Meeting Report for 10 December 2012

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London Toastmasters Meeting 10 December 2012

Introduction

The Christmas meeting took place at The Apple Tree pub which was beautifully decorated with a Christmas tree and tinsel.

Club President Femi opened the meeting by singing a Christmas song and encouraged members and guests to set goals for the next year, whether it would be performing the evaluator role, participating in the Table Topics section or completing the Competent Communicator or Competent Leadership manuals.

The Toastmaster for the evening was Carrie, who introduced her theme – Christmas holidays. During the meeting she introduced participants via their ideal Christmas holiday and there was a wide range of choices, from relaxation at a luxury hotel in Dubai to skiing in France. She was supported by Timekeeper Renars and Grammarian Damien.

Prepared speeches

New member Michael gave his Ice Breaker speech “In the Key of Life”. He said the title of the speech – referring to his favourite song by Stevie Wonder – was closely related to his life because music had had a powerful influence on him in two different ways. Early in his life it provided motivation – via a dream to be a rock star – and lately it had led him to spend a lot of time reading literature.

In her No. 2 speech “Excessmas”Angela reminded the audience that the true meaning of Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. She felt that today there was so much commercialisation of Christmas that people spent excessive amounts on, for instance, the latest iPad even when they knew it was beyond their budget.

Jo described the Christmas character, Santa Claus, in her No. 9 speech “The Real Santa”. Jo revealed her personal – and very humorous – take on Santa with a story of his carelessness in delivering Christmas gifts to children. She also gave evidence of his discriminatory employment practices and negligence of his animals, proving that Santa is not as good a person as people might think!

The last speaker Joe gave an inspirational No. 10 speech “Chimps, Humans and Computers”. He referred to quotes from Winston Churchill, Michael Jordan, and Thomas Edison and suggested three key points to achieve success. Firstly to clarify: why am I doing this? Secondly: how am I going to do it? Lastly, to put significant effort into it.

Speech evaluations

Evaluating Michael’s Ice Breaker speech Glen commended his good vocal volume and a “lyrical” tone. He liked the really good content: clear theme (music), solid three-point structure, good summary and recommended to work on the “ums” and use a bit more vocal variety.

Second evaluator Nazia praised Angela’s topical and well-researched speech with lots of stats and facts – from which she learnt a new concept – “cognitive dissonance“. Nazia recommended to Angela to use her smile more and perhaps not rely quite so much on her notes.

The third evaluator of the evening, Swarajit, gave an assessment of Jo’s persuasive speech. He acknowledged that Jo had achieved the speech objectives very well and commended her deliberate language, great humour and delivery. However Swarajit suggested that the speech could have been improved by telling jokes with a straight face to enhance the comic effect.

Evaluating Joe’s inspirational speech Hari praised his passion for the subject, which helped him meet the objectives of the speech, and a very relaxed, humorous and engaging delivery style. In Hari’s opinion the conclusion of the speech could have been more powerful if it did not go over time.

Table Topics

The Topics Master Ahmed encouraged volunteers practice their impromptu speaking and announced the Christmas theme for one or two minute, off-the-cuff speeches:

  • How would you convince Santa Claus to change his mode of transport to a helicopter?
  • What is your most annoying Christmas song or film?
  • What is your most embarrassing Christmas experience?
  • If you were The Prime Minister for the day how would you convince the government to make more public holidays around Christmas time?
  • What was your best or worst Christmas present?
  • Which Christmas character could do the Mayor of London’s job?

Awards

The Ice Breaker Certificate – an important landmark for any Toastmaster – went to Michael.

Best Table Topic award went to Glen for his “Put the three wise men in charge of London” topic.

Best Evaluator award went to Kate for her encouraging evaluation of the Table Topics speakers.

Best speaker went to Jo who revealed the real Santa.

The President’s discretional award went to Carrie for so successfully performing the Toastmaster’s role.

Next meeting

The first meeting of 2013 is on Monday, 14th January 2013, upstairs at The Clerk and Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1R 5BX.

