Club newsletter – February 2021

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This time last year, we were still meeting as normal at The Rugby Tavern. Twelve months later, it’s contest season once again and our first online International Speech and Evaluation contest night is this Monday, 8th February. As always, it promises to be an evening of high quality speakers fighting it out for a place in the next round, so book your ticket on Eventbrite or Meetup.

What’s in this newsletter?

  • Contest night – Monday, 8th February
  • Dates for your diary
  • Surprise social!
  • Next meetings
  • And finally…

Contest night – Monday, 8th February

It’s shaping up to be an exciting night on Monday with at least three competitors in each of the International Speech and Evaluation contests – and it’s not too late for members to enter.

The Evaluation contest is open to all paid members of the club and involves each contestant giving their own 2-3 minute evaluation of the same speech.

The International Speech contest, where contestants give a 5-7 minute prepared speech on any subject, is open to paid members who have completed the first two levels in their chosen Pathways educational path (or at least six speeches in the legacy programme).

The winners of each contest will go on to represent Bloomsbury Speakers in the next round against the champions of the other clubs in our area of London, with the International Speech contest eventually culminating in the overall winner being crowned World Champion of Public Speaking. No mean feat!

If you want to see the quality of speaker they (or you!) may be up against on the international stage, check out last year’s World Championship of Public Speaking on YouTube:

Dates for your diary

The winners of our contests on Monday will go through to represent the club at the Area C2 final on Wednesday, 24th February, so please save the date and go along to show your support.

The Division C (central London) final will be four weeks later on Wednesday, 24th March, hopefully with Bloomsbury Speakers representation as we’ve regularly had in previous years!

Registration details to follow.

In the meantime, why not seize the opportunity to visit the plethora of Toastmasters meetings taking place around the world online? tmclub.eu lists meetings of clubs in mainland Europe while easy-speak.org is for the rest of the world and, of course, toastmasterclub.org is for the UK and Ireland.

Surprise social!

With the ongoing lockdown, it’s important to keep in touch with others and, on Friday, we wished a happy birth-week to our club president Yamina and former member (and good friend of the club) Stella. Our immediate past president Margarita used all her cunning to lure the two unknowing VIPs to a surprise Zoom social with their fellow Toastmasters!

Everyone sang along to Swarajit playing “Happy Birthday to You” on the piano, and Yassine later provided musical entertainment on the guitar as he has done in previous socials.

Next meetings

We’re staying online for now, with our February meetings taking place on the 8th and 22nd and continuing as usual on the second and fourth Mondays of each month going forward.

Please book your attendance on Eventbrite or Meetup and we’ll see you at Monday’s contest!

And finally…

One of our much-loved former members Svetlana Rakhimova is featured in this month’s Toastmaster magazine (which is included with membership of Toastmasters International).

After moving away from London a few years ago, Svetlana (left) founded two online Toastmasters clubs – long before coronavirus made it trendy! – and has since achieved the highest award of Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM).

You can read Svetlana’s thoughts about online mentoring relationships in this article.

Club newsletter – January 2021

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January is when we set our new goals for the year ahead, and improving our public speaking and leadership skills should be on everyone’s list. Unfortunately, one of the main reasons our resolutions fail so quickly is procrastination – so don’t hesitate!

If you’re a guest, book your attendance at our first meeting of the year (next Monday) on Eventbrite or Meetup and get 2021 off to a new, exciting start with Bloomsbury Speakers. If you’re already a member, book your first speech or role of the year on ToastmasterClub.org.

We’re really looking forward to welcoming lots of new and familiar faces to the club this month.

What’s in this newsletter?

  • International Speech and Evaluation contests – Monday, 8th February
  • Puzzled by Pathways?
  • Club social
  • Next meetings
  • And finally…

International Speech and Evaluation contests – Monday, 8th February

Spring contest season is arriving early again this year. On Monday, 8th February we’ll be holding our club round of the annual International Speech and Evaluation contests.

The Evaluation contest is open to all paid members of the club and involves each contestant giving their own 2-3 minute evaluation of the same speech.

The prestigious International Speech contest, where contestants give a 5-7 minute prepared speech on any subject, is open to paid members who have completed the first two levels in their chosen Pathways educational path (or at least six speeches in the legacy programme).

