Introduction
Bloomsbury Speakers met on Monday 13th November at Wedge Issue Pizza for their latest regular meeting. Three inspiring speeches and a hilarious table topics session later, we were onto the pizza!
Roles
President of the Club Peter R welcomed everyone to the meeting and pointed out that Toastmasters is not just about talking in front of people, but also strengthening our ability to express ourselves and interact with others. Toastmaster Scott took over and introduced Timekeeper Sarah. In the absence of a Grammarian, Scott declared “wedge” (after our lovely venue) to be the word of the day.
Prepared speeches
First to speak was James with his Ice Breaker Speech “Living the Dream”. James gave us an insight into his determination and how fear of heights had pushed him to start a skydiving club. We felt we were there with him as he described the plane taking off and flying higher and higher as he was getting ready for his first jump. We are all looking forward to James’ second speech!
The second speaker was Chantal was her Competent Communicator Speech #9 “Eat More Green”. Chantal used powerful persuasion to convince us to become “flexitarians” and gradually cut meat out of our diets. Meat-heavy diets have a negative effect on climate change and on resistance to antibiotics, and if we all started to diversify our diets we could help tackle these two challenges.
Last to speak was Margarita with her Storytelling Speech #4 “The Second Life of Optimus”. To add a bit of storytelling to the Christmas atmosphere, she took us back in time to faraway Moscow, where a boy (Margarita’s brother) rescued a mouse from an evil magician, and the two forged an unlikely friendship. Mouse Optimus and her brother became inseparable! A very inspiring story of friendship and loyalty.
Peter R then led the guest introductions.
Table Topics
After the break, three members of the club evaluated the evening’s speeches – Luisa, Rupert and Swarajit.
Table Topics Master Yamina then organised a great impromptu session, during which Rupert, Winsome, Margarita, Sofia, Lewis, Peter R, Stella and Scott discussed the topic of the night – dreams. Highlights included Rupert’s advice to dream small so as to avoid disappointment, and Winsome’s confession about being queen of the snooze!
Sheldon evaluated all table topics speakers.
Finally, visiting General Evaluator Lewis evaluated our club and the meeting.
Awards
Best Speaker: Chantal
Best Evaluator: Luisa
Best Table Topic: Rupert
Next meeting
The next regular meeting will take place at Wedge Issue Pizza & Beer (91-95 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5BX), on Monday 27th November 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.