Meeting report by Elena.

Meeting Report for 3 December 2012

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Bloomsbury Speakers - London ToastmastersOur penultimate Toastmasters meeting of the year was held at our brand new backup venue, The Apple Tree pub in Mount Pleasant, London.

Introduction

Club President Femi opened the meeting by encouraging people to treat Toastmasters as a “hired audience” for practicing their public speaking. He also encouraged members to seek out a mentor to help them improve their skills as efficiently as possible and to take every opportunity speak, including entering club competitions.

Femi handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster for the evening, Renars, who introduced his theme of the evening – memorable cinema experiences – by donning a pair of 3D glasses!

Timekeeper Gemma (first cinema experience Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves) explained the importance of keeping to time during the meeting and shared that she felt her own life as a trainee teacher was currently very much ruled by the clock.

Grammarian Bronia (memorable childhood movie E.T.) explained her role as the person responsible for looking out for good and bad uses of language and gave the example of looking out for “umms” and “ahhs” – her own “pet peeve”. She also introduced an anti-Word of the Day – “really” – and encouraged people to replace it with other more interesting words.

Prepared Speeches

New member Barney (memorable film There Will Be Blood) was the first speaker up to the lectern to give his ice breaker speech The French Connection. Though born in the UK he explained that he’d spent most of his life in France and used his very first speech to explore the idea of his own nationality, through the prisms of food and science.

The second speech was another ice breaker by another new member Alex, whose memorable cinema experience was suffering the embarrassment of her parents making their own popcorn and sneaking it into films. Her speech “A Different Life in London” told the personal story of moving to London from Sweden nine years ago and how her time here has helped her to overcome her shyness. She attributed Londoners’ mastery of small talk to the mild (compared to Sweden) weather which puts strangers together outside more often.

The third speaker was Ed (memorable movie – Raiders of the Lost Ark) whose speech “My Recovery & The Alexander Technique” was a follow-up to his ice breaker speech about a bad sporting injury suffered at university. In this No. 2 speech (Organise Your Speech) Ed told us about his teacher, who had herself recovered from a very bad knee injury using the technique. With her help he learned to “unwind” bad habits and over time he found himself feeling taller and stronger.

The final prepared speech was another No. 2 speech, this time from Eugenia (memorable film the “pinnacle of trash horror” Curse of Snake Valley). In her speech “An Asteroid, Mr President” she told us about an online Q&A session featuring President Obama, where he became the victim of a “grammar Nazi” after talking of plans to land a spacecraft on “a asteroid”. Eugenia felt that such pendantry was simply fighting evolution of language (and affected the “tranquility of her mind”!)

Before the break Glen (first film The Jungle Book) led the guest introductions, which gave visiting non-members the opportunity to say a few words about themselves to the rest of the room.

Evaluations

After the break the meeting moved to the evaluations section, where each of the speakers was given feedback by other members.

Returning member Adam (memorable movie experience – his first time seeing Pulp Fiction) gave us a very structured evaluation of Barney’s ice breaker speech, looking at: language, body language, voice and engagement. He enjoyed the colourful language, strong stance, and good vocal volume. He recommended losing the notes and having a clearer ending to the speech. Finally he commended the engagement saying Barney had the audience “eating out of his hands”.

Experienced member Kate (still remembers being scared by Return To Oz) evaluated Alex’s ice breaker speech. She commended the strong opening with great use of humour and the fact that Alex seemed very relaxed and natural on stage. Kate would have liked Alex to use little bit more vocal volume to project to the back of the room and finished by commending the strong structure.

Ahmed (favourite movie also The Jungle Book) was the evaluator for Ed’s No. 2. He commended the opening – particularly the linking back to his ice breaker speech. Ahmed also liked the clear structure with its three main points. He recommended for Ed to not be afraid to fall back on his notes if necessary since this was still an early speech and he ended by commending Ed’s effective use of transitions.

