Hello and welcome to the December newsletter!
It’s December and the festive season kicks off now! See below for all the important details of our plans for the month ahead as well as the New Year.
Meanwhile, we’re continuing to get a full house of members and guests at our regular meetings. If you’ve visited us recently and are interested in joining, contact membership@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk to be added to the waiting list.
We’re still giving priority to those guests who continue to attend regularly and are willing to jump straight in with their icebreaker when they join, so start thinking about your first speech and get in touch!
If you don’t have time to read the whole newsletter, you can skip to the bottom for a short summary of the main points.
What’s happened since the last newsletter?
Since the last newsletter, we’ve admitted one more new member – Rebecca – who has already taken the plunge and given her icebreaker speech. I’m sure we’ll all make her feel as welcome as possible.
We had another packed couple of meetings in November. As well as Rebecca’s icebreaker, we also had a debut speech from Aislinn, a semi-impromptu speech from Femi and an emotional, persuasive speech from new (but experienced) member Stella.
What’s planned for December?
With the Christmas party season upon us, we’ve had to make a few changes to our normal schedule. Our two December meetings are booked in for the first and second Mondays of the month (rather than the second and fourth). Furthermore, both meetings will take place downstairs at The Real Man Pizza Company, just across the road from our usual venue, but on the plus side we’ll be having pizza at the end!
- Monday, 2nd December – Regular Meeting (moved forward) – Our first meeting this month has a full programme of speakers, though we’re still looking for someone to act as Sergeant at Arms for the meeting, which involves greeting the guests as they arrive, asking them to sign the guestbook and then running the guest introductions section just before the break. There are also pre-bookable table topic slots available. Sign up on ClubPlan.
- Monday, 9th December – Regular Meeting – Our last meeting of 2013! At the time of writing, there is an Icebreaker slot available for anyone who is waiting to give their first speech at the club, as well as topic slots and the Sergeant at Arms role explained above. Again, book yourself in on ClubPlan.
Christmas social in Shoreditch
In the past at Bloomsbury Speakers, we’ve really only ever marked the Yuletide period with some extra drinks and nibbles at the end of our last meeting of the year – which we still intend to have on 9th December. However, thanks to some eleventh-hour negotiations on the part of our VP Public Relations Rufina, this time we’re also tagging along with our friends from Clerkenwell Speakers to the Area 33 Christmas Social. Here are the details:
Date: Friday, 6th December
Time: 7pm onwards
Venue: Juno, 134-135 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6JE
Dress code: RED or Xmas fancy dress
RSVP: info@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk
It’s free to attend, though there will be a £10 cash charge if you want food (let us know in your reply). Come along to network and have fun partying with lots of other Toastmasters from our part of London. See you there!
Bloomsbury’s membership of Clerkenwell Speakers extended
Clerkenwell Speakers has got off to a fantastic start this year and, as its main sponsor, Bloomsbury Speakers’ members have enjoyed free membership of their club for the first six months.
The good news is, Clerkenwell have now agreed to extend this arrangement for a further three months meaning that all Bloomsbury members can continue to book roles and speeches on their ClubPlan up to the end of March 2014.
We highly encourage all of our members to take advantage of the extra opportunities to speak at another club, as many have done already. If you don’t yet have an account on their ClubPlan, contact president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk and we’ll get you added.
‘Clerk-bury’ New Year social and special event
Clerkenwell and Bloomsbury Speakers clubs are collaborating as ‘Clerk-bury’ (or should that be ‘Bloom-enwell’?!) on a couple of events in January:
- Friday, 17th January – New Year social – The date is set so put it in your 2014 diary once you have it, though the venue and activity are still to be decided. Suggestions are welcome!
- Wednesday, 29th January – Special event + workshop – This promises to be a big night with a workshop and speeches from several former humorous speech champions. Details will follow nearer the time, but save the date.
Tip of the Month: Evaluate everyone
It sounds like an impossible challenge, but this is effectively what our visiting general evaluators (GEs) do for us at each meeting. But why bother if you’re not a GE yourself? Well, aside from preparing you for the GE role in future, there are some major benefits to informally evaluating every single role and speech you hear at a Toastmasters meeting:
- It makes you a better listener. Even if you don’t yet feel ready to give a verbal evaluation of someone else’s speech, evaluating everyone forces you to practice and improve your listening skills – which are applicable both in and outside the Toastmasters context.
- It makes you better at the roles you’re evaluating. Thinking about the commendations and recommendations you might make about someone else’s performance as a toastmaster, speaker or evaluator will mean that you’ll automatically consider and apply those points when it comes to performing the role yourself.
- It makes you a better problem solver. Regularly evaluating everyone enhances your analytical and critical thinking skills by getting you into the habit of considering things objectively and making suggestions about exactly what could be done differently where necessary.
So have a go at evaluating everyone at the next meeting and, as well as all of the above, it’ll get you prepared for the evaluation contest in the spring!
That’s all for now. See you at a meeting soon!
Swarajit Das
President
Bloomsbury Speakers
Key facts – just the stuff you really need to know
- Welcome to our newest member Rebecca who joined in November and has already given her icebreaker speech!
- Our regular meetings in December are on the 2nd and 9th at The Real Man Pizza Company (not our normal venue). See ClubPlan for the available roles and speaking slots.
- We’re having a joint Christmas social at Juno in Shoreditch on Friday, 6th December with Clerkenwell Speakers and clubs from Area 33.
- Bloomsbury Speakers’ free membership of Clerkenwell Speakers has been extended to March 2014. Book your roles and speeches via their ClubPlan.
- We’re planning a New Year social with Clerkenwell Speakers on Friday, 17th January. Suggestions for a suitable venue/activity are welcome.
