Meeting Report for 16th February 2015

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Written by Svetlana

Introduction

Bloomsbury Speakers Club hosted its regular meeting on Monday 16th February 2015 with an enthusiastic opening from President Jo who briefed guests on the importance of joining Toastmasters and commended those who made it to the meeting.

Prepared Speeches

After the Introduction, Jo handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the Evening Henry, who went through house rules in his energetic very eloquent and entertaining dry humour manner introducing the theme of the day – what would you bring with you to a desert island!

Henry introduced functionaries of the day: Michelle the Timekeeper and Peter L. the Grammarian. Michelle, who would take a family photo with her to a desert island instructed the audience on her role.

There were four prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Sheldon (who would take a kitchen sink with him to the desert island to dwell on the sheer impossibility of the situation) delivered his  No. 1 Icebreaker Speech “RV Polarstern” shared his story of what brought him to Toastmasters and how he feels about speaking in front of the audience. He did feel like the RV Polarstern, a German Research Ice breaker.

Axel (who is fighting his own tactless behaviour of being late to Toastmaster meetings) delivered Speech No. 2 “Lengthy Court Process” described his experience of the British legal process after a theft. He won the process and produced 30 pounds refund, which he received as a result of his victory.

Mengbing, (who would take solar powered iPad with her to the desert island) delivered Speech No. 2 entitled “How to Learn from Mistakes”. She shared her philosophy that mistakes are important because they provide experience for growth.

Svetlana (who would take a piano to the desert island where she would have plenty of time to play) delivered her No. 8 speech entitled “In Love with Capitalism with Ayn Rand”, gave a gist of the philosophy of the most influential American novelist and philosopher of the XX century Ayn Rand and also explained why she was so influential.

We had warmly hosted guest introductions from Ash and well-balanced and well-structured thorough evaluation reports from Carrie, Bronia, Emma, and Swarajit.

Table topics

Table topics session conducted by Ahmed was devoted to deserted islands. Ahmed emphasized how important the skill of impromptu

“If you were a director of the film about deserted island who would you take there?” went to Swarajit, who would take Johnny Depp, Jack Black, and Shia LaBeouf to such island because he doesn’t think they are good actors.

“What would you do to put off wild wolves chasing you?” went to Ga Lok, who said he would use a box of chocolate with marshmallow so that chocolates stick to their teeth and they stop chasing him.

“What would be the one animal as a pet to a deserted island?” went to Concetta who would choose a lizard or a dolphin.

“Which things you would choose to have on a desert island?” went to Jo, who said she would like to see a cupboard with a fully load iPad and a helicopter and a tent with a funky looking helicopter pilot to get home after having some nice time on the island.

“What person you would not want as a companion on the desert island?” went to Emma who said it would probably be Napoleon. She would love to be there with Mother Teresa and Florence Nightingale.

“What kind of song would you like to sing at the desert island?” went to Ash who would start with a jolly song, followed by a sad song and finish by a really different song to get her out of that island.

Thorough evaluation of all table topics speaker was provided by Hari.

It was followed by General Evaluation from Ga Lok, who provided a brilliant feedback and very helpful recommendations to all participants who were not evaluated. His speech was enthusiastic and contained useful recommendations and humour.

Awards

Icebreaker ribbon has handed to Sheldon; best speaker award was handed to Axel; best evaluator award went to Hari; and best impromptu speech award went to Ash!!!

Next meeting

Our next event is our Inspiring Evaluations Workshop on Monday, 9th of March upstairs at The Clerk and Well, 156 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30pm.

Meeting Report for 27th April 2015

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Written by Svetlana

Introduction

Bloomsbury Speakers Club hosted its regular meeting on Monday 27th April 2015 with an enthusiastic opening from President Jo who compared Toastmaster Competent Communicator Manual to Marathon. Beyond that Manual there are a variety of manuals, which enables you to continue the process of self-improvement as a public speaker.