The final evaluator was Carrie (memorable movie The Little Mermaid) who gave her assessment of Eugenia’s No. 2 speech about “grammar Nazis”. She liked Eugenia’s opening supported by a clear structure which led us through into the body of the discussion. She commended various technical aspects of Eugenia’s speech including: rhetorical questions, interesting choice of language and effective use of repetition. She also felt that Eugenia had a real talent for comedy – particularly comic timing and facial expressions – though would have liked a bit more volume.

Table Topics

Hari was our Topicsmaster for the evening and continued Renars’ meeting theme with a number of great movie-related topics, including:

  • “What is your alternative ending to E.T.?” – In Glen’s darker ending E.T.’s rescuers get stranded too.
  • “Pitch your very own movie featuring Cowboys and Aliens in space” – Wayne wanted to tell the story of how the cowboys got space helmets in the first place.
  • “Which movie would you watch again and again and again?” Swarajit – Back to the Future – he already knows the script by heart!
  • “A movie is being made of your life story – who would play you?” – Joe said Arnold Schwarzenegger would play a ten-year old warrior version of him
  • “Which film star would you invite in for a cup of tea and how would you do it?” – Keiran said he’d persuade Patricia Arquette to be in a realist romance with him.
  • “Persuade Boris Johnson to let you blow up The Gherkin in your film” – Liam said he’d just tell Boris it was a firework display.

Taking on the challenge of evaluating all of the topics speakers, Jo (memorable film Grease) had some great comments for the speakers, such as: Glen should tone down his occasionally “frantic” body language, Swarajit should be careful not to allow his hands to become a barrier between him and the audience and Keiran had a great story to tell and made great use of expressive body language.

Reporting as Grammarian, Bronia commended the inspiring and thought-provoking speeches and picked out some great grammar moments, such as some effective replacements for “really” including: “hugely”, “awesomely”, “surprisingly”. Also she noted some fantastic imagery from the speakers, particularly from Alex in her speech.

General evaluator Dave commended the club for the high attendance despite a change of venue and it being an extra meeting. He liked Femi’s use of questions in his introduction and Renars’ great energy as Toastmaster. He enjoyed Gemma’s personal story in her Timekeeper’s introduction and commended Bronia’s language tips for speakers in hers. He liked Glen’s enthusiasm during the guest introductions and also had useful comments for all those other meeting participants not evaluated elsewhere.

Awards

Closing the meeting President Femi thanked Renars for his great performance as Toastmaster and made a few announcements before giving out the awards for the evening.

He gave Ice Breaker certificates to Barney and Alex for reaching the landmark of giving their very first Toastmasters speech.

Based on audience votes, Femi gave out the remaining awards: best Table Topics award went to guest Keiran; best evaluator to Adam; and best speaker to Eugenia. Well done all!

Next meeting

Our final meeting of the year is Monday 10th December, again at The Apple Tree, 45 Mount Pleasant, Clerkenwell, WC1X 0AE. To celebrate the end of a great year for Bloomsbury Speakers we’ll be providing some nibbles after the meeting. Please wear something Christmassy!

See you there!

Meeting Report for 26 November 2012

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Introduction

Club President Femi greeted all members and guests by asking about their reasons for attending Toastmasters and pointed out that they had come to the right place if they wanted to overcome their fears and practice to get better.

He then handed over to the evening’s Toastmaster Ratan who gave an insight into his own benefit from joining Toastmasters as he is now happy to step up to lead a meeting at work if necessary.  He also explained the meeting’s theme which was: regrets.  His own regret was stealing money for sweets from his grandmother’s purse when a child in India and letting his grandmother think it was the servants.

Ratan explained the basic format of the meeting and then introduced the Timekeeper Eugenia and Grammarian Ed.  Ed’s word of the day was ‘cogent’ and he encouraged speakers to try to use it in their speeches.

Prepared Speeches

We were fortunate enough to have an Icebreaker from new member Damien. He spoke about how he was fascinated by Ancient Egypt as a child and was also very interested in how and why humans think as they do. He was also passionate about the natural world and this led him from banking into renewable energy as a career.

