May Newsletter – Division Awards, New Committee and Special Discounts

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Hello and welcome to the May newsletter!

Believe it or not but next month will be my last as president! How time flies and what a busy and fruitful year we’ve had!

When I took over as president we were meeting twice a month with the occasional extra meeting. Now we meet virtually every week to accommodate our record membership, which has soared from 30 to some 50 members in the past year!

Even as I write we have just admitted five brand new members whom I’d like to cordially welcome: David, Helen, Marte, Peter and Rufina. Welcome to the Bloomsbury Speakers family; it’s a pleasure to have you in our midst. I look forward to seeing more of you in the club.

Already I can see Rufina getting stuck in, with her first speech and first timekeeper role booked. Way to go!

Given that we are now at over 50 members in the club, we have decided to freeze membership until the autumn. However, we continue to welcome guests and for those who would like to join, please visit one of our meetings and let us know you are interested.

Now onto the details of this month’s issue. If you are pressed for time you may scroll down to the bottom for the key facts you really need to know.

Please note: this month our VPE Swarajit is acting as guest editor for the newsletter – so many thanks to him for stepping up to take on this role!

What’s happened since the last newsletter?

Regular meetings – We had two great regular meetings in April, complete with fascinating speeches from Rajeev, Michael, Eugenia, Christopher, Hari and Femi. These meetings also featured two of our newest members, Tasos and Sinead delivering their icebreaker speeches. Congratulations to them!

Bloomsbury ‘Speak-athon’ – Our third meeting in April was a special evening (with an experimental format) during which we had seven prepared speeches, with evaluations and two rounds of voting for each! We heard some fascinating and well-constructed speeches from Gemma, Baranby, Damien, Bronia, Eugenia, Paula and Joe, but special thanks goes out to our functionaries for the evening: Ben, Janet, Henry, Glen, Rajeev, Ahmed, Renars, Elena and Nazia, without whom the evening could not have run as well as it did.

The main reason for holding this event was to allow more of our members to get through their speech projects, and we hope to hold more of them going forward. In any case, we would welcome feedback from members and guests of Bloomsbury Speakers on whether you think the format was effective and worthwhile. Contact president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk with your comments.

Table Topics Workshop – With an extra Monday in April, The Real Man Pizza Company played host to an evening of impromptu speaking, run Carrie. Members and guests were given ample opportunity to practice table topics with feedback provided by other experienced Toastmasters. We are grateful to Carrie for leading this session, which was well received by members and guests alike.

Area 34 and Division L contests – After winning our club contests with some style, Janet and Femi respectively went on to represent Bloomsbury Speakers at the Area 34 International Speech and Evaluation contests. Femi won the Evaluation contest at this level, while Janet’s speech about her experiences of being a single mother placed a very respectable second, meaning that they both progressed to the next round at division level.

With the standard at the Division L contest being exceptionally high, this was sadly where it ended but Janet and Femi can be very proud of themselves having progressed as far as they did. It was an exceptional achievement, so well done to both of them!

Club Awards – Bloomsbury Speakers didn’t go totally unrecognised however, being awarded not one or two but three prizes at the Division L contest night.

The first, the Club Officer Training award, was in recognition of our commitment to the development of our leadership team by sending all seven of our committee members to Club Officer Training in September and in January.

The second award was the Toastmasters Online Presence (TOP) award, recognising the high standard of our online marketing strategy – starting with the very website this newsletter is published on, along with excellence in our use of social media and communications – singling us out as an example for other clubs to follow.

Third, because we signed up five new members to your membership base between February 1 and March 31 we received a special “Talk up Toastmasters!” award in April from Toastmasters International.

Non-returning members – I’m sad to say that Chris (our acting Sergeant at Arms) has left the club to focus on other goals. Chris’ departure is a big loss to us not just on the committee but to the club. Personally, I will miss Chris’ cheerful spirit and witty speeches, and I’d like to thank him for the numerous times he helped us to set up the meeting venue.

Punam is also taking some time away from Toastmasters. In the little time Punam was with us, I found her to be a very conscientious and articulate speaker. We will miss her and I hope to see her back in the not-too-distant future.

What’s happening this month?

With May ‘bookended’ by bank holidays, we only have time for two regular meetings this month.

  • Monday, 13th May – This first meeting already has a packed agenda, but members can still pre-book into one of the topics slots. The topics section will be headed up by last month’s workshop leader Carrie.
  • Monday, 20th May – Another busy programme, with prepared speeches from experienced members Ahmed and Renars, but again there are topics slots up for grabs.

New committee – call for interested parties

With three of the seven committee positions filled, we are making progress in having the new Bloomsbury Speakers committee in place by the time the next Toastmaster year starts in July. (The new committee will take over from July but we will be handing over during June.)

Therefore if you are thinking of joining the committee, the posts listed below are still vacant. Please approach the current post holder or myself to give you more details about these roles between now and June.

Moreover, let us know if you’re interested in getting involved in some way but not necessarily as a full committee member. Perhaps you want to assist in setting up the meeting room from time to time or printing the meeting agenda and bringing them to the meeting. Maybe you are interested in being a mentor, or occasionally writing the meeting reports and/or developing our Facebook page. Or if it’s organising a club social or even supporting anyone of the committee officers, just reply to this email or come and talk to me or one of the other committee members. (Swarajit, Jo, Joe, Elena and Glen)

Note that some of these activities can credit towards your Competent Leadership award. See below for details of an extra incentive for achieving this award sooner rather than later!