Prepared Speeches

After the Introduction, Jo handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the Evening, Henry, who introduced the theme of the day which features of human character do you like and why. 

Henry introduced the functionaries of the day: Zita the Timekeeper and Janet (whose preferred feature of character is confidence), the Grammarian, introduced the word of the day “incandescent” and encouraged to use language as power.

There were four prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker was Olga Kruglova (whose most cherished character features are kindness and tact) who delivered a very thoughtful and informative No. 1 Icebreaker Speech, entitled “With a Little Help of My Friends” devoted to a personal story of her early life in London to this day. Throughout her journey of a young IT professional her friends were her greatest asset.

Conor delivered her No.2 speech entitled “Becoming a NOMAN” – was a personal story of how he research and was deeply moved by the plight of people with HPV and decided to raise awareness about this preventable disease. He also decided that the best way to do it would be fund raising; he currently devotes all of his free time to power training to participate in a canoeing competition for that cause.

Sheldon delivered her No.2 speech entitled “Nature’s Best?” in which he educated us on so many paradoxes about what is good and what is bad disguised by advertisers. 

Helen delivered her Speech No. 10 entitled “Taste and Smell” in which she educated us on the importance of savouring flavours and tastes of any food or drinks, which we consume. It makes life more enjoyable and food habits more healthy as our brain receives and processes information brought to us by thousands of taste buds.

We had warmly hosted guest introductions from Swarajit and well-balanced and well-structured thorough evaluations from Michelle, Peter, Bronia, and Ahmed.

Table topics

The table topics session was conducted by Svetlana (who favoured sense of freedom, sense of responsibility, and compassion – qualities that characterise sound mind and kind heart), who offered the impromptu speakers a variety of questions linked to the theme of the day – whether we like certain things and why.

“Do you like spring and why?” went to Hari, who said he was a summer person and spring wasn’t his favourite season. However, he appreciated spring for the spirit or renewal it carried and changes he could see taking place in the nature and people.

“What colour do you like and why?” went to Paul, who said he preferred white for surroundings and blue for clothing because those seemed to be his most comforting and harmonious colours.

“Which political party you prefer and why?” went to Philip who said it Tory although he wasn’t too happy with of the parties out there.

“Do you like arguing and why?” went to Kola, who said he certainly liked arguing because it posed a chance for intelligent victory.

“Where do you prefer traveling – in Britain or abroad and why?” went to Hannah who said she travelled abroad a lot and she travelled to many places in Britain as well, but perhaps there was more to explore in Britain which she hasn’t seen yet.

“Do you like your weekends and why?” went to Amira who said her weekends were packed with training in boxing, body building, yoga and other power and health oriented practices.

“Do you prefer reading books or watching movies and why?” went to Egor, who said he certainly preferred reading because they had a big library at home where he grew up and that explained his love of books.

“Do you like Toastmasters clubs and why?” went to Abdo, who said he is researching and exploring various Toastmaster clubs to decide which one to join. He needs public speaking skills for his professional development and he thinks he tends to like TM.

Emma gave an impressively thorough and informative evaluation for each of the 8 topics speakers, which was a record number of speeches on our memory.

Grammarian Janet’s report was very encouraging, substantive, and entertaining.

Sandra provided an excellent and thorough general evaluation of the evening with recommendations to all functionaries of the evening and evaluators who were not evaluated.

Awards

Icebreaker ribbon has handed to Olga; best speaker award was handed to Helen; best evaluator award went to Peter L.; and best impromptu speech award went to Amira!

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting is on Monday, 13th of April upstairs at The Clerk and Well, 156 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30pm.

Meeting Report for 16 March 2015

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Written by Sheldon

Introduction

Bloomsbury Speakers Club hosted its regular meeting on Monday 16th March 2015 with an enthusiastic opening from President Jo who gladly mentioned that there were six first-time guests present – 3 of whom she had just met at the bar – and how Bloomsbury Speakers prides itself on the large numbers of guests and being able to serve as the introduction to toastmasters for so many of them.  Jo went on to explain the evolution of Toastmasters and the warm and nurturing atmosphere that meant that participation can only lead to positive consequences.

