Meeting Report for 11 November 2013

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Introduction

How can you overcome a fear of public speaking? Our President Swarajit explained, after he had warmly welcomed us, that we can deal with speech anxiety – and at the same time gain leadership skills – through practice. Simply practising prepared and impromptu speeches at a Toastmasters meeting, and delivering evaluations of other members’ speeches will put a nervous speaker on the road to being a confident speaker. The meeting was then handed over to Hari, our Toastmaster for the evening.

Before introducing the theme for the evening, “Silence – how do you get or where do you go for a moment of silence?”, Hari applauded everyone for coming out on such a dark and gloomy night. He went on to introduce the other functionaries for the evening: Sarah, the Timekeeper who talked us through the guidelines of the timing system; and Rajeev the Harkmaster whose role it was to test the audience’s listening skills at the end of the meeting by running a quiz based on the speeches rendered during the meeting. Rajeev also gave and challenged us to use the word of the day taciturn.

Prepared speeches

The first prepared speech was by Rufina with a number 8 speech entitled ‘Hidden Treasures’, where she reminded us that talents are like hidden treasures that cannot be pick from the roadside but must be dug up from deep within the earth. In doing so, the purpose and fulfilment of life is realised.

Onto another number 8 speech and member Samuel with his speech entitled ‘Lion boy’ took us on a picturesque and emotional journey of his life with his son nicknamed Lion boy from the time he was born and through his formative years, including their separation and reunion.

Stella on her number 9 speech briefly informed us about ongoing voluntary work to support an endangered species – turtles – which was enlightening. She ended on an emotional note by appealing to us to think about how we treat the environment.

Jumping to the challenge, Femi gave an impromptu speech entitled “The Power of Silence”. However, the content of the message was opposite to the title of the speech. It was an appeal to speak up, to challenge bullies and to stand up for the right thing.

Key tips from our evaluators were as outlined below:

  • Damien evaluating Rufina commended her on the great use of metaphors, visual aids and her friendly style.  His recommendation was to vary the pace of the speech.
  • Peter commended Samuel on how the speech was delivered with flair and how he’d made it personal with the use of pictures. Samuel was encouraged to keep going.
  • Ahmed commended Stella on a strong opening to her speech, and her very powerful and convincing language in helping the audience imagine the plight of the endangered species. The recommendation given was to avoid using notes.
  • Helen commended Femi (who had no predefined objectives) on holding the audience’s attention with an impromptu speech. His pauses reinforced the theme (silence), while the use of personal stories and quotes helped bring the speech together.

Table Topics

Carrie hosted the table topics (also referred to as impromptu speeches) for the evening which was themed around the changing of the curriculum in the schools by the government. The questions went to these willing participants:

  • Noemi – What did you think of the education you received – will you recommend it?   
  • Jo – Enjoying a class at school is more about the teacher than the subject. Discuss.
  • Martin – There is a growing obesity problem in the UK. How many hours of Physical Education should be built into the curriculum?
  • Rajeev – Behaviour management is more of an issue today than before. Who should be responsible, the teacher or parent?
  • Anthony – A renewed sense of British focus has been prescribed for the history curriculum with more focus on the kings and queens at the expense of international history. Is this a good thing or not?
  • Helen – The strictest teachers are the best. Discuss.

Glen had the mantle of evaluating the table topics. His commendations included praise for launching straight into the answer, solid arguments, phenomenal voice and good reasoning. Recommendations given were to use the stage more, along with pauses and vocal variety.

Awards

The awards for the evening went to:

Best Prepared Speech: Stella for her emotional and sincere speech on the endangered turtles.

Best Evaluator: Glen for his evaluation of the table topics session.

Best Table Topic: Helen for her discussion about strict teachers.

President’s Award: This went to Jo for organising the evening’s programme under challening circumstances.

 

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Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 25th November 2013 upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU.

Doors open at 6.30pm for a prompt 6.45pm start.

