November Newsletter – think about The End (plus news of a Bloomsbury Speakers’ Wedding!)

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Hello and Welcome to the November Newsletter!

It’s getting colder and the end of the year is approaching.  But there’s still time to tick off another Toastmasters’ goal or two.  We have 4 meetings left in 2014 so whether you want to polish up your table topics, take on a new role or try to squeeze in one final speech this year go to Clubplan and sign up for a role or table topic today.  Note: if you can’t find a speech slot sign up as a reserve speaker.  You may get bumped up to a confirmed speaker if someone else has to pull out in the days before the meeting which really helps Helen fill the agenda without too much stress.  And, as a reward, if you don’t get to speak at the meeting for which you are a reserve, you get first option on speaking slots at the next meeting she sets up.

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 October.  Unfortunately I was unable to attend the second but Stella ably stood in as Acting President.  The meeting was also in a different venue to usual due to a last minute change – some of you may have felt you were visiting another club!  However I’m reliably informed that the standard of speaking was as high as ever.

What’s planned for November?  

In November we will be treated to two Icebreakers.  On Monday the 10th our newest member Axel will be speaking and there will be a second Icebreaker on the 24th.

Our GE on the 10th will be David Jones.  For those of you who don’t know him he’s a Table Topics master having been to the Divisional Finals 11 times and won the UK & Ireland Final 5 times.  If he asks nicely we may let him do a Table Topic as well as evaluate us!

***NEWSFLASH***  Bloomsbury Speakers’ members get hitched!!!

Do you know which two of our members were engaged?  They kept their engagement low key but two weeks ago Past President Femi and ex Vice President of PR Rufina took the plunge and married before jetting off to Mexico on honeymoon.  Rufina looked radiant in all three (yes – three!) outfits she wore on the day and Femi matched her with three dapper outfits of his own.  Being the wedding of two Toastmasters members, there was a Toastmaster running the schedule on the day and this was our very own member Ratan.

It was a fabulous day and on behalf of all at Bloomsbury Speakers I’d like to wish them a long and happy life together.

Dates for your Diary – watch this space

We haven’t confirmed a date yet but we will be having a joint Xmas party for Bloomsbury Speakers’, Clerkenwell Speakers’ and St Paul’s Speakers’ members.  Michelle is working hard on the arrangements and as soon as the date is fixed we will let you know.

Tip of the Month:  The End

Effective public speaking isn’t only about grabbing your audience at the beginning.  The way you finish is crucial to the overall success of your speech.  For one thing, your final words are likely to be the ones your audience will remember.  Some speeches lend themselves to a humorous finish, while others require a more serious approach.

Keep in mind that a good speaker doesn’t just talk to his audience.  You may be speaking  to entertain, inform, inspire, motivate, or lead.  Here are some tips to help you:

  • Whet your audience’s appetite at the beginning by starting to tell a story. But leave the rest of the story — and the punch line — for your big finish.
  • The title of your speech should summarize your main point in a memorable, catchy way.   So if you can incorporate the title into your closing words, that will reinforce your message.
  • End with a humorous or meaningful quotation from somebody famous. There are many quotation websites on the Internet, and you will have no trouble finding something suitable.
  • Don’t end abruptly.   A hasty “Well, that’s it from me, thanks” and off you go doesn’t create a professional impression. It makes you seem inexperienced and/or unprepared.
  • Give your audience a signal that the end is near so they will pay attention to what you are about to say. If you were walking around the stage, for instance, you could return to the centre of the stage and take a solid stance.
  • Involve your audience.  Ask them to repeat something after you — maybe a simple “commitment ” you have written.
  • Issue your call to action. Tell your audience what you want them to do next and ask them to do it.

Remember, the last thing you say is your last chance to impress the audience and it’s what they will remember about your speech.

Don’t forget to keep your contact details complete and up to date

When we had to change our meeting venue last month just  four days before the meeting, the whole committee swung into action to secure a new venue, let everyone know and arrange to move our equipment.  But we found that some of the speakers and functionaries did not have their phone number listed on our website which meant we couldn’t text them to let them know.  Please can all members check we have a phone number listed on the website.  It’s not publicly visible to other members and the committee won’t cold call you unless absolutely, absolutely necessary.  Log in and check your contact details now.

