Hello and welcome to the July newsletter!

It’s a new Toastmaster year and so there’s a new committee and a new writer of this newsletter – me!  If you were at the last meeting you will have seen our farewell to our Outgoing President Swarajit and met all of your new Committee but, if you couldn’t make it you will find them listed again in this Newsletter.

The club went from strength to strength during Swarajit’s year as President.  Bloomsbury maintained its’ status as a President’s Distinguished Club  – the highest level of club award given by Toastmasters International.  And we also had two of our members, Glen and Janet, representing us at the district contests where they completed against the best Toastmasters’ speakers from across the UK and Ireland.

Clearly the club is in a very strong place and I will be doing my best to ensure we move further forwards in the next 12 months.  It is, however, a joint effort with every member able to contribute towards the success of every meeting, the winning of each point towards becoming a President’s Distinguished Club and our (hopefully!) ongoing success at area, divisional and district contests.

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.

My Toastmaster history

For those of you who may not know me well, I attended my first Toastmaster meeting – at  Bloomsbury Speakers – in September 2011.  It was at the time Glen was President and his introductory address was so impressive that, before he had even finished his 4 minute speech, I decided I needed to join the club.  Fortunately, there was no waiting list at the time and a couple of meetings later I was giving my icebreaker.  It was a nerve-racking experience – at one point I felt my knees knocking together – but I took that as a sign that I needed to keep practicing to overcome that fear. I worked through my CC manual which I completed in early 2013 and also joined the committee first as secretary and then VP of Education. Do I still get nervous before a speech? Yes – but there’s a comfort and confidence from knowing that you have spoken in front of a similar sized audience before and it went ok so I focus on that instead.

Goal!!!

No, not the World Cup but it’s a new Toastmasters’ Year.  Just as we make New Year’s Resolutions at the start of a calendar year, a new Toastmasters’ Year is a great time to think about what you want to achieve over the next twelve months. This year my goals are both for the club and me personally.  For the club I’d like to enable us to incorporate the best ideas from other clubs into how we do things at Bloomsbury.  The best way to do this is to visit other clubs and encourage as many members as possible to do the same so we can learn from their way of doing things.  Personally, I’m always impressed by speakers who can move effortlessly around the stage.  I tend to stay firmly in one place (which evaluators kindly refer to as me being ‘centred’!) as I’m not sure how to make moving look effortless and not contrived.  So expect to see me making some clunky onstage moves this year while I figure out how to display my inner gracefulness!  What could your goal(s) for the year be?

Upcoming meetings – July plans and a September workshop

We have two meetings in July – on the 14^th and 28^th and they look set to be action packed with new challenges for our members.  On the 14^th we have one of our newest Competent Communicators, Rufina, making her debut as Toastmaster and a No 10 Speech for Janet which is her first speech since she came 3^rd at the UK and Ireland Speech contest in Dublin. On the 28^th, we will have an Icebreaker from our latest joiner and July also sees two of our newer members – Emma and Egor –  taking on the role of Topics Master for the first time so Topics Speakers should be ready for any kind of questions!

In September we will be hosting our club Humourous Speech Contest and the winner will go on to represent us at the area contest.  In preparation for this we are holding a humorous speeches and improvisation workshop on Monday, 1st September. The workshop will be led by Gayna Cooper who finished second in the UK & Ireland with an impressive speech which many thought was worthy of winning (borrow the DVD if you haven’t seen it).  The workshop is already up on Clubplan so register there if you would like to attend.

Events at other clubs 

Do you like picnics in the sun? Well who doesn’t so why not attend the Area 33 Summer Party on Hampstead Heath on Sunday July 20^th.  You can meet members from 5 other Central London clubs, Experience French, St Paul’s Speakers, CASS TM, BAML London TM, ACCA Members Club and our very own sister club Clerkenwell Speakers. The idea is to bring your own food and drinks and the organisers will provide the decoration and entertainment!  For further details and to register attendance go to: https://www.facebook.com/events/789783234374707

Tip of the month: Get out there!   The wider the circle of speakers you are learning from the more you will learn. Here are some ways to supplement what you can learn at Bloomsbury, no matter how new or experienced a member you are:

