Written by Elena (edited by Swarajit)
Introduction
This meeting was just a day before St. Valentine’s Day and the speeches were full of love too: a birthplace (India); children and a blonde-haired lady.
The meeting was opened by Club President Glen who welcomed new and returning guests as well as regular and new members. He described a typical Toastmasters meeting and assured the audience of a safe and friendly environment in the club for practising public speaking.
The Toastmaster of the meeting was one of our most experienced members and also the Club VP of Education Femi. As he introduced members up to the stage, he reminded the audience how many speeches have been given by each speaker and which roles in the club they performed. Femi was assisted by the Timekeeper, Paula, and Grammarian, Hari, who were performing their roles for the first time.
Prepared speeches
Since the beginning of this year six new members have joined our club, which is great news. This evening we had an Ice Breaker speech entitled “I Miss Those Days” from our new member Nimit. He told us about his hometown Kolkata (East India) and his warm childhood memories: about his house; climbing a tree, his neighbours and friends and his school days.
The second speaker was Elena, who presented her No. 3 speech (the main purpose of which is to get to the point) entitled “How to Get On with Children”. She described how to get on with children by emphasising three main points: kids have huge energy, a natural curiosity and the need for a feeling of safety.
The third speaker this evening was Neil with his No. 5 speech (which focuses on body language) entitled “$12,000 Gamble“. He told us how attending a business seminar allowed him to meet an amazing woman and take a risk of attending an expensive master class business programme that helped him improve his business.
The last speaker this evening was Swarajit, who presented his No. 6 speech (which focuses on vocal variety) entitled “If Newspapers Could Speak”. He imagined and demonstrated the sound of the voice of different newspapers: for instance broadsheet newspapers would have a highly educated and almost patronising voice, while tabloid red-top newspapers would have a drunken town crier’s voice. Swarajit also tried to interpret for us some newspapers’ headlines such as “Toy Boys Sex My Hubby and Me”, which often have their own rules for punctuation, grammar and style.
Speech evaluations
After the break we had the evaluations part of the meeting which is related to the Toastmaster’s Competent Leadership Programme where, through different roles, a speaker can develop their leadership skills.
Femi gave an evaluation of Nimit’s very informative Ice Breaker speech in his familiar, confident and encouraging style. He commended Nimit’s engagement with the audience through asking questions, as well as the chronological structure of his speech. The main recommendation for Nimit’s future speeches was to keep to no more than five points which can help the audience to follow a speech more easily.
Jo was performing the evaluator role for the first time and gave a studied and well-considered evaluation of Elena’s No. 3 speech. She commended Elena’s good three-point structuring of the speech and use of similes such as the comparison of children with a “nuclear power station”. Jo recommended that Elena use more body language in the future.
Joyanta evaluated Neil’s No. 5 speech and commended his very natural delivery style and vivid gestures and movements when Neil spoke about different characters. In Joyanta’s opinion, Neil could have improved the speech by making it more structured.
Kate gave a very descriptive and comprehensive evaluation of Swarajit’s No. 6 speech. She commended Swarajit’s use of humour and vocal variety when reading out sensationalist newspaper headlines, but recommended that he concentrate on holding eye contact with the audience.
Table Topics
The Table Topics part of the meeting is where members and guests are invited to think on their feet and speak for a minute or so on a topic they’ve only just been given.
Joe performed as the Topics Master this evening and chose quite challenging questions for the theme “On an interview”, such as: If you are an animal what would you be and why?; What super power would you have and how would you use it?; Is a Jaffa Cake a biscuit or cake?; What are the three things you would like to take to a desert island?; When you were young what did you want to be?; Which two people who would you invite to a dinner party?
Six members and one new guest took part and were evaluated by the Table Topics evaluator this evening, Nazia. She commended people using the technique of repeating the question as well as the “rule of three” to structure their impromptu speeches.
Finally, Hari presented a comprehensive Grammarian report and Connell, the General Evaluator for this evening and a guest from Northern Lights Speakers in Camden evaluated all the meeting participants who were yet to be evaluated and characterised our club as being very warm and welcoming. Connell’s recommendations useful for all speakers were: do not speak too fast and use more pauses; centre yourself on the stage.
Awards
Closing the meeting, Glen gave out the awards based on the votes cast during the evening and one President’s discretional award.
The Best Evaluator award went to Kate for her evaluation of Swarajit’s speech, the Best Table Topics speaker award went to Hari for his fantastic “Three Animals” topic, and the highly coveted Best Speaker award went to Neil for his excellent speech. The President’s discretional award went to Richard for his humorous table topic on exploiting the power of time travel.
The certificate for successfully completing Icebreaker speech – an important landmark for any Toastmaster – went to Nimit.
Next meeting
Our next meeting is on Monday 27th February at The Real Man Pizza Company, 91-95 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1R 5BX.