Also Toastmasters International use the address on their website Toastmasters International to send out their monthly magazine.  When you join Bloomsbury Speakers, Rebecca sets up your record with your current address but, if you move, you need to update the records at Toastmasters International or you will no longer receive the magazine through the post.  Did you know?: You can also get a digital version of by downloading the Toastmasters App from the Apple, Amazon and Google app stores

Key facts – just the stuff you really need to know

    • Sign up for the reserve speaking slots on Clubplan – you may get to speak and, as a reward, if you don’t get to speak at the meeting for which you are a reserve, you get first option on speaking slots at the next meeting Helen sets up.
    • There are only 4 meetings left in 2014 so, whether you want to polish up your table topics, take on a new role or try to squeeze in one final speech this year, go to Clubplan and sign up for a role or table topic today.
    • Past President Femi and ex Vice President of PR Rufina took the plunge and married before jetting off to Mexico on honeymoon.  We wish them happiness!
    • We will be having a joint Xmas party for Bloomsbury Speakers’, Clerkenwell Speakers’ and St Paul’s Speakers’ members so look out for the announcement of the time and place.
    • Don’t forget to keep your contact details complete and up to date on Clubplan and Toastmasters International and you can also download the Toastmasters App to get the monthly magazine digitally.

Newsletter written by Jo

Meeting Report for 13 October 2014

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Written by Svetlana

Introduction

President Jo opened the meeting with a short overview of the 90-year history of the Toastmasters movement and some statistics for the benefit of members and guests.

After her introduction, Jo handed further proceedings to Glen, one of the former presidents and founding members of Bloomsbury Speakers club. Glen emphasized the meaning of applause – to infuse enthusiasm, and of handshake – to hand control of the stage to and from the speakers back to the Toastmaster or Table Topics Master. Paddington Bear’s anniversary being this month, Glen’s theme of the day for the introduction of speakers and functionaries was childhood heroes. Glen introduced functionaries of the day: Robert, the Timekeeper whose favourite childhood hero was Dennis the Menace, Swarajit the Sergeant At Arms, and Peter L the Grammarian (with the word of the day, “anticipate”) helped Glen make the evening most entertaining.

Prepared Speeches

There were four prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Nathaniel’s favourite childhood hero was Rupert the Bear with his sartorial, smart clothing style. Nathaniel’s No 2 Speech “Consider Your Composition” started with a statement, “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are”. He explained why wheat, corn, potato, and rice were the most affordable foods. The prevalence of these products was explained by low cost of production and high level of profits gained by a handful of individuals. It also explained the prevalence of food induced diseases, such as obesity and diabetes. He called upon the audience to make wise choices as to what to eat to stay healthy and take advantage of the variety of food available nowadays.

Michelle whose favourite childhood hero was Cinderella, delivered Speech No. 4 “The Power of Positivity”. Michelle talked about mental and emotional attitude. She advised how to achieve positive mind set. Positivity helps achieve goals and realise one’s true potential. Self-doubt and negative thoughts should be replaced by positive thinking and positive speaking, which go hand-in-hand. Setbacks happen in life, but every cloud has a silver lining. Such attitudes help keep one energised and reduce stress.

Helen whose favourite childhood heroes were the Smurfs and Spider-Man delivered her Speech No. 8 entitled “Yes We Kanban”. Helen substantiated the theory that our brain doesn’t like unfinished business. It is important that we keep track of various projects in hand. The idea of Kanban was first introduced by Taiichi Ohno in 1953 in Toyota factory in Japan in the form of billboards. It helped the factory productivity as workers would signal that they finish the portion of work they were given and get parts for the next portion of work. That way it was easier to focus on work in progress and do not have more work than they could handle. David J. Anderson used this principle for technology projects. Later on, Jim Benson and Tonianne DeMaria Barry applied the idea to personal productivity and used three rows with tasks under the signs “to do”, “doing”, and “done”. And now, smart phone apps are available.

An advanced storytelling speech was then performed by Joe, whose favourite childhood hero was Banana Man. The speech entitled “Why?” was focused on experiences of success, and what makes people successful in sports and in business. While in sports it is important to exercise and in business it is important to be efficient, the most important thing is to ask ourselves, “Why am I doing this, and what is the purpose of it?”. We need a well-defined purpose in order to succeed was the main piece of advice from Joe. The message was drawn from three stories: a personal story, story of sportsmen, and NHS reform.