• Visit another club’s meeting as a guest either simply to expand your horizons or to give a speech or to be a General Evaluator. The calendar for club meetings is at http://www.thelondonspeaker.com/weblog/london-toastmasters-clubs-meeting-dates.html Speak to Swarajit, Helen or myself if you would like to speak or be a GE.
• Borrow the DVD of the final of the recent UK and Ireland Speech contest and evaluate the finalists’ performances to see what you could learn. Swarajit has our copy of this DVD.
• Look for examples of speeches on YouTube and Ted Talks
• Every Bloomsbury meeting has a member from another club as our General Evaluator. Talk to them about their club and their Toastmaster experiences
• Attend our workshops – the next is on September 1st – as these are usually led by very experienced speakers from other clubs.

When you find some inspiration bring it back to Bloomsbury and show us what you have learnt so we can all be impressed by your skill and we too can widen our experience!

Meet your new Leadership Committee

As promised, below is the full list of committee members with their main responsibilities, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways to get involved – all of our committee members will need assistance with their roles every now and again, so please get in touch if you’d like to help!

President – Jo Higham
	The president has overall responsibility for the successful running of the club by supporting committee members in their roles as well as opening and closing every meeting, writing these newsletters and helping the club meet its goals in the Distinguished Club Programme – and much more besides!
Vice President Education – Helen Hosein
	The VP Education is the second most senior position on the committee and is responsible for putting the programme together for each meeting along with keeping track of the educational progress of individual members and the club as a whole.
Vice President Membership & Mentoring – James Hallinan
	The VP Membership & Mentoring converts guests into happy members by keeping track of the membership waiting list, inviting an appropriate number of guests to join as new members each month, ensuring that new members have all the information they need when they first join and assigning them a mentor.
Vice President Public Relations – Svetlana Rakhimova
	The VP Public Relations is responsible for raising the club’s profile and attracting new guests e.g. via social media. They also oversee the team that produces our meeting reports.
Treasurer – Rebecca Griffith
	The treasurer holds responsibility for the club’s finances. Their duties include keeping track of the club’s income and expenditure to ensure financial stability, paying dues and other costs on behalf of members to Toastmasters International and making sure members pay their renewal fees to the club on time.
Sergeant at Arms – Michelle McNicholas
	The Sergeant at Arms is in charge of logistics. They are responsible for enlisting others to prepare the venue for each meeting and also clear up afterwards, welcoming guests as they arrive and running the guest introductions section of the programme, organising club socials and liaising with venue management on behalf of the club.
Immediate Past President – Swarajit Das
	The immediate past president stays on the committee for at least one more year in an advisory capacity, using their experience to support the new president and committee in running the club.

Key facts – just the stuff you really need to know

• It’s the start of a new Toastmaster Year and the previous committee has handed over to a new Committee who are Jo (President) with Helen (VP Education), James (VP Membership & Mentoring), Svetlana (VP Public Relations), Rebecca (Treasurer) and Michelle (Sergeant at Arms).
• As it’s a new Toastmaster Year it’s a good time to think about your next Toastmaster goal – a bit like New Year’s Resolutions!
• As President my Club goal for the year is to expand our horizons and bring fresh ideas from other clubs and online sources back to Bloomsbury Speakers.
• Our regular meetings in July are on the 14^th and 28^th  – check ClubPlan for speaking slots. 
• Join the Area 33 Summer Party on Hampstead Heath on Sunday July 20^th.
• There’s a Humourous Speech Workshop on Monday Sep 1st at the Clerk and Well.  Book on Clubplan to attend
• The club has a copy of the last District 71 conference DVD which is available for members to borrow on request. See Janet’s speech at the Final!
• Contact membership@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk if you’re interested in becoming a member.

 

 

Written by Svetlana

Introductions

Our President Swarajit opened the meeting by giving a concise description of what Toastmasters is about and how it can help build confidence in public speaking and leadership skills and even help build excellent career in politics. He announced that it was his last meeting as President and said the experience was extremely rewarding and it had also inspired him to join and become Vice President Public Relations at Excalibur Advanced Speakers Club, and he welcomed the audience to follow the updates and attend that club to learn more about it.

