Hello and welcome to the February newsletter for members and friends of Bloomsbury Speakers!
Quick warning: it’s quite a long newsletter this month – but that’s because there’s lot to say! (Anyway, January’s was short and sweet so you could argue I’m just trying to maintain the average…)
This month we’ve got the normal round up of recent news, together with information on the forthcoming contest season and a preview of a new initiative to get to know our members better.
Okay, here we go. See you on the other side…
What happened last month?
We had a great start to the year with two busy meetings in our brand new venue and lots of new guests eager to find out more about the club.
We’ve also had lots of new members so I’d like to wish a very warm Bloomsbury welcome to Sye Yuet, Nimit, Wayne, Janet, Eleanor and Carrie who’ve all joined since the start of the year.
I’m really looking forward to watching everyone take their first steps in Toastmasters and improve their speaking skills and confidence over the coming weeks and months.
Here’s a summary of the highlights from January:
- New venue – for the first meeting in January we moved to our new venue – The Real Man Pizza Company on Clerkenwell Road. As with any new home, we’re still working out a few things (e.g. room layout and how to minimize any noise from upstairs) but it seems to be working pretty well and the half-time pizza has been going down (figuratively and literally speaking) very well!
- Bloomsbury in Print – our VP Membership and Mentoring Hari Kalymnios had an article published in the January edition of Toastmaster magazine (page 5) – which goes out to over a quarter of a million people worldwide – thus cementing his worldwide fame! It’s a great article about The Three Peaks Challenge and is fantastic publicity for the club. You can read it online here: http://magazines.toastmasters.org/publication/?i=92560
- Evaluation Workshop – Chris Boden (current UK & Ireland evaluation champion) ran a great workshop at our sister club Holborn Speakers and a number of Bloomsbury members attended. There was some really great advice for even quite seasoned evaluators and I’m going to talk to Chris about getting some of the main points out to members who weren’t able to attend.
What’s happening this month?
We have our regular meetings as usual this month, with the usual potent mix of prepared speeches, evaluations and table topics:
- Monday 13th February – this is this coming Monday and we have a packed speaking schedule but still a few slots for evaluators – speech evaluators and topics evaluator
- Monday 27th February – fully booked again for speakers but we still need evaluators and a topics master.
Don’t be shy – book yourself in for one of the spare roles. Remember – all meeting roles provide an opportunity to speak in front of an audience.
What’s on the horizon?
The big event on the horizon is our contest evening where we’ll be hosting the club round of the International Speech and Evaluation contests (more on these below).
The winners will compete against the winners from City of London Toastmasters, Holborn Speakers, London Business School Speakers and Tube Talk in the area contest.
- Monday 12th March – Bloomsbury Speakers International Speech and Evaluation Contest – The Real Man Pizza Company
- Thursday 29th March – Area 34 International Speech and Evaluation Contest – hosted by Tube Talk, Templar House, 81 – 87 High Holborn
International Speech and Evaluation Contests
For those who are new to Toastmasters, twice a year every club holds two contests. In the Spring it’s the International Speech and Evaluation contests. In the Autumn it’s the Humorous Speech and Table Topics contests.
Contests are really good fun, a great way to get experience of speaking in a (slightly) more formal environment and also an opportunity showcase and celebrate the various skills learned in Toastmasters during the rest of the year.
As it says above, our contests are being held on Monday 12th March at the same venue as the regular meetings. We’d love as many members as possible to enter these contests. However, there are some restrictions.
Contestants in the International Speech Contest deliver a prepared speech of 5 – 7 minutes:
- You must have completed 6 speeches from the Competent Communicator manual by the date of the contest to participate
- You may use a speech you’ve delivered before – as long as it is original and your own work
- The speech can be on any topic of your choosing (within normal Toastmasters limits – i.e. nothing that would make your Nan blush).
(BTW The reason it’s called the International Speech contest is that it’s a global competition with the winner of UK & Ireland going to the US to compete for the glory of the “world title”. So there’s everything to play for!)
Contestants in the Evaluation Contest all evaluate the same (mystery) speaker. Everyone gets the same amount of time to write up their notes – these are then taken away until it is your turn to evaluate.
Why You Should Take Part
If you are even slightly inclined to participate (and you meet the requirements) then I strongly recommend it. It’s a great experience and although their is an extra layer of formality to make sure everything is fair, it’s still a very supportive environment and conducted with a sense of fun.
And you’ve still got a month to write a speech (or polish your evaluation skills).
(Note: you can book yourself in as a contest speaker or contest evaluator on ClubPlan, but due to a limitation of the software you can’t book yourself in both contests – just book one slot and email Femi at education@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk to say you’d also like to participate in the other contest too).
If you can’t (or don’t want to) compete this time round then why not take on an official role, such as one of the timekeepers or a vote counter? Email Femi if you’re interested.
Meet The Members!
Hari and I have been talking about how to make sure with a growing membership that we maintain a sense of community and give members a sense of who else is in the club with them.
During every meeting we ask guests to briefly introduce themselves but we never do the same things for members. There wouldn’t actually be time, but it would be nice for everyone to get to know each other a little better.
This month we’d like to find out a bit more about all of our members – the new ones and the not so new ones.
So next week we’ll be emailing all of our members to tell us more about themselves by giving us a sentence or two about themselves answering the following questions:
- What you currently do for a living? (and perhaps what you’d rather be doing!)
- Which part of London (or elsewhere) you live in?
- What do you like to do outside of work? (other than Toastmasters!)
We’ll collate all your answers and send out an email to all our current members so that you have a much better idea who else is in the club with you.
Tip of the Month – Don’t Be Afraid To Be Ordinary!
When selecting a topic for your next speech it’s only natural to seek out a subject you think other people will find interesting, even fascinating.
One approach is to think back to the last time you discovered something really interesting. Maybe you were bowled over by the ideas in the latest bestselling business or personal development book. It blew your mind, so it should blow other people’s minds, right?
Well, maybe it will, but a potential pitfall is that you might end up delivering speech that anyone who’d read the same book could deliver. In fact, if the book’s a bestseller, you’ll probably find that people in Toastmasters clubs all over the country are delivering very similar speeches.
Not to say this is a bad thing, but it’s all too easy to overlook the ordinary in pursuit of the apparently extraordinary. Don’t forget that what’s ordinary for you can often be fascinating for other people. (Just look at the phenomenon of reality TV!)
Your job, your family, your friendships, your everyday experiences – they may seem dull and ordinary to you but they are also unique and might just be a rare treat for other people.
For example, let’s say you’re a G.P. and you’ve just returned from an exotic holiday in Peru where you visited the ruins at Machu Picchu. There’s a pretty good chance your next speech will be be about your visit to Machu Picchu.
Now I’m not saying it wouldn’t make a fine speech, but to be honest I’ve heard people talk about visits to exotic places before. Whereas I’ve never heard anyone talk about what it’s actually like to be a G.P. Now that would be really interesting.
So… Don’t be afraid to be ordinary!
Phew, okay that’s it for another month. I look forward to seeing many of you at a meeting soon.
And if you’re not a member, perhaps February is the month to join. Think of it like this – the sooner you get involved, the sooner you’ll be a skilled and confident speaker!
https://www.bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk/join/form/
Best wishes,
Glen Long
President
Bloomsbury Speakers