Warm guest introductions were held by Swarajit and valuable thoughtful evaluations provided by Egor, Ash, Bronia, and Kate.

Table Topics

The table topics session conducted by Ahmed switched the theme to childhood experiences.

Question “Which childhood hero would come to your rescue?” went to Peter L who shared that his favourite hero rescuer would be Pooh Bear and he explained why he thought so.

“What are the best and worst movies of your childhood?” – was addressed to Svetlana, who said her favourite fairy tale movie was “Thumbelina”, which, as she grew up appeared to be the wrong fairy tale to like; she had to go back and focus on positive episodes to have them transpire.

“What childhood hero would make a good politician?” – went to Jean-Marc who said Bugs Bunny would make an excellent politician as he was quick to run, change directions, and good at being cunning.

“Which is your best childhood hero” – Axel said it Spider-Man and he explained why.

“Which childhood book should be made mandatory for schoolchildren to read?” – Danika said it was Nathan Wise as it helps children emulate the best human features.

Carrie provided the evaluation of Table Topics speakers with a balance of commendations and recommendations.

Grammarian Peter’s report was followed by a General Evaluation from Jean-Marc from Clerkenwell Speakers.

Awards

Best prepared speech award went to Helen for her No. 8 speech. Best evaluator award went to Ash, and best impromptu speech award went to Jean-Marc.

Next meeting

PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE OF VENUE! Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 27th October, upstairs at The Perseverance, 63 Lamb’s Conduit Street, London WC1N 3NB (http://www.the-perseverance.moonfruit.com/). Doors open at 6:30pm.

***CHANGE OF VENUE*** for Monday 27th October

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We are meeting at a different venue next week as the Clerk and Well is unavailable. Our venue for next Monday only will be:

The Perseverance at 63 Lamb’s Conduit St, London, WC1N 3NB.

If you are able, please come early both to assist with any room preparations and ensure the meeting can begin on time at 6.45pm.   It’s about an 8 minute walk from the Clerk and Well (see map below for directions) and the nearest stations are Russell Square (0.3 miles), Holborn (0.3 miles) and Chancery Lane (0.4 miles).

We’ll be in the function room upstairs and the pub serves food till 10pm so we can still socialise after the meeting.

See you there!

 

Perseverance website: http://www.the-perseverance.moonfruit.com/#

To Perseverance

 

 

Meeting Report for 29 September 2014

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Written by Svetlana

Introduction

Bloomsbury Speakers hosted its regular meeting on Monday, 29th September with the president Jo marking the 90th Anniversary of Toastmasters International by rolling out a quiz with candies for the right answers! Whoever thought we were long past the age when we love candies was proven wrong!

After the Introduction, Jo handed the Toastmaster steering wheel to Ahmed whose theme of the day was the most annoying public transport experiences and how we cope with them. Ahmed refreshed our knowledge of purpose and meaning of evaluation and of a warm round of applause with some practise of the latter before we started. Functionaries Egor the Timekeeper, Michelle the Sergeant At Arms, and Emma the Grammarian (with the word of the day “wicked”) helped Ahmed in smooth running of the meeting.

Prepared speeches

There were four prepared speeches on the agenda. With the Icebreaker “Why I Am Here Tonight” Rory made a strong and entertaining opening stating that a good speech was like a woman’s dress – long enough to cover the subject and short enough in order to impress. It was a concise story of how the outgoing part of his personality brought him success and how public speaking and listening skills were critical in complementing that and enhancing his chances of success in the future. And it was for the latter reason that he joined the Toastmasters.

Sinead’s Speech No. 2 entitled “In Defence of Nerves” was a logical continuation of Rory’s speech and offered a new perspective of how being nervous helps us to cope with a challenge of public speaking. Our body and brain are set in positive motion by nerves on the physiological level and help us step into the next level of personal development.

Ash’s No. 4 Speech entitled “YES!” was a well-crafted story sharing her personal experience of overcoming the patterns of life, in which we are trapped. Ash’s speech contained a parable and a number of anecdotes, which contained important messages, were vivid, had memorable language, expressions, and humour, which helped her connect with the audience.

