Bloomsbury Speakers
“Learning, Orating & Laughing – LOL!”

Written by Svetlana

Meeting Report for 24 November 2014

Introduction

Bloomsbury Speakers Club hosted its regular meeting on Monday 24^th November 2014 with an enthusiastic opening from President Jo who mentioned that confidence and eloquence, which we develop as Toastmasters can come handy in everyday situations where we need to assert ourselves.

Prepared Speeches

After the Introduction, Jo handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the Evening Carrie, whose delightful conversational manner and efficient steering of the proceedings put everybody at ease. The theme of the Night was about how everybody felt about 2014 whether we felt disappointed or smug finishing the year.

Carrie introduced functionaries of the day: Hari the Timekeeper (who thought he didn’t attain enlightenment in 2014 while we thought he did, being such an accomplished competent communicator), and Peter L. the Grammarian with the word of the day “embody”!

There were three prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Alefiyah’s Icebreaker Speech Project “The Future Is Exciting” was a personal story filled with sincerity; it had a balance of humour and seriousness, an account of ups and downs of personal growth. She ended her story with an enthusiastic vision of her future as a chemical engineer believing in renewable energy and sustainable development.

Peter F. (who didn’t entertain himself with the charade of year endings and New Year resolutions) delivered his No. 10 speech “Memory Battle”. Peter F. shared a story of the challenges he had to overcome to save his kidneys and the side effects of potent medical drugs, which were deteriorating his memory. He was then advised to engage in public speaking facing the audience without using notes! Peter F. recited three pieces of poetry by heart: (1) excerpt from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” – “Polonius’ advice to his son Laertes”; (2) “Prayer before Birth” by Louis MacNeice; (3) excerpt from “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens. Peter F.’s conclusive message to us was “challenge yourself on a daily basis if you want to achieve something”.

Janet, our district competition winner and national finalist delivered Advanced Speech “Attitude” as the Professional Speaker told us Plato’s Parable of the Cave and linked it to her own life story of a timid girl who overcame her fears by living her comfort zone behind her once and for all and gave the world her attitude. Fake it until you make it. And once you start your way towards your goal, never return back.

We had warm guest introduction from Svetlana and well-rounded evaluations provided by Helen, Bronia, and Swarajit.

Table topics session conducted by Svetlana was focused on trying to balance our inner talk when we like or dislike things, depending on our attitude in a given context on a daily basis and that there isn’t actually a right or wrong answer to questions. There are at least 360 points of view in a 2D circle and many more in 3D and 4D. Thus, answers to her questions were supposed to be an exercise in exploring our likes and dislikes of the same things. 80% of Table topic speakers were guests.

“Why would you love and hate the rainy weather?” went to Rui. Ruis described how, coming from a warm and sunny climate, he looked forward to and thought he would love rainy London weather until it started to rain and when it did he hated it. We all concurred with Rui.

“Why do you love and hate ice cream?” went to Egor, who loves ice cream as a childhood memory and would like to keep it there, therefore, he doesn’t eat it. He also recalled that the Moscow ice cream was the best in the world.

“What do you like and dislike about being in a crowd running from one platform to another in the Tube during a rush hour?” went to Lex. Being in the crowd is like being in a flock of birds, which is the good part and all other aspects are bad especially for her as an introvert.

“Why do you like and dislike your own appearance?” was answered by Joe H., who was not only very genuine but also infused lots of humour into his speech, which we all enjoyed so much. He also had great body language describing at which angles his appearance looked its best.

“Why do you like and dislike your job?” went to Eve who spoke with a lot of excitement about her job and what she disliked about it was that it was imaginary and the real future was looking dim as she

Joe L. provided a thorough evaluation of Table Topics speakers’ with lots of commendations and useful recommendations.

Grammarian Peter L.’s report was an enjoyable account of metaphors, alliterations and other figures of speech, which he noted. He also provided some advice and recommendations.

It was followed by General Evaluation from Mark Burrows, President of Holborn Speakers, who not only affirmed his appreciation of Bloomsbury Speakers club with his commendations, but provided a lot of very helpful recommendations and humour.