Meeting report for 28 October 2013

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Introduction

Our President, Swarajit, began the meeting by reminding everyone of the Toastmasters UK & Ireland convention in November, drumming up support for Glen, who will be competing in the Table Topics contest. Swarajit reflected on how we learn. Whilst we pick up the ability to speak as children by listening and copying others, we do not pick up the ability to speak publicly, and therein lies the benefit of Toastmasters.

Bronia, our Toastmaster for the evening, was introduced by Swarajit as having a lot to live up to after her last stellar performance in the role. She did not disappoint, keeping the energy up throughout the meeting with a pleasant, confident presence. Bronia’s chosen theme for the meeting was heroes.

  • Tracey – the Timekeeper – gave a brief introduction on the importance of time before explaining the timings of each speech presented on the programme and demonstrating the use of the lights to signal these timings to the speaker.
  • Rajeev – the Grammarian – presented the word of the day, “limpid”, giving several examples of its use. He also gave examples of other devices he would be listening for, such as metaphors, similes, alliteration and anaphora, despite the fact that his wife says he’s not a very good listener.

Prepared Speeches

Sarah, in her Icebreaker entitled, “Evolution and Me”, began by describing public speaking as her “worst nightmare”. As part of her Master’s programme in Human Evolution and Behaviour, she has to give two presentations and so is keen to overcome her fear. Sarah went on to describe some of the topics she is studying, as well as what drew her to study Evolution in the first place. Her speech was heart-warming and full of humour.

Barnaby spoke about his personal hero, John von Neumann, who was an extremely accomplished mathematician and economist. Barnaby presented many interesting facts about von Neumann’s mind, his key discoveries, and of course Economics, in a manner that drew the audience’s attention and highlighted Barnaby’s glowing admiration.

Jo spoke about scuba diving in her advanced entertaining speech entitled, “Out of My Depth”. She skilfully and humorously recanted her adventures on a liveaboard trip to the Red Sea, including numerous encounters with shipwrecks and sharks.

The subject of Hari’s advanced speech was the eternal greek – Odysseus. Entitled, “A Hero’s Return”, Hari’s speech captivatingly described Odysseus’ return to Ithaca after his 20 year adventure, and how he won back his wife, Penelope, as well as his throne.

Evaluations

Renars began his evaluation of Sarah’s icebreaker by inviting the audience to applaud her for starting her public speaking journey. Though he did recommend she speak more about herself, his overall tone was positive and congratulatory.

Carrie’s evaluation of Barnaby’s speech was extremely well structured with numerous commendations around his progress and presence, his research and credibility, and his obvious passion for the topic. She suggested improvements to his body language, more eye contact and more voice projection before concluding on a commendation on his skilful use of humour and pauses.

Kate found Jo’s speech clear, well-constructed and clever. She commended Jo’s expression of enjoyment throughout the speech as well as her consistent ability to engage with the audience. Kate recommended that Jo put her notes aside in future as they restricted her movements, then concluded by commending Jo’s wonderful descriptions.

Glen described Hari’s speech as a “fantastic treat,” enumerating several things that he personally loved about it. He commended Hari’s solid stance and body language, though his gestures could have had more variety, as well as his easy charm. Glen went on to observe that Hari seemed at times not fully immersed in his own story, and suggested that the story could have been somewhat reinterpreted for a modern audience.

Table Topics

Joe introduced Table Topics as being valuable for winning arguments, selling ideas and creating relationships. He took a very innovative approach by inviting participants to speak in an open ended fashion about objects he had pulled out of a bag.

  • Glen began with a useful tip for all table topics speakers, “Don’t be afraid of the first thing that comes into your mind.” However, since he had been given a container of lubricant, he swiftly added that, “Sometimes it is important to self-censor.” His response was extremely humorous and entertaining.
  • Martijn, a guest, was given a thermometer, which inspired him to speak about the weather and the temperature differences between England and his native country, the Netherlands.
  • Ash was given a lighter, which brought to mind looking out the window at smokers outside her office. She spoke about how she began smoking when she was quite young, though she has now given it up.
  • Liz spoke about lip salve, something that she uses frequently, especially in cold weather. Her daughter likes to use different flavours and colours of lip salve, but Liz herself prefers to stick with the plain sort.
  • Kate was glad not to have gotten the lip salve or the oil – instead she got a data memory stick. She remarked that she had accumulated 3-4 memory sticks and didn’t know what was on any of them. “What,” she wondered, “did we do before them?”

