Hello and welcome to the April newsletter!
This monthly email has become a bit of a “moveable feast” of late – my original plan was to send the newsletters out early in the month but I’m afraid Easter got the better of me.
However, it’s still April (I need only look out the rain-spattered window to be reminded of that) and there’s still a meeting to go before the end of the month, so I say better late than never!
(If you’re in a hurry, scroll to the very bottom for the key facts you need to know this month.)
What’s happened since the last newsletter?
Well the first half of the month was fairly quiet Toastmasters-wise due to Easter, but since then we’ve had:
- First meeting at The Clerk & Well – very excitingly, we christened our new venue with a great meeting and lots of new guests and members. We had four cracking speeches (including a very revealing ice breaker!) – all from new or relatively new members. If you missed it check out the meeting report here.
- London Contests and Workshops – on Saturday 21st April there was the London finals for the International Speech and Evaluation contests together with a range of educational workshops. A number of our members attended and we’ve got a report from a couple of them later in the newsletter.
We’ve also had four new members join us in April – welcome to Mike, Marco, Renars and Jason! – with at least one more due to join before the month is out. 🙂
What’s happening this month?
Well the month is almost over, but we have our second meeting at The Clerk & Well:
- Monday 30th April 2012 – as usual arrive from 6.30pm for a 6.45pm start. If you need directions to the new venue you can find them here.
We have a packed agenda already and I have a feeling that attendance will be very good too based on the number of people who’ve already RSVP’d on Meetup.
(Are you a member of our Meetup group yet? If not it’s a great way to get automatic reminder and also to let us know you’re coming along.)
I understand we still need a Topics Evaluator so if you’ve evaluated before but not done topics evaluation then why not take the plunge! We also need a speech evaluator.
(ClubPlan has had a few technical problems over the last few days, so if you can’t get onto it, just email Femi at education@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk)
On a personal note… I’m particularly excited about Monday’s meeting because as our guest Toastmaster we hope to have Craig Reid, who founded the club back in 2009 with Nazia. When I first visited Bloomsbury as a guest in early 2010, Craig was the guy I looked at and thought “if I can get as good as him, then I definitely want to join!”
What’s on the horizon?
There are a couple of events to mention, one being one of the biggest on the Toastmasters calendar:
- From Toastmaster to Professional Speaker – a workshop led by Distinguished Toastmaster Bob Ferguson, who has won three out of the four UK & Ireland speech contests. He shares the tips he’s gleaned to help speakers make the initial transition from Toastmaster to Professional Speaker. 7-9pm on Wednesday 9th May 2012 at the Fitzrovia Community Centre, Foley Street, London, W1W 6DN. To reserve a place email Simon Cooper at simonjc@btinternet.com
- The District 71 Toastmasters Spring Conference – the “WOW – Words of Wexford” conference is taking place from 11-13 May in Wexford in South-East Ireland. Highlights include: UK & Ireland finals of International Speech and Evaluation Contests; inspiring and educational workshops; world-class entertainments and an abundance of good “craic”. Find out more and book your place here.
Report from London Contests and Workshops
A number of our members attended this event, including our Treasurer Swarajit and regular member (and meeting report ‘scribe’) Elena.
This is what Swarajit had to say:
I went to Andrew Bennett’s workshop on body language in which we were asked to communicate certain table topic-style messages using only our bodies (no speaking). It was something of an eye-opener as I’d never realised how much thought is required to get the right body language across in a speech.
The contests were both of a very high standard. The speech contest had a variety of styles such as humorous, motivational and reflective and, for me at least, the winner was not easy to choose! The evaluation contest was also closely fought, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a tiebreaker vote involved.
Elena said:
Most helpful for me was Andrew’s Bennett interactive workshop which was focused on two key aspects of speech presentation – voice and body language. Especially I liked the non-speaking Table Topics and the printed material with vocal exercises.
Jacqueline Purcel’s workshop “The Journey From Shyness To Shy Less” taught me that there are different types of shyness, helped identify mine and gave some useful coping mechanisms to deal with it.
All contestants performed at high level and I picked up some useful tips for me from everyone.
Well done to Jakub Pawlowski (Polish Your Polish club) and Lynne Cantor (Excalibur and WIBF City clubs) for their victories in the International Speech and Evaluation Contests respectively. More information can be found on The London Speaker.
New committee – last call for interested parties
We’re looking to finalise the new Bloomsbury Speakers committee before the end of May. We’ve already had some people step forward but if you’ve been “umming and ahhing” about getting involved then there’s still time to throw your hat in the ring. Once we know who’s interested in what there will be a voting process involving all members. The new committee is in place from July, with a handover during June.
Also, let us know if you’re interested in getting involved in some way but not necessarily as a full committee member.
For example, we really need someone to breathe some life into our Facebook and Twitter accounts. Might be a nice thing to have on your CV in these tough economic times – “I’m currently in charge of social media for a prominent public speaking club in central London”. Just saying. 😉
Just reply to this email or come and talk to me or one of the other committee members (Femi, Hari, Swarajit, Kate, Adam or Nazia) at the next meeting.
Tip of the Month – Include a “Call to Action”
Early in the Competent Communicator programme (speech project No. 3 in fact) we are taught to make sure our speeches always have a clear purpose. Is our intent to inform, to persuade, to inspire or simply to entertain?
For any speech, but particularly for one which is intended to be persuasive or inspiring, it can also be very useful to ask yourself: “What action do I want the audience to take?”
Consider this: I personally might describe a speech as persuasive, but is it truly persuasive if it doesn’t cause me to take some kind of action soon afterwards? I might find another speech inspiring and uplifting but ultimately if it doesn’t inspire me to make some kind of change, has it really delivered on the basic purpose?
This is why it can be very effective to include a “call to action” towards the end of your speech. Having successfully sustained the audience’s attention and emotions throughout the speech, try to direct that momentum towards a specific action at the end. Tell them what you want them to do, and make it easy for them to actually do it.
For example, if you’re trying to persuade people to lead a more active lifestyle, invite them to take an extra 10 minutes of light exercise every day and give them some quick and easy ways to achieve it.
If your inspirational speech is about the value of friendship, ask them to think of one old friend they haven’t spoken to yet this year and suggest that I make a mental commitment to call them this week.
Remember, the actions don’t have to be huge, but they do have to be specific and you do have to tell your audience that you want them carried out. If the action is simply implied, then it probably won’t be carried out.
Okay folks that’s it for this month. I hope you enjoyed the newsletter.
Have a good weekend and I look forward to seeing you at a meeting soon.
Best wishes,
Glen
President
president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk
Spoilers – just the stuff you really need to know
- Our next meeting is this Monday, 30th April upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU.
- We still need a Topics Evaluator and a Speech Evaluator for the above meeting. (ClubPlan’s a little flaky at the moment – if you can’t get on, email Femi at education@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk)
- There’s still time to book a place at the Spring Conference, 11-13th May 2012 in Wexford, Ireland
- We’re still looking for members who are interested in being part of the next committee (starting from July) – send us an email or mention it at the next meeting