Chris gave his No 5 speech which focuses on body language and began by taking us back to 27th July for the Olympics opening ceremony which referenced the NHS.  He discussed how other nationalities seem to think Brits are obsessed with the NHS. After providing a short history of the NHS he told us about his worries about a two-tier health service.

Renars’ Advanced Speech on Public Relations tackled ‘Traffic Problems’ aka grumpy bus drivers, train delays and packed tubes. Renars worried about annoying pedestrian behaviour, including: sudden stoppers, tourists and lovebirds.  He pondered whether there should be slow, medium and fast lanes on the pavement?

Hari’s Educational Speech from the Leadership Series was about Goal Setting and Planning.  While encouraging audience participation, he explained why setting goals was important in life and gave a number of analogies and tips on how to set and achieve our goals.

Evaluations

After the break, Michael evaluated Damien’s Icebreaker speech.  He commended Damien’s body language, eye contact and homour. His main recommendation was to edit the content to ensure he had time for all his key comments within the time but thought Damien gave a polished first speech.

Wayne evaluated Chris’ speech and noted several examples of good body language and facial expressions which fitted into the theme of the speech. He noted Chris’ use of filler words and encouraged him to use pauses instead of these words.

Our third evaluator Swarajit gave his opinion of Renars’s speech.  He praised his conversational manner and the choice of issue as being something we could all relate to. He also liked his use of examples although he suggested he could have used more facts and figures to support these.  He also would have liked more of a ‘call to action’ contained within the the speech.

Finally, Jo evaluated Hari’s Educational Speech and commended his use of interactive questions and analogies to keep audience interest high. Her main recommendation was to ensure there was enough time to present the conclusion at the same pace as the body of the speech.

Following the evaluations, Topicsmaster Glen turned Ratan’s theme on its head and asked participants to talk about the ‘best’ of things. His questions included:

  • What is the best purchase you’ve ever made? Joe was unable to decide between a tennis racquet and his Toasmasters’ membership!
  • What is the best strategy for succeeding where others have failed? Alex decided it was to keep trying regardless of what happens.
  • Who is the best person to have with you in a crisis? Rishi decided it was himself and we should all try to nurture our self belief.
  • What is the best place in the world to get away from city life? Kerry recommended the St Lucia – anywhere in St Lucia.
  • What is the best way to survive an alien invasion? Liam decided if you can’t beat ’em you should join ’em and his secret weapon was seduction!
  • What is the best thing to say to a policeman who’s just caught you speeding? Paul related a ‘true’ story about when he outpaced a police car while running!

The Topics Evaluator Steven evaluated all participants and praised their attempts while suggesting pointers for those who had had the toughest questions.

Grammarian Ed fed back on the good language he had heard during the meeting and acknowledged all speakers who had woven the word of the day into their presentations.

Visiting General Evaluator Christine started by saying she thought (quite rightly!) Bloomsbury was the best club in London.  She also gave a lively and insightful evaluation of the club as a whole and participants (such as evaluators) who’d not yet received an assessment.

Closing the meeting Femi gave out the awards;

  • Damien’s Icebreaker speech was acknowledged with a certificate to mark this important first step
  • the President’s discretionary award went to Rishi for his confident Table Topic
  • Best Table Topics speaker went to Paul for his ‘response to the policeman’ topic
  • Best Evaluator went to Wayne for his evaluation of Chris’ speech
  • Best Speaker went to Hari for his goal setting speech

Next meeting

Our next meeting is on Monday 3rd December. PLEASE NOTE: for this meeting and also for our final 2012 meeting on 10th December we will temporarily change venue to The Apple Tree, 45 Mount Pleasant Clerkenwell Road, London, WC1X 0AE.

Our normal venue is The Clerk & Well, 156 Clerkenwell Road London, EC1R 5DU and we will return there in January 2013.

Meeting report by Jo.

Meeting Report for 12 November 2012

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Introduction

Club President Femi opened the meeting with a short discussion of the importance of constructive feedback, quoting his mother: “Telling the truth is important, but how you tell it is also key!”