After that, Swarajit introduced the evening’s Toastmaster Jo. He announced that Jo was about to take over as the new President of Bloomsbury Speakers, but Swarajit would continue to provide all-round support and advice as the Immediate Past President, according to the tradition.

Jo gave a brief overview of the agenda and introduced the theme of the day, “endings”, asking each speaker: What period in your life (or a situation in the world) have you been glad to see end and why? What time in your life have you wished would never end and why? Or what film or book has a really great or terrible ending and why?

Jo then introduced the functionaries who were going to assist her that evening:

• Henry, the Grammarian. Henry explained his functions as a Grammarian, that is, watch everyone’s grammar and style and, at the end of the meeting, provide an evaluation of the language usage by speakers, point out mistakes and good figures of speech. He offered the word of the evening “wholeheartedly”, which is an adverb, typically of an action or activity, meaning “with complete and sincere devotion, determination, or enthusiasm; marked by complete earnest commitment; free from all reserve or hesitation”. Henry encouraged all the speakers to use it in their speeches.
• Emily, the Timekeeper. Emily explained her role and encouraged the audience to be aware of the time requirements for speeches, and to take the sound of the gavel seriously. Delivering a speech within a given time slot is an important skill, and in a competition setting failure to do so would mean disqualification of the speaker. She also emphasized that it was important not to finish before the green light was on, which was equally undesirable.

Prepared speeches

With an Icebreaker speech entitled “Living Life Sideways” Peter introduced himself to the club officially (although many of us know Peter as a brilliant impromptu guest speaker, he is now one of us). Peter gave us the gist of his life and professional experiences with a reiterating allusion to the image from early childhood when he was growing up in a chicken farm where occasionally a slaughtered chicken managed to escape and run around, headless. That image translated into an image of a freedom-loving misfit, who strived to escape from oppressive routine wherever he faced it, be it at school, university, or his professional duties and enrich his life with personal intellectual interests and pursuits – his tendency to drift sideways, namely, into studying philosophy, publishing essays in journals, engaging in conversations with philosophers and taking part in philosophical conference in Mediterranean, which he described as a bit of chaos.  At the end of the speech the audience couldn’t help applauding with a sense of “wow, what a great journey”.

After that, our second speaker Rebecca, whose answer to Jo’s question about “endings” was that she wished her afternoon nap never ended, delivered her No. 3 speech “Don’t Talk to Strangers”.  Rebecca gave three reasons why skills in “small talk” are important in growing up and overcoming the fear of strangers everyone has due to our upbringing and being told not to talk to strangers. In fact, small talk helps us develop gracefulness and acceptance of other people and differences; it’s an excellent icebreaker and an important step in networking; and last but not least, small talk, in so many cases, was the start of important life-long relationships. Rebecca supported her message with humour and lots of personal examples and stories.

Our third speaker Helen delivered her No. 7 Speech “The Dunning-Kruger Effect”, which was quite a smart talk based on scientific research by David Dunning and Justin Kruger (1999) with a message, which sounds a bit of a paradox and pun, “If you don’t know, you can’t know that you don’t know”, or in other words, “If you’re incompetent, you can’t know you’re incompetent.”  The message is actually quite valid for so many different contexts, such as sales of a learning product, where unperceived need is great, but the buyer doesn’t know about it. Or, for a person in a new job, or for a student, as Helen started her speech with a personal story from her university years when she, being a good student, was shocked by scathing comments from her professors to a presentation, which seemed perfectly well-prepared to her. Tonight though, she kept her audience very attentive by juggling with unusual terms bringing it all to a fairly simply worded conclusion, which sounded like a joke and wouldn’t make sense when you first heard it, “If you don’t know, you can’t know that you don’t know”! There is also a valuable message for Toastmasters was you can’t become a good speaker without experience, guidance and training.

