Meeting Report for 18 August 2014

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Written by Svetlana

Introductions

Our President Jo opened the meeting, reminding the audience that Toastmasters is a place where we constantly receive reassurance and support and where the only threat is probably to be slightly embarrassed if we underperform, and we can deal with it in a humorous way. She shared a fresh example of her own experience at another club, which had a different structure in proceedings that caught her unawares. Her story was met with warm laughter and applause. She then introduced the Toastmaster of the evening Carrie, a very enthusiastic member.

Carrie provided a very clear and thoughtful introduction, an overview of the agenda and rules. The theme of the day announced by Carrie was “most embarrassing moments of our lives”. She led by example sharing with us her very personal story of a crash, which she made sound quite amusing. Carrie then introduced Ash, the Timekeeper, who explained the timing rules and importance of abiding by them. Peter L was the Grammarian, whose embarrassing story was related to a situation which happened to him when he ran out of money a few days before his salary – a point, which all of us could concur with, therefore, laugh and cheer. Peter L introduced the word of the day “incisive”.

Prepared speeches

Emma (whose embarrassing story happened to her when she was happy and carefree during her holidays in an exotic country) devoted her No.2 speech to “Why Meditation is Good For You”. Emma compared meditation to push-ups for the brain and talked about many benefits of meditation with examples of personal stories as well as scientific facts and memorable quotes. Her speech was quite inspirational as well as instructive.

Emily, whose most embarrassing and funny episode happened during the weekend prior to her speech and ended up with a broken toe, gave her Speech No. 2 “(Not So) Fantastic Mr. Fox”. Emily told us her quite controversial experience of foxes, especially the noises they made, and neighbours’ reaction to them. Her very entertaining speech was interrupted by laughter many times and was met with a very warm round of applause.

Faith-Rose, gave her No. 3 speech entitled “It’s Just Hair”, which was a personal story of self-acceptance and appreciation, which she earned through the multiple metamorphoses she experienced when she experimented with her hair. The happy end of that story was delightful as she learnt that the best hair was her own natural hair that allowed her the luxury and enjoyment of being her own self. She impressed the audience with poetic and artistic style of narration.

Egor, whose embarrassingly funny moment was when tried to leave a taxi through the window, delivered his Speech No. 3 “A Brief History of Mobile Robotics”. In a was highly informative speech, Egor took us on a journey through the history of this particular technology.

Before the break, Sergeant at Arms Michelle led the guest introductions.

Evaluations

Rebecca proved a detailed evaluation of Emma’s Icebreaker speech with reassurance, commendations on the manner, smile, eye contact, engagement with the audience through rhetorical questions, content and structure of the speech, as well as her own advice for improvement.

Peter F, whose embarrassing moments were related more to his female friends’ stories rather than his own, evaluated Emily’s speech as very well organised, with good vocal variety.

Swarajit, who didn’t have any embarrassing moments, which he could remember, evaluated Faith-Rose’s No. 3 speech as very informative and poetic, interlaced with beautiful devices. As a recommendation Swarajit advised Faith-Rose to try and get to the point.

Ahmed, evaluated Egor’s speech and commended him for sincerity, good preparation, and interesting facts, however he advised Egor to have a more structured approach, use more eye contact and try not to use his notes in order to make it keep the audience engaged.

Table Topics

Joe, whose most embarrassing moment happened when he was drunk and felt very sick on the Underground and so bolted out of the train straight into the wall and ended up in A&E, said he was probably lucky because otherwise he could have been sacked. The theme of the evening introduced by Joe was “challenging situations”.

If you were a Prime Minister and if your son was involved in drugs and smoked cannabis, would your party approve of it? Svetlana said she would act as a politician and show her human side and connect with electorate by drawing attention to NGOs working with young people and helping them overcome bad habits and would use her family’s troubles to connect with families going through the same difficulties.