Will last year’s winners, Mara and Helen, retain their crowns? Or do you have what it takes to dethrone them? It’s only five weeks away, so sign up on ToastmasterClub.org to book your place now!

The winners of each contest will go on to represent Bloomsbury Speakers in the next round against the champions of the other clubs in our area of London – with the International Speech contest eventually culminating in the overall winner being crowned World Champion of Public Speaking.

For inspiration, why not check out the recording of last year’s World Champion, Mike Carr, on the international virtual stage?

The whole of last year’s final is also available to watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9edim8P4TnY.

Puzzled by Pathways?

In last month’s newsletter, we reminded you that Level 1 in our Pathways educational programme is always the same for every path, so any of your fellow club members, including your mentor, can advise you on how to complete it.

Level 2 involves completing three projects – the first two depend on which path you’re working on, but the third one is the same for everyone and is called Introduction to Toastmasters Mentoring. This project covers the qualities of a successful mentoring relationship and requires you to give a speech reflecting on a time you were mentored by someone else.

Click here to download and review the content of the project.

Once you’ve completed Level 2 of your path (which is required to compete in the International Speech Contest) Pathways also contains a mentoring programme in which you can become a mentor yourself, which is an excellent development opportunity.

Club social

Despite the continuing lockdown, we had an amazing Christmas social online with lots of interactive games hosted by Margarita and musical performances from Atul, Swarajit and Yassine! We hope to have more in the year ahead, whether they are online or face-to-face.

Our president Yamina also announced the winner of the Member of the Year award which was shared between Matt, Swarajit and Yassine. Congratulations!

Next meetings

We will continue meeting online until further notice, on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. Our January meetings are on the 11th and 25th, and our first meeting in February will be our contest night on the 8th. Please book your attendance on Eventbrite or Meetup.

And finally…

We’re pleased to welcome our newest member Peter H to the club along with returning member Elena – we can’t wait to hear their first speeches in the Pathways programme.

See you at next Monday’s meeting!

Club newsletter – December 2020

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Just a quick one this month, as we’ve already had our last proper meeting of the year, but there’s one more event to come – keep reading to find out more.

What’s in this newsletter?

  • Online Christmas social – including Member of the Year award!
  • Confidence workshop available on demand
  • Holborn Speakers’ 20th Anniversary
  • Puzzled by Pathways?
  • Next meetings
  • And finally…

Online Christmas social – including Member of the Year award!

Although we’ve had our last meeting of the year, we’re still having one more get-together next Monday, 14th December on Zoom.

Join us from 6:45pm for games, festive table topics and musical performances, plus our inaugural Member of the Year award! Please send your nominations to our president Yamina, either directly on WhatsApp or by e-mail via president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk.

Confidence workshop available on demand

We had an amazing workshop night last month, including a session on Confidence for Speaking and Life from wellbeing guru and TEDx speaker Hari Kalyminios.

If you weren’t able to make it or would just like to benefit from watching it again, you can do so here:

https://www.bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk/2020/11/confidence-for-speaking-and-life/

Holborn Speakers’ 20th Anniversary

As you may know, Bloomsbury Speakers was formed 11 years ago as an offshoot of Holborn Speakers, who will be celebrating their 20th anniversary this Tuesday, 8th December. Our clubs have supported each other greatly over the years, so do join them in marking this major milestone. Follow the link below for all the details.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/holborn-speakers-online-20th-anniversary-celebration-open-house-tickets-129714013105

Puzzled by Pathways?

With a break for Christmas before our next full meeting, why not use the time to re-familiarise yourself with the Pathways programme and start planning your next speeches? As explained in our October newsletter, every path starts with the same three projects in Level 1. The projects in Level 2 onwards depend on the path you’ve chosen.

This handy Pathways Reference Guide, produced by Toastmasters in Australia, contains a useful reference table (starting on page 6) showing all of the required and elective projects in all currently available paths.

If you need any help understanding how to progress in your path, please do get in touch. And if you’re not yet a member, do come along to our next meeting and see how these projects are delivered in practice.

