March Newsletter – contests, venues and beating the flinch

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Hello and welcome to the March newsletter!

This month we’ve got an update on our club contests (plus information about how you can support the winners) and some important venue news.

Also you can find out what’s going on meeting-wise in April and how you can get more involved in the running of Bloomsbury Speakers (but just remember: with great power comes great responsibility!).

SPOILER ALERT!

In a new feature, if you don’t have time to read the whole newsletter, you can scroll to the very bottom for a short list of things you really need to know this month.

But I’d really like it if you read the whole thing. 🙂

What’s happened since the last newsletter?

Well we had two great meetings in February which, in addition to some impressive speeches from more experienced members, featured several of our newest members giving their ice breaker speeches – so well done Nimit, Janet and Eleanor!

We’ve also had another new member join our happy gang – so welcome aboard Marielle!

Here’s a summary of the other highlights:

  • Meet The Members – we had our Meet The Members initiative run by Hari where we asked our members to tell us a bit more about themselves. We had a great response and learned that our members are a pretty diverse and interesting bunch!

    (Idea for members: before the next meeting why not have another read about your Bloomsbury peers and see if you can put some new faces to names during the breaks. Just look for the email “Meet The Members – Your Responses!” we sent on 27th February).

  • Bloomsbury Contests – we held our club round of the international speech and evaluation contests. I was very pleased with the number of people who took part – we had six contestants in the speech contest and five evaluators. You can read all about the contest in the official Contest Report. Thanks again to everyone who helped out and especially to Femi for pulling it all together.

What’s happening this month?

We only have one regular meeting this month due to the contests:

  • Monday 26th March 2012 – this meeting is almost fully-booked but at the time of writing there’s still a chance to sign up as an evaluator.

(Please note: that this will be our last meeting at The Real Man Pizza Company, 91-95 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5BX – more details below).

There is also the opportunity to support the winners of our recent contests as they represent Bloomsbury Speakers against other clubs in the area on Thursday 29th March 2012:

  • Area 34 International Speech and Evaluation Contest Finals – hosted by TubeTalk, 10th Floor Meeting Room, London Underground, Templar House, 55 Broadway, London SW1H 0BD. 6.30pm – 9.00pm. (Please email John.Nyaruwa@tube.tfl.gov.uk by 27th March to attend so that passes may be arranged).

This is a great chance to see (and learn from) some really good speakers and evaluators – Area 34 always fields strong contestants.

What’s on the horizon?

We are back to two regular meetings in April with all the normal roles and speaking opportunities:

  • Monday 16th April 2012 – this one’s already pretty “chocker” but you can still sign up as an evaluator – go on!
  • Monday 30th April 2012 – a few slots are still available at this meeting including Harkmaster/Grammarian, Topics Evaluator and, of course, you can be speech evaluator

There are two very IMPORTANT things to note about April’s meetings:

  1. Due to the Easter bank holidays we have switched dates – for one month only – to the third and fifth Mondays of the month instead of the usual second and fourth.
  2. Both of these meetings will be in our new venue: The Clerk & Well – see below for more information

New Venue (what another one?!)

The Real Man Pizza Company has been a great place to see out the winter. Aldo and Josef have been very welcoming, we’ve made the best of the space and I think it’s fair to say we’ve certainly enjoyed their pizzas!

However, it can be a bit noisy and it does get rather cramped down there when we have lots of guests (and we love having lots of guests).

There’s also been a change of management since we arrived and the chain which owns the restaurant wants us to spend more money on food and drinks than is really realistic for a non-profit club our current size.

So, we’ve agreed – very amicably – to part ways. But fear not, the pizza place was only ever a stop-gap solution and we’ve had our eyes peeled for better alternatives. And we didn’t have to look very far…

I’m delighted to say we’ve managed to arrange a new venue which we really hope will become our permanent home. It’s a upstairs in a very smart-looking pub called The Clerk & Well – and it’s directly opposite the pizza place, so it shouldn’t be too hard for you to find!

As a club that started its life upstairs in The Rugby Tavern it feels to me like a room above a nice pub is our spiritual home and so I’m really excited about this latest move.

As before it’ll probably take us a couple of meetings to get used to the new venue and iron out any wrinkles but I’m sure we’ll have it running like a well-oiled machine in no time at all.

Fancy joining our committee?

The Toastmasters year runs from the start of July until the end of June, so with the clocks about to go forward it’s time to start thinking about our new committee – the group of members responsible for keeping the club running and the members happy.

What usually happens in a Toastmasters club is that some existing committee members step down, some want to be considered for other roles, and occassionally some want to stay exactly where they are.