He then handed over to the evening’s Toastmaster Glen who opened proceedings by introducing the meeting’s theme – a “second bite of the cherry” – inspired by President Obama’s recent re-election in the States.

After explaining the basic format of the meeting – prepared speeches, evaluations, then table topics (or “practice, feedback and impromptu speaking”) – he announced a slight change to the normal programme. To replace a speaker who had had to drop out late in the day, brave President Femi had agreed to give a full-length speech with little preparation.

Glen then introduced the Timekeeper for the meeting Angela and Grammarian Paul, who introduced the word of the day – “gumption” – and also invited speakers to replace just one word or phrase in their speeches with a more ambitious alternative.

Before the first speaker on the agenda, Glen asked the audience for suggestions for Femi’s later impromptu speech – of the three ideas offered, Femi chose: “It is too early to be playing Christmas songs on the radio?”

Prepared Speeches

The first prepared speech was from brand new member Ed, who gave his Ice Breaker entitled “My Journey” in which he told us about a serious back injury sustained at university which led him to discover Alexander Technique and make a full recovery.

Mike’s No.5 speech (all about effective body language) called “Reflections from my rear view mirror” was a moving account of various key moments in his life – with various nods to James Bond, this being the 50th anniversary of the films.

In Jo’s number 8 speech “Keeping Stress at Bay” she used various visual aids to tell us about the ways she personally deals with stress – for instance the running shoes that help her de-stress through exercise.

In Femi’s impromptu speech he tackled the question of whether it was too soon for Christmas songs by exploring his own associations with Christmas – particularly fond memories of Christmases spent with his siblings growing up. For him it was never too soon to think about Christmas!

Evaluations

After the break, Hari was our first evaluator as he gave an assessment of Ed’s Ice Breaker speech. Hari was very impressed with Ed’s delivery without notes (certainly not expected for a first speech) but felt he could have made better eye contact with the audience.

Next, Steven evaluated Mike’s speech, commending him on a firm stance and generally very good body language but also felt some of the smaller gestures could have been made with more confidence.

Our third evaluator Renars gave his opinion of Jo’s speech. He said he was “captivated by the speech” and commended excellent body language. He made some recommendations about her use of visual aids, including using a bigger version of a key diagram.

Finally, Joe evaluated Femi’s extended impromptu speech. He started by reminding the audience of the level of difficulty that a 6-7 minute impromptu speech represents. He commended a very strong introduction and great body language but also recommended a tighter structure within the main body of the speech.

Following the evaluations, our Topicsmaster Carrie introduced her unashamedly populist theme of the X-Factor explaining that every year she starts off very unenthusiastic but by the end is hosting X-Factor parties. Her questions included:

  • Is X-Factor ethical? From Miles’s point-of-view it certainly was not!
  • If you were a judge which category would you want to mentor? Ben felt he would much rather manage a group than an individual.
  • Is Simon Cowell hot? Paula managed to see both sides but confessed Simon was not her ideal man.
  • Is X-Factor guilty of “dumbing down” society? Wayne felt strongly that it was.

The Topics Evaluator Henry did a great job of providing commendations and recommendations for each topics speaker but was unable to hide his own strong views about reality TV!

Grammarian Paul shared some tips for eliminating so-called “filler words” and gave some great examples where he felt speakers had used really interesting language where plainer alternatives were clearly available.

Visiting General Evaluator Emma gave a lively and insightful evaluation of the club as a whole and participants (such as evaluators) who’d not yet received an assessment and said that the meeting had been one of the most enjoyable she’d ever experienced.

Closing the meeting Femi gave out the awards;

  • the President’s discretionary award went to Angela for her great job as Timekeeper
  • Best Table Topics speaker went to Wayne for his “dumbing down” response
  • Best Evaluator went to Henry for his topics evaluation
  • Best Speaker went to Jo for her stress-related speech

Also Ed’s Ice Breaker speech was acknowledged with a certificate to mark this important first step.

