story about the time and space that only God and His providence know which Time and Space is right for us. He gave an example of a poor family, which invested all of its money into tickets and missed their travel on Titanic going to the promised Land.   Bronia, the Grammarian offered a language device of the day – a rhetorical device of a dramatic pause, which is known as ellipsis – as an alternative and as a way to deal with ums and ahs.  

There were three prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Egor in his Speech No. 5 entitled “Get Into Jeans” told us some fascinating and not very well known facts from the history of jeans and what accounts for their good quality, such as the country of origin of the cotton, quality of fibre, technology of production, durability, and washability. We all learnt something, which we would not learn if Egor didn’t tell us that evening.

Joe (whose favourite job was a tennis player, and he is currently a tennis coach) delivered Advanced Speech No. 7 entitled “Mind Over Matter” about managing emotions through meditation. Under pressure it is better to act rational. The Goliath, the emotional side, takes over the David, the rational part of the brain, which inhibits top performance. There is a battle between emotional and rational brains. Meditation slows down the brain waves to alpha-brain waves, which are more conducive to creativity. It also lowers blood pressure and eventually makes the cortex part of the brain thicker in people who meditate. If we meditate 5 minutes a day we will feel the difference in twenty days. And he taught us some meditation technique and belly breathing. You simply should have been there to know more!!!     

Carrie (who wanted to be a teacher) delivered her speech No. 10 “Finding Your Own Truth”. Carrie told us about a psychological experiment from University of Yale, which shows that people’s sensitivity to other people’s pain level is quite low, and the majority of people are not compassionate to another person’s pain especially when we are framed up to conform the pattern of the majority. This lead Carrie to extrapolating the same idea to her own life and see how it could affect her values. Conformity and obedience especially in the work situation where we conform to the majority may result in a situation where one is liked by everyone else apart from oneself, which is sad.  If we remove the social context would we do something differently? Carried made all of us think together with her. Options available to us being happy are about being congruent and preserving integrity rather than conforming to others. Be acquainted with your true values, called Carrie upon us. She finalised her speech with a quote from Henry David Thoreau, “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth”. Carried earned loud and warm applause.

Swarajit performed the role of Sergeant At Arms and welcomed guests giving them an opportunity to introduce themselves.

Evaluations

Evaluations were started by Svetlana (who wants to become a professional speaker without use of notes) who gave a candid and well-rounded evaluation of Egor’s speech, followed by Jo (who is curious about working as a retired person); Jo’s evaluation of Joe’s speech was thorough with commendations and tips for improvement. Hari (who wanted to be in the World Cup) provided constructive, detailed evaluation and advice for improvement. All evaluations were peppered with light-hearted humour and interrupted with laughter quite a few times.

Table topics session conducted by Peter L. (who would like to be a philosopher) was devoted to theme of work.

“Pros and cons of working at home” went to Rui. He said that pros are plenty in theory, such as spending all day in pyjamas and chatting on Skype. In practice, small kids would be bothering their daddy with questions, cats would fight, dogs would dig in the garden all of which would demand a lot of attention and distract him, so he wouldn’t work from home if he had a choice.

“Finding a job for your uncle’s fat cat in the company” went to Luce, who described all possible kinds of personalities, intellect, and character of a cat, which needed to be tested, before assigning a cat a job. Catching spiders would be the first job; the second job would be to welcome visitors.

“What is the most dreadful job, which you would never do?” went to Helen. She described her most dreadful job as the one where colleagues to do not understand what is required to do.

“What a bad job can you give to your former boss?” was answered by Swarajit. He started his speech with saying that it is a very English thing to pay back in kind and would take an immense pleasure out of that and live a British dream.

“What is your idea of a whole day job interview, which you could offer the candidates?” went to Svetlana who would give the candidates various tasks and exercises, such as brain storming, group work, presentations as well as more controversial assignments to test various qualities of character.

“Would you take a job of a vampire hunter?” went to Stella who said she would use dramatic pause to give herself time to think the question over. And then she told a mystical story of how a vampire was caught in the Caribbean resort where she had her vacation.

