Written by Ash
Introductions
Our president Swarajit opened the meeting with a salute to Darren LaCroix, 2001 World Champion of Public Speaking. Swarajit shared a couple of lessons he had taken away from a recent workshop with Darren:
- Never turn down stage time; at worst you will make mistakes, but you’ll learn from them.
- No International Speech Contest winner has done it alone, they all had coaching in order to hone their speeches – a mentor can make all the difference and there are experienced speakers at Bloomsbury Speakers to step into that role.
Swarajit then passed the baton to Peter, our Toastmaster for the evening. To most, being shipwrecked would a traumatic experience but Peter would like nothing better than being cast away, and this was his theme for the evening. Peter talked us through the programme and introduced us to tonight’s helpers:
- Rebecca, our timekeeper introduced the importance of the role and efficiently ensured we kept to schedule, even more important this evening given the imminent tube strike.
- Bronia, our grammarian for the night decided to shake things up a bit – gone was the usual word of the evening for a focus on rhetoric devices. Bronia explained the importance of metaphors and similies for good communication and presenting complex ideas.
Prepared Speeches
Our icebreaker this evening was confidently delivered by Emily, in her speech entitled ‘The Story of My Life’. Throughout the speech we were taken on a musical journey from her teenage years wearing fishnets and stalking band members in Camden Town to the jazz and blues scene in New Orleans later on. We learnt that Emily may not be able to sell a rubber, but as a media planner she’d realised her dream of working in advertising.
Next up was Michelle, delivering her number 2 talk ‘The Benefits of Yoga’ and her speech did exactly what it said on the tin. In a passionate delivery, Michelle informatively discussed the different types of Yoga and how incorporating Yoga into our daily lives can improve our posture, strength, sleep quality and reduce tension.
In his second prepared speech, James examined ‘why some succeed while others fail’. James discussed the research of Malcolm Gladwell and how this showed that, while luck and opportunity may have a bearing, an elite ice hockey player must also put in hard work in order to be successful. James ended his speech by relating this research nicely with the fact that we are all open to the opportunities of life in London and we can all put in the hard work by taking decisive action to become a good public speaker.
While many of us might be tuning in to find out how Binky is coping on Made in Chelsea, Damien proved to be a more discerning TV viewer. In his 6th talk ‘Two Time Capsules’, Damien discussed two documentaries he’d watched recently and how these left an impression on him. The first discussed the oldest cave paintings known to man and how one artist’s drawings and another artist’s drawings were painted 5,000 years apart. The second considered how we can inform future generations about nuclear waste, but will our signs still be there in 100,000 years and will they even be understood?
Evaluations
Kate was very impressed by the confident delivery given by Emily and her “excellent use of hand gestures”. Kate recommended that Emily should slow down as there were some little gems we would have liked time to fully absorb.
Glen evaluated Michelle and thought there was a huge amount to like. He commended her firm stance and personality, her passion for the subject and preparation. Glen would have liked more in the way of signposting and a little more vocal variety but he loved the fact Michelle brought a personal story to life.
Henry evaluated James and found his delivery sincere. James lost his train of thought at the beginning but recovered from this well – a lesson to us all. Henry commended his “incredible hand gestures to reinforce his points” and found it was an impressive delivery without notes, especially given the complex subject matter.
Jo, in evaluating Damien commended his relaxed and strong stance and confident eye contact with the room. Ums and ahs were very few and far between and, given the deep and philosophical nature, this was well controlled. Jo felt it was a difficult subject in order to meet the vocal variety criteria and maybe something less complex might have worked better but Damien did a great job with a challenging topic.
Table Topics
Ahmed our table topics master was hot on the heels of tonight’s theme – survival – and there was no shortage of volunteers:
Paula was asked what steps she’d take to survive on a desert island and convinced us this would be easy once she had made a fishing rod, relishing the opportunity to feast on a healthy diet of fresh fish and an abundance of fruit and exercise.
Julia chose her husband as her ideal island companion as he would help around the island, develop exercise plans and they could spend romantic evenings together. He is a great singer and could serenade her and she could teach him to dance.
Jon was asked what superpower he’d want if he were lost in the jungle and chose x-ray vision to see through the bushes and relax in his underground camp while still knowing what was going on above him.
Bjorn was asked what had been the best survival film he’d seen and why. He chose MacGyver as he would like to be lost with lots of sexy people.
Ash considered whether she’d prefer to travel through the desert by jeep or camel. Inspired by the book The Alchemist, Ash decided she would turn down the easy option of the jeep in favour of a camel. She felt an epic journey demanded an epic mode of transport on a journey of self-fulfilment.
Emma was asked to sell to us the benefits of living on a desert island. Healthy living and the opportunity to come and go as one pleased came top of the list for Emma, followed closely by a great tan.
Our table topics session was evaluated by Nazia; in particular, she pointed out that a great compliment was paid during the session as reference was made to other speakers throughout the evening.
Closing and awards
- Icebreaker award – went to Emily for her maiden speech
- Best speaker – James proved to be successful on the night
- Best evaluator – this went to Glen, a regular winner of this accolade
- Best table topic – went to Paula for her healthy cast away lifestyle
- President’s award – this went to Kerstin, visiting from Clerkenwell Speakers, for her sterling efforts stepping in last minute as the general evaluator – and especially well done for her first ever evaluation!
Next Meeting
Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 12th May in our usual location – upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30 for a prompt 6:45 start.
