Introductions

Our president, Femi, got us off to a great start by reminding us that Toastmasters is an opportunity to practise public speaking with friends. You should put yourself on the stage as often as you can, and be sure to practise with insight, using the wealth of resources available.

The Toastmaster for the evening was Glen, our immediate past president, and webmaster of our award-winning website. Glen reflected on the nostalgia of meeting at the Real Man Pizza Company, which was once the club’s temporary home, and gave a few tips on the idiosyncrasies of the space. He likened the role of Toastmaster to that of an engineer aboard a ship, making sure that things run smoothly.

In light of the last-minute change of venue, Glen’s theme for the meeting was, “If I wanted to change your mind at the last minute, how would I do it?”

• Ed – the Timekeeper – explained the importance of expressing an idea within a specific amount of time, along with the significance of the numbers on the agenda and the functioning of the lights in timing each speech.
• Swarajit – the Grammarian – set the word of the day, the purpose of which is to introduce a word to people’s vocabulary that they may not use regularly. Swarajit’s role was also to comment on use of language in general. In particular, he was looking for interesting uses of collective nouns, and he took the opportunity to introduce a new one, “A wunch of bankers.” The word of the day was:

TENUOUS – adjective

1. Thin or slender in form, as a thread.
2. Lacking a sound basis, as reasoning; unsubstantiated; weak: a tenuous argument.
3. Thin in consistency; rare or rarefied.
4. Of slight importance or significance; unsubstantial: He holds a rather tenuous position in history.
5. Lacking in clarity; vague: He gave a rather tenuous account of his past life.

Prepared Speeches

Peter kicked off the prepared speeches with an outstanding icebreaker. He began by telling us how storytelling is fundamental to him and how it has impacted his personal life, thus setting the stage for his speech. He described his father as boring, dull and unassuming, though he was not always that way, as Peter soon illustrated in the story of his father’s adventures. Peter’s father and uncle travelled extensively, encountered tigers, escaped slavery, and met the gentle, pious people of Tibet. Eventually Peter’s uncle returned home, while his father enlisted in the army. The horrors of war led him to become the person he is today.

In her speech, entitled, “Natural Born Speaker,” Alex echoed and elaborated on some of the ideas Femi presented in his introduction. Speaking, according to Alex, can be learnt with practice just like any other skill. She spoke about the psychology behind the fear of speaking and the fact that in overcoming that fear, practice makes perfect. No one is born an eloquent speaker, she concluded, but we are all born with the potential to be an eloquent speaker.

Rajeev gave us some insight into wine tasting and selection in his speech, entitled, “Second-cheapest Wine.” Like almost 25% of people, Rajeev would always default to the second- or third-cheapest wine in restaurants until he recently learned more about wine. He then shared some of his knowledge on the different types of wine, some tips on tasting wine, and what we can all do to learn more, all in the hope that we would not make the same mistake, and in future, opt for the house wine instead.

In his advanced speech, Femi treated us to the story of the inception of Bloomsbury Speakers – a story of perseverance and passion. He told us how Bloomsbury Speakers was born out of Holborn Speakers in 2009 as the brainchild of the then president of Holborn Speakers. He described in detail the dedication and sacrifices involved, but was interrupted by the gavel. Part II of the story was promised in due time!

Evaluations

Hari described Peter’s icebreaker as having obliterated the objectives in the first ten seconds. He seemed already comfortable speaking in front of an audience, and in particular telling this story, which was clearly quite familiar. Hari recommended that Peter not use notes, though his use of them on this occasion appeared not to detract from the speech. Finally, he commended Peter’s soothing voice and fantastic story, though it did not end on such a joyous tone.

Damien found Alex’s speech engaging as her choice of topic resonated with us all and she was willing to open up early in the speech and make it quite personal. He broke his feedback down into the areas of voice, body language and content, commending Alex’s soft but balanced voice, her open stance and eye contact, as well as the structure and uplifting nature of her speech. He suggested a few more hand gestures and closing the speech by reminding us what she had told us. All in all, Damien found that Alex had made us feel that the status of an ideal speaker was attainable in the future.