Lastly, Tracey’s No. 4 Speech entitled “The Mediterranean Diet” was a very well prepared overview of the advantages of eating healthy food  (of which Mediterranean diet was an example) combined with exercise and drinking fresh water and green tea.

Warm guest introductions were held by Michelle and, after the break, valuable upbeat evaluations of the prepared speeches were provided by Swarajit, Michelle, Svetlana, and Glen.

Table Topics

The evening’s Table Topics session, conducted by Bronia, switched the meeting theme to Winston Churchill quotes.

The quote, “Remember boys, it’s not for France that we are fighting, it’s for champagne!” – was elaborated by Peter L who thought champagne wasn’t worth dying for unless someone hadn’t had it for a very long time.

The quote, “You have enemies? Good! It means you stood up for something in your life” – was addressed by Peter F who shared some good tips on how to tackle enemies.

The quote, “Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip”. Jon thought some of Churchill’s quotes were useful, but others were a waste of time, something, which he could use better for doing is work better instead of making up quotes.

The quote, “Never give up on something you can’t go a day without thinking about” went to Gail, who tackled the quote by sharing her love of champagne.

To the idea of “Success is going from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm!” – Sebastian offered his own take on succession of failures, which was to stay away from areas where you have to go through that.

The quote, “If you are going through hell, keep going” made Leeo think it was similar to the quote on succession of failures, and she shared her experience of skating in Hyde Park and that the image of her skating in the streets freely listening to music helps her in learning skating.

Joe provided the evaluation of all the Table Topic speakers with a balance of commendations and recommendations.

Grammarian Emma’s report was followed by General Evaluation from Vadim from Russian-English Speakers.

Awards & Announcements

Jo invited everybody to the Division L Humorous Speech and Table Topics contest on 16th October 2014.

The Icebreaker award went to Rory; best prepared speech award went to Ash for her No. 4 speech. Best evaluator award went to Glen, and best impromptu speech award went to Peter L.

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 13th October upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30pm.

Meeting Report for 22 September 2014

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Written by Svetlana

Introductions

Bloomsbury Speakers hosted its regular meeting on Monday, 22nd September with the president Jo starting off with an introduction on how, while practice makes perfect, it is perfect practice that really makes a difference; and conditions for that are best at Toastmasters for anyone who genuinely wants to improve their public speaking skills. Constructive evaluation and support as well as learning environment provided here has advantage over practicing among family and friends.

After her introduction, Jo handed the steering of the meeting over to Peter F. The theme of the day chosen by Peter was reality TV shows: what kind of reality shows would participants stage if given a chance? The first functionary, Stella, the Timekeeper’s theme for reality show was simulation of Apollo flight with real equipment from NASA.  Stella gave a detailed and quite poetic description of her role and timekeeping rules to speech participants. Grammarian of the evening was Helen who introduced the word of the day “smorgasbord” borrowed by English from Swedish meaning “a range of open sandwiches and delicacies; a wide range of something; a variety of things”. Helen said she expected meeting participants to use the word of the day and she encouraged the use of interesting and beautiful language.

Prepared speeches

The first speaker Svetlana’s idea of reality show was a virtual game with avatars and staging various business scenarios useful for team building in the work setting. Svetlana’s Speech No. 5 “What Can I Do For You?” was humorous and devoted to vodka culture. Her speech contained anecdotes, a historical brief, sayings and expressions summarising the vodka culture. Her speech was received with much laughter and a warm round of applause.

Peter L’s idea of a reality show was to take a bunch of consultants and dump them in a war zone and watch them uncensored. Peter gave his No. 2 speech “Cry Freedom for Holidays” about the importance of holidays in our life. He gave three reasons why he would not swap holidays for anything else, such as money or privileges. Peter’s speech was theatrical and entertaining with lots of action and vocal variety.

Hari’s idea of reality show was to take a group of friends to an exotic island somewhere in Turkey for pure enjoyment. Hari’s advanced entertaining speaker project entitled “One Tough Mudder Fudder” was informative and amusing and described his own experience of the Mudder Fudder challenge. 12 miles of beautiful scenery with difficult terrain full of mud and with 24 obstacles quite painful and extreme to overcome with a reward of an orange head band and beer at the end. Hari’s speech performance contained a lot of movement while he was enacting the description of the challenge.

