Introductions
It was standing room only at The Clerk & Well for our first regular meeting in October. In a warm welcome from President Swarajit, we were reminded of how Toastmasters continues to be a safe and friendly platform to practise and gain confidence in public speaking. The meeting was then handed over to Glen, our Toastmaster, to host.
Glen introduced the theme for the evening as “favourite Toastmasters role” – which for many members was the Toastmaster role itself! – and went on to introduce the other functionaries – Samuel, the Timekeeper, and Marie the Grammarian who gave us the word of the day, “arbitrary”.
Prepared speeches
On to the prepared speeches and Damien started us off with a No. 4 speech entitled “Thoughts as Actions – Imagine That”. He dispelled the conventional view that damaged or ‘dead’ human brain cells cannot be replaced or regain function, with new findings in neuroscience that show it is possible for patients with neurological problems to regain some reflex.
In his No. 6 speech entitled “Twenty-One”, Rajeev shared his experience of training for a half-marathon (21 kilometers) even though his body testified he was ill-prepared for it. His advice to us was to train and execute well if you are participating in a race.
With her No. 7 speech, “Are you a tech’ or social media addict?” we had the privilege of hearing how the damage to Rufina’s smart-phone led her to examine how she might indeed to be one of the 11 million UK social media addicts.
Finally there was a humorous speech – “Parachutes” – from Joe, who narrated a story about a school boy, a wise man, a clever man and a doctor who between them had to strategically fight for 3 parachutes to save their lives.
Evaluations
The second half of the meeting opened with some key tips from our evaluators:
- Jo, evaluating Damien, commended him on his good body language, great speech structure and clear examples, and recommended more pauses.
- Henry commended Rajeev on his great conversational style and interesting speech topic. His recommendation was, again, to slow down and use more pauses.
- Nazia commended Rufina on the use of effective language, on her delivery without notes and her great body language. Her recommendation was to do a bit more research into the subject.
- Ratan commended Joe on an entertaining speech with a moral, as well as great stage presence and gestures. The recommendation was for Joe to have woven the story and moral together more explicitly.
Table topics
The table topic talks (also referred to as impromptu speeches), hosted by Ahmed, were based on the theme of the evening.
- Peter was asked for his evaluation of Prime Minister’s Question Time.
- Janna told us which celebrity she thought could benefit from joining a public speaking group.
- Jo tackled the question of which Toastmasters role most helped her critical thinking skills.
- Ratan debated whether public speaking should be added to the school curriculum.
Hari, evaluating the table topics, praised participants’ smiling and use of humour as effective ways of connecting. His recommendation was for speakers to not highlight their own mistakes, because no one notices. Other tips included controlled voice projection and he urged speakers to always attempt to answer the question asked.
Awards
The awards for the evening went to:
Best Prepared Speech: Joe for his humorous speech with a moral.
Best Evaluator: Hari for taking on the unenviable task of evaluating the impromptu table topic speakers.
Best Table Topic: Ratan, who entertained us with a humorous table topics speech.
President’s Award: This went to the evening’s grammarian Marie, who is also the club’s loyal Sergeant at Arms.
Next meeting
Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 28th October 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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