Here are the available roles and who to contact:

  • Elena Fanaberova – Treasurer – responsible for controlling the club finances to ensure stability and continuity for all members
  • Jo Higham – Secretary – responsible for club administration, particularly with regards to committee meetings and decision making
  • Glen Long – VP Public Relations – responsible for raising the club profile and attracting new guests, e.g. via website and mailing list (more details here)
  • Femi Asaolu – Sergeant at Arms (Acting) – responsible for co-ordinating the room set-up before and after each meeting. The SAA also has a regular slot giving guest introductions (unless taking on another role).

Discounted Renewal Rates

As an incentive for members to complete their Competent Communication and Competent Leadership manuals, we have decided to offer discounted rates for annual membership renewals to members who have achieved one or both of these awards.

Hence, if you have achieved one of the awards you are entitled to a £15 discount from the £85 renewal rate and if you have achieved both then you are entitled to a £30 discount, bringing your renewal down to just £55 for the year!

To be eligible for this: a) your awards need to have been registered through Bloomsbury Speakers, but members who achieved their awards with other clubs are still entitled to the discounts as long as they have previously been a member of Bloomsbury Speakers for at least one year at the full rate; and b) the discount is only available for those renewing for a year NOT for 6 months.

Right, that’s all for now. See you at a meeting soon.

Best wishes,

Femi Asaolu
President
Bloomsbury Speakers

Key facts – just the stuff you really need to know

  • Contest Success – Janet and Femi proudly represented the club at the Division International Speech and Evaluation contest having triumphed at both club and area level
  • Division Awards – Bloomsbury Speakers has been recognised by the Division for the best online presence (website, etc.), for high levels of new members and for its commitment to training.
  • Meetings this month – There are two meetings in May – Monday 13th and Monday 20th – table topics slots are still available for both.
  • Join The Committee – There is still an opportunity to join the club’s committee for the new Toastmasters year (starting in July) and help run this thriving club.
  • Membership Discounts – We are introducing a scheme to give a discount on club renewal fees for members who successfully achieve their Competent Communicator and/or Competent Leadership awards – up to £30 can be saved!

April Newsletter – Contest News, Meet the Members and Supporting Your Club

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Hello and welcome to the April newsletter!

My fellow Toastmasters, you inspire me!

Since the beginning of this year, we have been encouraging you to develop your confidence and speaking skills through regular practice, and to stretch yourself by entering the International Speech and Evaluation contests.

Not only have you embraced this idea of growth – which is seen in the way many of you have been active in the club and how many of you entered the contests including some very new members – but you have also been supportive of the club’s successful running.

In this issue, I bring you, among other things, news on:

  • how you can continue to develop your speaking skills;
  • our club contests (together with how you can support the winners);
  • how Toastmasters has had a positive impact on Mike – our latest competent communicator; and
  • the various ways you can get involved in supporting and running Bloomsbury Speakers

However if you don’t have time to read the whole newsletter, I’m going to lead with the key points you really need to know this month.

But I’d be well chuffed if you read the whole piece. Plus see whether you get a mention.

 Key facts – just the stuff you really need to know

  • Area Contests – Please come along to support our club contest winners, Janet (speech) and Femi (evaluation), at the area-level round of the International Speech and Evaluation Contests which take place on Thursday, 11th April from 6:30pm at Tube Talk, London Underground, 55 Broadway, London SW1H 0BD (above St. James’s Park tube station). Free registration via http://www.eventbrite.com/event/6183915257 is essential to attend!
  • Our regular meetings in April are on Monday 8th and Monday 15th. 
  • Bloomsbury Speak-athon – On Monday 22nd April, this special meeting will feature only prepared speeches and evaluations.
  • At the time of this newsletter, the speech slots are already filled in these three meetings but there are still functionary roles available – and remember you need to perform at least one functionary role between prepared speeches.
  • Table Topics Workshop – this workshop which takes place on Monday, 29th April will help you to hone your impromptu speaking skills by providing helpful tips and lots of opportunities to practice in a super-friendly environment. Places will be limited, so if you want to attend, please email Femi at president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk.
  • Fancy joining the committee? We are looking for new people to join the committee – the group of members who are responsible for running the club – in the summer. If you are interested, please come and speak to myself or any of the current club officers.
  • Read ‘Meet the Members – Your responses’  email (from Joe, our Vice President Membership) which was sent to members on Sunday 7th April, to discover how diverse our membership is, and to know a little bit more about your fellow members.

What’s happened since the last newsletter?

Regular meetings – We had three great regular meetings in March, complete with fascinating speeches from Renars, Barnaby, Michael, Elena, Ahmed, Hari, Adam, Carrie and myself. These meetings also featured a number of our newest members delivering their icebreaker speeches. I’m thinking of Ben, Marcin and James here. Well done guys!

I was also fascinated with Ayla, our 6-year-old special guest Madam Toastmaster, who brilliantly co-hosted the second meeting in March with her mum, Janet.