Prepared Speeches

After the Introduction, Jo handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the Evening, Femi, who brought his warm energetic style to the proceedings and urged the audience to keep the intensity high, especially with the enthusiastic clapping as speakers are welcomed up to the stage.  Femi kept the mood buoyant as he introduced the theme of spring, and before asking each audience member what they liked best about the season, he shared with the room his own enthusiasm for the prospect of his gas bills going down and moving from debit to credit with his supplier.

Femi introduced the functionaries of the day: Mengbing the Timekeeper and Sheldon the Grammarian.  Mengbing’s fondness for spring was in its unexpected nature: that you could just wake up one day and it would be there.   Sheldon, for whom spring was a time of looking forward to not having to worry about getting his coat stolen when he didn’t want to pay the cloakroom fee, introduced the word of the day “sanguine”; he explained how the roots of its meaning were from medieval physiology and implored the audience to use it throughout the meeting.

There were four prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker was Zita, who described spring like coming out of hibernation.  Her No. 1 Icebreaker Speech Project, aptly titled “Facing Fears”, began with a recollection of childhood inhibition which led her to give a self-commissioned violin performance outside of a church; she went on to describe the exhausting deliberation that eventually led her to leave a well-paid, but essentially unwanted, career in Financial Services, and told of how the surprising positivity from this decision spurred her into facing up to many more fears and stepping out into the unknown.  Despite admitting to a fear of public speaking at the very beginning, Zita showed no sign of nerves and delivered a highly enjoyable and articulate Ice Breaker.

 

Axel (for whom Femi postulated the sanguine nature of spring to be what he likes about the season) delivered his No.3 speech – freshly titled “Time Sanguine” – which he began by referring to the rushed nature of the preparation of the speech itself, and how an encouraging email from our president Jo convinced him to go ahead with it despite his intention to cancel.  Axel’s anecdotal style brought casual humour throughout, as he told of his woes with “parasite” estate agents and the complications of moving home.

Alefiyah (who likes the beautiful colours of spring) gave her No.3 entitled “How to Transmute a Question Mark?” in which she gifted the audience with an image of several large question marks going about their activity around us, representing all those people unknown to us or who we are too shy to talk to.   In a well-structured discourse, Alefiyah told us of her own journey in overcoming her self-perceived shyness, and gave the audience a practical, informative, and highly amusing guide to being able to speak to strangers. 

Helen (who likes the promise that summer was just around the corner) gave her No. 9 speech “It’s Not Her Fault!”; this started with a sombre story of a friend who remains adamant that her first sexual experience was the result of her being drugged.  Helen then brought up some powerful statistics to highlight prevalence of sexual assault in our society, and highlighted the disparity between the ubiquitous message to women to protect themselves from the stranger in the dark and the fact the 90% of rape survivors knew the men who raped them.  As her words became more impassioned, her message resounded: a message that the best way to protect women is to educate men, and a message of the necessity of affirmative consent.  The closing moments were marked by the repeated challenge to the audience: “What means yes?” 

We had warmly hosted guest introductions from Femi and well-balanced and well-structured thorough evaluations from Tracy (who loves the flowers of spring), Ahmed (who likes the Bank holidays), Rufina (who gets excited that the winter is finally letting go), and Renars.

Table topics

The table topics session was conducted by Peter L, who devised an original and humorous topics theme on the rules and regulations of Toastmasters itself.

“Should table topics speakers always be volunteers?” went to Conor, who spoke of his previous Toastmaster experiences as a guest where he sat quietly in the corner, having in subsequent sessions decided to make more of the experience and volunteer.

“Should Toastmasters be allowed to use swear words?” went to Axel, who made his preference clear from the onset by going straight for the easy laugh, and to much effect.  He went on to take a vote from the audience to reveal about 50% share his views.