Next meetings

Start planning for 2021 now! Our next meetings are on the 11th and 25th of January and we will continue to meet online for the time being. You can sign up on our Eventbrite or Meetup pages to receive reminders and login details nearer the time.

And finally…

As mentioned in last month’s newsletter, our member Matt achieved the brilliant feat of winning the Division C Table Topics speech contest.

If you weren’t there on the day, you can see his winning impromptu speech right here.

Matt will compete in the District 91 (UK South) final in May next year.

Speak with confidence

Confidence for speaking and life

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What effects your emotional state?

On 9th November Hari Kalymnios, an ex TEDx speaker and well known coach in resilience, health and well being, public speaking and confidence speaking delivered a 45 minutes workshop for Bloomsbury Speakers on becoming a confident public speaker online and in any situation.

This was an informative and a highly interactive workshop where Hari shared his three main ideas which you could apply at any event, meeting or speech to gain greater confidence and help you to change your perspective dealing with difficult, challenging situations.

While this was a one-off event, we want many more people to benefit from principles Hari shared with us. The workshop is now available for you to watch On Demand for the next 30 days.

Visit the link below and enjoy the workshop.

Watch video

 Hari Kalymnios’s website

Club newsletter – November 2020

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The big news this month is our free workshop night which we’ll be running on Monday, 9th November on Zoom with two amazing speakers – keep reading to find out more!

What’s in this newsletter?

  • Workshop night – Public Speaking with Confidence Online
  • Claim your free Pathway
  • Contest news
  • Our members’ experiences
  • Next meetings

Workshop night – Public Speaking with Confidence Online

This is one night you really want to be in front of your computer! Join us from 6:30pm on Monday, 9th November for a special free event with two exceptional speakers delivering workshops on confidence and public speaking in an online world.

In the first workshop, former Bloomsbury Speakers member and wellbeing expert Hari Kalymnios will be sharing the principles you need to be more confident in your public speaking, or indeed any situation where it’s needed.

Then, in the second part of the event, trained actor and communication skills coach Richard Fallon will show you how to keep your audience’s attention when speaking and avoid the dreaded death by Zoom that can be so common these days.

There are only a few tickets remaining so, if you find we’ve sold out, please join the waiting list and we’ll release any returns we have, if and when we get them.

Click here to book your free ticket.

Claim your free Pathway

It’s been a tough year for organisations of all kinds – including Toastmasters clubs, which are run not-for-profit and rely on their membership fees to cover costs and keep their meetings going. As a token of appreciation for members who renew their membership for the current period, Toastmasters International is giving all existing members a free additional Pathway.

Everyone gets a 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.

By simply renewing your membership for the current period, you will now receive your choice of second Pathway absolutely free! See the Frequently Asked Questions page on the Toastmasters International website for full details. Just make sure you renew your membership with Bloomsbury Speakers by the end of the year and claim your free Pathway by 31st March 2021 (and don’t forget, our membership fees are lower for everyone at the moment, so you make an even bigger saving).

If you haven’t started Pathways yet, why not have a look at the projects in Level 1 as covered in last month’s newsletter?

Contest news

After placing first in the Area contest last month, our member Matt did it again by winning the Division C final of the Table Topics speech contest!

If you don’t know what a Table Topic is, it’s where you’re given an arbitrary topic and asked to give a 1-2 minute speech on it straight away. Needless to say, it can be challenging (which is why we practise them all the time at our club meetings), and doing it in a contest takes that to another level.

Giving a brilliantly structured on-the-spot response to a question about which other person he’d like to be for a year, Matt wowed the judges and beat some stiff competition to take the title.

Matt is now through to the grand (District) final of the contest which, unfortunately, won’t be held until May next year – don’t worry, we’ll remind you nearer the time!

Our members’ experiences

Check out this short new video from some of our members telling us why they joined Bloomsbury Speakers and what they really think makes a great public speaker.

If you can’t see the video above, please view it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xmLdRY22eVw.

Next meetings

As well as our special workshop night on 9th November, we also have one last regular meeting for the year on 23rd November from 6:30pm on Zoom.

After that, we’re planning an informal online social on 14th December to see the year out.

See you online soon!!!