Written by Elena (edited by Swarajit)
Introduction
This was an outstanding meeting with a high standard of performance from the members of the club throughout.
Ratan, the evening’s Toastmaster, set the theme for the meeting tied in with the current economic situation – “Austerity Measures” – and introduced speakers on to the stage with their sometimes funny and sometimes philosophical answers to the question: “What personal austerity measures have you taken to cope up with present cuts, doom and gloom and the recession?”
Prepared speeches
Christopher opened the prepared speeches with his impressive and educational Ice Breaker speech entitled “Dealing with Dyslexia”. He described to the audience the meaning of dyslexia, used his own experiences to describe the challenges faced by those affected, and how his parents helped Christopher to overcome dyslexia so that he was able to read Dickens and many other books.
Kate persuaded the audience to switch to organic vegetables in her No. 9 speech entitled “Choices”. She advised us how to recognise whether what we are buying is actually organic, described the difference between organic and non-organic food consumption and urged us to eat more organic food, which is better for our health.
Glen inspired us to take part in charity volunteering as well as just donating money in his speech No. 10 entitled “Catch-22”. He told the audience that just donating money to a well known national charity had not given him the feeling of being involved in the process and this made it difficult to care about detail or influence the actual outcome of the charity’s activities. Glen encouraged the audience to become more involved in voluntary work and gain new experiences.
David presented his very entertaining and humorous advanced speech No. 7 entitled “Help! I Have Lost My Security Pass”. It was a must-see! David vividly described and demonstrated how he overcame obstacles like closing doors on a tube train, getting on a bus at a bus stop, a very aggressive barrier at his office building, a lift full of people and a forgotten password on his computer – all in one morning in which he had been rushing to work and had lost his security pass.
Speech evaluations
Evaluating Christopher’s Ice Breaker speech Elena praised his well-structured speech that started with an announcement of what it was going to be about, followed by strong content and an effective conclusion with a quote from Albert Einstein, all accompanied by a great delivery.
Carrie evaluated Kate’s speech and commended her very clear message and well-considered, logical structure of the speech, some very persuasive arguments and a deep knowledge of the subject along with Kate’s confidence on the stage.
Janet evaluated Glen’s speech in which she said she had heard an honest man telling the audience about feelings that motivated him to make a step forward to volunteering, had seen him use hand gestures to good effect and maintain fantastic eye contact. Janet also felt Glen’s passion about volunteering which really inspired her to take action.
The last evaluator, Jo, gave an evaluation of David’s speech. She liked David’s high drama, body language and pacing around the stage, and noticed that the whole audience had been laughing during the speech. She noted that David’s actions were supported by a great variety of voice, such as crying or shouting when appropriate.
Table Topics
The Table Topics Master this evening was Renars who randomly gave out challenging questions to the participants, such as: Should the internet be banned for kids under twelve years old?; What is, in your opinion, the best invention in the world?; Does TV make us stupid?
A good mix of members and guests took part and were evaluated by the Topics Evaluator, Femi.
Awards
The certificate for successfully completing his Icebreaker speech went to Christopher.
The Best Evaluator award went to Femi for his specific and comprehensive Table Topics evaluation. The Best Table Topics Speaker award went to Angela for her educational table topic about the best invention in the world, and the Best Speaker award went to David for his emotional and entertaining speech.
The President’s award went to evening’s Timekeeper Ilze who had performed this role for the first time with great success.
Next meeting
Our next meeting is on Monday 25th June 2012, upstairs at The Clerk and Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, London,EC1R 5BX.