Tracey (who wants to be a green peace campaigner) provided a constructive evaluation of Table Topics speakers’ with lots of commendations and useful recommendations.

Grammarian Bronia’s report was an enjoyable account of dramatic pauses and many other language devices used by all speakers throughout the night.

It was followed by General Evaluation from Mustapha Hanafi, VPE of MLP London Bridge Speakers, who provided a lot of very helpful recommendations along with commendations on friendliness, warm welcome and good organisation.

Awards

Competent Communicator Ribbon was handed to Carrie; best table topic speaker awards went to Stella and Helen; best evaluator award went to Hari; and best prepared speech award went to Carrie!!!

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 9th December downstairs at The Clerk & Well, 156 Clerkenwell Road, London EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30pm.

December Newsletter: remember, remember – a different day (and venue!) in December!!!

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Hello and Welcome to the December Newsletter!

Let’s start with the most important ‘news’ in this newsletter: our  final meeting of the year – our Xmas meeting – is on a Tuesday not a Monday.  It’s on Tuesday 9th December at the Real Man Pizza Company.  Apologies for the change but we can’t use the Clerk and Well in December as they have Christmas party bookings and it’s always difficult to find an alternative venue available on our preferred meeting dates. Normal service on Mondays at the Clerk and Well will resume in January.

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 had two meetings in November and welcomed new members Axel and Alefiyah who gave their ice breakers.  Janet also gave us a 20 minute key note speech  from the Professional Speaker manual entitled Attitude for which she was awarded Best Speaker of the evening.

What’s planned for December?  

As usual we have two meetings but they are on the Monday 1st and Tuesday 9th December due to Christmas.  For our Christmas meeting we’d like it to be as festive as possible so do wear your antlers and Christmas jumpers and let’s have as many festive functionaries and Christmas references as possible!

Also on Tuesday 2nd December at 7pm, we will be having a joint Xmas party for Bloomsbury Speakers’, Clerkenwell Speakers’ and St Paul’s Speakers’ members at the Toffeemaker and Blacksmith, 292-294 St John Street, London, EC1V 4PA.  Thanks to Michelle for organising!

And Bloomsbury Members are also invited to the Holborn Speakers Year End Party on Friday 5th December at 6.30pm at De Santis Bar and Restaurant, 11-13 Old Street.

Tip of the Month:  Top 10 Tips

Feeling some nervousness before giving a speech is natural and even beneficial, but too much nervousness can be detrimental. Here are some proven tips on how to control your butterflies and give better presentations.  Whilst this may be aimed more at newer speakers there are reminders that should help all members improve:

1. Know your material. Pick a topic you are interested in. Know more about it than you include in your speech. Use humour, personal stories and conversational language – that way you won’t easily forget what to say.

2. Practice. Practice. Practice! Rehearse out loud with all equipment you plan on using. Revise as necessary. Work to control filler words; Practice, pause and breathe. Practice with a timer and allow time for the unexpected.

3. Know the audience. Greet some of the audience members as they arrive. It’s easier to speak to a group of friends than to strangers.

4. Know the room. Arrive early, walk around the speaking area and practice using any visual aids.

5. Relax. Begin by addressing the audience. It buys you time and calms your nerves. Pause, smile and count to three before saying anything. (“One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand. Pause. Begin.) Transform nervous energy into enthusiasm.

6. Visualize yourself giving your speech. Imagine yourself speaking, your voice loud, clear and confident. Visualize the audience clapping – it will boost your confidence.

7. Realize that people want you to succeed. Audiences want you to be interesting, stimulating, informative and entertaining. They’re rooting for you.

8. Don’t apologize for any nervousness or problem – the audience probably never noticed it.

9. Concentrate on the message – not the medium. Focus your attention away from your own anxieties and concentrate on your message and your audience.