Awards

Icebreaker Ribbon was handed to Alefiyah; Peter was given his Competent Communicator ribbon for completing his No 10 speech; best speaker award was granted to Janet; best evaluator award went to Helen; and best impromptu speech award went to Lex!!!

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 1^st December downstairs at The Real Man Pizza Company, 91-95 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1R 5BX. Doors open at 6:30pm.

The post Meeting Report for 24 November 2014 appeared first on Bloomsbury Speakers.

Written by Svetlana

Introduction

The meeting began with an impressive opening from President Jo who briefed the audience on some key statistics, which were also milestones of 90 years of Toastmasters global movement. We were all made feel part of a great community of some 14,000 clubs worldwide. All clubs take their members through competent communicator and other public speaking manuals and help master the art of positive evaluation, offering a highly participatory structure and supportive atmosphere. She encouraged guests to visit various clubs before finding the one which appealed to them most.

After her introduction, Jo handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the evening Bronia, who infused her sunny and witty charisma into the proceedings throughout the meeting, be it the communication of house rules, the theme of the night, speaker introductions or smooth transitions between various parts of the agenda. Bronia’s theme of the night was each speaker’s biggest success or challenge they had managed to overcome. “It’s daunting but it’s doable, and when it’s done it’s done forever!” – was a quote from Bronia to be remembered.

Bronia introduced functionaries of the day: Michelle the Timekeeper (whose Icebreaker speech was a step to her new self and, therefore, so far her biggest success), and Joe the Grammarian with the word of the day “ecstatic” defined quite simply as “super-happy” and whose example of being ecstatic was himself being the Grammarian of the meeting!

Prepared Speeches

There were four prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Axel’s Icebreaker speech “All or Nothing” was a personal story filled with sincerity. Axel stood up as someone who gives his all to projects he starts, be it a physical work-out, intellectual studies or achieving his best in the sales profession. He took us on a journey of self-reflection, which resulted in goal-setting to achieve a balance between the introverted and extroverted sides of himself.

Svetlana (whose biggest success was to realise that no matter how authoritative somebody else’s advice may be at the end of the day it is us who make decisions and take responsibility for them) delivered her No. 6 speech with a focus on vocal variety. It was an interpretive recitation of her translation of “The Ballad of Love” by Vladimir Vysotsky, a Russian 20^th century iconic singer-songwriter. She started off on a humorous note on how to connect everyday thoughts and activities with values, such as friendship, love, happiness, and freedom; how these were also mainstream aspirations for many people. Vysotsky was a singer of personal freedom, who connected with his audience through a brave and original manner of singing. This explained his enormous popularity in the former Soviet Union.

Kate (whose biggest success was to deliver a speech before an audience of a hundred speakers!) delivered an Advanced Storytelling speech entitled “Hen-Do Scrooge”, taking us on a journey back in time where, thanks to her vivid storytelling, we shared her bizarre experience of driving in an unfamiliar area, meeting unusual characters and participating in a costume party, all of which she managed to relate in detail filled with great humour.

Sergey (whose biggest success was leaving a company where he had been a chairman of the board for twenty years to become a completely accredited NLP consultant and trainer), was invited as a guest speaker to deliver a speech “Controlling Your Fear”. Sergey demonstrated a few effective techniques of how to overcome fear when doing things, which take us beyond our comfort zone, e.g. public speaking! His slot reminded all of us why Toastmasters is such a remarkable emotional and intellectual opportunity.

We had warm guest introductions led by Sarah and precious thoughtful brilliant evaluations provided by Damien, Peter F, Hari, and Henry!

Table Topics

The table topics session conducted by Egor continued the theme of the night about success in a humorous way, posing questions with dilemmas to the table topics speakers. The question “Success is a point of time or a period of time; would you rather have a brief period of intense success than moderate success for your entire life?” went to Glen. His choice was with long-term moderate success when he can enjoy it and relax into it. He was grateful for the choice, which he would love to have for real!

“What would you prefer given a choice: money, women, or fame?” went to Swarajit. Luckily, he already had all of that! He would like to be remembered for being a genius of the calibre of Newton, Einstein, or Mozart with the right combination of genes and brain cells to be remembered for centuries.

