Written by Ash
Here we go
The evening’s meeting was opened by long-serving member Hari, who stepped in as acting president for the evening. Hari, a professional public speaker, knows only too well the value of Toastmasters and reminded us all, members and guests alike, that the Toastmasters tried and tested formula develops not only great speakers but great leaders.
We were then handed over to our Toastmaster for the evening – Henry, who was later described as a ‘natural leader ‘ by our general evaluator for the night.
With inspiration from his youngest daughter, Henry introduced us to his theme for the evening – Toast, and what we most like to eat on it.
Roles for the evening
Grammarian: Eloquent and articulate as always, our grammarian Nathaniel introduced us to his insightful word of the day ‘Perspicacious’.
Time Keeper: Sheldon kept us all to time
Sergeant At Arms: Swarajit, our former president, welcomed a high volume of guests. Great to see so many potential members!
Prepared Speeches and Evaluations
Revitalised Education Program
Subodh
Our first speech of the evening took a different turn to our usual Monday meeting. Our general evaluator, Subodh, discussed the ‘Revitalised Education Program’ being rolled out by Toastmasters in this educational slot. We learnt that Toastmasters are combining the current 2 tracks, communications and leadership, to become 1, currently in alpha testing and due for roll out from January 2017. The aim is to engage members further and increase achievement.
Speech 2: Organise your speech: If we found alien life near earth, should we be happy or sad?
Heleana
A thought-provoking question raised by Heleana in her number 2 speech. She provided a balanced and well-structured take on the question, offering the pros and cons. Overall she thought that maybe they should be more afraid of us than we should be of them – due to our history of invading other territories and the risk of subjecting them to Justin Bieber’s latest album – clearly Heleana is a non–elieber, sorry Justin!
Evaluation: Robert
Robert evaluated Helena’s second speech and felt she went from strength to strength in her delivery. Careful with the ums and pauses said Robert, and less looking at notes but all in all great energy Robert thought – well done Heleana!
Speech 6: Vocal Variety: Conflict over conflict: have humans always made war?
Sarah
Next up was Sarah, with her informative and educational number 6 speech. We learnt that Hobbes and Russo had differing views on whether humans lead a quiet peaceful hunter-gatherer lifestyle or a life of warfare. She considered our closest relatives, the chimps, renowned for attacking lone chimps and destroying other colonies. Like the chimps, we also share 98% of our DNA with the Bonobos – who prefer to settle disputes through sex – good news there then, Sarah.
Evaluation: Janet
There was a great deal to see, hear and feel throughout Sarah’s speech according to Janet. A well thought out speech by an ‘extremely confident woman’, well-educated and with impressive knowledge. Janet heard the nerves at times throughout Sarah’s delivery and encouraged her to slow down and breathe – a good tip for us all.
Advanced Speech: Regrets… hell yes!
Atul
What’s Atul’s biggest regret? Well, let’s just say that in Atul’s advanced speech we learnt that for him, 3 is not the magic number. Atul delivered an inspirational speech encouraging us all to take more risks and just say YES. A message we can all relate to. Atul did a great job driving the message home – ‘regret is a disease, don’t let it stop your awesomeness’. You certainly didn’t stop your awesomeness, Atul – well done on a well deserved winning speech of the night.
Evaluation: Egor
In his evaluation, Egor noted that Atul went out on a limb at times with his content and took the risk of alienating some of the audience, but this showcased Atul’s confidence. Atul factored in great examples we can all relate to in life and ended on a quiet note, which Egor found very effective. Egor rounded his assessment up with the simple close – ‘just great’!
Table topics
Our table topics master for the evening was Hari – who posed questions on the evening’s theme of ‘Toast’.
· Heleana – when asked ‘what would you say to toast a CEO who had just announced redundancies’ concluded she would deliver ‘less of a toast and more of a roast’.
· Victoria did a sterling job selling the benefits of bread, especially being gluten free herself.
· Guy considered a new super hero – Toastman and decided he might be square and thin but with the array of possible toppings, he would be one versatile guy.
· Ash sold the benefits of Toastmaster recounting her chance encounter with Mark Owen from Take That.
· Ed creatively decided a way to use toast without eating it would be as a canvas for his art or a weapon.
· Sam sold us sliced bread – informing us that it will fit in our toasters perfectly.
· Manish convinced us that we could power London by giving up bread.
Evaluation: Peter R.
A fan of the quintessentially British favourite, cheese on toast, Peter R. gave a very British but far from cheesy round up of our impromptu speaking session – toasting all participants on a great job.
Awards
Best speaker: Atul
Best evaluator: Peter
Best table topic: Ash
Close
We ended the evening with a round up from our general evaluator, Subodh. He complimented a ‘well managed and excellent club’ that should wave its banner proudly.
See you all at the next meeting, which is on 7 March from 6:30pm-9pm at our usual venue The Clerk & Well pub 156 Clerkenwell Road, London EC1R 5DU
Don’t miss Exceptional Evaluations with Freddie Daniells on 29 February 2016 same place same time
Come to the International Speech & Evaluation Contest on 14 March 2016 from 6:30pm-9pm at The Perseverance 63 Lamb’s Conduit St, London, WC1N 3NB