Our fourth speaker Carrie gave her No. 9 speech entitled “The Only Way is Up”. First, she described her personal attitude towards Botox and her first experience of using it. She referred to it and other beautifying and rejuvenating technologies, which women start contemplating from a fairly young age, and not because they are getting older, but because they are scared of getting older.  Carrie then delivered a message, which was truly in the spirit of the No.9 speech project “Persuade with Power”. It was based on scientific research, which proved that 52, on average, was an age when woman thinks she is very attractive, and 85 is when she feels the happiest. Carrie finished with the quote “Youth is an illness, which we all will get over”. He speech was received with special applause as the audience felt uplifted that their best years are still to come and that, indeed, life is more about what we feel.

The meeting’s Sergeant at Arms Jon, whose answer to the Toastmaster’s theme of the day was that he wished his travels to South America never ended, introduced our most welcome guests. The introduction was warm, supportive, and encouraging.

Evaluations

Paula evaluated Peter’s icebreaker speech in her very methodical and thorough way. She commended Peter for producing a speech which revealed an experienced storyteller. The performance was brave, resourceful, engaging, with good portion of humour and a lot of really interesting facts from his personal story of enriching his life by drifting away from rigid routine and also allowing his talents of a philosopher and speaker flourish. Paula’s evaluation was expressive, energetic, with signposting adjectives with a lot of content, just like the speech she evaluated.

Svetlana (whose answer to the Toastmaster’s question of the day was that she wished the new Bloomsbury Speakers committee to be as efficient as the previous one) evaluated Rebecca’s No. 3 speech “Don’t Talk to Strangers”, pointing out that the speech had a lot of features that characterise good performance, such as eye contact, vocal variety, and humour with a personal touch. Rebecca, indeed, managed to demonstrate how important the skill of small talk is in growing as a social individual. Svetlana had two recommendations for Rebecca; one was to try and get rid of notes, which in this case were clearly used as refuge to hide nerves, but what, in fact, they did was serve as a button, which was turning on and off her naturally charming personality. Svetlana also called on Rebecca to give more of herself to the audience. However, some nervousness can be good, as in her case it added to her cheerfulness and energised the audience.

Joe evaluated Helen’s No. 7 speech “The Dunning-Kruger Effect” referring to his own experience of delivering a speech based upon a researched topic and challenges that speech project presents. He commended Helen for keeping it all together, all facts and names and concepts and managing to relate it to Toastmasters. Our learning curve is very similar to what Helen described through a scientific research example. What a good way to persuade and to promote the speakers movement, the benefit of experience, guidance, and training in becoming proficient public speakers.

James, who stepped in to evaluate Carrie’s No. 9 Speech “The Only Way is Up”, gave a thorough analysis of her performance, how she started off with an example about Botox injections that made the audience wonder how and why that could be relevant to any of us. But Carrie’s speech, indeed, was charged with power and she used that little personal story as a vehicle into a much more important and serious speech. She persuaded the audience that getting older was not a bad thing at all and James characterised Carrie’s delivery as classy.

Table Topics

The table topics section was chaired by Ahmed (whose answer to Jo’s question was the movie The Sixth Sense, which shocked him by its ending, which he will never forget). Ahmed explained the “rules of the game” as being able to think on your feet and off the cuff and produce a speech with a beginning, a middle and an end. He said that impromptu speaking is a core skill, which Toastmasters clubs help to develop, as we are called upon to deliver unprepared speeches on a daily basis, mostly in a professional, formal setting when he have to speak off the cuff and make sense. He asked the table topic speakers various questions, which they never heard before.

• Peter F’s speech was an answer to Ahmed’s question: Why would he persuade FIFA that rugby ball should be used instead of football? Peter managed to make his speech topical and referred to corruption scandals of FIFA and how not to have world cups in summer in hot climates.
• Egor’s speech was his answer to the question: Which is more important: winning or taking part? Egor talked about university instead of sports and said that grades were important. And in sports, participation is important for people who value health, but for those who value status, winning is more important.
• Guest Kathy in her answer to the question about her favourite sport admitted she didn’t know much about sports and gave a personal story with a lot of humour about how she enjoyed a corporate event where the whole staff including her boss played a game. And her manager’s hopping and falling over was the funniest sport she had ever seen.
• Glen’s speech was an answer to the question: Why should ticket touts be banned? Glen said, they represented micro-capitalism, as far as he was concerned, and were filling the need. So, he wouldn’t ban them remembering the quote: “If I wasn’t doing it then someone else would be doing it”.
• Terry had a question: If you were asked to eliminate one sport what would it be and who would miss it: rugby, wrestling, boxing, bull fighting? He engaged the audience in answering this question finding out what would be pros and cons behind each sport. The final conclusion was to eliminate bull-fighting.
• Emma had a question: what sport would you least like to participate in? She said the previous speaker helped her answer this question that it would be bull fighting, but because there is no bull fighting in Britain anyway, so she would instead promote horse-riding and make it as popular as possible, which determined a strong ending to her speech.

