Club newsletter – April 2021

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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!

Winter Newsletter – December 2018

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Hello and welcome to the winter 2018 newsletter!

We had our last meeting of 2018 this week, but we have one more evening get-together up our sleeve – join us for an informal social from 6:30pm next Monday, 17th December. We’ll be at our old haunt The Clerk & Well, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU which has some great Thai food. See you there!

It’s been an eventful few months for the club – not only did we move to our new venue The City Pride (arguably some way outside Bloomsbury itself), but our members had great success in the autumn Humorous Speech and Table Topics contests. Keep reading to find out what happened.

Moving with the times, we’ve also created a members-only WhatsApp group to share news of club events, including socials and last-minute roles that need filling at our meetings. It’s proven to be quite effective so far and we welcome feedback.

What’s in this newsletter?

  • Autumn contests – the results!
  • Spring contests – looking ahead
  • Club socials
  • Mentoring
  • New members

Autumn contests – the results!

Margarita was our double champion in the club’s Humorous Speech and Table Topics contests and, after winning again at the area contests, she took her speech about an embarrassing addiction to reality TV all the way to the Division C finals!

Margarita after winning both contests at the Area level

Meanwhile, Helen also qualified through her corporate club at Google – again in both contests – to make it to the same finals as Margarita with a speech about her family heritage, telling us where she was really from.

Helen at the Division contest

The two of them did us proud – Margarita placed third in the Humorous Speech contest while Helen placed second in both the Humorous Speech and Table Topics contests – and both members were robbed of a higher placing in this author’s humble opinion!

Spring contests – looking ahead

They’re still a few months away, but it’s never too early to start thinking about the annual International Speech and Evaluation contests. The Evaluation contest requires all contestants to evaluate one speech given by a mystery speaker – this really pushes your critical thinking and evaluation skills to the limit, as you’ll have much less time to prepare than you do in a regular meeting (just 5 minutes), but it’s a great experience.

Meanwhile, the prestigious International Speech contest involves writing and delivering your own 5-7 minute speech on any subject, with the eventual winner being crowned World Champion of Public Speaking.

To be eligible for the International Speech contest, you need to have completed at least six speech projects from the Competent Communication manual or a minimum of two levels in a Toastmasters Pathway. All members are eligible to enter the evaluation contest.

Both contests will be held on the same night in March, so get preparing and practising!

Club socials

As mentioned above, we have one last informal meetup planned for next Monday, 17th December at The Clerk & Well – but regardless, it’s been another busy quarter for club socials at Bloomsbury Speakers.

In November we had a fun night of Scottish folk dancing at a ceilidh event in Camden, and last week we took an early leap on to the Christmas bandwagon with our festive meal – held jointly with our friends from Kings Cross Speakers. Much merriment was had by all!

We’re always happy to receive ideas for more social events, so do get in touch via socials@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk or the WhatsApp group with any suggestions you might have.

Mentoring

As members of Bloomsbury Speakers, many of us have benefitted from having a mentor within the club. A mentor is someone (usually a more experienced member of the club) who can give help and advice to guide you on your Toastmasters educational path. This can involve helping you draft your first speech, watching you practice and giving you immediate feedback or advising you how to prepare for functionary roles at club meetings.

If you’d like to become a mentor or benefit from having on yourself, feel free to get in touch via mentoring@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk.

Code of Conduct

Our club Code of Conduct has now been finalised – these are the basic rules we expect all our members and guests to follow to make Bloomsbury Speakers as friendly and supportive as possible.

  • I will applaud every speaker
  • I will listen to every speaker
  • I will provide honest and constructive feedback to speakers when asked to do so
  • I will help keep the meeting space tidy
  • I will keep my phone on silent and otherwise avoid disrupting the meeting
  • I will not pressure anyone to speak who does not want to speak
  • I will not discriminate against anyone on the basis of their age, race, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, or ability
  • I will not cause discomfort to any guest or member, and I will step in if I see this happening to anyone else
  • I will help to make Bloomsbury Speakers an inclusive and nurturing club

New members

Finally, please welcome our newest members Gabriele and Yassine as well as returning member Aislinn – she couldn’t stay away forever! Be sure to say hello to all three at a future meeting.

That’s all for this newsletter – see you at a meeting soon!

7 Top Tips for Preparing to Present

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At Toastmasters we do a lot on what to do on stage, and how to write compelling speech content, but not always what to do in the days, hours and mins before – here are my 7 top tips for mentally and physically preparing for a presentation.

