Hello and welcome to the February newsletter!
We’ve been experimenting with a different room layout at The Clerk & Well for the past month, and it seems to be preferred by the majority of those who’ve attended. However, it does take a bit more effort to set up properly, so any help from our members who can arrive early will be greatly appreciated, especially as the club’s Sergeant at Arms is absent for the time being.
Having said that, we have a temporary change of venue for our first meeting this month. This Monday’s meeting will be held upstairs at The Apple Tree, 45 Mount Pleasant, WC1X 0AE (NOT at The Real Man Pizza Company as previously announced) – just a short walk from our regular meeting place. Again, help will be needed with transporting our equipment to and from the meeting venue, so if you’re available to arrive early and lend a hand then please get in touch via president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk.
Anyway, on with this month’s newsletter…
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?
Despite several last-minute dropouts due to illness, we had two packed meetings in January, featuring icebreaker speeches from new members Svetlana and Grace, as well as a No. 10 speech from Paula who has now achieved the title of Competent Communicator and helped the club achieve its eighth point in the Distinguished Club Programme!
We also co-hosted the hugely successful ‘Belly Laugh’ night with three other clubs and some of the funniest Toastmasters in London. If you weren’t able to attend, take a look at Clerkenwell Speakers’ write-up and photos from the event.
What’s planned for February?
There’s only so much we can fit in to the shortest month of the year, but there’s still plenty for us to look forward to:
- Monday, 10th February – Regular Meeting – Please note the change of venue for our first meeting this month. As mentioned above, we’ll be at The Apple Tree, 45 Mount Pleasant, WC1X 0AE (NOT at The Real Man Pizza Company as previously announced). The programme for the meeting is full but there are still some pre-bookable table topic slots available for members on ClubPlan.
- Monday, 24th February – Regular Meeting – Back at The Clerk & Well, this meeting features the always-entertaining Bronia in the role of Toastmaster, so it’s well worth coming along even if you’re not taking part. At the time of writing, there are slots available for an advanced speech evaluator and a Sergeant at Arms to greet and introduce the guests. Again, book yourself in on ClubPlan.
Dates for your diary – contest season is approaching!
This is an early warning that the spring contest season is just around the corner, so start thinking now about whether you’d like to enter our International Speech and Evaluation contests next month. In the meantime, here are all the important dates for your diary with further details to follow nearer the time:
- Monday, 3rd March – International Speech & Evaluation Workshop – We’re hosting a special event featuring workshops from district leaders Hilary Briggs and Freddie Daniells. Invitations have already gone out to members and are now open to guests too. See below for the details.
- Monday, 17th March – Bloomsbury Speakers International Speech & Evaluation Contests – Booking for contest places is already open on ClubPlan, but keep an eye out for an invitation from our VP Education Jo with everything you need to know. If you don’t intend to compete but would like to help with organising or running the event, please contact Jo via education@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk. We’re also looking for members who are willing to go and judge at other clubs’ contests – again contact Jo if you’d like to help.
- Thursday, 27th March – Area 34 International Speech & Evaluation Contests – The winners from our club contests will go on to compete against winners from the other clubs in our area of London: Holborn Speakers, Tube Talk, Lawspeak, Society Speakers and Clerkenwell Speakers.
- Friday, 4th April – Division L International Speech & Evaluation Contests – the top placed contestants in March’s Area 34 contests will go on to face the best speakers from the other areas in North & Central London.
- Friday 9th-Sunday 11th May – District 71 King Laoire Conference – The last ever conference for District 71 as we know it will be held in Dún Laoghaire in Ireland and will play host to the UK & Ireland International Speech and Evaluation contest semi-finals and finals, featuring the winners from each division around both countries. Booking is already open on the official website.
- Wednesday 20th-Saturday 23rd August – International Convention and World Championship Finals in Kuala Lumpur – While the Evaluation Contest ends at District level, the International Speech Contest (as its name implies) continues on to the world semi-finals and finals in Malaysia, with the eventual winner being crowned World Champion of Public Speaking. Perhaps this year’s winner will be from Bloomsbury Speakers!
International Speech & Evaluation Workshop – Monday, 3rd March
In preparation for the above contests, we’re very privileged to welcome Toastmasters District 71 (UK & Ireland) Council members Hilary Briggs and Freddie Daniells to give two special workshops on Monday, 3rd March.
Hilary (serving Lieutenant Governor Education and Training) will be running her workshop Evaluate with Confidence! in which she’ll share her expert knowledge of:
- What makes a great evaluation;
- How to build your skills in a systematic way;
- Top tips for Evaluation Contests.
We’ll also get to hear from Immediate Past District Governor, Freddie with his Seven Insights into Winning International Speeches. With a wealth of experience in Toastmasters, and having attended the last four World Championship of Public Speaking finals, acting as a judge in one and helping coach a finalist in another, Freddie is perfectly placed to share his findings on what makes a successful contest speech.