Hari congratulated all the table topic speakers on their courage and provided evaluation for each of them with commendations and helpful recommendations.

Conclusion

Henry reported his Grammarian’s findings to the meeting. He said how important it was to focus on the economy of language, on putting words together thoughtfully, to make the language sound sharp and clear as laser points. He commended Peter on the use of language, such expressive phrases as “headless chicken”, which was not just a smart phrase, but produced a logical and imagery linkage to his life events throughout his story. His other remarkable expressions were “residual nerve signals”, and “dross of pseudoscience”, which made his speech quite interesting and memorable. In Rebecca’s speech “grace and acceptance” sounded quite powerful. In Svetlana’s evaluation, Henry picked out the phrases “naturally charming” and “notes are a refuge”. Henry also gave other examples of speech figures and expressions, which speakers used and commended everyone on active use of the word “wholeheartedly”.

Tony, visiting from HOD Speakers Club, kindly stepped in to provide a general evaluation of the meeting. He started with a very high commendation and congratulated the President, the functionaries, and members on having the reputation of the best club in London. He pointed out the warm atmosphere, and how everyone was genuinely enjoying the meeting and taking part in it. He singled out Jon, as Sergeant At Arms for being attentive, supportive and encouraging towards guests.

Awards

After general evaluator Tony’s detailed report, Jo presented Swarajit with a special award to mark his presidency.

Swarajit spoke about the outgoing committee’s good work and presented the honorary awards to the club officers, VP Education Jo, VP PR Rufina, Treasurer Ahmed and Club Secretary Paula.

Swarajit then announced the new committee members: President Jo, VP Education Helen, VP Membership James, VP PR Svetlana, Treasurer Rebecca, Sergeant At Arms Michelle (who was away on holiday), Club Secretary Liz (also absent), and the Immediate Past President Swarajit.

Finally, the regular awards for the meeting were presented:

• Best table topic: Glen
• Best evaluator: Hari
• Best prepared speech: Helen
• President’s discretionary award: Jon

Next meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 14^th July upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU. Doors open at 6:30pm.

Written by Tracey

Introductions

Swarajit, current president of Bloomsbury Speakers, started the meeting by extolling the benefits of public speaking. He used the analogy of playing the piano to emphasise the importance of practising in front of others for maximum gain.

Swarajit then introduced the evening’s toastmaster, Ahmed.  Ahmed introduced his role and explained the importance of supporting people entering the stage by clapping enthusiastically. He introduced his theme for the night which was “what is your ultimate vacation?” he provided a response for all speakers and functionaries on this theme.

Sarah fulfilled the time keeper role, explaining her responsibilities and the importance of completing speeches punctually. She demonstrated the use of the lights signalling the timings for each speaker.

Ahmed then introduced Renars, the grammarian for the evening. His word of the day was “anticipate”, which means to expect or wait on something to happen.

Prepared speeches

The first prepared speech was an icebreaker delivered by Emma entitled “3 Steps to Success: How Passion and Drive Got Me Here”. She illuminated us with her rags-to-riches tale from being a college dropout, claiming state benefits, to a media mogul managing her own radio show and DJing for prestigious companies like the BBC.

The second speaker, Egor, on his speech No. 2 entitled “Ethics for Dummies” informed the audience on the philosophy of ethics.  He spoke about ways to live an ethical life, and the best methods to understand morality and answer moral questions.

Rufina, the third speaker, delivered her No. 10 speech about ‘unforgiveness’.  Rufina’s speech was about the benefits of forgiveness and how to forgive others. She used a personal anecdote about a close friend with whom she’d had a disagreement. Rufina explained how forgiving her friend had helped her to move on.