Bloomsbury Contests – Then there were the contests meeting at the end of March – the club round of the International Speech and Evaluation contests!

Quite a number of people took part which I find striking; we had five speech contestants and seven evaluators three of whom were new members, namely Jowoon, Gemma and Rajeev! You can read all about it in the official contest report.

Lastly, I’d like to thank everyone who helped out especially Elena and Swarajit.

Icebreaker Awards – Ben, James and Marcin delivered their first prepared speeches from the competent communication manual and thereby received the ice–breaker award.

Competent Communicator award – Michael Abrey-Bugg is our latest member to achieve the competent communicator award.  To achieve this status, Michael had to prepare and deliver 10 speeches based on projects/objectives from the competent communication manual. He achieved the status on 23rd March at Purley Speakers where he delivered a longer rendition of the speech he gave during our speech contests on 25th March. See our official contest report for more about his speech.

Advanced Leader Bronze Award – Congratulations to Hari who achieved this very distinguished award in March. It means that in addition to achieving his Competent Communicator and the Competent Leader awards, Hari has also served as a club officer for at least six months (when he was Vice President Membership on the committee). He has participated in a district-sponsored club officer training program and conducted two presentations from The Successful Club Series and/or The Leadership Excellence Series .

Meet The Members – We ran our ‘Meet The Members’ mini-questionnaire in which Joe, our current Vice President Membership, asked our members to tell us a bit more about themselves. There has been a great deal of response which Joe has compiled into a single ‘Meet the Members – Your responses’ email that you should have received by now.  Check it out! See how diverse our membership is and learn a little more about your fellow members.

What’s happening this month?

We have four meetings in April: two regular meetings complete with prepared speeches and table topics, one special ‘speak-athon’ meeting with only prepared speeches and evaluations and an educative workshop meeting.

Monday, 8th April – This first meeting already has a packed agenda, but members can still pre-book into one Topics slot.  

You can pick up a lot of good things on hosting a meeting simply by observing the way Hari – who is the Toastmaster for the night – runs this meeting. And some seasoned evaluators to watch out for include Elena and Kate. Our General Evaluator for the meeting, Gina Georgio, is another one to watch especially for her warm delivery style.

Monday, 15th April – Another busy agenda though there are evaluator roles still up for grabs, and the topics slots are yet to be fully booked.

An experienced person to watch out for is our General Evaluator for the night, Mildred Talabi, who is a careers speaker, writer and experienced member of one of our neighboring clubs, Tube Talk.

Monday, 22nd April – We are running this special meeting – of purely prepared speeches and evaluations – to increase prepared speaking slots given the recent influx of new members.  Hence instead of the usual four prepared speeches, we will be having seven in total, and each will be evaluated.

Experienced evaluators to watch are Glen (for comprehensive analysis and great language), Ratan (encouragement and fun delivery style), Elena (in depth analysis and structure) and Renars (for confidence). I would also take notes on how the toastmaster, Swarajit, who is renowned for his dead-pan humour, leads this meeting.

Monday, 29th April – This is a Table Topics workshop meeting designed to help members and guests improve impromptu speaking.

The session will be hosted by our own member Carrie Swift who did an excellent job co-hosting our club contests a couple of weeks ago. It promises to be a fun-packed night and we would like to invite you to make it a memorable time.

Thursday, 11th April – Please join us at the Area 34 International Speech and Evaluation Contest Finals to support the winners of our recent contests as they represent Bloomsbury Speakers against the winners of the other clubs in the area.

It’s an excellent opportunity to witness, network with and learn from really good speakers, given how our area often showcases very strong contestants.

The finals will be hosted by Tube Talk from 6.30pm-9.00pm at London Underground, 55 Broadway, London SW1H 0BD (above St. James’s Park tube station). Free registration via http://www.eventbrite.com/event/6183915257 is essential to attend!

 

For more news on contests in our area and in other Toastmasters clubs/areas, please visit www.thelondonspeaker.com.

Want to support the club or fancy joining our committee?

Earlier in my introduction, I promised to share ways in which you could contribute to the successful running of our club.  Here are three:

Helping out

  • One way is to volunteer to write meeting reports perhaps once a month or so. If you are interested in that, please contact our club officer for PR and Immediate Past President Glen (info@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk).
  • Another way is to help is to be a mentor, especially if you’ve done a few speeches already. If you want to be a mentor, please write Joe at membership@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk
  • We are looking for a replacement Sergeant at Arms, who is responsible for co-ordinating the room set-up before and after each meeting. The SAA also has a regular slot giving guest introductions (unless taking on another role). If you’d like to find out more, please get in touch with Femi at president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk

Joining the committee

But a major way to really support the club is to join the committee. This is the group of members responsible for keeping the club running and the members happy.

As it turns out, we will soon be approaching the end of the Toastmasters calendar year when a new committee takes over; the toastmaster year starts in July and ends in June. So this is an ideal time to start thinking about who the next committee members will be.

When a new committee is being selected in a typical Toastmasters club, what usually happens is that some existing committee members will step down, some may want to be considered for other roles, and occasionally others would like to stay exactly where they are.

Whatever the case, there are always opportunities for new people to get involved and we always encourage new people to join every year for diversity.