10. Gain experience. Mainly, your speech should represent you — as an authority and as a person. Experience builds confidence, which is the key to effective speaking. At  Toastmasters you can get experience you need in a safe and friendly environment.

 

Key facts – just the stuff you really need to know

    • Dec Meetings: Monday 1st December and Tuesday 9th December at the Real Man Pizza Company opposite the Clerk and Well.
    • Xmas Parties:  Tuesday 2nd December at 7pm, joint Xmas party for Bloomsbury Speakers’, Clerkenwell Speakers’ and St Paul’s Speakers’ members at the Toffeemaker and Blacksmith, 292-294 St John Street, London, EC1V 4PA.  And Bloomsbury Members are also invited to the Holborn Speakers Year End Party on Friday 5th December at 6.30pm at De Santis Bar and Restaurant, 11-13 Old Street.
    • Welcome to new members Axel and Alefiyah
    • Happy Holidays to everyone who has been part of Bloomsbury Speakers in 2014 and see you next year!

Newsletter written by Jo

Meeting Report for 24 November 2014

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Bloomsbury Speakers
“Learning, Orating & Laughing – LOL!”

Written by Svetlana

Meeting Report for 24 November 2014

Introduction

Bloomsbury Speakers Club hosted its regular meeting on Monday 24th November 2014 with an enthusiastic opening from President Jo who mentioned that confidence and eloquence, which we develop as Toastmasters can come handy in everyday situations where we need to assert ourselves.

Prepared Speeches

After the Introduction, Jo handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the Evening Carrie, whose delightful conversational manner and efficient steering of the proceedings put everybody at ease. The theme of the Night was about how everybody felt about 2014 whether we felt disappointed or smug finishing the year.

Carrie introduced functionaries of the day: Hari the Timekeeper (who thought he didn’t attain enlightenment in 2014 while we thought he did, being such an accomplished competent communicator), and Peter L. the Grammarian with the word of the day “embody”!

There were three prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Alefiyah’s Icebreaker Speech Project “The Future Is Exciting” was a personal story filled with sincerity; it had a balance of humour and seriousness, an account of ups and downs of personal growth. She ended her story with an enthusiastic vision of her future as a chemical engineer believing in renewable energy and sustainable development.

Peter F. (who didn’t entertain himself with the charade of year endings and New Year resolutions) delivered his No. 10 speech “Memory Battle”. Peter F. shared a story of the challenges he had to overcome to save his kidneys and the side effects of potent medical drugs, which were deteriorating his memory. He was then advised to engage in public speaking facing the audience without using notes! Peter F. recited three pieces of poetry by heart: (1) excerpt from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” – “Polonius’ advice to his son Laertes”; (2) “Prayer before Birth” by Louis MacNeice; (3) excerpt from “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens. Peter F.’s conclusive message to us was “challenge yourself on a daily basis if you want to achieve something”.

Janet, our district competition winner and national finalist delivered Advanced Speech “Attitude” as the Professional Speaker told us Plato’s Parable of the Cave and linked it to her own life story of a timid girl who overcame her fears by living her comfort zone behind her once and for all and gave the world her attitude. Fake it until you make it. And once you start your way towards your goal, never return back.

We had warm guest introduction from Svetlana and well-rounded evaluations provided by Helen, Bronia, and Swarajit.

Table topics session conducted by Svetlana was focused on trying to balance our inner talk when we like or dislike things, depending on our attitude in a given context on a daily basis and that there isn’t actually a right or wrong answer to questions. There are at least 360 points of view in a 2D circle and many more in 3D and 4D. Thus, answers to her questions were supposed to be an exercise in exploring our likes and dislikes of the same things. 80% of Table topic speakers were guests.

“Why would you love and hate the rainy weather?” went to Rui. Ruis described how, coming from a warm and sunny climate, he looked forward to and thought he would love rainy London weather until it started to rain and when it did he hated it. We all concurred with Rui.

“Why do you love and hate ice cream?” went to Egor, who loves ice cream as a childhood memory and would like to keep it there, therefore, he doesn’t eat it. He also recalled that the Moscow ice cream was the best in the world.

