Hello and welcome to the September Newsletter!
August was an interesting month – particularly for those of us living in London! – but despite the rubbish weather and the unusual events at the start of the month it was a good one for Bloomsbury Speakers.
Recent news
We had two very well-attended meetings in August at our backup venue The Lamb. New members fearlessly took on challenging functionary roles (Neil and Karan as Topicsmasters and Joe as Topics Evaluator) without breaking stride and we were also treated to a couple of great Ice Breaker speeches from Ann and Terry.
Further afield, the Toastmasters World Convention took place in Las Vegas, and Australian Jock Elliot was crowned the World Champion of Public Speaking, while local boy and member of Croydon Speakers Malachi Talabi put in a sterling performance on behalf of the Brits, coming third in his semi-final heat. Also, the new Toastmasters brand was unveiled.
What’s happening this month?
There’s lots going on in September, but you’ll have to pay attention to catch it all because we’re moving around* a bit!
Andrew Brammer’s Storytelling Workshop – Monday 5th (SOLD OUT!)
Sadly there are no more places left on this but we’re aiming to do a write-up of the workshop for the website and if there’s enough demand we could certainly talk to Andrew about running it again in future.
The confirmed venue for this workshop is: Bertrand Russell Room, Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL.
Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest – Monday 12th September
There are still slots to enter one or both of these contests! You’ll be competing against familiar faces and you’ve still got time to prepare a speech. Don’t be the one kicking yourself you didn’t take part – it only comes round but once a year.
Even if you’re not competing please come along to support those who are – it should be a really fun evening.
The confirmed venue for the contests is: 1-3 Newton Street, London, WC2B 5EL. Please note this is very near Holborn station but it’s a new venue for us so make sure you check out the map.
Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest – Area 34 Final – Wednesday 21st September
The winners from each of the club contests in Area 34 (City of London Toastmasters, Holborn Speakers, London Business School Speakers, Tube Talk and of course Bloomsbury Speakers) will compete to see who goes on to the Division B final.
We need some volunteers to be vote counters and a timekeeper at this contest. No previous experience required and it’s a great way to meet some new people outside the club. Get in contact!
Regular Meeting – Monday 26th September
This meeting is now available for booking in ClubPlan so make sure you book yourself in. There’s still plenty of time to prepare a speech, but if you don’t fancy that why not book in to do a role you haven’t done before?
*apologies for the “venue tennis” happening in August and September. Our regular venue the Rugby Tavern is closed for refurbishments and we’ve had to be a bit creative with alternative venues. Just make sure you check the website before leaving for a meeting!
What do YOU want from the club?
The club is run for the benefit of all its members so please let me know what you’d like to see more (or less!) of at Bloomsbury Speakers.
Here are a few possibilities, but please suggest some of your own:
- Debating Meeting – a special meeting where the table topics section (or perhaps the whole meeting) is thrown open to a series of mini-debates, where two speakers argue opposite sides of an issue
- Table Topics Workshop – we’ve run these very successfully in the past: basically an extra meeting where attendees get to practice lots of table topics
- Evaluation Workshop – giving and receiving good evaluations is one of the cornerstones of the Competent Communicator programme so I’m looking into getting an experienced evaluator to run a workshop to give us all some tips
Just drop me a line at president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk telling which of the above you’re keen on and any other ideas you might have.
Three Easy Ways To Support Bloomsbury Speakers
I’m passionate about establishing Bloomsbury as a fun and friendly club, not just in the real world through our twice-monthly meetings, but also in the virtual world through our various online presences.
Here are three quick and simple things you can do to help the club thrive online as well as offline:
- Join our Meetup group – you can get handy meeting reminders and also let us know when you’re attending meetings (and what you thought of them!)
- Like us on Facebook – you’ll see updates from Bloomsbury Speakers in your newsfeed and we’ll get to connect with you too
- Follow us on Twitter – if you’re on Twitter then follow us for occasional updates and we’ll follow you back. Win win!
Tip of the Month – TED
Some of you will know about TED already, but for those of you who don’t, it’s an amazing resource featuring hundreds of free talks – between 5 and 20 minutes long – by some of the world’s best speakers.
Not only are many of them fascinating in their own right, but you can of course learn lessons for your own speeches from watching other speakers.
Here are three of my favourites:
- The Genius Puppetry Behind War Horse (visually amazing)
- How I fell in love with a fish (serious talk with very funny moments)
- Seth Godin on the tribes we lead (interesting and inspiring)
That’s it for this month’s newsletter. Let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to include in the next newsletter and hope to see you at a meeting soon.
Best wishes,
Glen Long
President
Bloomsbury Speakers
