Club Newsletter – October 2011

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Hello and welcome to the October newsletter!

September was a busy month with a sold-out workshop (Andrew Brammer on Storytelling), two club contests (Humorous Speech and Table Topics) and a lively first meeting back in our home venue The Rugby Tavern.

It’s great to be back in the Tavern, which is looking very smart after the refurbishments, and hopefully there won’t be any more venue changes for the foreseeable future.

I’m also delighted to report that we gained four new members in September, so welcome aboard Marty, Saija, Maureen and Jo! I look forward to getting you all booked in for an Icebreaker soon.

Recent news

As this newsletter is coming out a little later in the month than usual (apologies) we’ve already got some October news…

Humorous Speech and Table Topics contest results

After winning humorous speech and table topics contests respectively at area level, Ola Aralepo and David Jones went on to repeat their success at the Division B final on Saturday. A brilliant result for both of them and a reminder that Bloomsbury Speakers belongs to one of the strongest areas in the whole division!

Ola and David will compete in their respective categories at the District 71 final at the Flourish Conference in Glasgow on 11th-13th November 2011.

New VPE (Vice President of Education)

I’m very pleased to announce that we have a new VPE – Femi Asaolu. Femi is an advanced speaker and will already be familiar to many who have enjoyed his charismatic (and often mischievous!) style in various roles at Bloomsbury Speakers.

Our previous VPE Dave Longley stepped down at the end of September due to other commitments and so it’s great to have someone with Femi’s experience and enthusiasm at the helm. Many thanks to Nazia Soon for taking on the VPE responsibilities during the transition.

(For those new to the club, who are wondering what on earth the VPE does, in a nutshell the role is concerned with making sure that our meetings are well-organised and fully booked with speakers and functionaries and also that the education goals of our members – and the club as a whole – are reached.)

I’m sure Femi will do a fantastic job – expect him to be in contact to encourage you to book your next role! You can reach him at: education@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk

A note on membership fees

Due to unavoidable increases in our base costs (our room hire is increasing and so are the dues we pay to Toastmasters International on behalf of each member), we are increasing our six month and annual membership fees. In a nutshell, the six month fee is going up by £10 and the annual by £25

As a non-profit organisation we have to pass on any costs that we incur but we still think it’s great value for money: a one-day presentation skills or public speaking workshop in London could easily cost £200 – £300.

What’s happening this month?

Well, we’ve already had a club social and the first meeting of October, but here’s what’s on the horizon for the next few weeks.

Regular Meeting – Monday 24th October 2011

This coming Monday’s meeting is filling up very nicely but there are still a few roles and in particular we need some evaluators! If you’ve never evaluated a speech before now is a great opportunity – let Femi know you’re interested and he can give you some tips.

Regular Meeting – Monday 14th November 2011

This is almost four weeks away but we’ve already got three speakers booked so you’ll need to get in quick if you want to bag the remaining slot (although we’ll make a special effort to fit in an Ice Breaker).

Special Christmas meeting

Monday 12th December 2011

This is a special Christmas meeting where we’ll be following the normal agenda but everything will have a Yuletide twist!

Expect mince pies, seasonal table topics and perhaps even a bit of dressing up…

Club Secretary Kate Osborne is taking on the role of head elf to organize festivities so drop her a line with any ideas at: secretary@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk

Tip of the Month

This month’s tip is a bit of wisdom from Scott Berkun, from his book Confessions of a Public Speaker, and it concerns something we all worry about – making mistakes.

Mistakes will happen – what matters more is how you frame your mistakes, and there are two ways to do this:

  1. Avoid the mistake of trying to make no mistakes. You should work hard to know your material, but also know you won’t be perfect. This way, you won’t be devastated when small things go wrong.
  2. Know that your response to a mistake defines the audience’s response. If I respond to spilling water on my pants as if it were the sinking of the Titanic, the audience will see it, and me, as a tragedy. But if I’m cool, or better yet, find it funny, the audience will do the same.

Okay, that’s all for now – hope you enjoyed this month’s newsletter. As usual, drop me a line with any ideas to help improve the club and anything you’d like to see in the next newsletter.

I look forward to seeing you at a meeting soon!

