Club newsletter – July 2023 – Beat the membership fee increase!

/in , /by

First up, we’re moving to a new venue for this month! Our two July meetings (on the 10th and 24th) will be upstairs at The Union Tavern, 52 Lloyd Baker Street, WC1X 9AA. It’s a bigger venue, so do invite all your friends, family and colleagues to create a fun and supportive atmosphere for the club.

What’s in this newsletter?

  • IMPORTANT: Membership fees are increasing – lock in at the lower rate!
  • Help! I’m Not Funny – a humorous speech workshop with Dan Magill (4th September)
  • Autumn speech contests
  • Club committee 2023-24
  • Next meetings

IMPORTANT: Membership fees are increasing – lock in at the lower rate!

Unfortunately, Toastmasters International are raising their six-monthly dues from $45 to $60. This means that all clubs are forced to increase their membership fees to meet this rise.

At the same time, it won’t have escaped anyone’s attention that costs are rising all round, including the costs of running a club – even a non-profit one like ours. As a result, our membership fees will be increasing to £96 every six months, charged pro rata depending on when you join (plus a one-off fee of £20 for new members).

The good news is that anyone (new, renewing or returning members) can lock in the current lower rate of £90 for the 9-month period July 2023 to March 2024 (plus the one-off £20 fee for new members), as long as you pay by Tuesday, 25th July. Fees will rise to the new rates from August.

  • New members can join in July by following the instructions on the joining page on our website and paying £110, no later than Tuesday, 25th July.
  • Rejoining members and existing Toastmasters should follow the same instructions and pay £90.
  • Existing club members will be contacted by our new treasurer Michael this month.

While the high cost of living is affecting us all, we hope you’ll still find value in your Bloomsbury Speakers membership as part of your personal development and will continue your journey with us.

Help! I’m Not Funny – a humorous speech workshop with Dan Magill (4th September)

We’re delighted to be welcoming 2023 District 91 (UK South) Humorous Speech contest champion Dan Magill – a title he also achieved in 2019 and 2022!

In his upcoming workshop, Help! I’m Not Funny, Dan will cover elements including:

  • Where to find your comic inspiration
  • Being aware of your audience
  • How to structure a humorous speech
  • Tips on delivery

There’ll be plenty of opportunity for audience participation and you’ll leave this workshop brimming with ideas, ready to start adding more humour to your speeches.

This workshop is open to all and tickets start from just £5.99, which includes pizza straight after the event!

Date: Monday, 4th September 2023
Time: 6:25pm for a 6:45pm start
Venue: The City Pride, 28 Farringdon Lane, EC1R 3AU
Price: £5.99 (early bird) or £7.99 (standard) – includes pizza!
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/help-im-not-funny-a-humorous-speech-workshop-with-dan-magill-tickets-682286044927

Autumn speech contests

The above workshop leads nicely into the autumn contest season, which includes the Humorous Speech and Table Topics contests in late September or early October.

The Humorous Speech contest involves giving a 5-7 minute speech with added humour. The humour may arise from an original story, or from jokes embedded within the speech, but a humorous speech is not a stand-up routine or series of one-liners. As with any other speech, a humorous speech should have a topic, structure and purpose, but credit is also given for the audience’s response.

The Table Topics contest works just like regular Table Topics in club meetings except every contestant is given the same topic. Contestants wait outside the room until it is their turn to speak, and the topic will be read out to them just before they are introduced on to the stage. They then have 1-2 minutes to give their response.

See the Toastmasters contest rulebook for more information, as well as the ballot forms for the Humorous Speech and Table Topics contests to get a better idea of how contest speeches are judged.

Both contests are open to all paid members of the club, so everyone should take part, even if you’re new. It’s a great way of pushing your speaking skills to a higher level and the winners will go on to represent the club at the next round, so get practising!

Club committee 2023-24

We’re pleased to announce that the following members have been appointed to the club committee for the year July 2023 to June 2024:

  • President – Swarajit Das – responsible for the overall success of the club, supporting other committee members in their roles, opening and closing every meeting and much more!
  • Vice President Education – Andrea Sachtleben – responsible for putting the programme together for each meeting along with keeping track of the educational progress of individual members and the club as a whole;
  • Vice President Membership & Mentoring – Matt Robertson – converts guests into happy members, ensuring new members have all the information they need when they first join, assigning a mentor to each new member and monitoring their relationship;
  • Vice President Public Relations – Ernest Romanovskij – responsible for raising the club’s profile and attracting new guests e.g. via social media;
  • Treasurer – Michael Haddadeen – responsible for the club’s finances, paying dues on behalf of members to Toastmasters International and making sure members pay their renewal fees to the club on time;
  • Secretary – Elena Fanaberova – responsible for club administration, particularly with regards to decision making e.g. by taking minutes at committee meetings;
  • Sergeant at Arms – Indi Rajpal – in charge of logistics (e.g. meeting venues) and club socials.