Joe’s TV reality show was close to what Hari described in his speech about the Mudder Fudder challenge. Joe’s advanced storytelling speech project “A Boy I Have Known” was about a boy called Jacob who had a condition from birth, which was an insatiable appetite, who stayed in a nursery home where Joe’s grandmother was staying too. Despite his condition, Jacob was a very lively and kind, chunky 10-year-old boy who put a smile on every person’s face. The ethos of that nursery home and the values, which people shared, was remarkable. Old and young people got along so well that the memories of it remained as a highlight from childhood throughout Joe’s life.

Before the break, Jon, Sergeant at Arms of the evening, led the guest introductions.

Evaluations

Ahmed, who did not like reality shows, and did not have an idea of his own reality show provided a detailed and useful evaluation of Svetlana’s No. 5 speech. Ahmed commended Svetlana for the use of humour and body language and advised her to use the stage more freely and try and enact her speech even more. She could also improve her eye contact.

Tracey was more interested in music than reality shows. Tracey evaluated Peter L’s No. 2 Speech and commended him for the strong opening, humour, lots of action and vocal variety. Tracey advised Peter L to try and avoid too many repetitions of one reference to a previous speech, which Peter L made.

Bronia evaluated Hari’s advance entertaining speech, commending him for his confident and relaxed manner and for telling something he knew really well, which helped him engage the audience. As advice, she suggested that Hari could include a conflict, an intrigue into his speech to grab the attention of the audience even more and turn it into a story rather than just a vivid description of the Mudder Fudder challenge.

Michelle evaluated Joe’s advance storytelling speech and commended Joe for good structure, content, and emotionally stimulating speech. Michelle advised Joe to better organise his notes and cards in order to avoid long pauses. Overall, the speech reached its objectives and was quite moving.

Table Topics

Swarajit, the Table Topics Master’s idea of a reality show was to take a bunch of celebrities to an island with wild animals and leave them there and not bother about shooting a video. He came up with a number of questions based on the known TV reality shows.

Jo’s question was how she would persuade Simon Cowell to keep her in “X-Factor”. Jo told a real life story of her karaoke performance some years ago in a pub. With a few beers her talent of singing sounded very reassuring to herself, and she thought she sang like a star. She added to the story the fact that Simon Cowell was or could be sitting at a remote table and watching her approvingly. That’s how she would have persuaded him.

Ash’s question was whether she would eat rat’s testicles, based on the reality show “I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here”. Ash said she would eat rat’s testicles if there wasn’t anything else to eat and that rat’s testicles were small and probably easier to eat than testicles of other animals.

Rebecca answered a question, how she would justify to her employer, why she should be kept and not fired, based on the TV reality show “The Apprentice”. And Rebecca said she would tell how everybody else was doing badly and thus, destroy the competition in the eyes of her employer.

Lucy answered the question about what were her “Room 101” ideas. Lucy would put what she didn’t need or which was annoying to her, such as her neighbours from downstairs, lots of stuff, some of which she actually needed but didn’t like so much. Finally, she would go to Room 101 herself too.

Oriel answered a question, which was based on “Britain’s Got Talent”, winners of which perform at the Royal Variety show. And the question was, whether the monarchy should be abolished or continued. Oriel said the Royal family were a good tourist attraction and she thought they had pleasant personalities and she thought monarchy should be continued.

Glen provided a very thorough and useful evaluation of Table Topics speakers commending and giving tips to every speaker.

Conclusion

Grammarian Helen delivered a very interesting report on how figures of speech and the word of the day were used by speakers and functionaries throughout the evening, after which Andy, from London Toastmasters, gave a thorough and all-round evaluation providing a lot of pin-pointed and useful advice on how we can improve.

Awards

The best prepared speech award went to Peter for his No. 2 speech. Best evaluator award went to Glen, and best impromptu speech award went to Ash.

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 29th September upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30pm.

P.S. Sincere apologies for the stray email headed “Area 34 Humorous Speech & Table Topics contests this Thursday”, which some of you received on the 23rd of September by mistake.