Ex-footballer Tony Adams used to drink heavily and was cautioned by police, the story got into newspapers and he was at the point of stepping down. Miguel said he would use the story to psyche out and intimidate the rival team at the next match.

President of FIFA Sepp Blatter was suspected of accepting bribes from Qatar as he appointed them hosts for the next World Cup. What would you do if you were Sepp Blatter? Robert said he would maintain his cool and he would insist on having World Cup in Qatar in 2022 and in the future. After all, Winter Olympic Games were held in part of Russia, which never had snow although many other parts of Russia have it in abundance.

You are standing for election as a Prime Minister and you’ve been snapped drunk at a party. What would you do? Rihanna was sure that at the time when social networks are full of personal pictures having a picture at a party on a beautiful beach would attract some attention, which she would need anyway as a candidate standing for election and would also mean that she is with people.

You are Boris Johnson who came out of men only lap dance night club with your Etonian friend, and reporters take your photo. What will you do? Rufina would say that everybody has the right to have fun every now and then, and being Boris Johnson she mingled with people from all walks of life. If as a politician I defend the rights of the gay people how she can do that if she doesn’t know them.

Rounding off the session, Nathaniel provided a thorough, analytical, and reassuring evaluation of all the table topics speakers.

Conclusion

Grammarian Peter L returned to deliver a very interesting report on how rhetorical questions and many other stylistic devices were used skilfully and appropriately by all speakers, after which Kaveh, President of Clerkenwell Speakers gave a very enthusiastic general evaluation with a balance of commendations and advice for improvement for all functionaries.

Awards

The best prepared speech award went to Emily for her No. 2 speech. Best evaluator award went to Peter F and best impromptu speech award to Rufina.

Next meeting

Our next meeting is our Humorous Speech & Table Topics Contest on Monday, 8th September, upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30pm.

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 22nd September.

Meeting Report for 11 August 2014

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Written by Svetlana

Introductions

Our President Jo opened the meeting with a traditional informative introduction about the Toastmasters movement and introduced the Toastmaster of the evening Kate, who is an advanced member of the club.

Kate’s theme of the day about favourite games of our childhood set a very humorous tone to the evening as we laughed imagining for a second how our fellow toastmasters were growing into who they are now. Some of us could hardly remember those games or, on the contrary, remembered and had our own memories of them. This added one important and light-hearted connection to each of the functionaries of the evening. Michelle, the Timekeeper, introduced her role by reminding the audience of the timing rules. Swarajit, the Grammarian, announced the word of the day “frivolous” and explained his role as a Grammarian.  

Prepared speeches

Robert named his No.1 Icebreaker speech “Stages of Life” and delivered it with lots of humour, beautiful language and lots of personal stories.

Tracey gave her Speech No. 4 “A Diamond is Forever” about diamonds, which are so precious and lasting that they are used as tokens of love and devotion although history of diamonds has been marred by wars and crimes. Quite recently manufacturers entered an agreement with the UN to certify diamonds before selling them.

Rebecca delivered her speech No. 4 “Popping Up”, which was devoted to her first experience of surfing in Devon in winter and an important advisory announcement to those of us who would like to repeat her endeavour.

Peter F delivered his Speech No. 9 “Is There a Solution to Violence?” It seemed like Peter was still seeking answers to the main topic of his speech, therefore, bringing it to individual level helped him make the speech relevant to every person. He called upon us to start working on the ways to cope with anger.

Guest introductions

Svetlana, Sergeant At Arms of the evening, greeted guests with a very warm welcome and moderated their introductions. David Marks, the Area Governor, visiting Bloomsbury Speakers, greeted the audience and said it felt good to be introduced among the fresh blood, which keeps the Toastmasters community vibrant.

Evaluations

Carrie evaluated Robert’s Icebreaker speech commending his authenticity, natural commanding presence, charisma, dry sense of humour. Her recommendations were mainly to make pauses to indicate to the audience where he expects them to laugh, and also to improve the structure. A big commendation was that Robert did not use notes.