Would you agree with the dilemma suggested by Nietzsche, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” went to David, who disagreed with the philosopher. David thought that what doesn’t kill us doesn’t make us stronger, it scars us for the rest of our lives, and it was one firework of a performance!

Success brings good and not so good things with it such as envy. “If family and friends were jealous of your success, how would you deal with it?” went to Hari, who had a humorous take on the question, and said he could use social media to create a new support group for himself if he had to!

When John Lennon answered his teacher’s question “Who would you like to be?” with “I want to be happy”, his teacher said he didn’t understand the question, to which Lennon said that the teacher did not understand life. Thus, the question “What is the relationship between success and happiness for you?” went to Yu Ling who related a personal story of organising a skiing trip for 170 people at her school. Her schoolmates came to her and said how they appreciated a great job that she did, and it made her happy. Thus, happiness lies in the result of one’s success, which can be making other people happy.

Henry provided a thorough evaluation of Table Topics speakers whose overall performance he defined as master classes from titans; nevertheless he managed to point out areas for improvement for each speaker. His speech was also quite artistic and a model evaluation in itself.

Grammarian Joe’s thorough report on the beautiful, rich, and original use of language during the meeting made us all feel that each Toastmasters session is a unique creative occasion not to be missed! It was followed by General Evaluation from David Jones from Holborn Speakers. David (who, before becoming an 11 times national Toastmasters contest finalist and 5 times winner, had to overcome a major stammer), in addition to providing a thorough and very relevant evaluation and advice, did not disappoint us in that his speech was also the most enjoyable performance with his language, thoughts, ideas, vocal variety, drama, humour and command of the stage!

Awards

Amidst ecstatic applause, a special Icebreaker ribbon was handed to Axel; the best speaker award was granted to Kate; the best evaluator award went to Henry; and the best table topic (impromptu speech) award went to Glen.

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 24^th November upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU as usual. Doors open at 6:30pm.

 

Written by Svetlana

Introduction

October’s second meeting was held in an unusual venue with a very appropriate name of “Bloomsbury Lounge” at The Perseverance pub, Lamb’s Conduit Street, which was decorated and had lighting to match a Halloween Party! Acting President Stella opened the meeting with some TLC, distributing candies to celebrate the 5^th Anniversary of Bloomsbury Speakers and a brief history of its creation. So cool!

After the Introduction, Stella handed proceedings to Janet, a winner of many Toastmasters contests, assisted by her smart and charming daughter Ayla, a seasoned guest of Bloomsbury Speakers. Janet introduced the theme of the day – our experience of “the silent treatment” at work or in our private lives. Janet also introduced the functionaries of the day: Svetlana the Timekeeper, Michelle (who had only very short and light-hearted “silent treatment” from her friend with reasons forgiven and forgotten) the Sergeant At Arms, and Rory the Grammarian (with the word of the day “frugal”) who helped Janet in that most Halloween-coloured Toastmasters evening!

There were four prepared speeches on the agenda. The first speaker Joe’s advanced speech “Juggling Priorities” delivered an important message for all of us: if you want to stand out, connect with what is important, learn and take risks – and enjoy the process. Joe referred to his experience of work in the corporate world and tapping into his talent to change career direction and become a tennis coach. He illustrated his message about juggling priorities with a prop – masterfully juggling several tennis balls!

Jon delivered his speech No. 2 “Is the World a Dangerous Place?” starting off with statistics of casualties happening around the world, which give us an impression of a very dangerous world out there. Jon being a passionate world traveller himself convinced and encouraged us to reach out and listen to people’s experiences on the ground and get an unbiased and true coverage by doing our own investigation of the situations in such countries as Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other places. People enjoy their normal lives and feel happy in all of these countries and the world is full of good energy. The world is a good place, and the real danger is an ill-informed pre-judgement.

Peter L (who experienced some “silent treatment” from his cat but managed to make up) delivered his speech No. 3 entitled “Dog Dinners” about culture clashes such as the dilemma of putting up with eating dog meat or fighting a cause of banning such habits, which he described as contention between progressive and traditional habits in some of the Asian countries. Peter gave examples of positive changes, which show that the status of dogs as social animals is being established and dog meat gradually being removed from traditional menus.