Best wishes,

Glen Long
President
Bloomsbury Speakers

Club Newsletter – September 2011

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Hello and welcome to the September Newsletter!

August was an interesting month – particularly for those of us living in London! – but despite the rubbish weather and the unusual events at the start of the month it was a good one for Bloomsbury Speakers.

Recent news

We had two very well-attended meetings in August at our backup venue The Lamb. New members fearlessly took on challenging functionary roles (Neil and Karan as Topicsmasters and Joe as Topics Evaluator) without breaking stride and we were also treated to a couple of great Ice Breaker speeches from Ann and Terry.

Further afield, the Toastmasters World Convention took place in Las Vegas, and Australian Jock Elliot was crowned the World Champion of Public Speaking, while local boy and member of Croydon Speakers Malachi Talabi put in a sterling performance on behalf of the Brits, coming third in his semi-final heat. Also, the new Toastmasters brand was unveiled.

What’s happening this month?

There’s lots going on in September, but you’ll have to pay attention to catch it all because we’re moving around* a bit!

Andrew Brammer’s Storytelling Workshop – Monday 5th (SOLD OUT!)

Sadly there are no more places left on this but we’re aiming to do a write-up of the workshop for the website and if there’s enough demand we could certainly talk to Andrew about running it again in future.

The confirmed venue for this workshop is: Bertrand Russell Room, Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL.

Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest – Monday 12th September

There are still slots to enter one or both of these contests! You’ll be competing against familiar faces and you’ve still got time to prepare a speech. Don’t be the one kicking yourself you didn’t take part – it only comes round but once a year.

Even if you’re not competing please come along to support those who are – it should be a really fun evening.

The confirmed venue for the contests is: 1-3 Newton Street, London, WC2B 5EL. Please note this is very near Holborn station but it’s a new venue for us so make sure you check out the map.

Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest – Area 34 Final – Wednesday 21st September

The winners from each of the club contests in Area 34 (City of London Toastmasters, Holborn Speakers, London Business School Speakers, Tube Talk and of course Bloomsbury Speakers) will compete to see who goes on to the Division B final.

We need some volunteers to be vote counters and a timekeeper at this contest. No previous experience required and it’s a great way to meet some new people outside the club. Get in contact!

Regular Meeting – Monday 26th September

This meeting is now available for booking in ClubPlan so make sure you book yourself in. There’s still plenty of time to prepare a speech, but if you don’t fancy that why not book in to do a role you haven’t done before?

*apologies for the “venue tennis” happening in August and September. Our regular venue the Rugby Tavern is closed for refurbishments and we’ve had to be a bit creative with alternative venues. Just make sure you check the website before leaving for a meeting!

What do YOU want from the club?

The club is run for the benefit of all its members so please let me know what you’d like to see more (or less!) of at Bloomsbury Speakers.

Here are a few possibilities, but please suggest some of your own:

  • Debating Meeting – a special meeting where the table topics section (or perhaps the whole meeting) is thrown open to a series of mini-debates, where two speakers argue opposite sides of an issue
  • Table Topics Workshop – we’ve run these very successfully in the past: basically an extra meeting where attendees get to practice lots of table topics
  • Evaluation Workshop – giving and receiving good evaluations is one of the cornerstones of the Competent Communicator programme so I’m looking into getting an experienced evaluator to run a workshop to give us all some tips

Just drop me a line at president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk telling which of the above you’re keen on and any other ideas you might have.

Three Easy Ways To Support Bloomsbury Speakers

I’m passionate about establishing Bloomsbury as a fun and friendly club, not just in the real world through our twice-monthly meetings, but also in the virtual world through our various online presences.

Here are three quick and simple things you can do to help the club thrive online as well as offline:

  • Join our Meetup group – you can get handy meeting reminders and also let us know when you’re attending meetings (and what you thought of them!)
  • Like us on Facebook – you’ll see updates from Bloomsbury Speakers in your newsfeed and we’ll get to connect with you too
  • Follow us on Twitter – if you’re on Twitter then follow us for occasional updates and we’ll follow you back. Win win!

Tip of the Month – TED

Some of you will know about TED already, but for those of you who don’t, it’s an amazing resource featuring hundreds of free talks – between 5 and 20 minutes long – by some of the world’s best speakers.

