Introductions

The meeting began with the club president Swarajit sharing his experience of his latest trip to the dentist. He had his mouth numbed with anesthetic in order to have some dental work and, as a result, was unable to speak properly for a short while. Swarajit was frustrated by this experience and realised the importance of speech and proper articulation, without which we are often misunderstood.

Swarajit handed over to the evening’s Toastmaster Bronia, who had come up with the creative theme of inner soundtracks. As we each go through life, battle our challenges, reach our goals and face our fears, we often have a song playing inside of our head. Bronia asked each speaker what song they would choose as their life’s soundtrack and then played the tune as each speaker came on stage.

Timekeeper Glen stepped in to the role at the last moment in place of Sinead, who he claimed to be his alias name when he dresses and preforms as drag queen on Friday nights. (Please note that he was in fact joking….we think.)

Grammarian Joe stressed the importance of choosing your words carefully when speaking. He selected an appropriate word ‘vivacious’ for the club members to use. He also tried to achieve the highest number of uses for his chosen word by asking the audience to repeat it several times before he left the stage.

Prepared Speeches

Peter spoke on the topic of poetry. He began his speech with a quote from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliette and then spoke of his struggle to understand poetry in his youth. Through many struggles to learn the art, Peter overcame his fear and began to embrace poetry of all kinds, especially Kubla Kahn by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Barnaby delivered a passionate speech about his love of classical music. He disproved the misconception that many have about the classical genre, for example that it is extremely expensive, and not at all relevant to the world today. He explained that there is no need to see the likes of Beethoven or Bach as elitist, as they are as accessible as every other type of music. Classical music speaks worldwide truths and touches the hearts of every soul who has ever felt pain, struggle or inspiration.

Hari cleverly used quantum physics to explain the concept of connectivity. He described how two particles that where once connected will always have an effect on one another. Using two golf balls, Hari demonstrated how when one particle spins, the other will also move. Considering the Big Bang theory for the creation of the universe, all particles were once entangled with each other, which therefore must prove that all of us – humans, animals and the environment alike – are interdependent and must be treated with more respect.

Renars delivered an advanced speech about communication. He began with an example of the effort it used to take to send a message to each other 20 years ago, and then compared it to today when it takes seconds to send words or photos to thousands of followers. He also demonstrated the downfalls of some modern technology such as ‘auto-correct’ which is often the culprit of some embarrassing messages via text. Renars kept the audience laughing with amusing autocorrect bloopers. He finished the speech by explaining how important face-to-face communication is and not to rely too heavily on technology.

Evaluations

Each speaker was given an evaluation by a fellow club member.

Helen gave a thorough evaluation of Peter’s speech. She praised his style as delightful and natural, describing him as someone who immediately puts one at ease. She liked his hand gestures and appreciated his recovery when he momentarily forgot his place in the speech. Her general recommendation was that Peter did not state his objective for the speech. Was it meant to inspire, educate or entertain?

Ahmed evaluated Barnaby’s speech. Ahmed was impressed with Barnaby’s stance on the stage, his body language, and the passion with which he spoke. The audience could hear Barnaby’s intense appreciation for classical music. His main recommendation was for Barnaby to stop using notes throughout his speech because it takes away his focus on the audience, losing the connection with them.

Femi evaluated Hari’s speech on connectivity. Femi was enticed by Hari’s ability to explain such a complex concept within science and physics. He believed that it was a clever way of getting his point across. Femi also liked the props and the examples used to make the concept easier for the audience to understand. Femi’s recommendation was that Hari could have threaded the speech together more clearly to avoid losing anyone’s attention.

Finally, Joowon evaluated Renars’s advanced speech. She felt that Renars reached all of his objectives and was excellent at engaging the audience. Her recommendations were for Renars to make eye contact with the entire audience, rather than only one section of it, and in addition be careful not to repeat the same hand gesture too frequently.

Table Topics

Table topics were led by Rufina who chose some extremely morbid questions for the speakers. One may even say dark and dismal questions. Nevertheless, the speeches turned out to be really humorous as each speaker rose to the challenge.

Jo effortlessly gave an evaluation of all the table topic participants. She summed up each person’s commendable attributes and followed by a helpful recommendation. Throughout her evaluation, she showed grace and exuberance.

Awards

Closing the meeting Swarajit handed out the awards based on votes from the audience:
• Best Evaluator award went to Helen
• Best speaker was Hari
• Best table topic went to Sam, a visiting toastmaster from King’s Speakers

Next meeting

Our next meeting is our Humorous Speech and Table Topics contest on Monday, 16th September, upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU.

Doors open at 6.30pm for a prompt 6.45pm start, although contestants and functionaries should aim to arrive no later than 6:15pm.