Here’s a description of the roles with their current holders. Please take a look, see if there’s any you fancy, then come and speak to myself or the incumbent committee member for the role you are interested in.

  • President – Femi Asaolu – has overall responsibility for the successful running of the club
  • VP Education – Swarajit Das – ensures that we run successful meetings with all roles filled and that the club’s educational goals are met
  • VP Membership & Mentoring – Joe Lake – looks after new and existing members to help them get the most out of the club and meet their personal development goals
  • Treasurer – Elena Fanaberova – responsible for controlling the club finances to ensure stability and continuity for all members
  • Secretary – Jo Higham – responsible for club administration, particularly with regards to committee meetings and decision making
  • VP Public Relations – Glen Long – responsible for raising the club profile and attracting new guests, e.g. via website and mailing list
  • Sergeant at Arms – Christopher Foster-McBride (Acting) – responsible for co-ordinating the room set-up before and after each meeting. The SAA also has a regular slot giving guest introductions (unless taking on another role).

To conclude this section, here are three reasons you might want to get involved according to our Immediate Past President, Glen Long and I quote:

  • You want to improve your leadership and team-working skills alongside a bunch of fun people
  • You feel you’ve gained a lot from being a member now would like to “give something back” so that other people can benefit similarly in the future
  • You want to become more involved in Toastmasters generally (by serving on the committee you’ll come into contact with committee members from other clubs and this can be a great to build your network)

A member’s perspective, by Mike – our latest competent communicator

This is where I would normally share a tip. But this time, I figured it would be best for a fellow member of the club to share how Toastmasters have positively transformed their speaking/career. Over to Mike…

It was a little over a year ago that I first visited Bloomsbury Speakers. At the time, I was looking at my career and working out what to do next.  A number of things were not working out for me – the company had a new focus outside my current area, a new management team was in place and I still had a foot in the old camp of management, all of which amounted to me not fitting into the set-up.

I must admit my interest in Bloomsbury Speakers was to be a toastmaster, complete with red coat, so I was not really prepared for my first meeting at The Real Man Pizza Company. I found I was captivated by Toastmasters from the start, particularly the positive flow and focus of each meeting, and I was intrigued by the prepared speeches. I was impressed with how the meetings were run to time and to an agenda; these are areas that are dear to my heart.  I was equally impressed by the feedback being positive but challenging and learning how to explain to people in an encouraging way that there may be a better way of delivering their message. (A book I was reading at the time, Employees First, Customers Second by Vineet Nayer – which, in short, said if you treat your people right they will treat your customers right – very much seemed to fit with the ethos of Toastmasters.)

As each meeting went by, I was absorbing new skills and renewing techniques which I had either forgotten or had lost any sense of. But on reflection it seems to me I was being repaired and the inner sparkle of the inner child was being rekindled. My dear wife even found I was actually good to be with.

Some key things that were important to me were the positive vibe of each meeting and an understanding of how to give feedback. At the time, my approach to feedback was to avoid giving it at all as I feared it may be scorned upon. It was at one meeting though, where I heard a speech from the advanced series on how to give feedback where the speaker said something like ‘the thing about feedback is that the recipient can chose to accept or reject it’. Without question that brought a dramatic change to my approach to work because I realised that, with the experience and education I already had, I actually had a great deal to contribute and it was my duty to communicate this information so that people could chose to accept or reject it. Not only did I start to make an effective contribution to meetings but I also started to lead meetings through my contribution. My colleagues noticed the difference and a new pleasant and positive demeanour from me in general.  Some even said I was the natural leader of my group, which has brought new challenges.

My annual appraisal this year read ‘Mike is a joy to work with I am lucky to have his support’. Clearly it is not solely down to Toastmasters but without doubt it has had a dramatic effect as I am now much more aware of my surroundings and the ability to make a positive contribution by taking active responsibility for my actions.

I would recommend this ‘executive’ rehabilitation to anyone. I am still looking for new opportunities but my environment is positive and, as Michael Jackson sang, I’m starting with the man in the mirror.

Right, that’s all for now. See you at a meeting soon.

Best wishes,

Femi Asaolu
President
Bloomsbury Speakers

March Newsletter – Contests, New Members and Club Social

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Hello and welcome to the March newsletter!

This month’s newsletter is rather long! This is partly because we’ve been away for a couple of months and partly because there’s quite a lot to say this month. So I’m going to lead with the key facts you need to know.

Key facts – just the stuff you really need to know

  • Our regular meetings in March are on Monday 4th, Monday 11th and Monday 18th.   Depending on which ones you look at, there are still evaluator and topics evaluator roles to fill.  But if you can’t book any of these roles, you should be able to find a Table Topics slot at any of the meetings.
  • The International Speech and Evaluation Contests take place on Monday 25th March – take part or get involved in helping to run the show via ClubPlan! (Please note that the contests will NOT be taking place at The Clerk & Well pub!! The venue will be confirmed on our website and Clubplan soon, and more details about the contests will be emailed to members by our VP Education, Swarajit.)
  • Our past VPM (Vice President of Membership) Hari Kalymnios is organizing an evening social – dinner at the Suda Thai Café Restaurant in Covent Garden – on Friday 8th March at 7pm. Please email Femi at president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk by Wednesday 5th March if you’d like to attend. Places are limited!
  • Our current VPM, Joe, will be emailing all of our members soon, as part of ‘The Meet the Members’ idea to tell us more about themselves by giving us a sentence or two about themselves answering three basic questions.
  • We are looking for a replacement Sergeant at Arms, who is responsible for setting up the room before and after each meeting. The SAA also has a regular slot giving guest introductions (unless taking on another role). If you’d like to find out more, please get in contact.
  • Membership freeze – to manage demand on speaking slots, we are now going to freeze membership again until the end of April. But we continually welcome guests to our meetings, and encourage those who are eager to join to get on the waiting list.

