Introduction
Bloomsbury Speakers held their latest regular meeting on Monday 25th September at Wedge Issue Pizza. The quality of the prepared speeches was high and the table topics session was particularly funny!
Roles
The meeting started with a welcome speech from the President of the Club Peter R who commented on how being part of a Toastmasters club is useful and inspiring at the same time. He introduced Toastmaster Sheldon who announced that the theme of the meeting would be “competition”: he pointed out that although many of us get a kick out of competing to win, Toastmasters is all about pushing ourselves and supporting each other in the process. He introduced Timekeeper Chantal and Grammarian Margarita.
Prepared speeches
The first speaker was Sofia with her Ice Breaker Speech “Sofia’s world”. Addressing who she is, where she comes from and where she is going, Sofia gave us a personal insight into their life growing up in China, her professional and personal interests, and her dream to spend 30% of her time working and the remaining 70% travelling, playing music and coaching people.
The second speaker was Agnes with her thought-provoking Competent Communicator Speech #9 “Testosterone”. She argued that the world needs more women in leadership positions, as too much testosterone can result in bad decision-making. She clarified that she wasn’t suggesting castrating male leaders (!) but that we should be teaching young girls that they can do anything they want.
The last speech was Competent Communicator Speech #2 “My Daily Happiness Routine” by Lei, who asked us whether any of us followed a daily happiness routine. She commented that we are so busy pursuing what we don’t have that we sometimes forget to notice and appreciate the little things that happen during the day that make us happy, such as good weather and being part of a friendly and supportive environment at Toastmasters.
Luisa led the guest introductions.
Evaluations and Table Topics
After the break, we heard from the three speech evaluators – Peter R, Raymond and Yamina.
Then Rupert led a great table topics session focused on the general theme of the meeting – competition – and Sebastian, Eva, Margarita, Danielle, Ed, Peter R, Luisa and Yamina participated. Highlights included Sebastian’s account of the worst competition he has ever participated in (i.e. a Toastmasters one!) and Margarita’s interesting view on whether cheating during exams is acceptable (is wearing a short skirt to impress the male examiners cheating?).
Swarajit evaluated all table topic speakers.
Grammarian Margarita then presented her report and updated us on the use of the word of the day “invigorate” throughout the meeting.
Finally, visiting General Evaluator Anthony evaluated our club and the meeting.
One thing is for sure: we all felt much more invigorated after the meeting!
Awards
Best Speaker: Lei
Best Evaluator: Peter R
Best Table Topic: Yamina
Next meeting
The next regular meeting will take place at Wedge Issue Pizza & Beer (91-95 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5BX), on Monday 9th October 18:30-21:00. Come over to practice your public speaking skills and enjoy delicious free pizza!
Please feel free to get in touch at info@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk if you have any questions.
