Written by Svetlana
Introduction
Bloomsbury Speakers Club hosted its regular meeting on Monday 16th February 2015 with an enthusiastic opening from President Jo who briefed guests on the importance of joining Toastmasters and commended those who made it to the meeting.
Prepared Speeches
After the Introduction, Jo handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the Evening Henry, who went through house rules in his energetic very eloquent and entertaining dry humour manner introducing the theme of the day – what would you bring with you to a desert island!
Henry introduced functionaries of the day: Michelle the Timekeeper and Peter L. the Grammarian. Michelle, who would take a family photo with her to a desert island instructed the audience on her role.
There were four prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Sheldon (who would take a kitchen sink with him to the desert island to dwell on the sheer impossibility of the situation) delivered his No. 1 Icebreaker Speech “RV Polarstern” shared his story of what brought him to Toastmasters and how he feels about speaking in front of the audience. He did feel like the RV Polarstern, a German Research Ice breaker.
Axel (who is fighting his own tactless behaviour of being late to Toastmaster meetings) delivered Speech No. 2 “Lengthy Court Process” described his experience of the British legal process after a theft. He won the process and produced 30 pounds refund, which he received as a result of his victory.
Mengbing, (who would take solar powered iPad with her to the desert island) delivered Speech No. 2 entitled “How to Learn from Mistakes”. She shared her philosophy that mistakes are important because they provide experience for growth.
Svetlana (who would take a piano to the desert island where she would have plenty of time to play) delivered her No. 8 speech entitled “In Love with Capitalism with Ayn Rand”, gave a gist of the philosophy of the most influential American novelist and philosopher of the XX century Ayn Rand and also explained why she was so influential.
We had warmly hosted guest introductions from Ash and well-balanced and well-structured thorough evaluation reports from Carrie, Bronia, Emma, and Swarajit.
Table topics
Table topics session conducted by Ahmed was devoted to deserted islands. Ahmed emphasized how important the skill of impromptu
“If you were a director of the film about deserted island who would you take there?” went to Swarajit, who would take Johnny Depp, Jack Black, and Shia LaBeouf to such island because he doesn’t think they are good actors.
“What would you do to put off wild wolves chasing you?” went to Ga Lok, who said he would use a box of chocolate with marshmallow so that chocolates stick to their teeth and they stop chasing him.
“What would be the one animal as a pet to a deserted island?” went to Concetta who would choose a lizard or a dolphin.
“Which things you would choose to have on a desert island?” went to Jo, who said she would like to see a cupboard with a fully load iPad and a helicopter and a tent with a funky looking helicopter pilot to get home after having some nice time on the island.
“What person you would not want as a companion on the desert island?” went to Emma who said it would probably be Napoleon. She would love to be there with Mother Teresa and Florence Nightingale.
“What kind of song would you like to sing at the desert island?” went to Ash who would start with a jolly song, followed by a sad song and finish by a really different song to get her out of that island.
Thorough evaluation of all table topics speaker was provided by Hari.
It was followed by General Evaluation from Ga Lok, who provided a brilliant feedback and very helpful recommendations to all participants who were not evaluated. His speech was enthusiastic and contained useful recommendations and humour.
Awards
Icebreaker ribbon has handed to Sheldon; best speaker award was handed to Axel; best evaluator award went to Hari; and best impromptu speech award went to Ash!!!
Next meeting
Our next event is our Inspiring Evaluations Workshop on Monday, 9th of March upstairs at The Clerk and Well, 156 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30pm.