Now that I have covered the key news, I will provide an update on recent news, give you a heads-up on what’s on the horizon, and offer a tip of the month. However, in addition to these, I will offer more information on the forthcoming contest season, recognise members who have achieved certain awards recently, draw your attention to the Meet the Members initiative, and promote our upcoming club social.

Okay, here we go.

What’s happened since the start of 2013?

Since our first meeting this year on Monday 14th January, we have been holding meetings every week to help more people practice public speaking instead of the two advertised on our website; in our first meeting of the year alone, we had about 13 members in attendance with over 12 guests looking to join or to find out more about the club.

And since we opened membership in February, we’ve had plenty of new members joining.  As such, I’d like to welcome Ben, Joowon, Marcin, Monica, Martin, Rajeev, Samuel, Sinead, Liz and Tasos to the club.

Membership freeze

We have now admitted the maximum number of new members since we re-opened membership at the beginning of the month. In order to manage demand on speaking slots, we are now going to freeze membership again until the end of April.

In the meantime, we continue to welcome guests to our meetings, and for those who are eager to join, we can put you on the waiting list.

Competent Communicator Awards

I’m delighted to welcome two new members – Joe Lake and Jo Higham – into our ranks of competent communicators.

To achieve this status, Joe and Jo each had to prepare and deliver 10 speeches based on projects/objectives from the competent communication manual.

Joe completed his award at our meeting on Monday 10th December, presenting a speech entitled “Chimps, Computers and humans” in which he inspired us to be crystal clear about our dreams; that it is this clarity and focus which partly gives us the drive to achieve our aspirations.

With her inspiring speech entitled “Flowers, Coffee and Kindness”, Jo attained her own award on Monday 11th February, when she motivated us to engage in little acts of kindness to people – especially strangers. Jo told the story of Emily, an American living in Belgium, who left small bouquets of flowers for strangers as an “unexpected pleasant surprise”.

Half-Competent Communicator Award

We recently introduced the Half-Competent Communicator award to mark the completion of the fifth speech project.

And the first member to be recognised with this milestone award is Christopher Foster-McBride.  Chris reached this milestone on Monday 28th January when he delivered an informative speech entitled, “Grey power… How the old will shape our future”. He reflected on the aging population and what it means for the world.

Ice-breaker award

Congratulations are in order to Punam, Barnaby, Jowoon, Michael, Sam and Rajeev, all of whom took the bold step to complete their maiden speeches within days/weeks of joining Bloomsbury Speakers. Well done.

Evaluation Workshop

Freddie Daniells (the current UK & Ireland Toastmaster clubs Governor) ran a comprehensive workshop for us on Monday 4th February that was well attended by Bloomsbury members and a few guests including a member from our sister club, Holborn Speakers. There were some really great insights and even experienced evaluators benefited enormously.

We were reminded that every time we stand up to deliver an evaluation of a person’s speech, we hold that person’s confidence in our hands. And it is our duty to render our suggestions and recommendations in a way that builds the speaker’s confidence up.

What’s on the horizon?

We have three regular meetings and a club social planned but the big event on the horizon in March is our contest evening when we’ll be hosting the club round of the International Speech and Evaluation contests.

Before I outline the meetings and discuss the contests, let me quickly deal with the club social…

Club Social – Friday 8th March – Dinner!

Our past VPM (Vice President of Membership) Hari Kalymnios is organizing another evening social for us again.

Once again, we will be dinning at the Suda Thai Café Restaurant in Covent Garden. The date is Friday 8th March at 7pm.

Please email Femi at president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk by Wednesday 5th March if you’d like to attend. Places are limited!

See you there.

Meetings in March and the Contests

  • Monday 4th March – This first meeting already has a full agenda, but you can still book a Topics slot.
  • Monday 11st March – Another busy agenda although an Evaluator role is still up for grabs and there are still Topics slots to be booked.
  • Monday 18th March – While the speaking slots are gone, there are Evaluator slots and the Topics Evaluator role still to be filled. And don’t forget the Topics slots.
  • Monday 25th March – Bloomsbury Speakers International Speech and Evaluation Contests.

(more details about the contest follows but please note that the contests will NOT be taking place at The Clerk & Well pub!!. The venue will be confirmed on our website and Clubplan soon.)

International Speech and Evaluation Contests

Our immediate past president, Glen, wrote a brief informative piece last year explaining what the contests are all about and why you should take part. Here’s what Glen had to say which still applies 100% to this year’s contests, (Please note that a much more comprehensive message about the contest has already been sent to members from Swarajit, our VP Education, so check your inbox):

“For those who are new to Toastmasters, twice a year every club holds two contests. In the spring, it’s the International Speech and Evaluation contests. In the autumn it’s the Humorous Speech and Table Topics contests.