But there are always opportunities for new people to get involved and in fact it’s very important for the club to have some “new blood” every year.

Everything is subject to members’ votes but before anyone can vote on anything, we need to know which of our members might be interested in taking on a bigger role in the club.

Here’s my spin on the various committee roles and what’s involved:

  • President – has overall responsibility for the success of the club through the leadership of the club committee
  • Vice President of Education – makes sure each meeting has a full programme of speakers and functionaries and also that members are progressing through the educational programme
  • Vice President of Membership and Mentoring – responsible for making sure the club has a healthy intake of new members and for ensuring new and existing members are supported via the mentoring programme
  • Treasurer – responsible for the club’s finances, including collecting of dues, paying expenses and registering people with Toastmasters International
  • VP of Public Relations – responsible for raising awareness of the club (via newsletters, emails, marketing campaigns, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) with the ultimate aim of attracting new guests to visit the club
  • Secretary – responsible for various administration tasks, including writing up and distributing minutes of committee meetings
  • Sergeant At Arms – responsible ensuring that the room is set up for meetings and packed up again afterwards; also responsible for club kit

All of these roles are potentially up for grabs so come and have a talk with myself or one of the other committee members if you’re interested.

For a reminder of who currently performs these roles have a look here (note that we don’t currently have a dedicated Public Relations person, but hopefully we will have one next time around).

Here are some good reasons you might want to get involved:

  • 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)

Tip of the Month – Read This (Short, Free) Book!

It’s ready quite a long newsletter so I’ll keep this month’s tip very short.

Quite simply, download and read The Flinch by Julien Smith. If you’ve got an Amazon account but no Kindle then download a reader app or even just read it in the cloud.

Perhaps it’s “the flinch” that’s preventing you from booking that next speech, trying that new role or – if you’re a regular guest – from taking the plunge and joining up.

Okay folks, that’s all for this month. See you soon.

Best wishes,

Glen Long
President
Bloomsbury Speakers

“Spoilers” – Just The Stuff You Really Need To Know!

  1. Our next meeting is Monday 26th March at The Real Man Pizza Company (it’s our last meeting there)
  2. The Area 34 speech and evaluation final is on Thursday 29th March hosted by TubeTalk
  3. Our meetings in April are a week later in the month than normal due to Easter – 16th and 30th April
  4. From April we have a brand new venue: The Clerk & Well (opposite the pizza restaurant)
  5. We’re looking for people to join the committee from end of June. Drop us a line!

February Newsletter – fame, glory and the power of ordinary

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Hello and welcome to the February newsletter for members and friends of Bloomsbury Speakers!

Quick warning: it’s quite a long newsletter this month – but that’s because there’s lot to say! (Anyway, January’s was short and sweet so you could argue I’m just trying to maintain the average…)

This month we’ve got the normal round up of recent news, together with information on the forthcoming contest season and a preview of a new initiative to get to know our members better.

Okay, here we go. See you on the other side…

What happened last month?

We had a great start to the year with two busy meetings in our brand new venue and lots of new guests eager to find out more about the club.

We’ve also had lots of new members so I’d like to wish a very warm Bloomsbury welcome to Sye Yuet, Nimit, Wayne, Janet, Eleanor and Carrie who’ve all joined since the start of the year.

I’m really looking forward to watching everyone take their first steps in Toastmasters and improve their speaking skills and confidence over the coming weeks and months.

Here’s a summary of the highlights from January:

  • New venue – for the first meeting in January we moved to our new venue – The Real Man Pizza Company on Clerkenwell Road. As with any new home, we’re still working out a few things (e.g. room layout and how to minimize any noise from upstairs) but it seems to be working pretty well and the half-time pizza has been going down (figuratively and literally speaking) very well!
  • Bloomsbury in Print – our VP Membership and Mentoring Hari Kalymnios had an article published in the January edition of Toastmaster magazine (page 5) – which goes out to over a quarter of a million people worldwide – thus cementing his worldwide fame! It’s a great article about The Three Peaks Challenge and is fantastic publicity for the club. You can read it online here: http://magazines.toastmasters.org/publication/?i=92560
  • Evaluation Workshop – Chris Boden (current UK & Ireland evaluation champion) ran a great workshop at our sister club Holborn Speakers and a number of Bloomsbury members attended. There was some really great advice for even quite seasoned evaluators and I’m going to talk to Chris about getting some of the main points out to members who weren’t able to attend.

What’s happening this month?