Unfortunately, with such a small venue, there are only a limited number of seats available, so please only book yourself in if you can definitely attend (and cancel your booking if you find out later that you can’t make it).
https://springcontestworkshop.eventbrite.co.uk
Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to refine your skills for the upcoming contests and give yourself that extra edge for these and future competitions!
Clerkenwell Speakers news
If you’re unable to make it to the above event, you may be interested to know that Freddie Daniells will be running his workshop Exceptional Evaluations for Clerkenwell Speakers on Wednesday, 19th February at The Apple Tree (which is Clerkenwell’s new permanent venue as well as our temporary venue for this week’s meeting).
Clerkenwell Speakers was formed last summer when it became apparent that we at Bloomsbury Speakers could no longer meet the overwhelming demand for membership on our own. Since then, they’ve managed to meet the minimum requirement for new members within just six months and will be holding a special chartering meeting on Wednesday, 26th February to celebrate this important milestone.
Chartering means that they are now officially recognised as a Toastmasters club and have all the privileges that come with it (such as being able to hold and enter contests). Congratulations to everyone involved in getting the club to where it is today!
(Also, don’t forget that Bloomsbury members still have free membership of Clerkenwell Speakers and can book in for roles and speeches on their ClubPlan until the end of March.)
Membership waiting list
The waiting list for membership of Bloomsbury Speakers currently has fifteen names on it and, with only two new members being admitted each month, some of them may still have a long wait ahead. However, we are giving priority to those people on the waiting list who continue to attend meetings regularly as a guest and are willing to give their first speech in the month they join – so if you’re keen to join our club then please keep coming along to our meetings (at least three times) and sign our guestbook on each visit.
We will be in touch with all the guests on the waiting list in the coming weeks to make sure that they would still like to continue – however, a full list of all the clubs in Greater London is available on The London Speaker, and we highly recommend visiting at least one or two other clubs before deciding on which one to join, as each club has its own distinct personality. But of course, anyone is welcome to attend our regular meetings as a guest at any time with no obligation to join.
Tip of the Month: Competing makes you a better speaker
Aside from giving you the extra opportunities to speak in front of an audience, entering speech contests can improve your public speaking skills in ways that speaking at a regular club meeting may not provide:
- It combines all the skills from your previous projects. While this should be happening as you work through your manuals anyway, it can often be tempting to just focus on the objectives of the project at hand. Since there are no specific objectives in a speech contest, it’s the perfect opportunity to bring together everything you’ve learnt so far into one speech – from structure and rhetoric to persuading and inspiring.
- It makes you more conscious about connecting with your audience. Making a one-to-one connection with members of your audience through gestures and eye-contact will mean they’re more likely to understand and appreciate your message. Since you’ll be judged by anonymous individuals around the room, you’ll be more aware of the importance of connecting with everyone on an individual level, and doing so with the judges will mean they’re more likely to score you favourably.
- It gives you targets to aim for and exceed. This is probably the single aspect of contests that pushes speakers to improve each time. Whether you agree with the judges’ decision or not, your biggest competition is often against yourself and the parts of your public speaking that you know need improvement. If you’ve previously been placed in a speech contest but never won, then perhaps your next target is to progress to the area finals. If, like our members Femi and Janet last year, you’ve previously got as far as the division contest, then think about (and get help from you mentor on) what you need to do better next time in order to compete at the national level.
As you can see, the benefits of speaking in a contest environment are significant so it’s well worth giving some serious consideration to entering next month and learning as much as you can from the experience.
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
- Our regular meetings in February are on the 10th and 24th. Please note that the meeting on the 10th will be held upstairs at The Apple Tree, 45 Mount Pleasant, WC1X 0AE (NOT at The Real Man Pizza Company as previously announced), just a short walk from our regular meeting place.
- We’re hosting an International Speech & Evaluation Workshop with district leaders Hilary Briggs and Freddie Daniells on Monday, 3rd March. Tickets are available at https://springcontestworkshop.eventbrite.co.uk.
- Our International Speech & Evaluation Contest will be held on Monday, 17th March. Invitations will go out to members in the next couple of weeks, but booking for contest places is already open on ClubPlan.
- Clerkenwell Speakers is having its chartering meeting on Wednesday, 26th February at their new permanent venue, The Apple Tree, and Bloomsbury members can still book into roles and speech slots on their ClubPlan until the end of March.
- We are giving priority for membership to people on our waiting list who continue to attend regularly as a guest (and at least three times). If you are keen to join, please make sure you sign our guestbook each time you attend, or check out The London Speaker for details of other Toastmasters clubs around Greater London.