“How would it be if Toastmasters could wear a mask while giving their speech?” went to Matteo who immediately joked that his English was “too perfect” for the audience.  He answered in the affirmative, yet cunningly reset the question to be “can someone speak in front of an audience without understanding the topic?”

“Should Toastmasters be allowed to give speeches on every topic under the sun?” went to Andrew, who said that this should indeed be the case since we live in a democracy, and a free country.   “Why not?”, he quipped, on the idea of being able to talk about religion.

“Should Toastmasters be allowed to give wordless performances?” went to Liliana who spoke of her Tango classes where she discovered how to communicate without words and through dancing.  However, since it takes far longer to learn how to dance than to learn how to speak in front of an audience she recommended that Toastmasters stick to public speaking.

“What would be suitable for the Timekeeper to give to really overrunning speakers?” went to Sebastian who asserted that taking more time than was on offer was disrespectful to others, and ultimately it was about an understanding of sharing and mutual respect.

“What would be a good initiation for someone reaching their 10th speech?” went to Hannah who recommended that such a feat should require you to “push the boat out” and go television for a political debate.

Henry gave an impressively thorough and informative evaluation for each of the topics speakers, which was well articulated and with good humour and language throughout.

Grammarian Sheldon reluctantly conceded that the standard of language had been excellent and noted the diverse range of speaking styles used for different effects throughout the meeting.

Unfortunately there was no general evaluation in this meeting

Awards

Icebreaker ribbon has handed to Zita; best speaker award was handed to Helen; best evaluator award went to Henry; and best impromptu speech award went to Andrew!

Next meeting

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

Meeting Report for 12 January 2015

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Written by Svetlana

Introduction

Bloomsbury Speakers Club hosted its regular meeting on Monday 12th January 2015 with an enthusiastic opening from President Jo who mentioned that Toastmasters was the right place if one wanted to get rid of fear of public speaking, the palpitations of being nervous and learn to enjoy it.

Prepared Speeches

After the Introduction, Jo handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the Evening Joe, whose easy and elegant manner and the theme of the Night was a good way of returning into the grove of our delightfully busy meetings. According to Joe, after the razzmatazz and the glitz and glamour Christmas, we enter a somewhat cold long month of January. In these times, he is looking forward to the evenings getting lighter, not having to eat turkey for another 12 months and spending some Monday evenings among Toastmasters! For introductions, Joe used answers to one question: however small or big, what we are looking forward to in January or later this year.

Joe introduced functionaries of the day: Hari the Timekeeper and Glen the Grammarian.

There were three prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Alefiyah’s No. 2 Speech Project “The SSLANGmobile (self-study language-mobile)” was a very informative, instructional, and well-organised description of a self-study language learning methodology, which uses modern internet and mobile applications. She offered a number of easy tips and pieces of advice among which consistency was named as the most important one for good results and maintaining strong motivation.

Peter L. (who in 2015 was determined to promote vegetarianism as a protest against the death of millions of turkeys that have to be slaughtered every Christmas) delivered his Speech No. 4 “The Big Piece of Paper” devoted to the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. Peter L. addressed three questions: what it was for, what its name meant and what it meant for him. He used his personal experience of judicial system, a well-known occasion when David Cameron was asked about Magna Carta. These events brought Peter L. back to the notion of Magna Carta, which effectively limited the powers of monarchy and laid a foundation for many modern fundamental laws, such as habeas corpus, speedy trial, and due process under the law; thus, indirectly, it continues protecting main liberties and individual rights and continues being the source of law.

Damien (who looks forward to the Rugby World Cup) in this his No. 7 Speech Project entitled “The Forgotten Parrott” related a detailed account of controversies, facts and figures, which shed light onto the less known 150 years of history of records set by professional and amateur long-distance runners since 1770 when James Parrott, a fruit seller, who was also a long-distance runner, set the first record of running 1 mile under 4 minutes, but it was forgotten due to methods of measuring and recording results and lack publicity.  Since then, there were other talented and strong runners who ran the distance under 4 minutes before Roger Bannister whose result in 1954 was the first one to be officially recorded.