“What do you like and dislike about being in a crowd running from one platform to another in the Tube during a rush hour?” went to Lex. Being in the crowd is like being in a flock of birds, which is the good part and all other aspects are bad especially for her as an introvert.

“Why do you like and dislike your own appearance?” was answered by Joe H., who was not only very genuine but also infused lots of humour into his speech, which we all enjoyed so much. He also had great body language describing at which angles his appearance looked its best.

“Why do you like and dislike your job?” went to Eve who spoke with a lot of excitement about her job and what she disliked about it was that it was imaginary and the real future was looking dim as she

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

Grammarian Peter L.’s report was an enjoyable account of metaphors, alliterations and other figures of speech, which he noted. He also provided some advice and recommendations.

It was followed by General Evaluation from Mark Burrows, President of Holborn Speakers, who not only affirmed his appreciation of Bloomsbury Speakers club with his commendations, but provided a lot of very helpful recommendations and humour.

Awards

Icebreaker Ribbon was handed to Alefiyah; Peter was given his Competent Communicator ribbon for completing his No 10 speech; best speaker award was granted to Janet; best evaluator award went to Helen; and best impromptu speech award went to Lex!!!

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 1st December downstairs at The Real Man Pizza Company, 91-95 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5BX. Doors open at 6:30pm.

The post Meeting Report for 24 November 2014 appeared first on Bloomsbury Speakers.

Meeting Report for 10 November 2014

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Written by Svetlana

Introduction

The meeting began with an impressive opening from President Jo who briefed the audience on some key statistics, which were also milestones of 90 years of Toastmasters global movement. We were all made feel part of a great community of some 14,000 clubs worldwide. All clubs take their members through competent communicator and other public speaking manuals and help master the art of positive evaluation, offering a highly participatory structure and supportive atmosphere. She encouraged guests to visit various clubs before finding the one which appealed to them most.

After her introduction, Jo handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the evening Bronia, who infused her sunny and witty charisma into the proceedings throughout the meeting, be it the communication of house rules, the theme of the night, speaker introductions or smooth transitions between various parts of the agenda. Bronia’s theme of the night was each speaker’s biggest success or challenge they had managed to overcome. “It’s daunting but it’s doable, and when it’s done it’s done forever!” – was a quote from Bronia to be remembered.

Bronia introduced functionaries of the day: Michelle the Timekeeper (whose Icebreaker speech was a step to her new self and, therefore, so far her biggest success), and Joe the Grammarian with the word of the day “ecstatic” defined quite simply as “super-happy” and whose example of being ecstatic was himself being the Grammarian of the meeting!

Prepared Speeches

There were four prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Axel’s Icebreaker speech “All or Nothing” was a personal story filled with sincerity. Axel stood up as someone who gives his all to projects he starts, be it a physical work-out, intellectual studies or achieving his best in the sales profession. He took us on a journey of self-reflection, which resulted in goal-setting to achieve a balance between the introverted and extroverted sides of himself.

Svetlana (whose biggest success was to realise that no matter how authoritative somebody else’s advice may be at the end of the day it is us who make decisions and take responsibility for them) delivered her No. 6 speech with a focus on vocal variety. It was an interpretive recitation of her translation of “The Ballad of Love” by Vladimir Vysotsky, a Russian 20th century iconic singer-songwriter. She started off on a humorous note on how to connect everyday thoughts and activities with values, such as friendship, love, happiness, and freedom; how these were also mainstream aspirations for many people. Vysotsky was a singer of personal freedom, who connected with his audience through a brave and original manner of singing. This explained his enormous popularity in the former Soviet Union.

Kate (whose biggest success was to deliver a speech before an audience of a hundred speakers!) delivered an Advanced Storytelling speech entitled “Hen-Do Scrooge”, taking us on a journey back in time where, thanks to her vivid storytelling, we shared her bizarre experience of driving in an unfamiliar area, meeting unusual characters and participating in a costume party, all of which she managed to relate in detail filled with great humour.

