Meeting Report 10th August

/in /by

10th August

 

Terrific speakers took to the stage yesterday, lead on by Rufina Daah, our Toastmistress for the evening.
This was not Rufina’s first time in the role and her comfort was evident: she chaired the meeting with confidence and humor, and dealt admirably with the unexpected.

 

Sean McKenna bluffed us all with a speech 2 that sounded  much more advanced. He warned us about the deceptive side of fake honey with a speech entitled ‘Nutritional Robbery’… We all took note. In a funny little twist, he later was evaluated by a fellow hay fevered honey lover, who had previously made a speech about bees.

 

Egor Shipovalov, ever the wordsmith, told us tales of tenor tessiture ( see what I did here?)

 

Hari Kalymnios: tried out the latest version of his competition speech entitled ‘Ancient Wisdom for Modern Living’ which managed to convince a few  members of the audience to take on Vipassana meditation.

 

Monday’s meeting also saw the return of our Stella Meadows as grammarian who showed no sign of nerves after her 5 month hiatus.

As ever, the masterfully tut-tutted our filler words and applauded our metaphors, similes and other rhetorical devises.

 

Our timekeeper Michell McNicholas handled her gavel with authority and Sarah Peacy introduced our many guests with a welcoming smile.

 

During the second part of our meeting we heard Peter Francis, Sheldon Dee and Femi Asaolu evaluate the prepared speech.

We then moved on to table topics presented by our quirky Swarajit Das who followed up on Rufina’s holiday theme of the night.

Eight lucky souls were asked to recall their best and worst holidays, how far they would go to get an upgrade etc…

 

It was GE Anis Qizilbash’s second time evaluating our club and we hope to see her back very soon indeed.

 

Next meeting is on 24th August.

 

Meeting Report for 9 February 2015

/in /by

wordle_20141110

Written by Svetlana

Introduction

Bloomsbury Speakers Club hosted its regular meeting on Monday 9th February 2015 with an enthusiastic opening from President Jo who emphasized how important guests and new members are to keep Toastmasters meetings vibrant and diverse in talent, and how exactly they can take advantage of Toastmasters clubs to reach their objectives, overcome fears and grow into confident and effective communicators with the help of the enabling learning environment, resources, and expert support from fellow Toastmasters.

Prepared Speeches

After the Introduction, Jo handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the Evening Carrie, whose energetic manner and the theme of the Evening turned the event into the type Bloomsbury Speakers is famous for – true intellectual entertainment and the best place to be on a cold and damp February evening! The theme of the night was our experiences of Tactlessness: whether we were affected by someone else’s tactlessness or acted tactlessly ourselves. Carrie generously shared her experience of being subject to very loving and caring but nevertheless outrageous tactlessness from her dear ones as she was growing into an independent unmarried young lady!

Carrie introduced functionaries of the day: Mengbing the Timekeeper and Jo (our President) the Grammarian. Mengbing’s story of experiencing tactless treatment was short. Someone dared to say to her face that she was not pretty. She thought that they could not be serious! What a great spirit!  Jo introduced the word of the day “ingenious” and encouraged the meeting participants to use it as well as to be aware of their speech habits and try and use beautiful language so she could provide feedback at the end of the meeting on language usage.

There were four prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Tadgh (whose experience of accidentally offending a friend was when he asked very unflatteringly about his friend’s spouse and that spouse was standing next to his friend!  No. 1 Icebreaker Speech Project “Me, My Name, and I” started with a much valued explanation of the pronunciation of his name and some other typically Irish names, then focused on his family and weddings of a large and jolly family, also typically Irish. Tadgh’s speech was quite entertaining and peppered with humour. We all thoroughly enjoyed it!

Peter L. (who is fighting his own tactless behaviour of being late to Toastmaster meetings) delivered Speech No. 5 “Sartorial Semiotics” devoted to the meaning of clothes and that we intentionally or unintentionally disclose a lot about ourselves to the society by wearing them in a certain way. We are judged by our clothes. Our attire sends a coded message about a social group we belong to as each social group uses certain style of clothes as “a uniform” to identify itself among many others. When we try to break boundaries and express personal freedom through clothes we inadvertently fall out of one social group into another. There is no freedom from sartorial semiotics. Peter L. used props – various hats to show how the message was changing with just that one item of clothing.

