Bloomsbury Speakers
“Learning, Orating & Laughing – LOL!”
Written by Svetlana
Meeting Report for 24 November 2014
Introduction
Bloomsbury Speakers Club hosted its regular meeting on Monday 24th November 2014 with an enthusiastic opening from President Jo who mentioned that confidence and eloquence, which we develop as Toastmasters can come handy in everyday situations where we need to assert ourselves.
Prepared Speeches
After the Introduction, Jo handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the Evening Carrie, whose delightful conversational manner and efficient steering of the proceedings put everybody at ease. The theme of the Night was about how everybody felt about 2014 whether we felt disappointed or smug finishing the year.
Carrie introduced functionaries of the day: Hari the Timekeeper (who thought he didn’t attain enlightenment in 2014 while we thought he did, being such an accomplished competent communicator), and Peter L. the Grammarian with the word of the day “embody”!
There were three prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Alefiyah’s Icebreaker Speech Project “The Future Is Exciting” was a personal story filled with sincerity; it had a balance of humour and seriousness, an account of ups and downs of personal growth. She ended her story with an enthusiastic vision of her future as a chemical engineer believing in renewable energy and sustainable development.
Peter F. (who didn’t entertain himself with the charade of year endings and New Year resolutions) delivered his No. 10 speech “Memory Battle”. Peter F. shared a story of the challenges he had to overcome to save his kidneys and the side effects of potent medical drugs, which were deteriorating his memory. He was then advised to engage in public speaking facing the audience without using notes! Peter F. recited three pieces of poetry by heart: (1) excerpt from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” – “Polonius’ advice to his son Laertes”; (2) “Prayer before Birth” by Louis MacNeice; (3) excerpt from “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens. Peter F.’s conclusive message to us was “challenge yourself on a daily basis if you want to achieve something”.
Janet, our district competition winner and national finalist delivered Advanced Speech “Attitude” as the Professional Speaker told us Plato’s Parable of the Cave and linked it to her own life story of a timid girl who overcame her fears by living her comfort zone behind her once and for all and gave the world her attitude. Fake it until you make it. And once you start your way towards your goal, never return back.
We had warm guest introduction from Svetlana and well-rounded evaluations provided by Helen, Bronia, and Swarajit.
Table topics session conducted by Svetlana was focused on trying to balance our inner talk when we like or dislike things, depending on our attitude in a given context on a daily basis and that there isn’t actually a right or wrong answer to questions. There are at least 360 points of view in a 2D circle and many more in 3D and 4D. Thus, answers to her questions were supposed to be an exercise in exploring our likes and dislikes of the same things. 80% of Table topic speakers were guests.
“Why would you love and hate the rainy weather?” went to Rui. Ruis described how, coming from a warm and sunny climate, he looked forward to and thought he would love rainy London weather until it started to rain and when it did he hated it. We all concurred with Rui.
“Why do you love and hate ice cream?” went to Egor, who loves ice cream as a childhood memory and would like to keep it there, therefore, he doesn’t eat it. He also recalled that the Moscow ice cream was the best in the world.
“What do you like and dislike about being in a crowd running from one platform to another in the Tube during a rush hour?” went to Lex. Being in the crowd is like being in a flock of birds, which is the good part and all other aspects are bad especially for her as an introvert.
“Why do you like and dislike your own appearance?” was answered by Joe H., who was not only very genuine but also infused lots of humour into his speech, which we all enjoyed so much. He also had great body language describing at which angles his appearance looked its best.
“Why do you like and dislike your job?” went to Eve who spoke with a lot of excitement about her job and what she disliked about it was that it was imaginary and the real future was looking dim as she
Joe L. provided a thorough evaluation of Table Topics speakers’ with lots of commendations and useful recommendations.
Grammarian Peter L.’s report was an enjoyable account of metaphors, alliterations and other figures of speech, which he noted. He also provided some advice and recommendations.
It was followed by General Evaluation from Mark Burrows, President of Holborn Speakers, who not only affirmed his appreciation of Bloomsbury Speakers club with his commendations, but provided a lot of very helpful recommendations and humour.
Awards
Icebreaker Ribbon was handed to Alefiyah; Peter was given his Competent Communicator ribbon for completing his No 10 speech; best speaker award was granted to Janet; best evaluator award went to Helen; and best impromptu speech award went to Lex!!!
Next meeting
Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 1st December downstairs at The Real Man Pizza Company, 91-95 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5BX. Doors open at 6:30pm.
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