It’s brilliant to see some enthusiastic new faces on the team along with more experienced members from committees past. Here’s to an exciting year ahead!

Next meetings

As mentioned, our July meetings are on the 10th and 24th and will be at a new venue The Union Tavern, just a short walk from our current venue The Gunmakers and close to King’s Cross station.

Book ahead on Eventbrite or Meetup to receive a handy reminder nearer the time.

Club newsletter – June 2021

/in /by

June is the last month of the Toastmasters year, and it’s certainly been the most challenging year in our club’s history. Special thanks must go to our president Yamina and a core group of members who have kept Bloomsbury Speakers going throughout lockdown by continuing to attend meetings online and enthusiastically taking on roles.

What’s in this newsletter?

  • FREE workshop – Easy Impromptu Speaking
  • Toastmasters “New Year” social – save the date!
  • Club committee 2021-22
  • Next meetings
  • And finally…

FREE workshop – Easy Impromptu Speaking

Our first meeting in June will be a special workshop focusing on improving our skills in speaking on the spot.

This fun and interactive workshop will give you practical strategies to:

  • Manage your nerves and make them your friend
  • Think on your feet
  • Give effective responses that hit the spot
  • Expect the unexpected!

Click here to book your place – don’t miss out!

Toastmasters “New Year” social – save the date!

The Toastmasters year ends on Wednesday, 30th June and Bloomsbury Speakers intends to mark the occasion with a special “New Year” social event on the evening itself. At the time of writing, the UK government still plans to lift all lockdown and social distancing restrictions in England later this month, so we intend to celebrate the handover of the club from one committee to the next by gathering for a night of fun and frivolity in central London!

Details will be confirmed and communicated to members nearer the time so, in the meantime, please just save the date in your diaries.

Club committee 2021-22

We’re pleased to announce that the following members have been appointed to the club committee and will be running the club from July onwards.

  • President – Atul Chauhan – responsible for the overall success of the club, supporting other committee members in their roles, opening and closing every meeting and much more!
  • Vice President Education – Elena Fanaberova – responsible for putting the programme together for each meeting along with keeping track of the educational progress of individual members and the club as a whole;
  • Vice President Membership & Mentoring – Matt Robertson – converts guests into happy members, ensuring new members have all the information they need when they first join, assigning a mentor to each new member and monitoring their relationship;
  • Vice President Public Relations – Margarita Sachkova – responsible for raising the club’s profile and attracting new guests e.g. via social media;
  • Secretary – Helen Hosein – responsible for club administration, particularly with regards to decision making e.g. by taking minutes at committee meetings;
  • Treasurer – Yamina Bakiri – responsible for the club’s finances, paying dues on behalf of members to Toastmasters International and making sure members pay their renewal fees to the club on time;
  • Sergeant at Arms – Matt Robertson – in charge of logistics (e.g. meeting venues) and club socials

Next meetings

Our last meetings of the Toastmasters year are on the 14th and 28th of June, as usual from 6:45pm online.

Please book your attendance on Eventbrite or Meetup. All our meetings will be on Zoom at least until 30th September.

And finally…

To give our members that extra bit of certainty, Bloomsbury Speakers’ meetings will continue online at least until 30th September. However, that doesn’t mean we haven’t been taking advantage of the more favourable conditions lately.

Some of our members were delighted to make the most of the warm weather and relaxed social distancing rules recently by getting together for food and drinks at our regular meeting venue, The Rugby Tavern.

It was great to get together in person again and we can’t wait to have another social event soon!

Club newsletter – May 2021

/in /by

Toastmasters International is a huge organisation with over 364,000 members in 145 countries – so it’s always worth looking beyond your own club to see what else is going on in the community.

What’s in this newsletter?

  • Contest results
  • Free events around Toastmasters
  • New committee
  • Next meetings
  • And finally…

Contest results

In a last-minute twist of fate, the winner of the Division C Evaluation contest was unable to compete in last weekend’s grand final which meant our member Margarita (who placed second in Division C back in March) was called upon to compete at the highest level! Margarita was joined by Matt who had already qualified for the grand final of the Table Topics (impromptu) speech contest last year.