Sergey (whose biggest success was leaving a company where he had been a chairman of the board for twenty years to become a completely accredited NLP consultant and trainer), was invited as a guest speaker to deliver a speech “Controlling Your Fear”. Sergey demonstrated a few effective techniques of how to overcome fear when doing things, which take us beyond our comfort zone, e.g. public speaking! His slot reminded all of us why Toastmasters is such a remarkable emotional and intellectual opportunity.

We had warm guest introductions led by Sarah and precious thoughtful brilliant evaluations provided by Damien, Peter F, Hari, and Henry!

Table Topics

The table topics session conducted by Egor continued the theme of the night about success in a humorous way, posing questions with dilemmas to the table topics speakers. The question “Success is a point of time or a period of time; would you rather have a brief period of intense success than moderate success for your entire life?” went to Glen. His choice was with long-term moderate success when he can enjoy it and relax into it. He was grateful for the choice, which he would love to have for real!

“What would you prefer given a choice: money, women, or fame?” went to Swarajit. Luckily, he already had all of that! He would like to be remembered for being a genius of the calibre of Newton, Einstein, or Mozart with the right combination of genes and brain cells to be remembered for centuries.

Would you agree with the dilemma suggested by Nietzsche, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” went to David, who disagreed with the philosopher. David thought that what doesn’t kill us doesn’t make us stronger, it scars us for the rest of our lives, and it was one firework of a performance!

Success brings good and not so good things with it such as envy. “If family and friends were jealous of your success, how would you deal with it?” went to Hari, who had a humorous take on the question, and said he could use social media to create a new support group for himself if he had to!

When John Lennon answered his teacher’s question “Who would you like to be?” with “I want to be happy”, his teacher said he didn’t understand the question, to which Lennon said that the teacher did not understand life. Thus, the question “What is the relationship between success and happiness for you?” went to Yu Ling who related a personal story of organising a skiing trip for 170 people at her school. Her schoolmates came to her and said how they appreciated a great job that she did, and it made her happy. Thus, happiness lies in the result of one’s success, which can be making other people happy.

Henry provided a thorough evaluation of Table Topics speakers whose overall performance he defined as master classes from titans; nevertheless he managed to point out areas for improvement for each speaker. His speech was also quite artistic and a model evaluation in itself.

Grammarian Joe’s thorough report on the beautiful, rich, and original use of language during the meeting made us all feel that each Toastmasters session is a unique creative occasion not to be missed! It was followed by General Evaluation from David Jones from Holborn Speakers. David (who, before becoming an 11 times national Toastmasters contest finalist and 5 times winner, had to overcome a major stammer), in addition to providing a thorough and very relevant evaluation and advice, did not disappoint us in that his speech was also the most enjoyable performance with his language, thoughts, ideas, vocal variety, drama, humour and command of the stage!

Awards

Amidst ecstatic applause, a special Icebreaker ribbon was handed to Axel; the best speaker award was granted to Kate; the best evaluator award went to Henry; and the best table topic (impromptu speech) award went to Glen.

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 24th November upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU as usual. Doors open at 6:30pm.

Meeting Report for 27 October 2014

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Written by Svetlana

Introduction

October’s second meeting was held in an unusual venue with a very appropriate name of “Bloomsbury Lounge” at The Perseverance pub, Lamb’s Conduit Street, which was decorated and had lighting to match a Halloween Party! Acting President Stella opened the meeting with some TLC, distributing candies to celebrate the 5th Anniversary of Bloomsbury Speakers and a brief history of its creation. So cool!

After the Introduction, Stella handed proceedings to Janet, a winner of many Toastmasters contests, assisted by her smart and charming daughter Ayla, a seasoned guest of Bloomsbury Speakers. Janet introduced the theme of the day – our experience of “the silent treatment” at work or in our private lives. Janet also introduced the functionaries of the day: Svetlana the Timekeeper, Michelle (who had only very short and light-hearted “silent treatment” from her friend with reasons forgiven and forgotten) the Sergeant At Arms, and Rory the Grammarian (with the word of the day “frugal”) who helped Janet in that most Halloween-coloured Toastmasters evening!