Svetlana evaluated Tracey’s No.3 Speech “A Diamond is Forever” and commended her for strong opening, which was the title of the speech, for good structure, content, cool manner, and calm voice. Speech made an impression due to the main contrast between lasting love, romance, and devotion, of which diamonds have become a token, and trail of wars and atrocities, which for decades accompanied manufacturing and selling of diamonds.

Helen evaluated Rebecca’s No. 4 Speech “Popping Up” commending her for delivering very vivid speech, usage of triad, anaphora, epistrophe, choice of words, phrases, impeccable grammar, and modulating her voice. Her advice for Rebecca was to avoid beaver, evaluated Janet’s No. 10 speech by highlighting best practice, describing the speech as innovative and relevant, a model of structuring to implant ideas in the memory of the audience and commending Janet’s use of effective eye contact.

Ahmed, evaluated Peter’s No. 9 speech “Is There a Solution to Violence?” commending the topic, the structure, and the content, history, Peter’s ability to connect with the audience bringing the wide topic to an individual level of how to cope with anger in order to stop and to prevent violence in the world. Ahmed recommended Peter to call for action, to project more power, to provide more emphasis.

Table Topics

Emily moderated the Table topics session offering impromptu speakers questions around summer holidays.

British people are notorious for behaving badly abroad. How would you change that?  James reflected on the question and suggested that we work hard and there is no need to amend, to ameliorate, or adapt that behaviour in any way. He would recommend that we feel free to let ourselves completely go, relax, go crazy, make new friends, and come back refreshed and energised to devote ourselves to our career, families, and social life.

Living in such fantastic place we don’t need to go abroad for summer holidays. Do you agree with that?  Tracey agreed, and she gave examples of amazing time she spent in Lake District, Devon, beaches in Southend and Brighton, and provided a thorough description of the attractions in those places.

How would you sell London as a touristy place to people who never came to London? Helen said London was a place to get really close to your fellowmen in transport, you don’t need to worry about sunblock; you can walk through the streets and enjoy wonderful London atmosphere; you can experience the entire world’s climates in one day; you experience all different accents and languages and cultures, and flavours.

What would be the worst destination with the exclusion of war zones? Our guest Nadir changed the question to “the best destination” and talked about his home country Uzbekistan, about people’s hospitality, sunshine, if you have money to pay for the flight.

If a benefactor offers you £20,000,000 upon condition that you never go on holiday would you accept it? Peter argued that in the face of such offer he would re-evaluate the purpose and the need for holiday and realise that life is actually much more comfortable, serene, and enjoyable without holidays, and yes, he would accept the offer and find a multitude of ways to chill without going anywhere for holidays.

Who would be the worst celebrity to spend your holiday with? Our guest Karl changed the question and said, his best celebrity choice would be Robert de Niro. And also, because he was in love with the whole world it would be difficult for him to find a person who would be worst choice to spend the holiday with.

Table Topics Evaluation

Femi’s evaluation of Table Topics not only contained commendations and advice but was also quite entertaining due to his enthusiastic, colourful and humourous manner of speech.

Conclusion

Grammarian Swarajit delivered a report on how the word “frivolous was used as well as figures of speech. As way of advice he noted speeches, which had too many fillers.

Cat K from Excalibur Speakers provided a thorough and inspiring general evaluation, which was received with lots of attention as it contained advice on the improvement of quite a few areas by functionaries and evaluators.

Awards

The best prepared speech award went to Peter for his No. 9 speech. Best evaluator award went to Femi, who evaluated Table Topic speeches and best impromptu speech award went to Helen.

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 18th August upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30pm.

Meeting Report for 28 July 2014

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Written by Tracey

Introductions

Jo, current President of Bloomsbury Speakers, welcomed all guests to the meeting and explained that all members – whether old or new – attend meetings to improve their skills.