Both contests included eight finalists – some of the best speakers from Toastmasters clubs in the south of the UK – so it was always going to be tough. While Matt and Margarita didn’t quite manage to win their respective finals this time, they should both be very proud of their performances and we’re sure they’ll go that one step further in future and bring the trophies back to Bloomsbury Speakers!

Matt in his Table Topics contest final

Free events around Toastmasters

There are always plenty of educational events going on around the Toastmasters community – all over the world. Here is a selection coming up online this month (times given in BST).

District 109 Conference – Friday, 14th May (from 2:30pm) to Sunday, 16th May
Hosted by Toastmasters District 109 (spanning Italy, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Switzerland and Austria) this major event includes over 28 educational workshops and seminars across three days – all for FREE! Talks include Rock the digital stage!, How to ignite your Toastmaster creative spark and Strategies for dealing with difficult people. Click here to book and see the conference website for the full agenda.

Your Engaging Voice – Monday, 17th May from 7pm
Experienced opera singer and winner of the above Table Topics final, Andrew Bennett will be running this practical workshop to develop the quality and range of attendees’ voices with exercises and examples. Click here to book.

Just Talk to Me: A Conversational Style of Speaking – Wednesday, 26th May from 11:30pm
Different types of speaking can require different approaches. In this workshop you will learn a practical technique to transition from memorising your script to a conversational style of speaking. Click here to book.

New committee

Some people forget that Toastmasters is as much about leadership as it is about communication. There are plenty of opportunities to take on leadership roles in your club and the wider organisation in a friendly and supportive environment.

The Toastmasters year runs from July to June, so it will soon be time for a new committee to take over running Bloomsbury Speakers. Some members have already expressed an interest in taking on or continuing in certain roles, but if you’re a member and any of the following positions interest you then do get in touch.

  • President – responsible for the overall success of the club, supporting other committee members in their roles, opening and closing every meeting and much more!
  • Vice President Education – responsible for putting the programme together for each meeting along with keeping track of the educational progress of individual members and the club as a whole;
  • Vice President Membership & Mentoring – converts guests into happy members, ensuring new members have all the information they need when they first join, assigning a mentor to each new member and monitoring their relationship;
  • Vice President Public Relations – responsible for raising the club’s profile and attracting new guests e.g. via social media;
  • Secretary – responsible for club administration, particularly with regards to decision making e.g. by taking minutes at committee meetings;
  • Treasurer – responsible for the club’s finances, paying dues on behalf of members to Toastmasters International and making sure members pay their renewal fees to the club on time;
  • Sergeant at Arms – in charge of logistics (e.g. meeting venues) and club socials

Next meetings

Our May meetings are on 10th and 24th, as usual from 6:45pm online.

Please book your attendance on Eventbrite or Meetup. All our meetings will be on Zoom at least until 30th September.

And finally…

We’re delighted to welcome our newest joiner Nick, who has been a very active guest at our meetings up to now and we’re sure he will continue to be just as active as a full member.

If you’ve recently been a guest at one of our events and would like to enjoy the benefits of becoming a member then please get in touch via info@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk. Don’t forget, our membership fees are at a special low price at the moment: just £70 for six months or £114 for a year.

See you at a meeting soon!

Club newsletter – April 2021

/in , /by

Our big announcement this month is that Bloomsbury Speakers meetings will continue online until 30th September this year and our membership fees have been reduced accordingly. Keep reading to find out more.

What’s in this newsletter?

  • Online meetings to continue until September
  • Membership fees reduced
  • Contest results
  • District 91 conference – early bird tickets still available
  • Next meetings
  • And finally…

Online meetings to continue until September

While the Government has set out its intended lockdown easing schedule, there are still uncertainties involved and Bloomsbury Speakers’ committee has taken the decision to continue meeting online until 30th September 2021.

If restrictions on meeting in person are lifted before then, we will of course take the opportunity to meet socially and consider extra meetings, but our regular club meetings will continue on Zoom for the next six months. This is to give our new and existing members more certainty and also ensures that anyone who may not be ready to meet in person straight away will still get full value from their membership.

Membership fees reduced

Since our meetings will continue online for the next six months, and as an incentive for new members to join straight away, we have reduced our six-month membership fee. The membership fee between now and September is just £70 for new members (normally £90), which is a big saving! The 12-month fee remains at £114, which works out as only £9.50 a month. Both of these rates are a bargain so, if you’ve been considering joining for a while, don’t hesitate any longer!