The final speaker was Jo, delivering an advanced speech called “Let’s Outsmart Ourselves”. Her speech focused on procrastination, and how to manage this weakness through delayed gratification. Jo cited research on college students to support her argument.

Evaluations

Bronia evaluated Emma’s icebreaker speech, on her steps to success. She commended the structure of her speech, her elocution and engaging delivery. Bronia noticed that Emma’s enthusiasm decreased towards the end of her speech, and gave advice on how to sustain the speech’s momentum.

Hari evaluated Egor’s No. 2 speech, praising his ability to use lots of facts to support his message. He felt the speech was very informative, fulfilling the objectives of the No. 2 speech to organise and inform. Hari recommended that Egor improve his voice projection and volume for future speeches.

Peter evaluated Rufina’s speech, and started by commending it’s content, structure and delivery.  He noted that Rufina projected her voice well, and offered inspirational advice.

Carrie evaluated Jo’s advanced speech.  She praised her choice of subject, which the audience could easily identify with. She also commended Jo’s use of props, and her useful advice which people could benefit from.

Table topics

Rebecca, the table topics master continued the meeting’s theme by inviting several members to give impromptu speeches about their thoughts and experiences on holidays, including:

• Hari, who was asked what environmental considerations he makes when choosing a holiday destination;
• Renars, who was asked whether he was “a folder or a tosser” when packing holiday clothes;
• Femi, who was asked if he preferred the experience of leaving home or returning from a holiday;
• Faith-Rose, who was asked if she preferred holidays with friends or family; and
• James, who was asked what type of accommodation he prefers on holiday.

Tracey, the table topics evaluator, gave a balanced and encouraging evaluation of all the speakers. She commented on the bravery of the first-time guest speakers delivering topics, and the high standard of all the responses.

Awards

Closing the meeting, president Swarajit handed out the awards, including those based on the audience votes:

• Emma was recognised with an icebreaker ribbon for her maiden speech
• Rufina was awarded a Competent Communicator ribbon for completing her 10^th speech
• Best Table Topic Speaker was awarded to James
• Best Evaluator was awarded to Carrie
• Best Prepared Speech was awarded to Jo

Next Meeting

Our next meeting is on Monday, 23^rd June at the usual venue: upstairs at The Clerk & Well, 156 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1R 5DU.

Hello and welcome to the June newsletter!

It’s with a tinge of sadness that I write this, my last introduction to my last monthly newsletter as your president – but I also feel much pride, as it’s been a fantastic year for Bloomsbury Speakers. Not only did we have two of our members, Glen and Janet, representing us at the district contests, but I’m delighted to announce that the club as a whole has managed to achieve Toastmasters International’s highest level of recognition – President’s Distinguished Club – for the second year running!

I’d like to place on record my sincere thanks to our committee officers, without whom none of this would have been possible. So thank you to Jo, Rufina, Ahmed, Paula and of course my predecessor Femi – not forgetting Rajeev, Marie and James who also served on the committee for part of the year. It was a pleasure to work with all of them and they each contributed significantly to the club’s success.

But perhaps the biggest thanks of all should go to our individual members, both old and new, whose enthusiasm for the club continues to make our meetings such a pleasure to attend and – I believe – the envy of many a visiting general evaluator! Thank you, one and all!

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 marvellous meetings in May in which several members made progress with their speech manuals, including Jon who made a start with his Icebreaker speech and Ahmed and Samuel who each finished their tenth speeches to earn the title of Competent Communicator.

We’ve also had two more new members join in the last few weeks, so welcome to Peter and Emma – we look forward to hearing your Icebreaker speeches this month.

What’s planned for June?

There are just two more meetings left for this Toastmasters year – the new year starts in July – but they both promise to be packed with the usual high standard of speeches and evaluations.

• Monday, 9^th June – Regular Meeting – For our first meeting this month we’re pleased to welcome last month’s UK & Ireland International Speech Contest finalist Flavia Gordon from Lewisham Speakers as our general evaluator. There’s a packed agenda, including a No. 10 speech from Rufina, but a couple of pre-bookable table topic slots may still be available on ClubPlan.
• Monday, 23^rd June – Regular Meeting – My last meeting as president 🙁 and, again, the programme is full. Do check back on ClubPlan regularly to see if any slots become free but, even if they don’t, come along anyway to mark the end of an amazing year for the club!