Contests are really good fun, a great way to get experience of speaking in a (slightly) more formal environment and also an opportunity showcase and celebrate the various skills learned in Toastmasters during the rest of the year.

We’d love as many members as possible to enter these contests. However, there are some restrictions.

Contestants in the International Speech Contest deliver a prepared speech of 5 – 7 minutes:

  • You must have completed 6 speeches from the Competent Communicator manual by the date of the contest to participate
  • You may use a speech you’ve delivered before – as long as it is original and your own work
  • The speech can be on any topic of your choosing

(BTW The reason it’s called the International Speech contest is that it’s a global competition with the winner of UK & Ireland going to the US to compete for the glory of the “world title”. So there’s everything to play for!)

Contestants in the Evaluation Contest all evaluate the same (mystery) speaker. Everyone gets the same amount of time to write up their notes – these are then taken away until it is your turn to evaluate.

Why You Should Take Part

If you are even slightly inclined to participate (and you meet the requirements) then I strongly recommend it. It’s a great experience and although there is an extra layer of formality to make sure everything is fair, it’s still a very supportive environment and conducted with a sense of fun.”

(Note: you can book yourself in as a contest speaker or contest evaluator on ClubPlan, but due to a limitation of the software you can’t book yourself in both contests – just book one slot and email Swarajit at education@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk to say you’d also like to participate in the other contest too).

If you can’t (or don’t want to) compete this time round then why not take on an official role, such as one of the timekeepers or a vote counter? Email Swarajit if you’re interested.

Meet The Members

Last year Hari, our past VP Membership, introduced the ‘Meet The Members’ initiative as one way to maintain a sense of community and give members a sense of who else is in the club with them.

If you think about it, during every meeting we ask guests to briefly introduce themselves but we never do the same for members. Hence, the initiative is an attempt to help everyone to get to know one another a little better.  It was well received last year and given that we’ve had plenty of new members joining recently, we’d like to run the exercise again. We’d like to find out a bit more about all of our members – the new ones and existing ones.

So shortly Joe, our current VPM, will be emailing all of our members to tell us more about themselves by giving us a sentence or two about themselves answering the following questions:

  • What you currently do for a living? (or perhaps what would you rather be doing!)
  • Which part of London (or elsewhere) you live in?
  • What do you like to do outside of work? (other than Toastmasters!)

We’ll collate all your answers and send out an email to all our current members so that you have a much better idea who else is in the club with you.

Tip of the Month – Take Part in the Contests – it will make you a better speaker!

During our last meeting when I encouraged our members to get involved in the contest, do you remember what I said about the mountain climber? For those of you who were not present, I said that when the mountain climber was asked “Why climb the mountain?” his reply was “Because it’s there!”

I used that point to underscore the idea that, like mountain climbing, contests are akin to challenges; that they call on you to be a better speaker, a better person. Well, that comment was borrowed from an article that John Kinde once wrote about this same matter on inspiring members to take part in contests.

John Kinde is a Distinguished Toastmasters DTM, an accredited speaker and a humor specialist living in Las Vegas, US.  He covered other reasons for taking part such as helping you: to get out of your comfort zone; to develop a sense of purpose; to get better feedback etc.

I’d like to encourage you to read his full blog “Why Enter a Toastmasters Speech Contest?” Hopefully, I will be seeing more of you entering the contest soon.

That’s it for now. I look forward to seeing many of you at a meeting soon.

Best wishes,

Femi Asaolu
President
Bloomsbury Speakers

December Newsletter – Happy Christmas PLUS a Club Social Event!

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Introduction

Hello and welcome to the December newsletter –  New Members, Goals, Recent News, and Club Social!

First things first, a very warm welcome to Punam, Barnaby and Damien who joined us in late October/November just before membership was frozen.

We are delighted to have you in the fold and I’m particularly excited to see that Damien and Barnaby have already delivered their maiden speeches. I’m also pleased that Punam is on the agenda to deliver hers at our first meeting in January.

Membership freeze

To help manage demand for speaking slots, we are sticking to our plan to keep club membership frozen until the end of January.

In the meantime, we continue to welcome guests to our meetings, and for those who are eager to join, you may put yourself on the waiting list.

Set Your Goals Now

With Christmas just a couple of weeks away, if you are like me, you must be busy sorting out your shopping by now. If not, now might be the time before it gets really crowded in the shops.

This is also an ideal time to set your Toastmasters goals for next year. Don’t wait till the New Year before you start thinking about them. Have them written down before January 1st so that you can start 2013 with a bang! With a sense of renewed purpose and direction!

What can your goal(s) be if you are a new member who has perhaps delivered one or two speeches? It can simply be to reach speech project five by June. That way, you are halfway towards achieving your Competent Communication award before you know it!

And if you are an experienced member who has given five or six speeches already, achieving your Competent Communicator award by June could be your goal.

