Hello and welcome to the March newsletter!
The build-up to contest season is picking up pace – ours is only a week away now – so get yourself booked in to speak at our International Speech and Evaluation contests. Even if you’re not competing, there are still plenty of ways to help run the event as a functionary, so book yourself in on ClubPlan now.
We’re also still looking for some of our members to visit other clubs’ contests as a judge. If you’re available to judge at any of the following contests, please get in touch via education@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk:
- Clerkenwell Speakers – Wednesday 12th March (6:30pm-9pm) The Apple Tree pub, 45 Mount Pleasant, London, WC1X 0AE
- Society Speakers – Wednesday, 19th March (6:30pm-9pm) Fitzrovia Community Centre, 2 Foley Street, London, W1W 6DL
- London Olympians – Thursday 20th March (6:30pm-9pm) MyHotel Chelsea, 35 Ixworth Place, SW3 3QX
- Holborn Speakers – Tuesday, 25th March (6:30pm-9pm) The Devereux pub, 20 Devereux Court, Temple, London, WC2R 3JJ
There are no special qualifications required to be a judge, so please volunteer if you can.
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?
February was short but sweet, with two regular meetings including a Valentine-themed table topics session from Grace, and icebreaker speeches from Michelle and Tracey.
Kicking off March, we also had an incredibly useful and well-received pair of workshops from district council members Hilary Briggs and Freddie Daniells last Monday, which I hope will encourage all who attended to enter the contests later this month – more from them below.
What’s planned for March?
Lots! The dates below are just those directly related to our club, but keep reading through the rest of the newsletter for even more exciting events this month:
- Monday, 10th March – Regular Meeting – Our first club meeting this month will be themed around International Women’s Day. The programme is almost full, but if you’re quick you may be able to grab one of the last couple of pre-bookable table topic slots on ClubPlan.
- Monday, 17th March – International Speech & Evaluation Contest Night – At the time of writing, only four members have signed up for the International Speech contest, while we’re still waiting for our first entry for the Evaluation contest! Remember that all members are eligible for the Evaluation contest, and there’s no preparation required, so get yourself booked in on ClubPlan for the chance to represent the Bloomsbury Speakers at the next level.
- Monday, 24th March – Regular Meeting – At the time of writing, there is one prepared speech slot available – again, book yourself in on ClubPlan to make use of the opportunity.
- Thursday, 27th March – Area 34 International Speech & Evaluation Contest – The winners from our club contests on the 17th will go on to compete against winners from the other clubs in our area of London. See immediately below for the details – registration is required to attend!
Area 34 contest night – registration required and help needed!
Please go along to support the winners from our club contests (whoever they may be!) in the next round at the Area 34 contest night. The event is free to attend, but as it’s being held in a corporate building, pre-registration is essential – here are the full details:
Date: Thursday, 27th March
Time: 7pm-9pm
Venue: Transport for London, 55 Broadway, SW1H 0BD (directly above St. James’s Park tube station)
Registration: president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk
The contest organisers are also looking for judges, timekeepers and vote counters to help with running the event, so please volunteer for one of these roles when you register.
World champion speakers event – Friday, 14th March
This is a rare opportunity to learn from two exceptional speakers. Ed Tate (2000 World Champion) and Darren LaCroix (2001 World Champion) will each help you to change the way you create and deliver your speeches and presentations.
In Ed’s workshop, ‘The Story Finder: How to Create New Stories in Minutes’ you will have the opportunity to:
- Discover how to be remarkable with your own material;
- Practice Ed’s 4 Elements of Effective Story Telling;
- Create new material immediately, using a story creation framework;
- Learn 10 different ways to creatively open and close any presentation.
Darren’s workshop, ‘Create Your Keynote’ will cover:
- Time-proven speech writing processes;
- Common mistakes to avoid;
- A whole new perspective to writing a world-class speech.
Full details are below – see you there!