We have our regular meetings as usual this month, with the usual potent mix of prepared speeches, evaluations and table topics:

  • Monday 13th February – this is this coming Monday and we have a packed speaking schedule but still a few slots for evaluators – speech evaluators and topics evaluator
  • Monday 27th February – fully booked again for speakers but we still need evaluators and a topics master.

Don’t be shy – book yourself in for one of the spare roles. Remember – all meeting roles provide an opportunity to speak in front of an audience.

What’s on the horizon?

The big event on the horizon is our contest evening where we’ll be hosting the club round of the International Speech and Evaluation contests (more on these below).

The winners will compete against the winners from City of London Toastmasters, Holborn Speakers, London Business School Speakers and Tube Talk in the area contest.

  • Monday 12th March – Bloomsbury Speakers International Speech and Evaluation Contest – The Real Man Pizza Company
  • Thursday 29th March – Area 34 International Speech and Evaluation Contest – hosted by Tube Talk, Templar House, 81 – 87 High Holborn

International Speech and Evaluation Contests

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.

As it says above, our contests are being held on Monday 12th March at the same venue as the regular meetings. 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 (within normal Toastmasters limits – i.e. nothing that would make your Nan blush).

(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 their 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.

And you’ve still got a month to write a speech (or polish your evaluation skills).

(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 Femi 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 Femi if you’re interested.

Meet The Members!

Hari and I have been talking about how to make sure with a growing membership that we maintain a sense of community and give members a sense of who else is in the club with them.

During every meeting we ask guests to briefly introduce themselves but we never do the same things for members. There wouldn’t actually be time, but it would be nice for everyone to get to know each other a little better.

This month we’d like to find out a bit more about all of our members – the new ones and the not so new ones.

So next week we’ll 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? (and perhaps what you’d 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 – Don’t Be Afraid To Be Ordinary!

When selecting a topic for your next speech it’s only natural to seek out a subject you think other people will find interesting, even fascinating.

One approach is to think back to the last time you discovered something really interesting. Maybe you were bowled over by the ideas in the latest bestselling business or personal development book. It blew your mind, so it should blow other people’s minds, right?

Well, maybe it will, but a potential pitfall is that you might end up delivering speech that anyone who’d read the same book could deliver. In fact, if the book’s a bestseller, you’ll probably find that people in Toastmasters clubs all over the country are delivering very similar speeches.

Not to say this is a bad thing, but it’s all too easy to overlook the ordinary in pursuit of the apparently extraordinary. Don’t forget that what’s ordinary for you can often be fascinating for other people. (Just look at the phenomenon of reality TV!)

Your job, your family, your friendships, your everyday experiences – they may seem dull and ordinary to you but they are also unique and might just be a rare treat for other people.

For example, let’s say you’re a G.P. and you’ve just returned from an exotic holiday in Peru where you visited the ruins at Machu Picchu. There’s a pretty good chance your next speech will be be about your visit to Machu Picchu.

Now I’m not saying it wouldn’t make a fine speech, but to be honest I’ve heard people talk about visits to exotic places before. Whereas I’ve never heard anyone talk about what it’s actually like to be a G.P. Now that would be really interesting.

So… Don’t be afraid to be ordinary!

Phew, okay that’s it for another month. I look forward to seeing many of you at a meeting soon.

And if you’re not a member, perhaps February is the month to join. Think of it like this – the sooner you get involved, the sooner you’ll be a skilled and confident speaker!

https://www.bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk/join/form/

Best wishes,

Glen Long
President
Bloomsbury Speakers

January 2012 Mini-Newsletter

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Hello and welcome to the very first newsletter of 2012!

Hope you had a great Christmas and New Year and are raring to get started again with ramping up your public speaking skills.

I’m going to keep this newsletter short and sweet as it’s only been a couple of weeks since the last one, which appeared a little later in the month than normal.

So, in true Toastmasters style I’m going to give you just three pieces of information.

Here we go…

1) Venue Reminder

You should know this already, but we have a new venue! It’s downstairs at The Real Man Pizza Company. Check out the details here:

https://www.bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk/meetings/

2) Meetings This Month

Our regular meetings this month are on Monday 9th January and Monday 23rd January.

We already have five speakers (including two Icebreakers) booked for each of these meetings – wow! – but there are still a few supporting roles to be filled:

9th January: Topics Evaluator and Speech Evaluator
23rd January: Timekeeper, Topics Evaluator and Speech Evaluators

Please book yourself into ClubPlan or email our VPE Femi at education@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk to nab your slot.

3) Club Social – Bowling!

There’s still time to book a place on the club social – ten pin bowling at All Star Lanes on Monday 16th January.