Jo then introduced the evening’s Toastmaster, Bronia.  She explained her role and described Bloomsbury Speakers as a fun club. In her view, the most important part of public speaking is listening and providing feedback.   She introduced her theme for the night which was “What is your favourite number?”  She used functionaries’ and speakers’ responses of their favourite numbers while introducing them to the audience. She then introduced the night’s functionaries.

Michelle fulfilled the Timekeeper role, explaining her responsibilities as Timekeeper and the importance of completing speeches on time.   She demonstrated the use of the traffic lights system, which signals timings for each speaker and recommended this role to new members starting out in Toastmasters.

Bronia then introduced Stella, the Grammarian for the evening. Her word of the day was “mantle” which refers to a responsibility passed on from one person to another. Her role was to watch out for fillers and note exemplary use of language and rhetoric in all speakers and to report on those at the end of the meeting.

Prepared speeches

The first was a No. 7 speech presented by Barnaby entitled “Malady”. Barnaby informed the audience of the facts and effects of cancer. He highlighted its prevalence in society and how the disease affects the body, as well the families of cancer suffers.

The second speaker, Hari, in his advanced speech entitled “A Mate, a Meal, and a Memory” told the audience an anecdote about his culinary disappointments when visiting a health-conscious friend in Norfolk.

Renars, the third speaker, delivered an advanced speech on rock climbing.  Renars’s passionate speech was about the logistics of rock climbing. He told the audience about the pressures involved, and how the skills gained benefit other areas of his life.

The final speaker was Svetlana, delivering her speech No.7 entitled “Make it Shine Your Way”. Her speech focused on personal growth and achievement of happiness. She provided guidance on coming to terms with the past and achieving happiness through gratitude.

Evaluations

Peter F evaluated Barnaby’s No. 7 speech “Malady”. He commended his extensive use of facts and emotive language. Peter recommended that Barnaby improve the volume of his delivery.

Helen evaluated Hari’s advanced speech, praising his use of similes. She felt Hari exuded the confidence of an experienced speaker and recommended he use all his speaking time when delivering speeches.

Swarajit evaluated Renars’s advanced speech, commending his voice projection and stance. Swarajit commented that Renars used an exemplary informative style, despite the speech’s objective to persuade. He noted that Renars could improve his eye contact and include props to illustrate his points.

Tracey evaluated Svetlana’s No. 4 speech. She praised her unique use of metaphor, imagery and language; and use of triads to end her speech. She also commended her novel introduction and pace. Her recommendation was that Svetlana could improve her introduction by stating the theme of her speech.

Table topics

Egor, the Table Topics Master introduced his theme on mathematics.

  1. Peter L was asked “What is your favourite mathematical operation?”
  2. Elena was asked “Should we get rid of roman numbers?”
  3. Rhianna was asked “Where she would take a mathematician on a date?”
  4. Callum was asked “why there are so few female mathematicians?”
  5. Yoko was asked about a mathematical problem she had faced.

Kate, the Table Topics Evaluator, gave a balanced and encouraging evaluation of all speakers. She commented on the effectiveness of pauses and silence during impromptu speaking.

Conclusion

Grammarian Stella’s report contained some useful recommendations on language use, after which General Evaluator of the evening Joy from Clerkenwell Speakers provided a thorough and concise report.

Awards

Closing the meeting, President Jo handed out the awards based on the audience votes:

  • Best Table Topic Speaker was awarded to Rhianna
  • Best Evaluator was awarded to Kate
  • Best Prepared Speech was awarded to Hari
  • The President’s discretionary award went to Stella for her role as Grammarian

Next Meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 11th August, upstairs at the Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30 pm.

Meeting Report for 14 July 2014

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Written by Svetlana

Introductions

Our new President Jo opened the meeting, telling the audience how it felt being President – just like a queen who took good care of her subjects! And she introduced the Toastmaster of the evening Rufina, who had recently completed her No. 10 speech project to become a Competent Communicator.