Sam (who wrote “Happy Birthday” on his colleague’s leaving card) in his advanced entertaining speech called “Predators of the Concrete Jungle”, compared deadly dangers of jungle such as leopard, venomous snake and Ebola virus to hazards, which surround us in cities, such as staircases, ladders, vehicles, and fire. Statistics shows just how much more dangerous these were for people than the feared predators of the jungle. Sam gave us instructions on how exactly we could safeguard ourselves from being injured or worse. His closing piece of advice was to take care not to start a fire as we sit at a candlelit romantic dinner table on St Valentine’s.

Rufina (who finds it tactless when men claim they can discipline women) in her advanced informative speech called “What’s Wrong With Me?” explored why people cannot be content and happy with what they have.  She shared about various stages of her life when she was getting what she wanted but the attainment of the desired things did not make her happy. She found out from reading a research results that the level of happiness sometimes depended on the overall happiness level of people around us and that also depended on other things present in that area, therefore, there were cities and towns where happiness level of people was simply higher than in other places.

We had warmly hosted guest introductions from Carrie and well-balanced and well-structured thorough evaluations from Ash, Joe, Svetlana, and Peter F.

Table topics

Table topics session conducted by Egor (who confessed he didn’t have any sense of tact and could judge his tactlessness by the reaction his remarks make on others; he told a lady that he thought she was the same age as him, and she turned out to be 8 years younger) had a number of quite tricky and interesting questions.

“How can you tactfully reject someone you don’t like?” went to Emma, who told us a story about being rejected in a French manner, being invited to Paris to a nice dinner with a man with a fancy name Fabrice who then let her know he had a wife and children.  She compared it with a manner of rejection, which an Englishman would probably use simply by saying, sorry, I am married and unavailable. It would probably been less embarrassing although maybe just as hurtful.

“What’s your response to a colleague’s tactless comment: speak to HR, forget it, or plan a bitter revenge?” went to Robert, who said he would have pondered all possible ways to react and at the end after rehearsing them in his head he would find that the cons outweighed the pros and would drop the issue and forget about it.

“Should we only say good things about dead people or not to speak about them at all, as the Russian proverb suggested; would you agree with it or not?” went to Svetlana who gave an example of an anecdote of perestroika and glastnost period in the former Soviet Union, when newspapers were obsessed with Stalin’s theme. An old “babushka” said how much she hated Stalin because of the atrocities he was committing every day. When told that he was dead for many years she said then why newspapers were writing about him as if he was alive, and not about current affairs. When we speak of the past we should be more analytical and speak of its relevance for today.  Speaking about the dead we shouldn’t take advantage of them just because they cannot defend themselves.

“Should tactlessness from a drunken person be tolerated?” went to Luca, who said he didn’t drink and didn’t have any excuse if he behaved tactlessly.

“Should we be tactful with religious people or should we be honest and defend equality and freedom?” went to Lio who said she grew in a Christian household and stopped being religious as an adult. Contentious issues arise quite often.  Her policy is to smile, accept it, and have peaceful relationship especially in the family.

Grammarian Jo’s report was thorough and very educational as usual with many examples along with some recommendations to the speakers.

It was followed by General Evaluation from Stephen Costin, ACCA members Breakfast Club, who provided a lot of positive feedback and very helpful recommendations to all participants who were not evaluated. His speech was enthusiastic and peppered with dry humour.

Awards

Icebreaker ribbon has handed to Tadgh; best speaker award was handed to Peter L.; best evaluator award went to Henry; and best impromptu speech award went to Emma!!!

Next meeting

Our next event is our Inspiring Evaluations Workshop on Monday, 23rd of February upstairs at The Clerk and Well, 156 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30pm. To attend please register at: https://inspiring-evaluations-bloomsbury-2015.eventbrite.co.uk.  More details about the event are included in our Feb Newsletter: https://www.bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk/2015/02/february-newsletter-contests-approaching/

 

Meeting Report for 26 January 2015

/in /by

wordle 09112014

Written by Svetlana

Introduction

Bloomsbury Speakers Club hosted its regular meeting on Monday 26th January 2015 with an enthusiastic opening from President Jo who emphasized how busy Toastmasters are honing their public speaking skills and supporting each other through active listening and evaluation. This is the right place to be for anyone who wants to improve their public speaking skills till they truly enjoy themselves through this activity.

Prepared Speeches

After the Introduction, Jo handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the Evening Bronia, whose jovial and creative manner and the theme of the Evening turned the event into a real intellectual and emotional entertainment as usual! Theme of the evening was Sticky Situations and how we get out of them.

Bronia introduced functionaries of the day: Alefiyah the Timekeeper and Peter L. the Grammarian. Alefiyah copes with sticky situations through writing them through and Peter L. indulges himself in blues  till he bounces back to his normal positive self. Peter L. introduced the word of the day “buoyant” and encouraged the meeting participants to use it.

