Introduction
We met on Monday 12th February at Wedge Issue Pizza and had a great evening filled with engaging speeches and a fun table topics session.
Roles
Peter R, President of the Club, kicked off the meeting and shared a very surprising fact: at the start of his career, Winston Churchill was a nervous public speaker! Practising this skill (by being a member of Toastmasters for example) is key to gaining confidence. He then handed over to Toastmaster Andy, who explained the agenda and introduced Timekeeper Paloma and Harkmaster Miro.
Prepared speeches
The first speaker was Luisa with her Competent Communicator Speech #5 “When in Rome”. Luisa gave us all a crash course in (rude) Italian hand gestures to help us navigate this complicated set of rules should we decide to visit Italy in the future.
The second speaker was Scott with his Competent Communicator Speech #6 “Carl Jung’s Psychic Theory of Archaic Man”. Scott talked us through this psychological concept with useful examples and concluded that what we consider to be fate may not be so random after all.
Last to speak was Margarita with her Persuasive Speaking Speech #3 “Parklife”. Margarita spoke about the benefits of being outdoors surrounded by nature and proposed that the first Bloomsbury Speakers summer meeting should be held in a park. She even got our President to agree on the spot!
Scott then led the guest introductions.
Table Topics
After the break, we heard from the evening’s evaluators – Yamina, Swarajit and Matt.
Table Topics Master Sheldon then led a hilarious table topics session centred around setting up his own fictitious rocket company. Highlights included Nigel, the company’s legal representative, announcing that his plans to make the Earth inhabitable as quickly as possible would include accelerating pollution by selling cigars to turtles. Margarita, in charge of the company’s marketing and PR, proposed launching into space Swarajit’s iconic coke bottle to promote Bloomsbury Speakers!
Rupert evaluated all table topics speakers.
Harkmaster Miro then tested our attention by asking us to remember specific points from the meeting, and rewarded correct answers with chocolates!
Finally, visiting General Evaluator Errol evaluated our club and the meeting.
Awards
Best Speaker: Luisa
Best Evaluator: Yamina and Matt
Best Table Topic: Nigel
Next meeting
Our next regular meeting will take place at Wedge Issue Pizza & Beer (91-95 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5BX), on Monday 26th February 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