Rufina gave a well-rounded introduction and announced the theme of the day – which animal did the meeting’s speakers identify themselves with? Rufina said she was an eagle, the very image of courage and leadership. Faith-Rose, the Timekeeper, was an elegant and loveable cat. She reminded the audience of the timing rules before later returning to report back on how well they were kept to. Bronia, the Grammarian and also a strong elephant who remembered the good and the bad, announced the literary device of the day, which was alliteration. She gave examples of alliteration and encouraged us to use smart and appropriate alliteration to make our speeches more powerful.

Prepared speeches

Michelle, an intelligent dolphin, devoted her No.2 speech “The Art of Learning” to three different learning styles – visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic – and used colourful visual aids for illustration.

Peter F, a strong and elegant Bengal tiger, gave his Speech No. 8 “Save Dough, Make Bread” by paying tribute to bread with an overview of its history. He gave his speech using basic ingredients as visual aids and revealing a freshly baked loaf of bread, which he’d made himself. The audience cheered for the bread, the recipe, and Peter!

Janet, a highly intelligent dog giving her speech No. 10 entitled “10”,  was extremely compelling and addressed the audience by giving 10 reasons for public speakers to use their skills to be a voice for the oppressed and for disadvantaged groups across the world.

Glen, in line with his speech, was a Mexican hairless cat, was asked to step in and had only 30 minutes to prepare his semi-impromptu advanced speech “The Psychological Effects of Going Bald”. He gave a very humorous speech filled with wisdom on how a man goes through a stage of shock, followed by awareness, alertness, and acceptance of the inevitable.

Before the break, Sergeant at Arms Michelle returned to lead a session where guests introduced themselves and shared their reasons for attending the club meeting.

Evaluations

Ash evaluated Michelle’s Icebreaker speech in her very methodical and thorough way. She commended Michelle on her control of nerves, good speech structure and sign-posting.

Henry, who wanted to be a carefree, joyful dolphin, but admitted he was currently still miserable and tense, gave a humorous, meaningful, and entertaining evaluation of Peter’s speech.

Swarajit, a beaver, evaluated Janet’s No. 10 speech by highlighting best practice, describing the speech as innovative and relevant, a model of structuring to implant ideas in the memory of the audience and commending Janet’s use of effective eye contact.

James, a cautious and calculating lion, evaluated Glen’s performance, commending him on preparing a semi-impromptu speech in half an hour, based on a personal story to which every man can relate.

Table Topics

Wise panther, Emma, very ably facilitated the impromptu speech session choosing summer holidays as the main topic and offered some questions!

How important is it to learn a foreign language before you visit a foreign country? Visiting Toastmaster Alex shared with us that, despite his best efforts to learn French and practice it, French people somewhat disappointed him by asking him to speak English, as their English, they said, was better than his French! And his multi-cultural IT work environment provided a rich experience of foreign languages when his colleagues felt emotional while playing computer games!

While dining out in an exotic country, you are offered monkey brains, what will you do?  Peter L said it actually happened to him some years ago when his Malaysian girlfriend invited him to her home country to taste monkey brains. He managed to skip the offer by saying he couldn’t stand the hot climate.

How would you cope with four unruly children for a week? Rebecca said she actually was a favourite aunty of four wonderful nephews, who live in Shropshire and visit her in London from time to time but for no more than 2 days in one go! She regularly takes them to the “Rainforest Café”, where you spend the money, they entertain the children, and you take the credit. She shared that as best practice for entertaining four unruly children.

You arrive to the airport and discover that your flight is cancelled what would you do? Svetlana would use that as an opportunity to practice gratitude, a sense of humour, and freewill and choose the first destination on the schedule and fly out to experience some adventure.

Which relaxing adventure would you pick? If some people see adventure as a relaxing activity, for guest Robert it would be “hiking” between pubs, reading, and theatre.