There were three prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Peter F.’s No. 4 Speech Project “Sylvia” was focused on advanced story telling. Peter F. used the opportunity to tell us a remarkable story of a lady who had a difficult life, but who also had a pleasant and sociable character and who managed to make people feel good and enjoy life together with her despite being very ill.

Faith-Rose (who finds solution through sharing and taking advice from her close friends) delivered Speech No. 7 “A New Start” devoted to “Failed Friday” – the 26 January of 2014 and looked into why people fail to fulfil their New Year resolutions. The research identifies some positive factors, which help attain the desired results, which are readiness to change, belief in oneself, taking setbacks constructively, and building up on mental strength.

Samuel in his advanced entertaining speech called “The Weight of my Problem”, which could also sound like “The Problem of My Weight”, gave us a gist of his adventures with various diets. At some point he realised that in addition to the support and encouragement from friends, family and colleagues he needed self-discipline. He also planned to do more exercise instead of watching TV.

We had warm guest introduction from Michelle and well-balanced and well-structured thorough evaluations from Damien, Nathaniel, and Ahmed.

Table topics session conducted by Janet (whose way out of sticky situations is to try and dissipate it with good music and other pleasant things) was a fun session with interesting questions and imaginative impromptu answers. Janet’s questions were related to relationships.

“Acceptable age difference?” went to Blake, who said the acceptable age difference was five years, which was enough room to have different experiences for two persons and not too long otherwise it will feel like dating a parent.

“Do you continue to date a person if it feels slightly wrong?” went to Connor, who shared a personal story of a blind date where he met someone for the first time, who had a different picture on social network and he lied about his age. It didn’t work.

“If your boyfriend is not answering the phone between 6 pm and 10 pm. What would you do?”  went to Helen who talked about a different role of phones in the modern life. So, it’s hard to imagine why a person would not reveal his existence via mobile communication for several hours. The only reason she could suggest was for that person to be stuck deep down in the underground.

“Why do you think boys and girls have so much trouble getting along?” went to Aila, who shared her very reasonable thoughts about boys and girls having different interests; they play different games at school, for example. It is just so difficult to get along because they do not have same interests!

“What if a girl you have been dating for a while suddenly removed her teeth would it be a problem?” went to Peter L. who said girls are very strange and weird beings, so, it is more about pushing boundaries. He would be interested in exploring other weird things she might have under her sleeve.

“How long is long enough to have a serious talk in a relationship?” went to Matt who said talk should happen naturally or not happen at all.

“Why there are so many people attracted to the unavailable?” went to Emma who said she was a vivid example of someone who is always attracted to unavailable. The most dreamlike and perfect object or person is the unattainable one.

Egor (whose method of dealing with sticky situations is to sit still and wait till the end of the working day and leave) provided a concise and witty evaluation of Table Topics speakers’ interrupted by cheers and laughter.

Grammarian Peter L.’s report was thorough and very educational as usual with many examples along with some recommendations to the speakers.

It was followed by General Evaluation from Jilly Shaul, Northern Lights Speakers, provided a lot of positive feedback and very helpful recommendations. Her speech was enthusiastic and peppered with humour.

Awards

Best speaker award was handed to Peter F.; best evaluator award went to Nathaniel; and best impromptu speech awards went to Aila, Helen, and Peter L.!!!

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 9th of February upstairs at The Clerk and Well, 156 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30pm.

Meeting Report for 24 November 2014

/in /by

 2014-05-12 wordle

Bloomsbury Speakers
“Learning, Orating & Laughing – LOL!”

Written by Svetlana

Meeting Report for 24 November 2014

Introduction

Bloomsbury Speakers Club hosted its regular meeting on Monday 24th November 2014 with an enthusiastic opening from President Jo who mentioned that confidence and eloquence, which we develop as Toastmasters can come handy in everyday situations where we need to assert ourselves.

Prepared Speeches

After the Introduction, Jo handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the Evening Carrie, whose delightful conversational manner and efficient steering of the proceedings put everybody at ease. The theme of the Night was about how everybody felt about 2014 whether we felt disappointed or smug finishing the year.

Carrie introduced functionaries of the day: Hari the Timekeeper (who thought he didn’t attain enlightenment in 2014 while we thought he did, being such an accomplished competent communicator), and Peter L. the Grammarian with the word of the day “embody”!

There were three prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Alefiyah’s Icebreaker Speech Project “The Future Is Exciting” was a personal story filled with sincerity; it had a balance of humour and seriousness, an account of ups and downs of personal growth. She ended her story with an enthusiastic vision of her future as a chemical engineer believing in renewable energy and sustainable development.