Femi provided an entertaining and useful evaluation, presenting unique points for each topics speaker. The level of detail in his evaluation showed how intently he listened to each topic.

Reports

Rajeev reported four uses of the word of the day before going on to give numerous examples of the best language of the evening.

Helen filled in as General Evaluator as the day’s transport chaos had prevented the scheduled GE from attending the meeting. She briefly provided feedback to each of the evaluators and functionaries.

Awards

  • The President’s Award went to Helen for stepping in as the General Evaluator.
  • Sarah earned the Icebreaker Award for her first speech.
  • Best Evaluator and Best Table Topics Speech both went to Glen.
  • Best Prepared Speech was awarded to Hari for his advanced speech.

Next Meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 11th November upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU.

Doors open at 6.30pm for a prompt 6.45pm start.

Meeting report for 14 October 2013

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Introductions

It was standing room only at The Clerk & Well for our first regular meeting in October. In a warm welcome from President Swarajit, we were reminded of how Toastmasters continues to be a safe and friendly platform to practise and gain confidence in public speaking. The meeting was then handed over to Glen, our Toastmaster, to host.

Glen introduced the theme for the evening as “favourite Toastmasters role” – which for many members was the Toastmaster role itself! – and went on to introduce the other functionaries – Samuel, the Timekeeper, and Marie the Grammarian who gave us the word of the day, “arbitrary”.

Prepared speeches

On to the prepared speeches and Damien started us off with a No. 4 speech entitled “Thoughts as Actions – Imagine That”. He dispelled the conventional view that damaged or ‘dead’ human brain cells cannot be replaced or regain function, with new findings in neuroscience that show it is possible for patients with neurological problems to regain some reflex.

In his No. 6 speech entitled “Twenty-One”, Rajeev shared his experience of training for a half-marathon (21 kilometers) even though his body testified he was ill-prepared for it. His advice to us was to train and execute well if you are participating in a race.

With her No. 7 speech, “Are you a tech’ or social media addict?” we had the privilege of hearing how the damage to Rufina’s smart-phone led her to examine how she might indeed to be one of the 11 million UK social media addicts.

Finally there was a humorous speech – “Parachutes” – from Joe, who narrated a story about a school boy, a wise man, a clever man and a doctor who between them had to strategically fight for 3 parachutes to save their lives.

Evaluations

The second half of the meeting opened with some key tips from our evaluators:

  • Jo, evaluating Damien, commended him on his good body language, great speech structure and clear examples, and recommended more pauses.
  • Henry commended Rajeev on his great conversational style and interesting speech topic. His recommendation was, again, to slow down and use more pauses.
  • Nazia commended Rufina on the use of effective language, on her delivery without notes and her great body language. Her recommendation was to do a bit more research into the subject.
  • Ratan commended Joe on an entertaining speech with a moral, as well as great stage presence and gestures.  The recommendation was for Joe to have woven the story and moral together more explicitly.

Table topics

The table topic talks (also referred to as impromptu speeches), hosted by Ahmed, were based on the theme of the evening.

  • Peter was asked for his evaluation of Prime Minister’s Question Time. 
  • Janna told us which celebrity she thought could benefit from joining a public speaking group.
  • Jo tackled the question of which Toastmasters role most helped her critical thinking skills.
  • Ratan debated whether public speaking should be added to the school curriculum.

Hari, evaluating the table topics, praised participants’ smiling and use of humour as effective ways of connecting. His recommendation was for speakers to not highlight their own mistakes, because no one notices. Other tips included controlled voice projection and he urged speakers to always attempt to answer the question asked.

Awards

The awards for the evening went to:

Best Prepared Speech: Joe for his humorous speech with a moral.

Best Evaluator: Hari for taking on the unenviable task of evaluating the impromptu table topic speakers.

Best Table Topic: Ratan, who entertained us with a humorous table topics speech.

