Hello and welcome to the March newsletter!
This month we’ve got an update on our club contests (plus information about how you can support the winners) and some important venue news.
Also you can find out what’s going on meeting-wise in April and how you can get more involved in the running of Bloomsbury Speakers (but just remember: with great power comes great responsibility!).
SPOILER ALERT!
In a new feature, if you don’t have time to read the whole newsletter, you can scroll to the very bottom for a short list of things you really need to know this month.
But I’d really like it if you read the whole thing. 🙂
What’s happened since the last newsletter?
Well we had two great meetings in February which, in addition to some impressive speeches from more experienced members, featured several of our newest members giving their ice breaker speeches – so well done Nimit, Janet and Eleanor!
We’ve also had another new member join our happy gang – so welcome aboard Marielle!
Here’s a summary of the other highlights:
- Meet The Members – we had our Meet The Members initiative run by Hari where we asked our members to tell us a bit more about themselves. We had a great response and learned that our members are a pretty diverse and interesting bunch!
(Idea for members: before the next meeting why not have another read about your Bloomsbury peers and see if you can put some new faces to names during the breaks. Just look for the email “Meet The Members – Your Responses!” we sent on 27th February).
- Bloomsbury Contests – we held our club round of the international speech and evaluation contests. I was very pleased with the number of people who took part – we had six contestants in the speech contest and five evaluators. You can read all about the contest in the official Contest Report. Thanks again to everyone who helped out and especially to Femi for pulling it all together.
What’s happening this month?
We only have one regular meeting this month due to the contests:
- Monday 26th March 2012 – this meeting is almost fully-booked but at the time of writing there’s still a chance to sign up as an evaluator.
(Please note: that this will be our last meeting at The Real Man Pizza Company, 91-95 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5BX – more details below).
There is also the opportunity to support the winners of our recent contests as they represent Bloomsbury Speakers against other clubs in the area on Thursday 29th March 2012:
- Area 34 International Speech and Evaluation Contest Finals – hosted by TubeTalk, 10th Floor Meeting Room, London Underground, Templar House, 55 Broadway, London SW1H 0BD. 6.30pm – 9.00pm. (Please email John.Nyaruwa@tube.tfl.gov.uk by 27th March to attend so that passes may be arranged).
This is a great chance to see (and learn from) some really good speakers and evaluators – Area 34 always fields strong contestants.
What’s on the horizon?
We are back to two regular meetings in April with all the normal roles and speaking opportunities:
- Monday 16th April 2012 – this one’s already pretty “chocker” but you can still sign up as an evaluator – go on!
- Monday 30th April 2012 – a few slots are still available at this meeting including Harkmaster/Grammarian, Topics Evaluator and, of course, you can be speech evaluator
There are two very IMPORTANT things to note about April’s meetings:
- Due to the Easter bank holidays we have switched dates – for one month only – to the third and fifth Mondays of the month instead of the usual second and fourth.
- Both of these meetings will be in our new venue: The Clerk & Well – see below for more information
New Venue (what another one?!)
The Real Man Pizza Company has been a great place to see out the winter. Aldo and Josef have been very welcoming, we’ve made the best of the space and I think it’s fair to say we’ve certainly enjoyed their pizzas!
However, it can be a bit noisy and it does get rather cramped down there when we have lots of guests (and we love having lots of guests).
There’s also been a change of management since we arrived and the chain which owns the restaurant wants us to spend more money on food and drinks than is really realistic for a non-profit club our current size.
So, we’ve agreed – very amicably – to part ways. But fear not, the pizza place was only ever a stop-gap solution and we’ve had our eyes peeled for better alternatives. And we didn’t have to look very far…
I’m delighted to say we’ve managed to arrange a new venue which we really hope will become our permanent home. It’s a upstairs in a very smart-looking pub called The Clerk & Well – and it’s directly opposite the pizza place, so it shouldn’t be too hard for you to find!
As a club that started its life upstairs in The Rugby Tavern it feels to me like a room above a nice pub is our spiritual home and so I’m really excited about this latest move.
As before it’ll probably take us a couple of meetings to get used to the new venue and iron out any wrinkles but I’m sure we’ll have it running like a well-oiled machine in no time at all.
Fancy joining our committee?
The Toastmasters year runs from the start of July until the end of June, so with the clocks about to go forward it’s time to start thinking about our new committee – the group of members responsible for keeping the club running and the members happy.
What usually happens in a Toastmasters club is that some existing committee members step down, some want to be considered for other roles, and occassionally some want to stay exactly where they are.
But there are always opportunities for new people to get involved and in fact it’s very important for the club to have some “new blood” every year.
Everything is subject to members’ votes but before anyone can vote on anything, we need to know which of our members might be interested in taking on a bigger role in the club.
Here’s my spin on the various committee roles and what’s involved:
- President – has overall responsibility for the success of the club through the leadership of the club committee
- Vice President of Education – makes sure each meeting has a full programme of speakers and functionaries and also that members are progressing through the educational programme
- Vice President of Membership and Mentoring – responsible for making sure the club has a healthy intake of new members and for ensuring new and existing members are supported via the mentoring programme
- Treasurer – responsible for the club’s finances, including collecting of dues, paying expenses and registering people with Toastmasters International
- VP of Public Relations – responsible for raising awareness of the club (via newsletters, emails, marketing campaigns, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) with the ultimate aim of attracting new guests to visit the club
- Secretary – responsible for various administration tasks, including writing up and distributing minutes of committee meetings
- Sergeant At Arms – responsible ensuring that the room is set up for meetings and packed up again afterwards; also responsible for club kit
All of these roles are potentially up for grabs so come and have a talk with myself or one of the other committee members if you’re interested.
For a reminder of who currently performs these roles have a look here (note that we don’t currently have a dedicated Public Relations person, but hopefully we will have one next time around).
Here are some good reasons you might want to get involved:
- You want to improve your leadership and team-working skills alongside a bunch of fun people
- You feel you’ve gained a lot from being a member now would like to “give something back” so that other people can benefit similarly in the future
- You want to become more involved in Toastmasters generally (by serving on the committee you’ll come into contact with committee members from other clubs and this can be a great to build your network)
Tip of the Month – Read This (Short, Free) Book!
It’s ready quite a long newsletter so I’ll keep this month’s tip very short.
Quite simply, download and read The Flinch by Julien Smith. If you’ve got an Amazon account but no Kindle then download a reader app or even just read it in the cloud.
Perhaps it’s “the flinch” that’s preventing you from booking that next speech, trying that new role or – if you’re a regular guest – from taking the plunge and joining up.
Okay folks, that’s all for this month. See you soon.
Best wishes,
Glen Long
President
Bloomsbury Speakers
“Spoilers” – Just The Stuff You Really Need To Know!
- Our next meeting is Monday 26th March at The Real Man Pizza Company (it’s our last meeting there)
- The Area 34 speech and evaluation final is on Thursday 29th March hosted by TubeTalk
- Our meetings in April are a week later in the month than normal due to Easter – 16th and 30th April
- From April we have a brand new venue: The Clerk & Well (opposite the pizza restaurant)
- We’re looking for people to join the committee from end of June. Drop us a line!