Swarajit (who looks forward to the next Christmas) in his advanced speech “Probability Problems” from Manual “Speaking to Inform” told us about odds of probability, statistics and our perceptions of probability, which differ.  He used an interactive probability game with a chocolate prize to test the probabilities and show us that the reality is counterintuitive and mathematics of probability is shocking.  This should help us accept the public domain discourse especially from journalists who don’t know what they are talking about with a pinch of salt.

We had warm guest introduction from Michelle and well-balanced evaluations from Egor, Faith-Rose, Svetlana, and Femi.

Table topics session conducted by Peter F. was a fun session with interesting questions and imaginative impromptu answers. Peter F. gave very positive instruction, inspired and encouraged speakers, facilitated the session with warmth.

“What is your favourite childhood memory?” went to Svetlana, who said she had lots of happy memories but told us the one that was most memorable and which gave her flashbacks from time to time; it was about her very first and last gymnastic lesson, which made her extremely happy but after which she couldn’t find her way back home. She was only 7.

“If you had a chance to do a makeover what would you do differently?” went to Henry, who said he would change the way he looks at the world and make over his soul to be happy, productive, to oose smiles and feel incredibly positive. He would try everything to find what would work – from a magic pill to change of climate.

“If you had a chance to travel where would you go and why?” went to Rachel who told us that she travelled to Moscow, New York, Ireland and visited Copenhagen, after which she decided she would go to Scandinavia, Iceland, Norway and she told us how much she liked those countries and was interested in them.

“What teacher in school made the most impact on you and why?” went to Georgia, who told us about her English teacher who instilled in her the love of arts and literature.

“What was your most defining moment of your life?” went to Graham who named quite a few defining moments starting with visits to a dentist but the most important one was meeting his current partner.

“What is your strongest quality?” went to Tom who said that it was persistence which helped in so many cases and circumstances throughout his life, such as learning languages and some others.

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

Grammarian Glen’s report was a thorough, very educational report on the language usage of the day which contained many examples along with recommendations.

It was followed by General Evaluation from Isabel de la Cour, Phoenix 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; best evaluator award went to Hari; and best impromptu speech award went to Henry!!!

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 26th of January upstairs at The Clerk and Well, 156 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30pm.

Meeting Report for 9 December 2014

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Written by Svetlana

Introduction

Bloomsbury Speakers Club hosted its regular but slightly unusual meeting on Tuesday 9th December 2014 with not so many participants due to being the last pre-Christmas meeting of the year. President Jo announced it open and handed the Santa Claus hat over to Nathaniel, the Toastmaster of the evening, saying that the hat will pass from speaker to speaker throughout this special meeting.

Prepared Speeches

Nathaniel announced the theme of day – favourite Christmas presents ever received and introduced the functionaries of the day. Alefiyah the Timekeeper (whose favourite Christmas present is a homemade cake), told us a memorable story of a bus and opportunity costs related to switching lights of the Timekeeper, which speakers should observe to be time-conscious! Our President Jo (whose favourite present was watching a glacier in South America) acted as the Hark Master and advised us to listen carefully to the speeches as there would be a competition where she would ask questions towards the end of the meeting to test how attentive we were and win chocolates!!!

There were three prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Mengbing’s Icebreaker Speech Project “Who Am I?” started with a story of her name and continued with a story of her and her twin brother, who was a more talented one. She wanted to challenge herself and to see how different she was from her twin brother and how her own talents could show. This accounts for some amazing life experiences and wisdom she picked from travelling, living abroad, studying at the university in Switzerland, learning foreign languages, working for a charity in Africa, moving to London, and, finally,  joining, Toastmasters.