Please email Femi at education@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk by Monday 9th January if you’d like to attend.

Tip of the Month – Evaluate!

Want to be a better speaker? Evaluate someone else’s speech! This will help you to develop analytical skills that you can apply to your own speeches.

However, we know that some people find the idea of evaluating someone else a bit daunting, so we’ve put together a brand new role guide to help you:

What Does An Evaluator Do?

P.S. If you really want to improve quickly – record your speech and try to evaluate it as if you were evaluating someone else. Painful but very useful!

That’s all for now. Told you it would be short and sweet. 🙂 Hope to see you at a meeting soon!

Best wishes,

Glen Long
President

president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk

December Newsletter – Happy Christmas!

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Hello and welcome to the December newsletter from Bloomsbury Speakers!

There are just two days until Christmas, so I hope you’ve done all your shopping. If not – good luck fighting your way through the crowds.

It’s been a busy year so I’m personally looking forward to a little downtime before Bloomsbury ramps back up in 2012.

But before that, I wanted to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and give you a quick roundup of the latest club news and some details of a fun social event early in the New Year.

Recent news

It’s been a hectic last few weeks of the year. Highlights since the last newsletter include:

  • Two great meetings in November including one with so many guests it was standing room only!
  • A well-attended Christmas-themed meeting where we got into the festive spirit with seasonal tunes, mince pies and even a cracker-assisted table topics session.
  • A nice mention in popular London blog Londonist on its list of Things To Do In London On The Cheap

And of course, it’s always a highlight when someone new decides to join the club and so I’d like to welcome our newest member Paula! We look forward to helping Paula achieve her public speaking goals in 2012.

Next meetings

Our next two meetings are:

  • Monday 9th January 2012 – our very first meeting of 2012! We already have a packed speaking agenda but we still need a Timekeeper, a Topics Evaluator and more speech Evaluators
  • Monday 23rd January 2012 – our very second meeting of 2012 😉 Again, we have a full speaking bill (though we could squeeze in an ice breaker), but we still need a Timekeeper, Harkmaster/Grammarian, Topicsmaster, Topics Evaluator and speech Evaluators

Please note that both meetings will be at our new venue (see below).

New year – new venue

The Rugby Tavern has been our home venue since Bloomsbury Speakers first started meeting back in 2009. After the venue-hopping of the summer while the Tavern was being refurbished we’d hoped to settle back in for the rest of the winter but sadly it wasn’t to be.

The management has recently decided to more than double the cost of hiring the room and so both Bloomsbury and Holborn Speakers (who meet in the same venue on different evenings) have been busy looking at other venues.

We’re very pleased to announce that we’ve found a new venue we think will work great for us. It’s a private room downstairs at The Real Man Pizza Company – just a short walk from the Tavern.

It’s a nice room and big enough to allow us to expand. Also there’s a small bar in the room itself which the manager says he’ll open after each meeting. Oh, and also they serve some great food too!

Find out more about the new venue here:

https://www.bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk/meetings/

Club Social – Monday 16th January – Bowling!

Our VPE (Vice President of Education) Femi Asaolu is organising another fun evening social – ten pin bowling at All Star Lanes in Bloomsbury – on Monday 16th January.

It will cost £8.75 per person per game plus whatever you spend on drinks. Based on similar events in the past it’s great fun and don’t worry if you’re not the world’s best bowler – you won’t be the only one!

Please email Femi at education@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk by Monday 9th January if you’d like to attend. Places are limited!

See you there. STRIKE!!!

Tip of the Month – Make a Resolution!

It’s that time of year where we traditionally make resolutions for the new year.

Just think, people we haven’t met yet are right now resolving to improve their public speaking skills and will show up at a meeting early in the new year…

If you’re already a member, you’ve got a big head-start on this crowd, so why not make some specific resolutions about your Toastmasters activity in 2012? Here are some ideas:

  • If you’re a new member and haven’t done your ice breaker yet, resolve to do so early in 2012 – in fact book yourself into ClubPlan right now!
  • If you’ve got one or speeches under your belt already, resolve to complete a certain numbers of speech projects in 2012 – I would recommend at least four. (If you’ve only a few speeches left – resolve to complete the manual by a certain date)
  • If you’ve done most of the functionary roles but have never been Toastmaster, resolve to tick that one off early in 2012. It’s great fun and great experience.
  • If you’re a mentor, why not resolve to really “over-deliver” for your mentees in 2012? Check in with them on their goals for the new year and think of three ways you can help make them happen.