Part of a course I’m developing to help people overcome fear of public speaking – the other parts focus on:

  • Strategies from NLP & CBT we can use for dealing with a fight or flight response on stage
  • Speaking techniques around body language, voice and content

 

  1. Mentally rehearse your presentation going amazingly well
  • Brain can’t distinguish between real & imagined events e.g. dream you got it on with your boss
  • Sports athletes show same improvement if imagine OR practice
  • Mental rehearsal is like telling your brain how to behave

 

  1. Power dress – what you wear affects your emotional state and cognitive abilities
  • Study done in 2012: doctor’s lab coat thought more clearly and had better sustained attention than those who didn’t
  • Smart, professional
  • Layers
  • Avoid light coloured shirts that show sweat patches!
  • Comfortable shoes – don’t wear heels that make you look unstable

 

  1. Watch what you drink
  • Avoid caffeine – increases cortisal, is a diuretic
  • Avoid fizzy drinks – already swallow air when we’re nervous, don’t need to be more gassy!
  • Drink water – improves focus, rehydrates you

 

  1. Arrive early to check out the room
  • ‘Normalise’ standing at the front
  • Check through your ppt
  • Get used to speaking with mic – swap if need
  • Also gives you a chance to meet & greet audience – get in show mode/friendly faces in crowd

 

  1. Burn off some adrenaline by exercising lightly before stage
  • Brisk walk, sink and stretch exercise

 

  1. Do a power pose 5 minutes before speaking
  • Power pose = open and expansive like when animals feel powerful they spread out
  • Study by Amy Cuddy – increase in Testosterone and decrease in cortisol
  • Smile – releases serotonin and dopamine. Can even use a pen to fake smile

 

  1. Breathe from your stomach
  • Diaphramagtic breathing – stomach fully deflates on outbreath

I hope you’ll find that useful – In my experience these things really make a difference to your performance and even more crucially, how you feel about your experience – which is so important for creating positive experiences.

Meeting Report for 8 April 2013

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April 8th

Introductions

Club President Femi opened the meeting by explaining the background of Toastmasters. His tip for the evening’s participants was to smile as it helps a speaker to connect to the audience. To encourage us he claimed that research had shown that smiling can give more pleasure than sex!

Femi then handed over to the evening’s Toastmaster Hari, who explained the format of the evening. Noting the death earlier that day of Baroness Thatcher he said her quote ‘Hard work will get you to the top’  also held true of Toastmasters.  His theme for the meeting was a question – What would 2013 be the year of? – and he used this to introduce each participant.

Marcin, the Timekeeper for the evening, stressed the importance of speakers not going over their allotted time and explained how the lights would provide signals for all the speakers.

Chris was the evening’s Grammarian and he stated that he would be looking out for examples of interesting language throughout the meeting. Chris also referenced Margaret Thatcher in his word of the day which was ‘unflinching’.

Prepared Speeches

In his icebreaker speech ‘Nostos’ Tasos explained that the speech title was a Greek word which meant ‘returning home after a long period away’. He noted that he would like one day to return to his home country of Greece and related several tales of his early life growing up there. His anecdotes included reference to his love of sports and his inability to sing.

In an informative No. 2 speech entitled “Top of the Class” Rajeev described his first (3rd class) train journey in Sri Lanka before giving us a history of the British class system and outlining the new 7 class system and what class means today. He ended by saying that it doesn’t matter which class you are in as you travel through life as the most important thing is to enjoy the journey!

Next up was Mike who explained in his No. 2 speech ‘The Sound of Silence’ how much time he is spending in libraries as he is studying for a PHD and how many different distractions other library users create. He gave advice on dealing with everything from mobile phones to nail polish smells and comcluded that classical music at a low volume will drown out other noises but not distract your attention from your work (although he didn’t have a solution for the nail polish aroma!)

The final speaker was Eugenia who gave us a No. 4 speech entitled ‘I run out of inspiration’. The subject of this very helpful speech was the difficulty of finding ideas for speech topics. Her suggestions were i) take a step back and look at what is around you, ii) change that object and take it to the extreme eg if you are looking at a lighter your topic could be a very large light such as the sun or a very small object such as light bugs. Thinking about the extremes of big and small, slow and fast, heavy and light allows you to collect potential topics for speeches.

Evaluations

After the break each of the speakers was given a spoken evaluation by a fellow club member.

Kate evaluated Tasos’ icebreaker speech and commended his relaxed calm manner and confidence to move around the stage. She recommended that he try to speak a little longer next time and also work on spreading his eye contact evenly around the room.

Barnaby evaluated Rajeev’s speech and praised the opening and conclusion which were both linked to a train journey. He also like the clear structure and the interaction with the audience. He recommended trying to make the transitions between sections smoother.