When you set those goals, don’t forget to write down some functionary speaking goals too. If for instance, you want to develop the skill for running a meeting or an event, you could target performing the Topics Master and the Toastmaster roles twice before the summer. However, if your aim is to become proficient at delivering impromptu speeches, then why not plan to do as many as possible evaluator, grammarian, or timekeeper roles by June?

With specific and written goals like these, you can truly make the most of Toastmasters and realize or get closer to realizing your desire to become competent and comfortable speaking before an audience in 2013.

Recent news

Phew! What a busy time we’ve had in these last few months of 2012 at Bloomsbury speakers!

  • In October alone, we had four meetings: two of which were well attended regular meetings; the third was the area contest meeting when Bloomsbury Speakers hosted the competition for the club winners of the humorous and topics contest; and the fourth was the highly educational Evaluation Workshop run by the Holborn Speakers past president and 2011 UK and Ireland Evaluation Contest Champion Chris Boden.
  • In November, we held three lively regular meetings (instead of the usual two) to meet growing demand for speaking slots after admitting 9 new members since October.
  • In December, our meetings are taking place at the cozy backup venue The Apple Tree pub, 45  Mount Pleasant, Clerkenwell WC1X 0AE. However, The Clerk and Well continues to be our home venue and we will return to it for our meetings in the New Year.

Next meetings

Our next meetings are:

  • Monday 10th December 2012 – our last meeting of 2012! This has been themed a Christmassy meeting and members/guests are invited to wear Christmas-themed costumes and you are encouraged to bring some tinsel along. There will be a buffet provided at the end of the meeting although you will have to buy your own drinks. As for the agenda, it’s already packed but you can put yourself down to participate in the Table Topics. Book yourself a slot now on Clubplan. Reminder: this meeting takes place at our cozy backup venue The Apple Tree pub, 45  Mount Pleasant, Clerkenwell WC1X 0AE.
  • Monday 14th January 2013 – our very first meeting of 2012. Again, we have a full speaking bill, but we still need Evaluators and you can book a Topics slot too. And we’re back at the Clerk & Well.
  • Monday 21st January 2013 – Yet another full speaking agenda here but as always there are Evaluators and Topics slots waiting to be filled.
  • Monday 28th January 2013 – Our last meeting in January still needs a Topics Evaluator, speech evaluators and don’t forget to sign up for Table Topics.

Club Social – Friday 14th December – Dinner!

Our past VPM (Vice President of Membership) Hari Kalymnios is organizing an evening social – dinner at the Suda Thai Café Restaurant in Covent Garden – on Friday 14th December at 7pm.

Please email Femi at president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk by Thursday 13th December if you’d like to attend. Places are limited!

As part of the plan, some of us will be going for a drink beforehand in the Long Acre. If you want to come, please say so when you write me.

See you there.

This is it – the end of this month’s newsletter! Have a superb, fun-filled Christmas holiday and a prosperous New Year and I look forward to seeing you at our Christmassy meeting this Monday or a meeting early in 2013.

Best wishes,

Femi Asaolu
President
president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk

Key facts – just the stuff you really need to know

  • Our Christmassy and last meeting of the year meeting is on Monday 10th December 2012. Please come in your Santa hats/costumes and bring some tinsel.
  • Our first meetings in the New Year are on Monday 14th January 2013, Monday 21st January 2013 and Monday 28th January 2013.   There are still evaluator roles and/or Table Topics slots to fill at these meetings.
  • In December, our meetings are taking place at the cozy backup venue The Apple Tree pub, 45  Mount Pleasant, Clerkenwell WC1X 0AE. However, The Clerk and Well continues to be our home venue and we would return to it for our meetings in the New Year.
  • Our past VPM (Vice President of Membership) Hari Kalymnios is organizing an evening social – dinner at the Suda Thai Café Restaurant in Covent Garden – on Friday 14th December at 7pm. Please email Femi at president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk by Thursday 13th December if you’d like to attend. Places are limited!
  • Finally, Remember to set and write down your Toastmasters goals now for 2013. Don’t wait until New Years Day – do it today!

October Newsletter – new members, area contest and evaluation workshop

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Hello and welcome to the October newsletter!

This month we have important updates on club area contests including how you can support our winners – Glen who won the Humorous Speech Contest and David who took the Table Topics Award – and I want to promote some workshop news.

But first, with membership having re-opened at the end of September, I want to welcome five brand new members: Alex, Bronia, Ed, Eugenia, Michael and Paul. We are delighted to have you in the fold and I’m particularly excited to see some of you already on this month’s agenda – I’m referring here to Bronia who is giving her ice-breaker speech this coming Monday, and Eugenia who will be giving on hers on the 22nd.

I also want to recognize Janet’s exploits at the TEDx Future of Work speech contest which took place at The London Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday 26th September. Janet delivered a three minute speech against a fairly tough field of ten other contestants and although she wasn’t one of the two winners, she was one of the two “highly commended” speakers who were asked to act as reserve speakers. Well done Janet!

(Remember, if you’re in a hurry, you can scroll to the very end of the newsletter to get a list of the key things you need to know!)

What’s happened since the last newsletter?

We had two fascinating meetings in September: the highly entertaining club-level round of the Humorous Speech and the Table Topics contests and a regular club meeting which was exciting in its own right.

What’s planned for October?

October is brimming with four meetings – on the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th.