Egor (who doesn’t mind it at all and would love to receive “silent treatment” from everybody) gave his speech No. 4 “The Idol of Science” in which he reflected upon a popular attitude towards science. Science as a source of absolute truth is challenged nowadays because there are plenty of contradicting and equally credible scientific studies on almost every aspect of life and even on any opinion or point of view on anything, which in itself has overthrown the idol of science.

We had warm guest introductions from Michelle and valuable thoughtful evaluations provided by Henry, Michelle, Ahmed, and Swarajit.

Table Topics

Table topics session conducted by Tracey dwelt upon the theme of friendship and all participants demonstrated an impressive ability to think on their feet and speak off the cuff with witty and thoughtful answers!

The question “How to make up with a friend?” went to Emma. Her time-proof recipe was flowers, drinks and a quality time together.

“Are you still in touch with friends from school and college?” – was addressed to Sebastian. Yes, he was!

“What is your definition of a friend?” – went to Rory, who shared a personal story about how he went out of his way to make up with a friend, spending a lot of money and putting himself at risk to bring her back, but it didn’t help!

“Do you prefer to have lots of friends or just a few intimate friends?” – was answered by Robert. Surely, he prefers to have only a few close friends, but for that he has to know a great number of people to be able to filter ad choose his best friends!

The question “Do you think that friends should complement each other?” was tackled by Alefiyah. According to Alefiyah, it is best to preserve integrity and be true to ourselves in a friendship.

The question of “What are the best places to make friends?” was enlightened by Ayla, who said it could happen anywhere and gave a personal story of her best friendship, which started in a girls’ toilet!

Bronia then provided a thorough evaluation of all the Table Topics speakers’ performances with commendations and quite a few pieces of advice for improvement.

Grammarian Rory’s report was followed by a general evaluation from Gill Ornstein from HOD Toastmasters in Harrow. Gill, as well as providing valuable recommendations and highly positive comments, advised the evaluators to add personal goals to the introductions of speakers and shared a tip on how to improve vocal variety by making little pauses and explained how exactly it helps.

Awards

• Best prepared speech award was shared between Jon and Peter L.
• Best evaluator award was shared between Ahmed and Henry.
• Best impromptu speech award went to Ayla.

Special President’s award went to Immediate Past President Swarajit who, along with Michelle, did an outstanding job of preparing the Bloomsbury Lounge for the meeting and who’d had his birthday the day before!

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 10^th November upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU as usual. Doors open at 6:30pm.

Hello and Welcome to the November Newsletter!

It’s getting colder and the end of the year is approaching.  But there’s still time to tick off another Toastmasters’ goal or two.  We have 4 meetings left in 2014 so whether you want to polish up your table topics, take on a new role or try to squeeze in one final speech this year go to Clubplan and sign up for a role or table topic today.  Note: if you can’t find a speech slot sign up as a reserve speaker.  You may get bumped up to a confirmed speaker if someone else has to pull out in the days before the meeting which really helps Helen fill the agenda without too much stress.  And, as a reward, if you don’t get to speak at the meeting for which you are a reserve, you get first option on speaking slots at the next meeting she sets up.

If you don’t have time to read the whole newsletter, you can skip to the bottom for a short summary of the main points.

What’s happened since the last newsletter?

We had two meetings in October.  Unfortunately I was unable to attend the second but Stella ably stood in as Acting President.  The meeting was also in a different venue to usual due to a last minute change – some of you may have felt you were visiting another club!  However I’m reliably informed that the standard of speaking was as high as ever.

What’s planned for November?  

In November we will be treated to two Icebreakers.  On Monday the 10th our newest member Axel will be speaking and there will be a second Icebreaker on the 24th.

Our GE on the 10th will be David Jones.  For those of you who don’t know him he’s a Table Topics master having been to the Divisional Finals 11 times and won the UK & Ireland Final 5 times.  If he asks nicely we may let him do a Table Topic as well as evaluate us!