President’s Award: This went to the evening’s grammarian Marie, who is also the club’s loyal Sergeant at Arms.

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 28th October 2013 upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU.

Doors open at 6.30pm for a prompt 6.45pm start.

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Meeting report for 23 September 2013

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Group_new‘Clapping and cheering for our speakers as they make their way up onto the stage to deliver their speech…’ our president, Swarajit, explained in his opening remarks before handing over to Ahmed, our Toastmaster, ‘…is one of the simplest and easiest ways to inspire confidence and to encourage our speakers’.

On taking over from Swarajit, Ahmed subsequently introduced the theme of the evening around the notion of ‘going out of our comfort zones’, which was fitting given that this was Ahmed’s first stint as Toastmaster himself. He was ably supported by Grammarian, Jo, who gave us ‘Vivacious’ as the word of the day, and Liz the Timekeeper.

We were treated to an entertaining number 4 speech about the history of pole dancing from Helen who entitled her speech “Pop! Six! Squish! Uh uh! Cicero! Lipschitz!”

In her number 6 speech, “The Expensive Occasions” Rufina shared her twined bewilderment and frustration with the exorbitant amount of money that weddings cost nowadays, and how the occasion – particularly the reception ceremony – can sometimes become so drawn out.

‘Pace yourself’,  Paula urged us in her number 8 speech – “12-Minute Workout” – as she demonstrated an exercise regime commonly known as interval training which involves a series of gentle to intense workouts punctuated with relief periods.

Finally, in a number 10 speech entitled “Why Won’t God Heal Amputees?” our very own president, Swarajit, invited us to consider the notion that we are better than God; this is evident, he claimed, in how we innovate and ultimately solve difficult problems – artificial limbs for amputees being case in point.

Key tips from our evaluators, namely Michael, Peter, Barnaby, Renars and Joe, included:

  • Vivid language and descriptive words are always welcome.
  • Fonts on visual aids should be big enough for the audience at the back to see.
  • Hand gestures that are larger than the outlines of your body communicate a large idea or concept. But if all your hand gestures are large they can become distracting.
  • Create more interest in your voice by changing the pace or speed with which you speak. Add more expression by changing the volume and/or pitch when you go higher for light, sweet moments or deep down/quiet for serious moments.

The table topic talks (or impromptu speeches), hosted by Bronia, were on the theme of interview questions, and with the exception of Glen, all the participants were guests!

  • Glen had to answer the question “If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and throw into a blender, how would you get out?”
  • Nathaniel had to choose any two celebrities to be his parents and explain why
  • “How would you explain what Facebook is to your grandmother?” was addressed by Janna
  • Vehno was confronted with the question, “Have you ever stolen a pen from work?”
  • Another guest was invited to discuss what she thought about when she was in the car
  • Madeline was asked to reveal what makes her happy in the office on a Friday afternoon
  • And Robin tackled the challenging question, “How many cows are there in Canada?”

 

The awards for the evening went to:

Best Table Topic: This was a tie between Glen and Janna.

Best Evaluator: Joe won the best evaluator’s award for the evening after taking on the unenviable task of evaluating the seven impromptu table topic speakers.

Best Prepared Speech: Helen – who took us through the history of pole dancing from its origins in the circus, before it became synonymous with strip clubs, to its present use in mainstream gyms and studios.

President’s Award: This went to Cheska, our General Evaluator from our sister club Holborn Speakers, for doing a fantastic job at the role she was performing for  the first time.

Swarajit completed his competent communication manual.

Swarajit 3

Our next meeting is on Monday, 14th October from 6:30pm, upstairs at the Clerk & Well pub. See you there!

Contest Report – 16th September 2013

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Introduction

Bloomsbury Speakers hosted its Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest this Monday with the president Swarajit kick-starting the meeting by introducing the agenda for the evening and the Contest Chair Nazia. Nazia welcomed the judges and outlined the procedures for the contestants as well. The first half was the Humorous Speech section and the second half was be the Table Topics section, each consisting of 5 contestants.