There were four prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Joe’s advanced speech “Juggling Priorities” delivered an important message for all of us: if you want to stand out, connect with what is important, learn and take risks – and enjoy the process. Joe referred to his experience of work in the corporate world and tapping into his talent to change career direction and become a tennis coach. He illustrated his message about juggling priorities with a prop – masterfully juggling several tennis balls!

Jon delivered his speech No. 2 “Is the World a Dangerous Place?” starting off with statistics of casualties happening around the world, which give us an impression of a very dangerous world out there. Jon being a passionate world traveller himself convinced and encouraged us to reach out and listen to people’s experiences on the ground and get an unbiased and true coverage by doing our own investigation of the situations in such countries as Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other places. People enjoy their normal lives and feel happy in all of these countries and the world is full of good energy. The world is a good place, and the real danger is an ill-informed pre-judgement.

Peter L (who experienced some “silent treatment” from his cat but managed to make up) delivered his speech No. 3 entitled “Dog Dinners” about culture clashes such as the dilemma of putting up with eating dog meat or fighting a cause of banning such habits, which he described as contention between progressive and traditional habits in some of the Asian countries. Peter gave examples of positive changes, which show that the status of dogs as social animals is being established and dog meat gradually being removed from traditional menus.

Egor (who doesn’t mind it at all and would love to receive “silent treatment” from everybody) gave his speech No. 4 “The Idol of Science” in which he reflected upon a popular attitude towards science. Science as a source of absolute truth is challenged nowadays because there are plenty of contradicting and equally credible scientific studies on almost every aspect of life and even on any opinion or point of view on anything, which in itself has overthrown the idol of science.

We had warm guest introductions from Michelle and valuable thoughtful evaluations provided by Henry, Michelle, Ahmed, and Swarajit.

Table Topics

Table topics session conducted by Tracey dwelt upon the theme of friendship and all participants demonstrated an impressive ability to think on their feet and speak off the cuff with witty and thoughtful answers!

The question “How to make up with a friend?” went to Emma. Her time-proof recipe was flowers, drinks and a quality time together.

“Are you still in touch with friends from school and college?” – was addressed to Sebastian. Yes, he was!

“What is your definition of a friend?” – went to Rory, who shared a personal story about how he went out of his way to make up with a friend, spending a lot of money and putting himself at risk to bring her back, but it didn’t help!

“Do you prefer to have lots of friends or just a few intimate friends?” – was answered by Robert. Surely, he prefers to have only a few close friends, but for that he has to know a great number of people to be able to filter ad choose his best friends!

The question “Do you think that friends should complement each other?” was tackled by Alefiyah. According to Alefiyah, it is best to preserve integrity and be true to ourselves in a friendship.

The question of “What are the best places to make friends?” was enlightened by Ayla, who said it could happen anywhere and gave a personal story of her best friendship, which started in a girls’ toilet!

Bronia then provided a thorough evaluation of all the Table Topics speakers’ performances with commendations and quite a few pieces of advice for improvement.

Grammarian Rory’s report was followed by a general evaluation from Gill Ornstein from HOD Toastmasters in Harrow. Gill, as well as providing valuable recommendations and highly positive comments, advised the evaluators to add personal goals to the introductions of speakers and shared a tip on how to improve vocal variety by making little pauses and explained how exactly it helps.

Awards

  • Best prepared speech award was shared between Jon and Peter L.
  • Best evaluator award was shared between Ahmed and Henry.
  • Best impromptu speech award went to Ayla.

Special President’s award went to Immediate Past President Swarajit who, along with Michelle, did an outstanding job of preparing the Bloomsbury Lounge for the meeting and who’d had his birthday the day before!

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 10th November upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU as usual. Doors open at 6:30pm.