Bronia reviewed Mike’s speech about library distractions. She commended his simple but effective language and the images he painted by referring to each of the five senses. She noted a few umms and aahs at the beginning and also noted that his smile only appeared towards the end of the speech so recommended smiling throughout.

Elena evaluated Eugenia’s No. 4 speech. She enjoyed the vocal variety Eugenia displayed with changes in volume and pace and also commended the structure and language. Elena thought that more movement around the stage would have added more impact and made the speech more entertaining.

Table Topics

The Table Topicsmaster, Ahmed, had a mixed theme and asked six questions around moving home, travel and holidays with both members and guests giving impromptu answers.

Awards

Closing the meeting Femi handed out the awards based on votes from the audience:

  • Best Table Topic was won by Ben
  • Best Evaluator award went to Bronia
  • Best Speaker was won by Rajeev

Tasos received an ice breaker ribbon to commemorate his first speech and the President’s discretionary award went to the evening’s Timekeeper Marcin. Toastmaster Hari was also presented with the Advanced Leader Bronze Award which he has recently achieved.

Next meeting

Our next meeting is on Monday 15th April upstairs at The Clerk & Well, 156 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6.30pm for a prompt 6.45pm start.

Interview with Humorous Speech Contest Finalist

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On 16th October 2010, Glen Long from Bloomsbury Speakers achieved an outstanding result in the London-wide 2010 Humorous Speech and Table Topics contest, coming second (out of seven) in both categories.

Congratulations on coming second in the contest, Glen!

Thanks Alex!

Where did you get the inspiration for your ‘Three Little Pigs’ story?

I can’t remember the exact inspiration but in general I do like the idea of putting a new or modern twist on a well-known character or story. You get a lot of context “for free” because people are already familiar with the basic setup and when it comes to writing the speech you’re not starting from nothing, you’ve got the original story for inspiration.

Run me through what your thoughts and feelings were in the moments before, during and after your humorous speech.

Well, I was the very last speaker so I had plenty of time to get nervous watching all the other speakers!

It might sound a bit strange but I actually relaxed a bit after I heard Adolfo Tunon’s speech (the ultimate winner). It was a very physical speech (about combining his passion for Toastmasters with his passion for running) which went down deservedly well with the audience and I remember thinking to myself: “however well my speech goes, I would be very happy to be beaten by that guy”.

When I was actually up on stage, I was quite nervous but it was also a real buzz. When I finished, I thought that it had gone down quite well, but I had a niggling feeling I’d left something out of the speech. When I sat back down and worked out what it was, I was quite annoyed with myself. But I don’t think most of the audience noticed.

You certainly deserved to do well. How can I be as funny as you?

Wow – how do I answer that? I think being funny is partly about having a brain that naturally works a certain way – looking for unusual angles and connections – but also just about spending time to explore a topic for comic possibilities.

I would say it’s also definitely worth running ideas or early drafts past friends and family, because what you find funny might not always work for other people.

You also came second in the Table Topics contest and you spoke on the unrehearsed topic of “Big Society”. What was going through your mind?

I was still on a bit of a high from the prepared speech contest and frankly eager to get back in front of the audience (it’s dangerously addictive!)

When I was walking up to the stage and the topic of “Big Society” was announced, the very first thought I had was of a literally big society – i.e. one with an obesity problem, and I thought I could probably get some comic mileage out of that.

I find Table Topics the most challenging part of Toastmasters because you have to think on the spot. How did you make it look so easy?

I would say just try to make a very clear decision about how you’re going to tackle the topic before you start to speak.

Don’t get too caught up in trying to come up with something clever or unusual because you only have a few seconds to think. Just go with the most obvious idea that comes into your head and commit to it.

Yes it’s true, some people can just start talking, discover a genius idea along the way and then tie it all together at the end, but most of us aren’t that lucky.

And don’t worry about being too obvious. What’s obvious to you isn’t always obvious to everyone else, so it’ll still seem fresh and interesting.

Will we be seeing you at next year’s contest?

I hope so! I’m hooked now and I’ll definitely be putting some thought into a speech for next year’s competition.

My friend is thinking of joining Toastmasters but finds the notion of speaking in front of others terrifying! Any words of advice?

Join! Your friend is exactly the sort of person that would benefit most from joining Toastmasters (and particularly from joining a very friendly, relaxed club like Bloomsbury Speakers!)

He or she will quickly overcome those nerves in a safe, supportive environment, speaking in front of people who probably felt the same way not so long ago. In my relatively short time at Toastmasters I have seen people make amazing progress with their speaking and have a lot of fun along the way.

Within a few weeks of joining Toastmasters, I guarantee that your friend will look back upon their previous terror of public speaking, and wonder what all the fuss was about!

(Interview by Alex Donald)