Written by Jo
Introduction
The meeting was opened by our new President Femi who welcomed all members and guests to ‘the friendliest club in London’ and encouraged everyone to think about why they had joined Toastmasters and stay focussed on meeting their goals.
Henry, the evening’s Toastmaster, explained that his role was to orchestrate the meeting so we ended on time. His theme for the evening was crossroads – junctions in life where we make a decision (or a decision is made for us) that has a profound impact on the way we think, behave or live. He was assisted by Chris as Timekeeper and David as Grammarian.
Prepared speeches
Angela opened the prepared speeches with her Icebreaker entitled ‘From Law Graduate to Pattern Cutter’ which traced her studies and career since the age of 18 including the reasoning behind the choices she had made.
Carrie’s No 2 Speech was entitled ‘Finding Luck’ and she explained how the people we see as being lucky are really just like us and gave tips on how we could make our own luck in life.
Renars presented an Advanced Speech on Public Relations entitled ‘The Goodwill Speech’ in which he spoke about the background of the Toastmasters organisation and the benefits of joining.
Finally Hari gave his Advanced Speech from the Leadership Series on ‘Giving Effective Feedback’ and spoke comprehensively about what makes effective feedback and suggested ways it could be presented.
Speech evaluations
Evaluating Angela’s Icebreaker speech, Jo praised her relaxed manner and the humour of her speech and she also enjoyed the repetitive elements. Jo noted that Angela had paced around the stage at times so recommended that she work on moving with purpose.
Mike evaluated Carrie’s speech and commended her opening question and the structure and the ending. He particularly liked the inclusion of the quote towards the end and suggested that would have been a good final sentence to the speech instead of continuing.
Joe evaluated Renars’ speech and noted the objective was to build goodwill in the club and influence the audience. Joe liked Renars’ visualisation but felt that the speech could have come alive more with some storytelling woven into the points he was making.
The final evaluator, Neil, gave an evaluation of Hari’s speech. He praised Hari’s preparations with both his lack of notes and the IT set up and his use of descriptions. His recommendation was to be careful not to talk to the computer whilst changing slides and he would also have liked to have seen a stronger opening.
Table Topics
The Table Topics Master this evening was Ahmed who randomly gave challenging questions to the participants all along the theme of time travel.
A mix of members and guests took part and were evaluated by the Topics Evaluator, Paula.
Awards
Angela was presented with a certificate for successfully completing her Icebreaker speech – an important first step in any Toasmaster’s journey.
The Best Evaluator award went to Joe for his considered evaluation of Renars’ speech.
The Best Table Topics Speaker award went to Wayne for his logical explanation of why the topic he was given was pointless as time travel was not possible and the Best Speaker award went to Carrie for her enlightening speech.
The President’s award went to Mike who gave an evalution despite not yet having completed his Icebreaker.
Next meeting
Our next meeting is on Monday 16th July 2012, upstairs at The Clerk and Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1R 5BX.