Date: Friday, 14th March
Time: 7pm-9pm
Venue: Freemasons’ Hall, 60 Great Queen Street, Covent Garden, WC2B 5AZ (Map)
Price: £7.50
Tickets: http://worldchampions.eventbrite.co.uk
Table topics workshop at Clerkenwell Speakers – Wednesday, 19th March
Five-time UK & Ireland table topics champion David Jones will be running a 2-hour long table topics workshop for Clerkenwell Speakers on Wednesday, 19th March. The workshop will include some of David’s top tips for giving a table topic speech, as well as plenty of opportunity to get up and practice – all are welcome, so don’t miss out if you can make it.
Date: Wednesday, 19th March
Time: 6:45pm-9pm
Venue: The Apple Tree, 45 Mount Pleasant, WC1X 0AE
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/8qCei (with directions from our regular meeting venue)
Reminder – dates for your diary
Here’s a quick reminder of some of the important contest and conference dates announced in last month’s newsletter:
- Friday, 4th April (7pm onwards) – Division L International Speech & Evaluation Contests – City Temple Conference Centre, Holborn Viaduct, EC1A 2DE – the top placed contestants in this month’s Area 34 contests will go on to face the best speakers from the other areas in North & Central London – the prize is a place in the national semi-finals.
- 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 open on the official website and the hotel is filling up fast.
- 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!
Tip of the Month: Workshop learning points
We try to hold at least a couple of workshops a year at Bloomsbury Speakers and this month’s tip is a bit of a cheat on my part, as it’s really just a collection of my favourite learning points from last Monday’s speech and evaluation workshops which were run for us by Hilary Briggs and Freddie Daniells. If you weren’t there, here’s just some of what you missed:
- With evaluations, keep them factual. Look at it like presenting evidence in a court of law; an evaluation is your own opinion, but your comments need to be backed up by observations i.e. what you saw, heard and felt and when.
- In contests, use the C-C-R-R-C format. Contest judges will give you credit for having a structured and balanced approach to your evaluation. Give two commendations followed by two recommendations and finish with your most positive commendation, ensuring that your comments are delivered to the audience i.e. in the third person – and always finish with a summary!
- The majority of World Championship-winning speeches are inspirational AND entertaining. Winning speeches typically involve a personal story comprised of a situation, a protagonist (usually yourself), a goal, a problem or obstacle to overcome and a journey to success. They will also make use of humour to engage the audience and judges – eight laughs in a 5-7 minute speech is a conservative target.
- But that’s not all – there are common pitfalls to avoid. It’s not enough to have a problem; the situation needs to escalate as the story progresses. The story needs to be acted out in scenes (rather than told as a narrative) to help the audience to be there with you. There also needs to be a character arc so that the character changes in some way. This is usually with the help of a mentor character, because audiences will connect better with speakers who, like them, aren’t perfect and need help.
Of course, many of these points are specific to Toastmasters competitions rather than public speaking in general, but why not try applying some of these tips in this month’s contests and in our regular meetings going forward?
And finally…
Congratulations to our VP Public Relations Rufina and Immediate Past President Femi who recently announced their engagement!
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 first regular meeting in March is on the 10th and will be a special event to mark International Women’s Day, organised by committee members Jo and Rufina.
- Our International Speech & Evaluation contest is on Monday, 17th March. Register as a contestant or functionary on ClubPlan.
- Our second regular meeting in March is on the 24th and, at the time of writing, there is one speech slot available on ClubPlan.
- The winners from our club contests will progress to the Area 34 finals from 7pm on Thursday, 27th March at 55 Broadway, SW1H 0BD (directly above St. James’s Park tube station). Registration via president@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk is essential to attend.
- A special world champion speakers event is taking place from 7pm on Friday, 14th March, featuring workshops from former World Champions of Public Speaking Ed Tate and Darren LaCroix. Tickets are available at http://worldchampions.eventbrite.co.uk.
- Clerkenwell Speakers is hosting a table topics workshop to be run by five-time UK & Ireland champion David Jones from 6:45pm on Wednesday, 19th March at The Apple Tree, 45 Mount Pleasant, WC1X 0AE.
