Introductions
President Swarajit welcomed guests and members to the meeting and spoke about the benefits of visiting other clubs in order to get experience in front of an unfamiliar audience. He also mentioned that the first meeting of Bloomsbury’s sister club Clerkenwell Speakers had taken place and encouraged members to visit it for themselves.
The Toastmaster Henry commended people for attending despite the hot weather. He spoke about the format for the meeting and introduced his theme – decisions – telling his own story of how a reluctant decision to go out for a drink led to him meeting his partner and now mother of his three children.
Timekeeper Liz talked us through the green, amber and red light system for timing speeches and ended with a quote: “a man who dares to waste one hour of life has not discovered the value of life” – Charles Darwin.
The Grammarian, Helen, introduced the word of the day as “ineffable” and also gave a number of examples of rhetorical devices that speakers could use via quotes from her favourite films.
Prepared Speeches
In his second speech, entitled “Stress”, Peter told the story of an illness in 2005 that gave him gout, diabetes and caused a large weight gain. He explained how he had sought alternatives to drugs which were effective but caused many side effects and educated us in the three-pronged approach of visualisation, habitualisation and meditation.
In his No. 3 speech entitled “Procrastination” Michael told us that Shakespeare’s Hamlet was one of the great procrastinators. In fact his famous “To be or not to be” speech was really a delaying tactic we were told. In a very practical speech he told us about the reasons for procrastination and offered some solutions. He also told us about his friend who had painted his entire house in the final week of his MA to avoid studying!
Samuel’s No. 6 speech “Rabbits and Spiders” told of his fascination with stories from his childhood in Malawi, particularly those involving rabbits and spiders. He went on to tell a story called “Storytelling” about Anansi the spider who wanted to buy all the stories in the world from the sky god, who demanded three offerings.
In an advanced speech concerned with “Speaking to Inform” and entitled “From The Heart” Harry presented the results of his research into the causes and preventative measures for heart disease. He shared a personal story of a friend who had suffered a heart attack early in life and shared the four components of an approach proposed by pioneering specialist Dean Ornish which could not only arrest but in fact reverse heart disease: Diet, Exercise, Stress Reduction, Loving Support. In the second part of his speech Hari handled questions from the audience.
Evaluations
Kate thought Peter’s speech was very high standard for a number 2 speech. She commended him on how he felt at home on the stage, great smile, confidence and delivered an engaging speech.
Carrie who evaluated Michael, loved the way he framed his speech with a quote “To be or not to be” and linked it to the whole speech and was recommended to include more personal experiences.
Ahmed, in evaluating Samuel’s No. 6 speech commended him on a great stage presence and good story telling skills however in conclusion he recommended Samuel uses more vocal variety.
Glen evaluated Hari’s advanced speech. He commended the way he had weaved his research into the other elements of his speech and recommended he employ a wider variety of hand gestures.
Table Topics
Table Topicsmaster for the evening was Rajeev who took his inspiration from stories currently in the news, asking fellow Toastmasters and guests to tackle a variety of questions including:
What advice would you give to the parents of the Royal baby?
How would you improve cycling in London?
What pseudonym would you choose to write a book under?
How are you personally coping with the heat?
Which comic book superheroes would you combine for a Hollywood film?
What excuse would you use to take an animal into a restaurant?
Awards
Best Table Topics award went to Glen for his impromptu justification for taking a dog into a McDonald’s.
Best Evaluator went to Kate for her precise evaluation of Peter’s No. 2 speech.
Best Speech went to Hari for his advanced fact-finding presentation about heart health.
Next meeting
Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 29th July 2013 upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU.
Doors open at 6.30pm for a prompt 6.45pm start.
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