Humorous Speech Contest

Setting the pace with his speech entitled “Grumpy Brits” Joe reminded us of how grumpy London Underground users can be. This grumpy trait ceases to exist if they happen to be in a Wimbledon queue where politeness takes over. However when using the Underground, 3 rules apply – no eye contact, no smiling and no eye contact! Everyone pretends to study their Kindle, phone or the tube map no matter how many times they have made the journey.

Joe

Joe receiving his award

Second Speaker Renars in his speech entitled “Do you get me?” shared his fascination with the English language, particularly how one word in English can have different meaning in several countries. Two examples cited were: “How are you?” in Canada simply meant “Hi”, not an open door to give an account of your day. Lastly the use of filler words such as ‘Right’ and “Do you get me?” after every statement. The moral of the story was to be mindful when you use the English language in another country.

Renars

Renars’ award

The third Speaker was Peter with his speech entitled “Running Demon”. Peter explained how he has become accustomed to hearing voices telling him things to do such as to move to Haiti, engage in public speaking or to take part in a marathon, which he always obeys. During his training, other runners kept overtaking him and even a little dog stopped and shook his head at him with sympathy. Despite the challenges he successfully completed a 10-mile run in preparation for the marathon.

Peter

Peter receiving his award

Samuel, with his speech entitled “Disco Dancing””, started by entertaining us with some dance moves. He took us on a journey to his childhood in the 80s, at 11 years old where he had his first disco experience. Samuel went on to show us three of his top moves – the Kissing Cobra, Monkey Magic and Dragon’s Whip. In conclusion, although he enjoyed and still enjoys disco, he has now retired from it.

Samuel

Samuel receiving his award

Hari the last speaker for the first section shared his experience and challenges of handing out fliers for his upcoming fitness workshop. Despite choosing a distribution point near a gym, the task did not prove any easier. Instead he observed various reactions. There were those who pretended to be on the telephone, some were in a hurry, others were scared, etc. In spite of the challenges he knew with persistence success will come your way.

Table Topics Speech Contest

In the second half of the meeting, Kate introduced the table topics contest, where each contestant was required to give a 1-2 minute response to the same question:

“Some people think aliens created the pyramids; what are your thoughts?”

Hari vivaciously informed us that aliens created much more than pyramids with one, Lector, hiding in our basement. All any doubter needed to do was hit the Google search or find out from our very own alien.

Hari_2

Hari receiving his award

Emotionally-charged Glen wanted to know who these “some people” were. Could they in fact be right? With all the mystics about pyramids has anyone built one or know anyone who has? That someone was audience member Kaveh, because he raised his hand.

Glen

Glen receiving his award

Renars convinced us that it’s not hard to believe they built the pyramids. It all started when bored aliens in their language communicated among themselves drew a plan and started putting up the structures together.

Joe informed us that although no one knows how they did it, those little green monsters thriving in magma with many hands drilled, burrowed and delivered huge stones to build the pyramids.

Femi took us back to ancient times when ordinary people without special skills did extraordinary things. He argued that the Egyptians built the pyramids but we in today’s society cannot imagine how ordinary people with primitive technology built the pyramids; rather we reason there must be some mysterious about them, that they must be aliens.

Results

When the judges’ ballots had been counted and checked, drum rolls were provided by the audience and with suspense built up by the chief judge the results were announced.

In the Humorous Speech contest:

  • Third place went to Hari
  • Second place went to Samuel
  • First Place went to Renars

In the Table Topics Speech Contest:

  • Third place went to Renars
  • Second place went to Hari
  • First place went to Glen

Judge

Chief Judge Gary reads the results

Group_contest

Contestants pose with the club banner and president Swarajit

Jo

President Swarajit presents flowers to contest organiser Jo

Group contest 2

Contestants and organisers pose with contest chairs Nazia and Kate

The Next Round – Area 34 Contest

Congratulations to all our contestants and particularly to Renars and Glen who will now go on to represent the club at the Area 34 contest on Thursday, 26th September at 55 Broadway, directly above St. James’s Park tube station. If you would like to attend (and we encourage everyone to do so!) please e-mail president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk to get your name on the guest list.