Written by Margarita
Introduction
Bloomsbury Speakers held the International Speech and Evaluation Contests on the 6th of March 2017. They took place downstairs at Wedge Issue Pizza & Beer, which is now the regular venue for the club. It was a night of excellent speeches, great evaluations and exciting table topics!
The evening started with a brief yet energetic opening from President Sheldon, who passed floor to International Speech Contest Chair Heleana. She explained the rules of the contest and introduced the speakers as well as the timekeeper Chantal.
International Speech Contest
The first to speak was Renars. His entertaining speech focused on online dating and his personal experience of using Tinder set up really a high level for all contestants.
Matthew was the second, he inspired the audience with his highly emotional and personal speech about an unusual job interview.
Sheldon was the third, in his speech he explored what it really means to be proud to be British and invited the audience to think outside the box about this concept.
And the final speech was delivered by Margarita, who encouraged the audience to stop using social media on holidays to have a richer experience.
After all speeches were delivered, the meeting moved on to guest introductions and a short break.
Evaluation Contest
After the break, the meeting continued with the Evaluation Contest.
While evaluators were receiving instructions from the Chief Judge Dave, Evaluation Contest Chair Sheldon told the audience more about his experience of being President of the Club.
He then introduced the Mystery Speaker – Emily. In her highly informative speech she shared with the audience her knowledge about Opium Wars between China and Britain.
Her speech was then evaluated by the Evaluation contestants, Peter, Yemina, Paul and Matthew.
While the Committee members were registering votes made by the judges, the Table Topics Master Peter made almost everyone in the audience join his highly entertaining impromptu speaking session.
Awards
The winner of both the International Speech and Evaluation Contests was… Matthew.
Overall, the contestants showed such a high standard of speaking that no one in the room would have confidently bet on anyone taking the top spot.
Next meeting
The next regular meeting of Bloomsbury Speakers will be on Monday, 13 March 2017, downstairs at Wedge Issue Pizza & Beer. Doors open at 6.30pm. Everyone is welcome to join.