Faith-Rose (whose favourite ever present was a family photo on the eve of the New Year because normally they all live in different places) whose No. 6 speech was entitled “Determined”. It was a personal story of overcoming challenges and being determined. She didn’t believe in good luck but in being determined and faithful. Being a member of Toastmasters International and overcoming challenges of public speaking helped her overcome the challenge of passing her driving test even through it took her three attempts to do it.

Svetlana (whose favourite Christmas present was a tea-maker with excellent green teas from her family) delivered her Speech No. 7 entitled “Sharing Life Hacks With Friends”. Svetlana started with a humorous story of how important it is to share the knowledge and experience with others and that what you share stays with you and but you don’t share in forever lost. She shared useful knowledge about healthy life style and easy tips on how to stay healthy, slim and fit at no cost.

We had warm guest introduction from Michelle.

Evaluations

Michelle (whose favourite ever childhood present was a bike) evaluated Mengbing’s Icebreaker speech. The speech was interesting and personal, light-hearted and serious, concise and well-structured and delivered without notes; it was an excellent speech for an Icebreaker as evaluated by Michelle.

Swarajit evaluated Faith-Rose’s speech as a beautiful performance, advanced speech with a confident, humorous, convincing manner with a strong message.

Rufinah’s best present was getting married in addition to all wonderful presents she received so far. Rufinah evaluated Svetlana’s speech, which contained a lot of useful learning experience from childhood to adulthood, was quite entertaining at times too, was enlightened by her smile, and she didn’t use notes. However, she should have used references to formal researches, sources, and scientists to underpin the life hacks, which she mentioned.

Table topics session conducted by Helen was really entertaining as she explained that there are situations, which the impromptu skill can save. We had a good laugh. Helen’s questions were focused on holidays.

 “If you had one day access to Santa’s elves workshop for free what would you do?” went to Rufinah. She had wonderful time in Mexico in October, and she would go back to there. The weather was wonderful, food was amazing; the sea and the beach were like heaven; people were friendly and polite.

“What would be your favourite present in childhood, which you wanted but never received?” went to Jamie, who brooded over her childhood memories when her parents’ family was somewhat broken, therefore, her best Christmas present would be being together and watching movies and eating Christmas food.

“The worst Christmas present, which you received?” went to Alefiyah. Her nightmare moment of a Christmas would be Christmas dinner without gravy because chicken would be so dry or if the TV was broken and she wouldn’t be able to watch EastEnders with the most interesting Christmas episode.

“Which do you prefer: the white Christmas or the green Christmas?” was answered by Yu Ling, who would love it equally white or green as long as the whole family was having happy time together.

“Make us believe that Santa Claus is real” went to Swarajit. He started with how implausible the whole Santa Claus idea seemed to the majority of people that he travelled overnight and put presents though chimneys. In fact by Einstein’s theory of space-time compression this is possible. Einstein proved mathematically that it’s possible and Santa Claus was the one who put it into practice. He used a special machine to compress the space.

“Convince Boris Johnson to replace cabs with sleighs during Christmas holidays” went to Glen who staged a persuasive conversation with Boris at his own apartment. He would commend Boris on his achievements and, particularly, Boris Johnson bikes. He offered him an idea of using sleighs instead of bikes and come back to office year after year again and again.

Femi provided a candid and most valuable evaluation of all six Table Topic speakers.

Hark Master Jo’s contest was very popular and successful and all questions were answered at the first instance and chocolate went out to prises very fast.

In the absence of the General Evaluator we used a very innovative way of Group Evaluation facilitated by Glen.  It was very interactive and provided a number of comments.

Awards

Icebreaker Ribbon was handed to Mengbing; best speaker and best Christmas dress award was granted to Faith-Rose; best evaluator award went to Femi; and best impromptu speech award went to Swarajit!!!

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 12th of January downstairs at The Clerk & Well, 91-95 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5BX. Doors open at 6:30pm.