Introductions

President Swarajit opened the meeting by welcoming guests and members. He spoke about the open and friendly atmosphere in Bloomsbury Speakers, which offers a safe platform for both guests and members to get up and speak in front of an audience until they gain confidence.

The Toastmaster Glen, a past president of Bloomsbury Speakers, started by commending the immediate past and current presidents for a fantastic job done. He went on to introduce the functionaries and his theme for the meeting, which was “What experience have you had (recent or otherwise) that really got your adrenaline pumping?”

Timekeeper David talked us through the green, amber and red light system for timing speeches and cautioned speakers to be mindful of the gavel.

The Grammarian, Samuel, introduced the word of the day as “Congruent”. He also gave a number of examples of rhetorical devices that speakers could use in their speeches and encouraged the use of good language generally.

Prepared Speeches

Rajeev on his number 5 speech ‘Cash in hand’  started by sharing with us his hunt for a painter and the moral dilemma of not paying tax – should he pay the painter “cash in hand”? In his speech he explained the difference between tax evasion, tax avoidance and tax abuse and how it applies to our financial activities.

In his number 9 speech ‘Somaliland’, Ahmed gave us an insight to the history of Somaliand  – an independent state that has not been recognised as such by the international community, perhaps because of its lack of natural resources. He said is always at the end of receiving bad press because of connections with Somalia however in spite of all the struggles nearby, there is still a peace haven in Somaliland.  

Joe’s advances speech on storytelling, entitled “Ups and Downs”, expressed his views and opinions on the ups and downs of success, something we all experience. Joe drew on personal stories such his time as a teenage tennis player and an episode where he was determined to climb a mountain near Marrakesh despite having food poisoning. These helped him to drive home his point about the pressure to become successful at all cost and to explore the lessons learnt.

Renars in his advanced speech persuasive speech entitled “Do you get me?” shared his fascination about the English language, how one word in English can have different meaning from one country to the other. Some example cited were: “How are you?” in Canada simply meant “Hi” and the use of filler phrases by the English such as “Do you get me” after every statement. The morale of was to be mindful when you use the English language in another country.                                                                                                                       

Evaluations

Ben liked the choice of Rajeev’s topic – which everyone has an opinion about – and the way he explained the possible scenarios. He also commended his natural presence, great eye contact and a friendly tone, however he was recommended to make better use of the stage.

Mike commended Ahmed on an illuminating speech and a great concept of talking about Somalia from another perspective other than the news. Other commendations were good pauses and gestures which engaged interest and the use of personal story. In closing, Mike recommended Ahmed to use more of his allotted time.

Rufina, who evaluated Joe, was impressed with the pace of his speech, timing, audience engagement and a great choice of topic. She felt the use of personal stories further enforced his message and her main recommendation was to practice the rule of three.

Paula commended Renars on choosing a captivating, catchy and punchy speech title ‘Do you get me’ and his use of humour. She also mentioned his other great qualities such as being an open, friendly and enjoyable person to watch, however she felt his speech lacked a clear structure and was not very persuasive, which was the main objective of the speech.

Table Topics

Table Topicsmaster for the evening was Kate. Participants were given were given 6 different day jobs which could pump up their adrenaline. The questions – and speakers who tackled them – were as follows:

• “Tell us why you are great at diffusing bomb in a serious environment?” Jo informed us that although she’s not very good at diffusing bombs she could however shepherd everyone away from it.
• “Tell us the benefit of pick pocketing or bag snatcher?” Adam outlined his reasons which were: the great items you get, meeting people and the thrill it gives you.
• “Why do you enjoy been a bungee jumper?” Samuel enlightened us on the excitement factor and the great weight loss technique it offers.
• “What will make you a good lion tamer?” Eva informed us she would not dare go near lions however she will tend to sheep instead because of their gentle nature.
• “The great benefit of been a formula one driver?” Jonathan cheerfully educated us that the car does the work while he gets the thrill and the dream of dating a Pussycat Doll, like Louis Hamilton.
• What will make you a good shoplifter? Joowan informed us of her 5yrs experience in shoplifting, attributing her success to her innocent looks and the love of it.

Awards

Best Table Topics award went to Adam for his impromptu justification for been a pick pocket.

 Best Evaluator went to Paula for her precise evaluation of Renars advance speech.

 Best Speech went to Renars for his advanced persuasive speaking “Do you get me?”

 Rajeev after delivering his 5th speech received a ‘Half-Competent Communicator’ award.

Next meeting

Please note our next two events – our regular meeting thisMonday 19^th August and our topics workshop onMonday, 2^nd September have been moved over to The Real Man Pizza Company. However it reverts back our regular venue upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU on on Monday, 9^th September 2013 

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