This is because beyond our two regular meetings Bloomsbury Speakers will also be hosting the area-level round of the Humorous Speech and the Table Topics contests!  We will also be hosting an Evaluation Workshop meeting.

Regular Meeting – Monday 8th October

This is a regular meeting and while speaking slots are already booked up, you can put yourself down for a table topics slot.

Tip: Experienced functionaries to watch are: David Jones our General Evaluator from Holborn Speakers who was the winner of London Toastmasters Division B Table Topics Contest last year; Kaveh Pourvand, our guest Toastmaster for the meeting, also from Holborn and has already achieved his Competent Communication Award; and our own David Gwyer, an Advanced Toastmaster and winner of our own Table Topics contest last month.

Area Contest Meeting – Monday 15th October

This second meeting is not a regular meeting; instead it’s our Humorous Speech and Table Topics Area Contest night. This is when the winners of the club contests compete to decide who will represent our area at the Division level. In case you are not aware, there are four charter clubs in our area: Bloomsbury Speakers, Holborn Speakers (our sister club), Tube Talk and Law Speak. So this contest will, technically, be among four contestants in for contest.

The contest promises to be highly entertaining and enlightening, don’t miss it!. If anything, please come along to support Glen (for the Humorous Speech contest) and David (for the Table Topics) who will be representing us. Finally, if you would like to perform a functionary role at the meeting, please drop me a message at president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk and I’ll give you more details.  

Regular Meeting – Monday 22nd October

This is a standard regular meeting which is also already full in terms of speeches but you can still put yourself down on the agenda either as an evaluator or as a table topics participant.

Tip: If you want to see exemplary Toastmaster role in action, then make sure you watch how Henry Playfoot, who will be our Toastmaster, runs the meeting. Glen is another person to watch as he gives his evaluation.

Evaluations Workshop Meeting – Monday 29th October

This is an enlightening, energetic and interactive presentation that is certain to improve the standard of YOUR evaluations.

The session will be run by Freddie Daniells, the present UK and Ireland Toastmasters International District Governor. If you’ve been to one of his Evaluation sessions before, you’ll know how good it is, so you’ll want to go again! If not, well, you have a treat in store!

More about the details of the workshop itself shortly, but if you would like to attend please email me at president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk so we can prepare for numbers.

What’s on the horizon?

We’ve got two meetings in November – on the 12th and 26th.

  • Monday 12th November 2012 – Regular Meeting – Speech-wise, this first meeting is already booked up. However, there’s one ice-breaker slot for new joiners, one Evaluator slot and three table topics slots up for grabs. Finally, competent communicator achievers to watch out for are Glen (our Toastmaster for the night) and Kate (who will be performing an evaluator role).
  • Monday 26th November 2012 – Regular meeting – There are plenty of roles still to be filled in this meeting including the Toastmaster, Timekeeper, three Evaluator slots, Topics Evaluator, etc. Don’t delay; book your slot now before they are gone! I recommend watching out for Hari who will be delivering an advanced speech on the night.

Want to improve your evaluations skills? Then Freddie Daniells’ Exceptional Evaluations Workshop is for you

Arguably the most important role within a Toastmasters meeting is the role of the evaluator. By encouraging and motivating the speaker we can pass on the tips they need to improve their speaking next time. However, it is also one of the most difficult roles to get right.

  • Do you find it challenging to identify the key issues you need to comment on?
  • Do you struggle to finish within time?
  • Do you find it difficult if the speaker is more advanced than you are?
  • Or do you simply want to find that extra polish that will help you in future contests?

No matter your level, this workshop is for you!

On Monday October 29th, Freddie Daniells will bring his highly interactive Exceptional Evaluations workshop to Bloomsbury Speakers. And by the end of the session, you will be able to:

  1. Pick the best content to include in your evaluations
  2. Structure your evaluations more effectively
  3. Make your points so that both the speaker and the audience get maximum benefit

Freddie Daniells is a member of Holborn Speakers (where I first joined Toastmasters six years ago; actually he was the president at the time and one of the members who inspired me to join Holborn Speakers) and Excalibur Speakers, London’s advanced Toastmasters Club. He is the present Toastmasters International District Governor for Great Britain and Ireland. Professionally, he coaches senior executives and professionals on how to improve their most critical presentations and public speeches.

He strongly believes that giving feedback is one of the most important life skills that you can learn and has embarked on a one man mission to raise the quality of evaluations across the country!

That’s all.

See you in a meeting very soon!

Femi Asaolu
President
Bloomsbury Speakers

Key facts – just the stuff you really need to know

  • Our next regular meetings are on Monday 8th October and Monday 22nd October.  There are still evaluator roles and Table Topics slots to fill at these meetings.)
  • Bloomsbury Speakers is hosting the Area Contest on Monday 15th October –  best of luck to Glen and David who are representing us in the Honorourous Speech contest and the Table Topics Contest respectively. Let’s support them by attending and come along to enjoy the fun!
  • Freddie Daniells, the UK and Ireland District Governor, is bringing his Evaluation Workshop to Bloomsbury Speakers on Monday 29th October.   If you would like to come please email me so we can prepare for numbers – president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk
  • Our meetings in November are on the 12th and the 26th.