Not only are many of them fascinating in their own right, but you can of course learn lessons for your own speeches from watching other speakers.

Here are three of my favourites:

That’s it for this month’s newsletter. Let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to include in the next newsletter and hope to see you at a meeting soon.

Best wishes,

Glen Long
President
Bloomsbury Speakers

Club Newsletter – August 2011

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Hello and welcome to the August Newsletter!

This is the first in a regular monthly series highlighting news and events from Bloomsbury Speakers.

If you have news or events or suggestions for future newsletters, please send them to newsletter@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk.

Hope to see you at a meeting soon!

Best wishes,

Glen Long
President
president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk

Recent news 

July was the first month of the new Toastmasters year and what a great way to start! We had two well-attended meetings with lots of new guests.

We’ve also had three brand new members sign-up (in addition to two in June) and saw three great ice breaker speeches.

Other highlights from July:

  • Our new committee took over the club reins – many thanks to the outgoing team for all their hard work and in particular to past president Nazia “Elle Presidente” Soon! Check out the new committee on our website (more photos coming soon!)
  • Our brand new VP of Mentoring Hari Kalymnios has been busy revamping our mentoring programme and has produced new guidelines for club mentors – contact him at mentoring@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk
  • We received notification that we had achieved Select Distinguished Club status based on points gained during the previous Toastmasters year!

What’s happening this month?

August promises to be another exciting month with a lots of speeches already booked and new members keen to flex their communication and leadership muscles.

Regular Meeting – Monday 8th August

We’ve already got a packed speech agenda with four speeches plus an ice breaker. But there are still quite a few evaluator slots so room for experienced evaluators and first-timers alike!

Regular Meeting – Monday 22nd August

Again, a packed speech agenda but plenty of evaluator slots and also a chance to be Harkmaster (or Grammarian). Or even Toastmaster!

Book yourself in via ClubPlan, or contact Dave Longley, our VP Education, to discuss your future speeches & meeting roles. Email Dave at education@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk

We’re looking at running another evaluation workshop in the future, but if you’ve never done an evaluation before and have two or three speeches under your belt, why not book yourself in to evaluate an ice breaker?

Please note: both of our meetings in August will be held at The Lamb, not The Rugby Tavern (due to refurbishments at the Rugby Tavern):

The Lamb, 94 Lamb’s Conduit Street, WC1N 3LZ. (map)

More dates for your diary

Andrew Brammer’s Storytelling Workshop – Monday 5th September

A great workshop from a Distinguished Toastmaster and past-winner of the UK & Ireland Humorous Speech contest (see below for details of this year’s contest!)

You can find out more about Andrew at his website:

http://www.speakingwords.co.uk/

Places will be limited and there will be a small charge to cover room hire and Andrew’s expenses. Members will be given priority but the workshop is open to all.

Please contact Dave Longley (email address above) if you are interested!

Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest – Monday 12th September

These are the club-level contests for humorous speaking and table topics competing against other members.

Members can enter either or both contests – the only requirement is that you are a fully paid up member (so make sure you’re up to date with your dues!)

Contests are suitable for speakers of all levels and it’s a great way to get some extra speaking experience. Members who enjoy Table Topics during a regular meeting should definitely consider entering this contest.

If you’re not a member of the club (yet!) then why not come along to watch? It’s a great atmosphere and promises to be a very entertaining evening.

Autumn Conference – “Flourish” – 11th – 13th November 2011

You’ll hear lots more about this in the weeks to come, but this is the conference being held up in Glasgow, featuring workshops, speech contest finals, and lots of food, drink and general merriment.

Whet your appetite here:

http://flourish2011.co.uk/

Tip of the Month – Calendars

If you use the calendar function on your computer or smartphone, you can automatically add Bloomsbury Speakers meetings by clicking on the link below (or pasting into your browser or calendar):

webcal://www.meetup.com/Bloomsbury-Speakers/events/ical/Bloomsbury+Speakers+Meetings/

If you prefer to receive meeting reminders by email, join our group on Meetup.com.

That’s all folks!

That’s everything for this newsletter. Hope you’ve found it an interesting read and see you soon!