***NEWSFLASH***  Bloomsbury Speakers’ members get hitched!!!

Do you know which two of our members were engaged?  They kept their engagement low key but two weeks ago Past President Femi and ex Vice President of PR Rufina took the plunge and married before jetting off to Mexico on honeymoon.  Rufina looked radiant in all three (yes – three!) outfits she wore on the day and Femi matched her with three dapper outfits of his own.  Being the wedding of two Toastmasters members, there was a Toastmaster running the schedule on the day and this was our very own member Ratan.

It was a fabulous day and on behalf of all at Bloomsbury Speakers I’d like to wish them a long and happy life together.

Dates for your Diary – watch this space

We haven’t confirmed a date yet but we will be having a joint Xmas party for Bloomsbury Speakers’, Clerkenwell Speakers’ and St Paul’s Speakers’ members.  Michelle is working hard on the arrangements and as soon as the date is fixed we will let you know.

Tip of the Month:  The End

Effective public speaking isn’t only about grabbing your audience at the beginning.  The way you finish is crucial to the overall success of your speech.  For one thing, your final words are likely to be the ones your audience will remember.  Some speeches lend themselves to a humorous finish, while others require a more serious approach.

Keep in mind that a good speaker doesn’t just talk to his audience.  You may be speaking  to entertain, inform, inspire, motivate, or lead.  Here are some tips to help you:

• Whet your audience’s appetite at the beginning by starting to tell a story. But leave the rest of the story — and the punch line — for your big finish.
• The title of your speech should summarize your main point in a memorable, catchy way.   So if you can incorporate the title into your closing words, that will reinforce your message.
• End with a humorous or meaningful quotation from somebody famous. There are many quotation websites on the Internet, and you will have no trouble finding something suitable.
• Don’t end abruptly.   A hasty “Well, that’s it from me, thanks” and off you go doesn’t create a professional impression. It makes you seem inexperienced and/or unprepared.
• Give your audience a signal that the end is near so they will pay attention to what you are about to say. If you were walking around the stage, for instance, you could return to the centre of the stage and take a solid stance.
• Involve your audience.  Ask them to repeat something after you — maybe a simple “commitment ” you have written.
• Issue your call to action. Tell your audience what you want them to do next and ask them to do it.

Remember, the last thing you say is your last chance to impress the audience and it’s what they will remember about your speech.

Don’t forget to keep your contact details complete and up to date

When we had to change our meeting venue last month just  four days before the meeting, the whole committee swung into action to secure a new venue, let everyone know and arrange to move our equipment.  But we found that some of the speakers and functionaries did not have their phone number listed on our website which meant we couldn’t text them to let them know.  Please can all members check we have a phone number listed on the website.  It’s not publicly visible to other members and the committee won’t cold call you unless absolutely, absolutely necessary.  Log in and check your contact details now.

Also Toastmasters International use the address on their website Toastmasters International to send out their monthly magazine.  When you join Bloomsbury Speakers, Rebecca sets up your record with your current address but, if you move, you need to update the records at Toastmasters International or you will no longer receive the magazine through the post.  Did you know?: You can also get a digital version of by downloading the Toastmasters App from the Apple, Amazon and Google app stores

Key facts – just the stuff you really need to know

• Sign up for the reserve speaking slots on Clubplan – you may get to speak and, as a reward, if you don’t get to speak at the meeting for which you are a reserve, you get first option on speaking slots at the next meeting Helen sets up.
• There are only 4 meetings left in 2014 so, whether you want to polish up your table topics, take on a new role or try to squeeze in one final speech this year, go to Clubplan and sign up for a role or table topic today.
• Past President Femi and ex Vice President of PR Rufina took the plunge and married before jetting off to Mexico on honeymoon.  We wish them happiness!
• We will be having a joint Xmas party for Bloomsbury Speakers’, Clerkenwell Speakers’ and St Paul’s Speakers’ members so look out for the announcement of the time and place.
• Don’t forget to keep your contact details complete and up to date on Clubplan and Toastmasters International and you can also download the Toastmasters App to get the monthly magazine digitally.

Newsletter written by Jo