Rufina commended Rajeev’s opening, stating that one of the attributes of a great speaker is the ability to get the audience involved, as Rajeev did. His structure, according to her, was great, as it utilised the power of three. His use of a glass of wine as a prop added a lot to his speech, though perhaps he could have showed a few different types of wine to illustrate the differences. Rufina also recommended that he lose his notes as he didn’t use them much. He came across to her as very confident and made her keen to try his wine tasting techniques the next time she goes out.

Paula found Femi’s speech a pleasure. His unique perspective on Bloomsbury Speakers enabled him to give a speech that no one else could have given, in a way that was decorative and detailed. If anything, Paula found Femi’s speech too detailed and was lost at times due to a lack of structure. She worried that as an experienced speaker, Femi may have tried to wing it a bit. She reminded us that structure is always needed, and that it is important to keep it simple.

Table Topics

Bronia, our Table Topics Master of the evening, began by describing her experience as a social entrepreneur. At the beginning, she felt as though she was at the bottom of Mount Everest, but a couple of years later, things began to move forward. Each topic was related to a quote she had chosen.

• “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill

Nazia answered the question of how she picks herself up when she falls by first describing some of the setbacks she’s had in her life. She then said that integrating mind and body through activities like running and yoga was very valuable for her in dealing with them.

• “Success is contagious: you can catch it by surrounding yourself with positive people.”

Mike shared what he had learned from the succesful people surrounding him, some of whom can be intimidating at first. He found, however, that they often fail a number of times before becoming successful – something that can be both inspiring and contagious.

• “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me… Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.” – Steve Jobs

Marta, coming from a not-for-profit background, found the quote extremely relevant to her. She spoke about the ability of the people around her who inspire her to continue no matter what the challenges are. She pointed out how all of us at Toastmasters are united by the aim to become better every day.

• “A goal is a dream with a deadline.” – Napoleon Hill

Marie agreed wholeheartedly with the quote and the importance of having goals and planning to get to them. Attaining one’s goals makes what once seemed unattainable become reality. It is important then to keep going and seek inspiration every day.

• “A good plan… executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” – General George Patton

Asked if perfectionism is good or bad, Stella described it as appalling. She went on to describe the crippling level of detail in which she would research an item as simple as a bar of soap before making a purchase. Her conclusion: it is far better to do things in a way that is acceptable.

Before beginning his evaluations, Joe shared how much he loves table topics, likening it to live theatre. He was impressed by the confidence conveyed by several of the speakers, their use of body language and ability to draw laughs from the audience, though he suggested that a couple of the speakers could have made their stories more personal.

Reports

Swarajit was fairly satisfied with the use of the word of the day, citing examples from Glen, Rajeev and the guest introductions. There were not many collective nouns, though Alex did refer to groups of people, which Swarajit suggested could instead be described as tribes. He pointed out many good uses of language, including several vivid metaphors that appeared throughout the evening. He counted very few ums but found that the phrase, “you know,” had crept in.

Our General Evaluator, Karthik, came to us from Canary Wharf Communicators. He made several keen observations about each evaluator, as well as our President and Toastmaster for the evening. He also made several suggestions including the use of pauses to avoid “spark plug” phrases, displaying the manuals, and circulating the speaking slots for the next few weeks. Overall, he thought we were among the top five of the twelve clubs he’s visited over the last six weeks.

Awards

President Femi made a few club announcements before presenting the awards:

• Best Evaluator went to Paula.
• Best Table Topic went to Nazia.
• Best Speaker went to Peter for his Icebreaker.
• The President’s Award went to Marie and Rufina, who helped set up the room when Femi was late.

Next Meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 17 June upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU.

Doors open at 6.30pm for a prompt 6.45pm start.

Report written by Helen.