Peter F. (who didn’t entertain himself with the charade of year endings and New Year resolutions) delivered his No. 10 speech “Memory Battle”. Peter F. shared a story of the challenges he had to overcome to save his kidneys and the side effects of potent medical drugs, which were deteriorating his memory. He was then advised to engage in public speaking facing the audience without using notes! Peter F. recited three pieces of poetry by heart: (1) excerpt from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” – “Polonius’ advice to his son Laertes”; (2) “Prayer before Birth” by Louis MacNeice; (3) excerpt from “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens. Peter F.’s conclusive message to us was “challenge yourself on a daily basis if you want to achieve something”.

Janet, our district competition winner and national finalist delivered Advanced Speech “Attitude” as the Professional Speaker told us Plato’s Parable of the Cave and linked it to her own life story of a timid girl who overcame her fears by living her comfort zone behind her once and for all and gave the world her attitude. Fake it until you make it. And once you start your way towards your goal, never return back.

We had warm guest introduction from Svetlana and well-rounded evaluations provided by Helen, Bronia, and Swarajit.

Table topics session conducted by Svetlana was focused on trying to balance our inner talk when we like or dislike things, depending on our attitude in a given context on a daily basis and that there isn’t actually a right or wrong answer to questions. There are at least 360 points of view in a 2D circle and many more in 3D and 4D. Thus, answers to her questions were supposed to be an exercise in exploring our likes and dislikes of the same things. 80% of Table topic speakers were guests.

“Why would you love and hate the rainy weather?” went to Rui. Ruis described how, coming from a warm and sunny climate, he looked forward to and thought he would love rainy London weather until it started to rain and when it did he hated it. We all concurred with Rui.

“Why do you love and hate ice cream?” went to Egor, who loves ice cream as a childhood memory and would like to keep it there, therefore, he doesn’t eat it. He also recalled that the Moscow ice cream was the best in the world.

“What do you like and dislike about being in a crowd running from one platform to another in the Tube during a rush hour?” went to Lex. Being in the crowd is like being in a flock of birds, which is the good part and all other aspects are bad especially for her as an introvert.

“Why do you like and dislike your own appearance?” was answered by Joe H., who was not only very genuine but also infused lots of humour into his speech, which we all enjoyed so much. He also had great body language describing at which angles his appearance looked its best.

“Why do you like and dislike your job?” went to Eve who spoke with a lot of excitement about her job and what she disliked about it was that it was imaginary and the real future was looking dim as she

Joe L. provided a thorough evaluation of Table Topics speakers’ with lots of commendations and useful recommendations.

Grammarian Peter L.’s report was an enjoyable account of metaphors, alliterations and other figures of speech, which he noted. He also provided some advice and recommendations.

It was followed by General Evaluation from Mark Burrows, President of Holborn Speakers, who not only affirmed his appreciation of Bloomsbury Speakers club with his commendations, but provided a lot of very helpful recommendations and humour.

Awards

Icebreaker Ribbon was handed to Alefiyah; Peter was given his Competent Communicator ribbon for completing his No 10 speech; best speaker award was granted to Janet; best evaluator award went to Helen; and best impromptu speech award went to Lex!!!

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 1st December downstairs at The Real Man Pizza Company, 91-95 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5BX. Doors open at 6:30pm.

The post Meeting Report for 24 November 2014 appeared first on Bloomsbury Speakers.

Meeting Report for 10 November 2014

/in /by

wordle_20141110

Written by Svetlana

Introduction

The meeting began with an impressive opening from President Jo who briefed the audience on some key statistics, which were also milestones of 90 years of Toastmasters global movement. We were all made feel part of a great community of some 14,000 clubs worldwide. All clubs take their members through competent communicator and other public speaking manuals and help master the art of positive evaluation, offering a highly participatory structure and supportive atmosphere. She encouraged guests to visit various clubs before finding the one which appealed to them most.

After her introduction, Jo handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the evening Bronia, who infused her sunny and witty charisma into the proceedings throughout the meeting, be it the communication of house rules, the theme of the night, speaker introductions or smooth transitions between various parts of the agenda. Bronia’s theme of the night was each speaker’s biggest success or challenge they had managed to overcome. “It’s daunting but it’s doable, and when it’s done it’s done forever!” – was a quote from Bronia to be remembered.

Bronia introduced functionaries of the day: Michelle the Timekeeper (whose Icebreaker speech was a step to her new self and, therefore, so far her biggest success), and Joe the Grammarian with the word of the day “ecstatic” defined quite simply as “super-happy” and whose example of being ecstatic was himself being the Grammarian of the meeting!