Conclusion

Grammarian Bronia delivered a very interesting report on how alliteration was used throughout the evening, after which Jenny from MLP London Bridge Speakers provided a very thorough and energetic General Evaluation of the meeting with important recommendations on how every functionary could improve their performance.

Awards

The best prepared speech award went to Janet for her No. 10 speech, which also marked her progression to Competent Communicator. Best evaluator award went to Henry, and best impromptu speech award to Rebecca.

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 28th July upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30pm.

Meeting Report for 23 June 2014

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Written by Svetlana

Introductions

Our President Swarajit opened the meeting by giving a concise description of what Toastmasters is about and how it can help build confidence in public speaking and leadership skills and even help build excellent career in politics. He announced that it was his last meeting as President and said the experience was extremely rewarding and it had also inspired him to join and become Vice President Public Relations at Excalibur Advanced Speakers Club, and he welcomed the audience to follow the updates and attend that club to learn more about it.

After that, Swarajit introduced the evening’s Toastmaster Jo. He announced that Jo was about to take over as the new President of Bloomsbury Speakers, but Swarajit would continue to provide all-round support and advice as the Immediate Past President, according to the tradition.

Jo gave a brief overview of the agenda and introduced the theme of the day, “endings”, asking each speaker: What period in your life (or a situation in the world) have you been glad to see end and why? What time in your life have you wished would never end and why? Or what film or book has a really great or terrible ending and why?

Jo then introduced the functionaries who were going to assist her that evening:

  • Henry, the Grammarian. Henry explained his functions as a Grammarian, that is, watch everyone’s grammar and style and, at the end of the meeting, provide an evaluation of the language usage by speakers, point out mistakes and good figures of speech. He offered the word of the evening “wholeheartedly”, which is an adverb, typically of an action or activity, meaning “with complete and sincere devotion, determination, or enthusiasm; marked by complete earnest commitment; free from all reserve or hesitation”. Henry encouraged all the speakers to use it in their speeches.
  • Emily, the Timekeeper. Emily explained her role and encouraged the audience to be aware of the time requirements for speeches, and to take the sound of the gavel seriously. Delivering a speech within a given time slot is an important skill, and in a competition setting failure to do so would mean disqualification of the speaker. She also emphasized that it was important not to finish before the green light was on, which was equally undesirable.

Prepared speeches

With an Icebreaker speech entitled “Living Life Sideways” Peter introduced himself to the club officially (although many of us know Peter as a brilliant impromptu guest speaker, he is now one of us). Peter gave us the gist of his life and professional experiences with a reiterating allusion to the image from early childhood when he was growing up in a chicken farm where occasionally a slaughtered chicken managed to escape and run around, headless. That image translated into an image of a freedom-loving misfit, who strived to escape from oppressive routine wherever he faced it, be it at school, university, or his professional duties and enrich his life with personal intellectual interests and pursuits – his tendency to drift sideways, namely, into studying philosophy, publishing essays in journals, engaging in conversations with philosophers and taking part in philosophical conference in Mediterranean, which he described as a bit of chaos.  At the end of the speech the audience couldn’t help applauding with a sense of “wow, what a great journey”.

After that, our second speaker Rebecca, whose answer to Jo’s question about “endings” was that she wished her afternoon nap never ended, delivered her No. 3 speech “Don’t Talk to Strangers”.  Rebecca gave three reasons why skills in “small talk” are important in growing up and overcoming the fear of strangers everyone has due to our upbringing and being told not to talk to strangers. In fact, small talk helps us develop gracefulness and acceptance of other people and differences; it’s an excellent icebreaker and an important step in networking; and last but not least, small talk, in so many cases, was the start of important life-long relationships. Rebecca supported her message with humour and lots of personal examples and stories.

