Written by Julian
The second meeting of the year was held at Wedge Issue. Thirty people braved the cold night and showed up to practice their public speaking skills. Overall, 20 people went on stage to speak.
The evening kicked off with our President, Sheldon. Then the stage was handed over to the Toastmaster of the evening, Clare. The meeting was supported by Yamina as Timekeeper and Julian as Grammarian.
Our first prepared speech was given by Chantal who told is about a book that changed her way of looking at the streets of London and inspired us to read it.
This was followed by Sheldon‘s Speech #8 “Generally Speaking” who nearly convinced us that younger siblings were less intelligent than first childs before totally debunking the idea.
Our third prepared speech and number 10 for Margarita was about how she transformed her mindset and got rid of her fear of dogs. A powerful speech.
Lastly, Helen gave an inspirational speech on setting SMART goals to achieve new years resolutions.
Just before the break Peter welcomed our wonderful guests and gave each of them an opportunity to introduced themselves and make a short 30 second speech.
After the break, we heard from the evaluators who had delivered their feedback on the prepared speeches – Tracey Alexander, Stella, Peter R. and Swarajit.
After the break, we had a fun series of Table Topics around the concept of post-truth. We had four guests come on stage and do an impromptu speech for the first time and were evaluated by Helen.
Finally, our visiting General Evaluator, Tim Shaw from London Victorians, evaluated our club and the meeting, including participants who had not received feedback. Sheldon, the President of Bloomsbury Speakers, wrapped up the evening by announcing the awards.
Afterwards, we switched gears into networking. Several pizzas were ordered, beers were drank and new friendships were made! Come and visit us at our next meeting!
Awards
Best Speaker: Sheldon
Best Evaluator: Helen
Best Table Topic: Peter
Next meeting
Our next regular meeting will be on Monday, 13 of February, at The Clerk and Well (though the venue may be subject to change). Looking forward to seeing you all there! Please get in touch at info@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk if you have any questions.