Prepared Speeches

There were four prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Axel’s Icebreaker speech “All or Nothing” was a personal story filled with sincerity. Axel stood up as someone who gives his all to projects he starts, be it a physical work-out, intellectual studies or achieving his best in the sales profession. He took us on a journey of self-reflection, which resulted in goal-setting to achieve a balance between the introverted and extroverted sides of himself.

Svetlana (whose biggest success was to realise that no matter how authoritative somebody else’s advice may be at the end of the day it is us who make decisions and take responsibility for them) delivered her No. 6 speech with a focus on vocal variety. It was an interpretive recitation of her translation of “The Ballad of Love” by Vladimir Vysotsky, a Russian 20th century iconic singer-songwriter. She started off on a humorous note on how to connect everyday thoughts and activities with values, such as friendship, love, happiness, and freedom; how these were also mainstream aspirations for many people. Vysotsky was a singer of personal freedom, who connected with his audience through a brave and original manner of singing. This explained his enormous popularity in the former Soviet Union.

Kate (whose biggest success was to deliver a speech before an audience of a hundred speakers!) delivered an Advanced Storytelling speech entitled “Hen-Do Scrooge”, taking us on a journey back in time where, thanks to her vivid storytelling, we shared her bizarre experience of driving in an unfamiliar area, meeting unusual characters and participating in a costume party, all of which she managed to relate in detail filled with great humour.

Sergey (whose biggest success was leaving a company where he had been a chairman of the board for twenty years to become a completely accredited NLP consultant and trainer), was invited as a guest speaker to deliver a speech “Controlling Your Fear”. Sergey demonstrated a few effective techniques of how to overcome fear when doing things, which take us beyond our comfort zone, e.g. public speaking! His slot reminded all of us why Toastmasters is such a remarkable emotional and intellectual opportunity.

We had warm guest introductions led by Sarah and precious thoughtful brilliant evaluations provided by Damien, Peter F, Hari, and Henry!

Table Topics

The table topics session conducted by Egor continued the theme of the night about success in a humorous way, posing questions with dilemmas to the table topics speakers. The question “Success is a point of time or a period of time; would you rather have a brief period of intense success than moderate success for your entire life?” went to Glen. His choice was with long-term moderate success when he can enjoy it and relax into it. He was grateful for the choice, which he would love to have for real!

“What would you prefer given a choice: money, women, or fame?” went to Swarajit. Luckily, he already had all of that! He would like to be remembered for being a genius of the calibre of Newton, Einstein, or Mozart with the right combination of genes and brain cells to be remembered for centuries.

Would you agree with the dilemma suggested by Nietzsche, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” went to David, who disagreed with the philosopher. David thought that what doesn’t kill us doesn’t make us stronger, it scars us for the rest of our lives, and it was one firework of a performance!

Success brings good and not so good things with it such as envy. “If family and friends were jealous of your success, how would you deal with it?” went to Hari, who had a humorous take on the question, and said he could use social media to create a new support group for himself if he had to!

When John Lennon answered his teacher’s question “Who would you like to be?” with “I want to be happy”, his teacher said he didn’t understand the question, to which Lennon said that the teacher did not understand life. Thus, the question “What is the relationship between success and happiness for you?” went to Yu Ling who related a personal story of organising a skiing trip for 170 people at her school. Her schoolmates came to her and said how they appreciated a great job that she did, and it made her happy. Thus, happiness lies in the result of one’s success, which can be making other people happy.

Henry provided a thorough evaluation of Table Topics speakers whose overall performance he defined as master classes from titans; nevertheless he managed to point out areas for improvement for each speaker. His speech was also quite artistic and a model evaluation in itself.

Grammarian Joe’s thorough report on the beautiful, rich, and original use of language during the meeting made us all feel that each Toastmasters session is a unique creative occasion not to be missed! It was followed by General Evaluation from David Jones from Holborn Speakers. David (who, before becoming an 11 times national Toastmasters contest finalist and 5 times winner, had to overcome a major stammer), in addition to providing a thorough and very relevant evaluation and advice, did not disappoint us in that his speech was also the most enjoyable performance with his language, thoughts, ideas, vocal variety, drama, humour and command of the stage!

Awards

Amidst ecstatic applause, a special Icebreaker ribbon was handed to Axel; the best speaker award was granted to Kate; the best evaluator award went to Henry; and the best table topic (impromptu speech) award went to Glen.

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 24th November upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU as usual. Doors open at 6:30pm.