Our third speaker Helen delivered her No. 7 Speech “The Dunning-Kruger Effect”, which was quite a smart talk based on scientific research by David Dunning and Justin Kruger (1999) with a message, which sounds a bit of a paradox and pun, “If you don’t know, you can’t know that you don’t know”, or in other words, “If you’re incompetent, you can’t know you’re incompetent.”  The message is actually quite valid for so many different contexts, such as sales of a learning product, where unperceived need is great, but the buyer doesn’t know about it. Or, for a person in a new job, or for a student, as Helen started her speech with a personal story from her university years when she, being a good student, was shocked by scathing comments from her professors to a presentation, which seemed perfectly well-prepared to her. Tonight though, she kept her audience very attentive by juggling with unusual terms bringing it all to a fairly simply worded conclusion, which sounded like a joke and wouldn’t make sense when you first heard it, “If you don’t know, you can’t know that you don’t know”! There is also a valuable message for Toastmasters was you can’t become a good speaker without experience, guidance and training.

Our fourth speaker Carrie gave her No. 9 speech entitled “The Only Way is Up”. First, she described her personal attitude towards Botox and her first experience of using it. She referred to it and other beautifying and rejuvenating technologies, which women start contemplating from a fairly young age, and not because they are getting older, but because they are scared of getting older.  Carrie then delivered a message, which was truly in the spirit of the No.9 speech project “Persuade with Power”. It was based on scientific research, which proved that 52, on average, was an age when woman thinks she is very attractive, and 85 is when she feels the happiest. Carrie finished with the quote “Youth is an illness, which we all will get over”. He speech was received with special applause as the audience felt uplifted that their best years are still to come and that, indeed, life is more about what we feel.

The meeting’s Sergeant at Arms Jon, whose answer to the Toastmaster’s theme of the day was that he wished his travels to South America never ended, introduced our most welcome guests. The introduction was warm, supportive, and encouraging.

Evaluations

Paula evaluated Peter’s icebreaker speech in her very methodical and thorough way. She commended Peter for producing a speech which revealed an experienced storyteller. The performance was brave, resourceful, engaging, with good portion of humour and a lot of really interesting facts from his personal story of enriching his life by drifting away from rigid routine and also allowing his talents of a philosopher and speaker flourish. Paula’s evaluation was expressive, energetic, with signposting adjectives with a lot of content, just like the speech she evaluated.

Svetlana (whose answer to the Toastmaster’s question of the day was that she wished the new Bloomsbury Speakers committee to be as efficient as the previous one) evaluated Rebecca’s No. 3 speech “Don’t Talk to Strangers”, pointing out that the speech had a lot of features that characterise good performance, such as eye contact, vocal variety, and humour with a personal touch. Rebecca, indeed, managed to demonstrate how important the skill of small talk is in growing as a social individual. Svetlana had two recommendations for Rebecca; one was to try and get rid of notes, which in this case were clearly used as refuge to hide nerves, but what, in fact, they did was serve as a button, which was turning on and off her naturally charming personality. Svetlana also called on Rebecca to give more of herself to the audience. However, some nervousness can be good, as in her case it added to her cheerfulness and energised the audience.

Joe evaluated Helen’s No. 7 speech “The Dunning-Kruger Effect” referring to his own experience of delivering a speech based upon a researched topic and challenges that speech project presents. He commended Helen for keeping it all together, all facts and names and concepts and managing to relate it to Toastmasters. Our learning curve is very similar to what Helen described through a scientific research example. What a good way to persuade and to promote the speakers movement, the benefit of experience, guidance, and training in becoming proficient public speakers.

James, who stepped in to evaluate Carrie’s No. 9 Speech “The Only Way is Up”, gave a thorough analysis of her performance, how she started off with an example about Botox injections that made the audience wonder how and why that could be relevant to any of us. But Carrie’s speech, indeed, was charged with power and she used that little personal story as a vehicle into a much more important and serious speech. She persuaded the audience that getting older was not a bad thing at all and James characterised Carrie’s delivery as classy.