And finally, if you’re not a member yet, but keep resolving to join, why not take the plunge and sign up now. Then you can really relax this Christmas knowing that your public speaking skills will definitely improve in 2012!

Well that it’s for this newsletter. Have a fantastic Christmas and a ridiculously fun New Year and I look forward to seeing you at a meeting early in 2012.

Best wishes,

Glen Long
President

president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk

Club Newsletter – November 2011

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Hello and welcome to the November newsletter!

As this newsletter goes out, Toastmasters all over the country will be heading up to Glasgow for the Flourish Autumn conference, which starts this evening and continues through the weekend. There will be educational workshops, the UK & Ireland finals of the Humorous Speech and Table Topics contests (good luck to Ola Aralepo and David Jones respectively), and copious amounts of socialising!

For those of you who are fairly new to Toastmasters, there are two conferences each year – the Autumn conference in November and the Spring conference in May – and they’re a great way to meet members from other clubs and see some of the best speakers and trainers in Toastmasters.

We’ve got a full newsletter this month and I’m delighted to hand over a section of it to our VP of Membership & Mentoring Hari Kalymnios.

But first, what’s new at Bloomsbury Speakers?

Recent news

We had a couple of great meetings in October and it was particularly exciting to see a number of our newer members completing early speeches from the Competent Communicator manual, including a fantastic Icebreaker from Jo!

Also, I’m very pleased to welcome aboard our latest member Richard and I look forward to booking him in for an Icebreaker soon.

So, what’s happening this month?

Regular Meeting – Monday 14th November

This coming Monday is our next meeting and we’ve already got a pretty full agenda – but there’s still room for an evaluator and we could possibly squeeze in an icebreaker. Book yourself into ClubPlan or speak to Femi our VPE.

Even if you’re not on the agenda, remember that Table Topics is a great way to get a chance to speak. Kate Osborne will be our Topicsmaster so make sure you grab her before the start of the meeting to get your name on that list.

Regular Meeting – Monday 28th November

This is the last regular meeting before our special Christmas-themed one on the 12th December and so one of the last opportunities to get some speaking action before 2012.

There’s still a speaking slot free and some functionary roles including Timekeeper and Evaluator – so get yourself booked in.

Coming Soon

Christmas Meeting – Monday 12th December

We’ve mentioned this one before but do make sure you’ve got it in your diary as it promises to be great fun and a great way to celebrate the holiday season with your friends at Toastmasters.

More details will be revealed in the next newsletter but it’s our last meeting of the year so expect much seasonal silliness…

Mentoring at Bloomsbury Speakers

(courtesy of Hari Kalymnios, VP Membership & Mentoring)

No great leaders or speakers have become great alone. Often it’s the people in the background who offer council; words of encouragement and critique that help elevate these greats and provide them with the
steerage needed to succeed.

At Bloomsbury Speakers we put a strong emphasis on mentoring and ensure that each new club member has a mentor for those all important early speeches and beyond.

The mentor is there to guide, support and offer advice and encouragement to their mentee to help them meet their desired goals.

As part of our commitment to mentoring I recently gave an educational speech on this very topic at our last meetings. If you weren’t present or would like to know more about mentoring (either having a mentor – or being one), please email mentoring@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk
for more information.

Mentoring is an important part of a Toastmaster’s journey and having access to a mentor to bounce ideas off, ask questions and offer you feedback will elevate your experience at Toastmasters to the next level.

It’s also immensely rewarding to be a mentor as you’ll be grow as a leader and friend throughout the process, so I thoroughly recommend it.

To finish off, here’s a link to a video from American motivational speaker Les Brown about reaching your full potential:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23PgYSpISNE

Taking full advantage of mentoring is one way of making sure you reach yours.

Tip of the Month

Does this pattern seem familiar to you?

  • You put lots of time and energy into writing a speech.
  • You work hard to learn and practice your speech.
  • You deliver your speech in a meeting and get lots of juicy feedback.
  • And then… you forget all about it and start thinking about the next speech.

If want to get the maximum benefit from all that effort, you owe it to yourself to deliver that speech again.

Review the feedback, make a few changes, do a bit more practice, and then arrange to speak at another club.

Although you generally can’t book a speaking slot at another club unless you’re a member, clubs will often have last minute cancellations or just a gap on the agenda. Make contact with the VPE of a few local clubs and let them know you’re willing to step in at short notice.

It’s a great way to reap the full reward of all that effort you put in at the start.

Okay folks, that’s all for this month. Hope to see many of you at Monday’s meeting and certainly before Christmas.

Best wishes,

Glen Long
President