Next meeting

Our next meeting is on Monday 26th November in our normal venue – The Clerk & Well, 156 Clerkenwell Road  London, EC1R 5DU.

PLEASE NOTE: for both meetings in December we will temporarily change venue to The Apple Tree, 45 Mount Pleasant Clerkenwell Road, London, WC1X 0AE.

Meeting Report for 5 November 2012

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Introduction

With another new member giving their Ice Breaker speech and a general theme of “Historical Characters” it was an energetic and “cracking bonfire night” at The Clerk & Well pub in London for our latest Toastmasters meeting.

The start of the meeting was full of synergy (the Grammarian’s word of the day) between the Toastmaster of the evening – and founding club President – Nazia, Grammarian Renars and Timekeeper Alex.

Prepared speeches

This part of the meeting was opened by Gemma’s Ice Breaker speech entitled “A History of Me” in which she described her job as a teacher and explained her purpose for joining the club – to gain more confidence speaking in front of groups. She also cleverly borrowed the structure of a typical lesson for her speech.

In her No. 3 speech entitled “What Makes a Strong Community?” our second speaker Bronia talked about the structure of communities and suggested we try to change the hierarchy from a pyramid to a circle in order to give benefits of strength and greater cooperation.

The next speaker, Janet, presented her No. 6 speech entitled “Look Closer” concerning the tragic story of a young girl who killed herself as a result of cyber-bullying. Janet helped us to imagine what that girl might have achieved in future had her life not been cut short through persecution from others.

Glen, who stepped in at the last minute, gave an advanced speech (focused on entertaining people by making them laugh) entitled “The Groom Speech”. He presented a condensed version of the groom speech from his own recent wedding and told us a personal story full of anecdotes and humour.

Speech evaluations

The first evaluator, Carrie, gave an assessment of Gemma’s Ice Breaker speech. She liked Gemma’s confidence, the use of metaphors, the very engaging and personal speech as well as the fact that Gemma did not rely too much on her notes. Carrie recommended for Gemma to make use of the whole stage in the future.

Evaluating Bronia’s speech, Elena commended the use of a captivating question at the beginning, and an easy to follow body of the speech – also her confidence and supportive body language. However she suggested that the conclusion could have been improved by a clear call-to-action.

Michael evaluated Janet’s speech and reminded us of the main objective of the speech – vocal variety. He liked the emotional contrast between the first part of the speech and the second, Janet’s use of pauses and her repetition of the definition of “bully” at the end. In Michael’s opinion the speech could have benefitted from more hope that things would change in the future.

Kate evaluated Glen’s speech and praised great delivery, his animated body language and his ability to tell jokes while keeping a straight face that had added to the comic effect. She recommended that Glen move closer to the audience when on the stage.

Table Topics

The Table Topics section of the meeting was hosted by Christopher who introduced the theme of the American Election and asked volunteers from the audience tricky political questions, including:

  • If you were an American president for one day what would you do?
  • Barack Obama or Mitt Romney? Who is better and why?
  • It is important to vote because…
  • What do you like most about the USA?
  • What do you like least about the USA?
  • Death penalty: yes or no?

Awards

Closing the meeting the club President Femi first made an exciting announcement about club member David’s impressive progress in the Humorous Speech contest – winning Division L contest and going on to compete in the final in Ireland. Well done David!

Then Femi gave out the awards based on the audience votes cast during the evening…

The certificate for successfully completing her Icebreaker speech – an important landmark for any Toastmaster – went to Gemma.

The Best Table Topics Speaker award went to guest Sam for his response to the topic “What do you like most about the USA?”.

The Best Evaluator award went to Elena for her evaluation of Bronia’s No. 3 speech about communities.

The Best Speaker award went to Janet for her powerful and thought-provoking speech about cyber-bullying.

The President’s discretional award went to Alex for her successful performance as Timekeeper – her first time in that role.

Next meeting

Our next meeting is on Monday, 12th November 2012, upstairs at The Clerk and Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1R 5BX.