Table Topics

The table topics section was chaired by Ahmed (whose answer to Jo’s question was the movie The Sixth Sense, which shocked him by its ending, which he will never forget). Ahmed explained the “rules of the game” as being able to think on your feet and off the cuff and produce a speech with a beginning, a middle and an end. He said that impromptu speaking is a core skill, which Toastmasters clubs help to develop, as we are called upon to deliver unprepared speeches on a daily basis, mostly in a professional, formal setting when he have to speak off the cuff and make sense. He asked the table topic speakers various questions, which they never heard before.

  • Peter F’s speech was an answer to Ahmed’s question: Why would he persuade FIFA that rugby ball should be used instead of football? Peter managed to make his speech topical and referred to corruption scandals of FIFA and how not to have world cups in summer in hot climates.
  • Egor’s speech was his answer to the question: Which is more important: winning or taking part? Egor talked about university instead of sports and said that grades were important. And in sports, participation is important for people who value health, but for those who value status, winning is more important.
  • Guest Kathy in her answer to the question about her favourite sport admitted she didn’t know much about sports and gave a personal story with a lot of humour about how she enjoyed a corporate event where the whole staff including her boss played a game. And her manager’s hopping and falling over was the funniest sport she had ever seen.
  • Glen’s speech was an answer to the question: Why should ticket touts be banned? Glen said, they represented micro-capitalism, as far as he was concerned, and were filling the need. So, he wouldn’t ban them remembering the quote: “If I wasn’t doing it then someone else would be doing it”.
  • Terry had a question: If you were asked to eliminate one sport what would it be and who would miss it: rugby, wrestling, boxing, bull fighting? He engaged the audience in answering this question finding out what would be pros and cons behind each sport. The final conclusion was to eliminate bull-fighting.
  • Emma had a question: what sport would you least like to participate in? She said the previous speaker helped her answer this question that it would be bull fighting, but because there is no bull fighting in Britain anyway, so she would instead promote horse-riding and make it as popular as possible, which determined a strong ending to her speech.

Hari congratulated all the table topic speakers on their courage and provided evaluation for each of them with commendations and helpful recommendations.

Conclusion

Henry reported his Grammarian’s findings to the meeting. He said how important it was to focus on the economy of language, on putting words together thoughtfully, to make the language sound sharp and clear as laser points. He commended Peter on the use of language, such expressive phrases as “headless chicken”, which was not just a smart phrase, but produced a logical and imagery linkage to his life events throughout his story. His other remarkable expressions were “residual nerve signals”, and “dross of pseudoscience”, which made his speech quite interesting and memorable. In Rebecca’s speech “grace and acceptance” sounded quite powerful. In Svetlana’s evaluation, Henry picked out the phrases “naturally charming” and “notes are a refuge”. Henry also gave other examples of speech figures and expressions, which speakers used and commended everyone on active use of the word “wholeheartedly”.

Tony, visiting from HOD Speakers Club, kindly stepped in to provide a general evaluation of the meeting. He started with a very high commendation and congratulated the President, the functionaries, and members on having the reputation of the best club in London. He pointed out the warm atmosphere, and how everyone was genuinely enjoying the meeting and taking part in it. He singled out Jon, as Sergeant At Arms for being attentive, supportive and encouraging towards guests.

Awards

After general evaluator Tony’s detailed report, Jo presented Swarajit with a special award to mark his presidency.

Swarajit spoke about the outgoing committee’s good work and presented the honorary awards to the club officers, VP Education Jo, VP PR Rufina, Treasurer Ahmed and Club Secretary Paula.

Swarajit then announced the new committee members: President Jo, VP Education Helen, VP Membership James, VP PR Svetlana, Treasurer Rebecca, Sergeant At Arms Michelle (who was away on holiday), Club Secretary Liz (also absent), and the Immediate Past President Swarajit.

Finally, the regular awards for the meeting were presented:

  • Best table topic: Glen
  • Best evaluator: Hari
  • Best prepared speech: Helen
  • President’s discretionary award: Jon

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 14th July upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30pm.