Introduction
Our last meeting was on Monday 23rd April: we enjoyed five excellent prepared speeches and a thought-provoking table topics session.
Roles
President of the Club Peter R reminded us that the ambition of any Toastmasters member should be to become a world class speaker. He then introduced Toastmaster Atul who shared his personal experience to highlight that success is about not giving up and believing in yourself. He then called up Timekeeper Raphael and Grammarian Andy, who announced “esoteric” as the word of the day.
Prepared speeches
The first speaker was Stirling with his Ice Breaker Speech “Everybody Wants to Do Something Good”. Stirling talked to us about his career so far and the years spent living all over the world in search of an environmentally-friendly job. He now works for a bank which finances clear energy projects, and has no intention of leaving London!
The second speaker was Miro with his Competent Communicator Speech #2 “Escape from Reality”. Miro gave us some very useful tips on how to begin “lucid dreaming”, which means being aware of our dream state and manipulating our dreams in a conscious way. He even told us that controlling our dreams can be a good way to get to know the more unconscious layers of our personality!
Third to speak was Lei with her Competent Communicator Speech #3 “Be Authentic”. In keeping with the title, Lei admitted she had not prepared her speech and wanted it to be as spontaneous as possible. She talked to us about the barriers to being authentic, and the courage it took her to have her first honest conversation with her mother.
Margarita then led the guest introductions.
After the break we heard from the fourth speaker, Scott, with his Competent Communicator Speech #7 “The Lindy Effect”. Scott talked us through the concept that the future life expectancy of some non-perishable things is proportional to their current age. According to this theory, if you are unsure which new movie to watch or new book to read, just go for the oldest!
Last to speak was Chantal with her Storytelling Speech #1 “Brother Bear”. Chantal told us the heart-warming tale of a human with a hatred for bears who was, as a punishment, transformed into a bear himself. The experience taught him love and compassion and, when the time came to become a human again, he opted to remain a bear!
Toastmaster Atul then led a group evaluation session, in which all attendees evaluated the five speakers.
Table Topics
Table Topics Master Luisa then led a table topics session on the subject of public speaking, and James, Max, Swarajit, Mary, Paloma and Jackie participated. Highlights included Swarajit keeping us up to speed with all the shouting matches he’s had over the years!
Grammarian Andy then reported that three people had managed to squeeze the word of the day into their speeches, and announced the winners of the “Ums and Ahs Award”, which went to those who had managed to avoid using filler words.
Finally, visiting General Evaluator Gill evaluated our club and the meeting.
Awards
Best Speaker: Scott
Best Table Topic: Max, Swarajit and Paloma
Next meeting
Our next regular meeting will take place at Wedge Issue Pizza & Beer (91-95 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5BX), on Monday 14th May 18:30-21:00. Come over to practice your public speaking skills!
Please feel free to get in touch at info@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk if you have any questions.
