Introductions
Club President Femi opened this special meeting by giving a short history of the club and the Toastmasters organisation.
The Chair for the speech contest was past president and club co-founder Nazia, who welcomed guests and participants and reminded everyone why we compete – to stretch ourselves and go beyond our comfort zone.
International Speech Contest
The first half of the meeting was given over to the International Speech contest where the winner could end up competing at the world championships in America!
Nazia read out the order for the speakers as decided by random ballot and explained that each speaker would have five to seven minutes to give an original speech – more than 30 seconds under the minimum or over the maximum would result in disqualification.
The first contest speaker was Joe with a speech entitled “Mountainous Adventures” in which he told the story of a visit to Morocco in his early twenties. He was captivated by Marrakech and the main square with its “maze of shops” and “buzz of enthusiasm”. From Marrakech there were three options: sleeping under the stars in the desert, chilling out on the beach or trekking in the Atlas mountains. He chose the trek but what should have been a relatively easy climb became a nightmare with the onset of food poisoning!
The second contest speaker was Hari with a speech entitled “Power In The Present”. He started the speech holding an envelope in one hand and took us back to the day he was waiting to find out his ‘A’ level results. On that day he said he thought he could influence the results – before he opened the envelope – by sheer power of thought. In a very thought-provoking speech he discussed a fascinating theory about being able to change what had happened in the past – as long as you didn’t know the previous outcome.
The third contest speaker was Mike with his speech “We Are Family”. He took us on a journey which began 12 months ago with him as “a grumpy person” not wanting to get involved with things, to someone who “had something to contribute, who could move things forward”. He drew a vivid picture of his work “family” and in parallel described the changes – catalysed by his experiences at Toastmasters – which had transformed him over the course of a year.
The fourth contest speaker was Swarajit, with a speech entitled “They Don’t Work Together”. “If there’s one subject people avoid,” he said, “it’s religious belief”. Over the course of his speech he laid out – in a thoughtful and measured fashion – the various reasons he felt that science and religion were fundamentally incompatible. He introduced us to the concept of “The God of The Gaps” who was often used to explain those areas not yet fully understood by science and concluded that attempts to unify the two points of view could never be successful.
The fifth and final contest speaker was Janet with a speech simply entitled “Love”. She took us back to a period in her life where her inspiring boss had just been fired and she decided to leave the security of that big organisation for a role in a small, growing company. It was on a trip to Nepal between the two jobs that she found out she was pregnant, lost her job offer and started a life-changing transition which culminated in the birth of her beautiful daughter. Looking back, she said that she “measured that year in love”.
After the break – filled with lively conversation and free pizza! – it was time to begin the second contest of the evening, the Evaluation Contest.
Evaluation Contest
Contest Chair Carrie welcomed everyone back from the break and gave a description of the role of evaluation within Toastmasters. She then went on to explain the ground rules for the contest before introducing the “mystery speaker”, who would be evaluated by each of the contestants in turn for two to three minutes.
The speaker was revealed to be another Femi, this time visiting from City of London Speakers. He gave an impassioned speech entitled “The Second Amendment” in which he promised to help us “piece together the complex puzzle” of the second amendment – the right to bear arms. He told us about the historical role of organised militias in maintaining order and the subsequent establishment of the first “standing army” during the time of William the Conqueror. In his conclusion he argued that the second amendment “was never meant to be a pretext to personal gun ownership”.
At the end of the speech the seven contestants – Joe, Hari, Kate, Joowon, Gemma, Rajeev and Femi – were led out of the room and given five minutes to organise their notes before returning one-by-one to give their evaluations.
Results
After the judges’ ballots had been counted under the watchful eye of Chief Judge Jay (from Holborn Speakers) it was time to announce the results!
In the Evaluation Contest:
- Third place went to Hari
- Second place went to Kate
- First Place went to Femi
In the International Speech Contest:
- Third place went to Mike
- Second place went to Hari
- First place went to Janet
Congratulations to all contestants and particularly to Femi and Janet who go on to represent the club at the Area contest in April.
Next meeting
Our next meeting is Monday 8th April, upstairs at The Clerk & Well, 156 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6.30pm for a prompt 6.45pm start.
Have a great Easter!