Contest results

Congratulations to our members Matt and Margarita who competed in the Division C International Speech and Evaluation contests respectively. They both placed second in their respective contests and did an exceptional job of representing the club at the higher level. We’re super-proud of them both!

Matt is, however, still through to the final of the Table Topics (impromptu speaking) contest, having qualified last year. The final will be held at the annual District 91 conference – see below.

District 91 conference – early bird tickets still available

The annual District 91 conference will be held online over the weekend of 1st-2nd May. Early bird tickets are only £15 and are on sale until Sunday, 11th April. Prices will go up after that, so book your tickets before then to make a saving!

CLICK HERE to book your ticket for the conference!

The event includes four speech contest finals, including our member Matt’s appearance in the Table Topics final, as well as a plethora of educational presentations and workshops across three different virtual stages.

Next meetings

Our next club meetings will be on the 12th and 26th April – join us on Zoom for a 6:45pm start.

Please book your attendance on Eventbrite or Meetup. All our meetings will remain online at least until 30th September.

And finally…

Please extend a warm welcome to our newest member Maria, who is looking forward to getting started on the Pathways programme and delivering her first speech to the club. Maria joined after our hugely successful OPEN HOUSE meeting last month and we’ve also had great interest after our special vocal workshop the following week.

If you’ve recently been a guest at one of our events and would like to enjoy the benefits of becoming a member then please get in touch via info@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk. With our special reduced six-month rate, this is the perfect time to join.

See you at a meeting soon!

Club newsletter – March 2021

/in /by

Some big news this month, so let’s get straight on with it…

What’s in this newsletter?

  • OPEN HOUSE – come and see what we’re all about
  • Contest news – Bloomsbury Speakers does the double!
  • Pre-registration open for District 91 conference
  • Next meetings
  • And finally…

OPEN HOUSE – come and see what we’re all about

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’ve visited us before, or signed up to our mailing list, but it may have been quite a while since you’ve even thought about improving your public speaking skills. Luckily, the perfect time to find out how Bloomsbury Speakers can help you do so is just around the corner!

Join us on Monday, 22nd March for this free online OPEN HOUSE event where you’ll find out exactly how joining a club like Bloomsbury Speakers can help you build your confidence and achieve your public speaking and leadership goals. Our experienced members will be on hand to answer any questions you have. Just follow the link below to find out all about the event.

CLICK HERE to book now!

Contest news – Bloomsbury Speakers does the double!

On 8th February we held the club round of this year’s International Speech and Evaluation contests which were won by our members Matt and Margarita respectively. They both went on to compete at the Area C2 contest against other club champions from Holborn Speakers and Lloyds Banking Group – and both our contestants won again!

We’re incredibly proud of them both and will be supporting them in the next round at the Division C final on Wednesday, 24th March.

CLICK HERE to book your attendance at the Division C final

Meanwhile, our member Yassine won BOTH the International Speech and Evaluation contests himself at his second club Experience French Toastmasters and will be competing this Thursday, 4th March at the Area L16 contest. If you’d like to watch the contest, you can join using the following link before 7pm on the day.

Zoom link to join Area L16 contest from 6:45pm on Thursday, 4th March

Pre-registration open for District 91 conference

The annual District conference is a major event in the Toastmasters calendar, playing host to four contest finals and an abundance of educational workshops on public speaking and leadership. This year’s conference is over the weekend of 1st-2nd May where our member Matt is already through to the Table Topics (impromptu speaking) contest final – and perhaps he and Margarita will also be competing in the International Speech and Evaluation contests there too, if they get through the prior round!

Pre-registration is now open, so join the conference mailing list for early-bird offers.

Next meetings

Our March meetings are on the 8th, 22nd and 29th – with the 22nd being our special OPEN HOUSE event for people who would like to learn more about the club. All our meetings will remain online via Zoom until further notice.

Please book your attendance on Eventbrite or Meetup.

And finally…

If you’re a member of Toastmasters International who renewed their membership between September and December last year, make sure you claim your FREE Pathway before the offer runs out this month!

Everyone gets one free educational Pathway to follow when they first join Toastmasters, but then have to pay for the second one, which is needed if working towards the Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) award – the highest level of educational achievement in Toastmasters. However, if you renewed your membership towards the end of 2020 then you can claim that second Pathway absolutely free!

This was a gesture made by Toastmasters International to thank members during a very difficult year for all. See the Frequently Asked Questions page on the Toastmasters International website for full details.