Written by Peter
Introduction
On Monday 25th April the Clerk and Well played host to the special ‘Speakathon’ meeting of Bloomsbury Speakers. It proved to be a very enjoyable evening of six speeches, with a superb standard of speaking throughout.
Roles
Toastmaster Glen returned as Toastmaster after a break from the club, taking the floor with confidence. He introduced us to Francesca, the Timekeeper, who made sure the entire meeting ran smoothly in line with the schedule. Henry also introduced Sheldon, the Harkmaster, who explained that his role was to record interesting aspects of the speeches to come.
Prepared speeches
After opening remarks, the first speaker was Filipe. Filipe delivered a confident and impressive Icebreaker speech entitled ‘The Start Of My Yoga Journey’. Filipe recounted his attempts to get fit, dealing with setbacks and his eventual discovery of the benefits of yoga.
The second speaker of the night was Zia, who delivered another Icebreaker speech entitled ‘Transferable Skills’. Zia gave a fascinating account of his journey as a breakdancer and change specialist, noting that we are often limited by our own expectations.
The third speaker was Sebastian, who gave a No. 4 speech with the title ‘The Revolution We Are Living In’. Sebastian recounted how computing technology had advanced significantly in the last few decades, giving the recent example of a machine beating one of the world’s best Go players.
The next prepared speech was delivered by Peter R, who gave a No. 5 speech on ‘Why London is Magical’. Peter took the audience on a dream tour through different monuments in London, asking those present to visualise different time periods in London’s history.
After the break, we heard from the four evaluators who had been preparing feedback for the first batch of prepared speeches – Carrie, Swarajit, Agnes and Abraham.
We then heard from two more speakers. Ash gave another No. 5 speech entitled ‘Your body speaks, but do you listen?’. Ash delivered a superb personal anecdote about a diving holiday that taught her to pay more attention to her mental and physical health.
Finally, Peter F gave an Advanced Storytelling speech on the subject ‘Childhood Memories’. Peter regaled the audience with his rich descriptions of a trip along the Indian railways and his recollections of the Indian Ocean.
We then heard from the two evaluators for the last two speeches: Helen and Bronia.
After the Timekeeper’s report and a quiz on the content of the evening’s speeches from the Harkmaster, the visiting General Evaluator, Ivelina, summarised the evening’s speaking and offered feedback for those who had not yet been evaluated.
Awards
Best Speaker: Peter R
Best Evaluator: Carrie
Next meeting
Our next meeting will be Monday 09 May at the Clerk and Well (though the venue may be subject to change). Please get in touch at info@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk if you have any questions!