Distinguished Club Programme (DCP) – the final result!

The Distinguished Club Programme (DCP) is Toastmasters International’s framework of objectives that clubs should aim to achieve within the Toastmasters year (1^st July to 30^th June), and different levels of recognition are awarded depending on how many of the ten criteria are met.

As already mentioned above, Bloomsbury Speakers has now achieved the highest level of recognition, President’s Distinguished Club status, for the second year in a row – and we’re also the first club in Division L to pass this milestone this year! To attain this level of recognition, we had to achieve nine of the ten goals set by Toastmasters International in their DCP, and here’s a breakdown of everyone who helped us do it:

1. Two Competent Communicator awards: Swarajit and Paula
2. Two more Competent Communicator awards: Henry and Ahmed
3. One Advanced Communicator award: Hari
4. One more Advanced Communicator award: Not yet achieved
5. One leadership award: Glen
6. One more leadership award: Swarajit
7. Four new members: Sarah, Tracey, Aislinn and Nathaniel
8. Four more new members: Stella, Rebecca, Michelle, Grace, Svetlana, Egor, Faith-Rose, Emily and Jon
9. At least four club officers trained at each of two training events: Swarajit, Jo, Ahmed and Paula
10. On-time submission of club officer list and membership dues: Femi and Ahmed

Thanks to everyone involved, as you’ve helped cement our reputation as one of the best Toastmasters clubs in London, if not the world! 🙂

Meet your new leadership committee

After last month’s sneak peek, I’m very pleased to be able to announce our new executive committee which will take over leadership of the club from July. As is now semi-traditional for Bloomsbury Speakers, our current Vice President Education, Jo will take over as president of the club. Below is the full list of committee members with their main responsibilities, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways to get involved – all of our committee members will need assistance with their roles every now and again, so please get in touch if you’d like to help!

President – Jo Higham
	The president has overall responsibility for the successful running of the club by supporting committee members in their roles as well as opening and closing every meeting, writing these newsletters and helping the club meet its goals in the Distinguished Club Programme – and much more besides!
Vice President Education – Helen Hosein
	The VP Education is the second most senior position on the committee and is responsible for putting the programme together for each meeting along with keeping track of the educational progress of individual members and the club as a whole.
Vice President Membership & Mentoring – James Hallinan
	The VP Membership & Mentoring converts guests into happy members by keeping track of the membership waiting list, inviting an appropriate number of guests to join as new members each month, ensuring that new members have all the information they need when they first join and assigning them a mentor.
Vice President Public Relations – Svetlana Rakhimova
	The VP Public Relations is responsible for raising the club’s profile and attracting new guests e.g. via social media. They also oversee the team that produces our meeting reports.
Treasurer – Rebecca Griffith
	The treasurer holds responsibility for the club’s finances. Their duties include keeping track of the club’s income and expenditure to ensure financial stability, paying dues and other costs on behalf of members to Toastmasters International and making sure members pay their renewal fees to the club on time.
Sergeant at Arms – Michelle McNicholas
	The Sergeant at Arms is in charge of logistics. They are responsible for enlisting others to prepare the venue for each meeting and also clear up afterwards, welcoming guests as they arrive and running the guest introductions section of the programme, organising club socials and liaising with venue management on behalf of the club.
Secretary – Liz Walsh
	The club secretary is responsible for club administration, particularly with regards to committee meetings and decision making.
Immediate Past President – Swarajit Das
	The immediate past president stays on the committee for at least one more year in an advisory capacity, using their experience to support the new president and committee in running the club.

I wish Jo and her team all the best going forward and I’m sure they will achieve even more in the year ahead!

Two table topics workshops from two champions

If you’d like to learn how to give a winning impromptu speech every time, then who better to learn from than two of the best table topic speakers in the country?

David Jones, who has won the UK & Ireland table topic speech contest five times and Paul Carroll who took the crown in 2003 will be giving separate workshops in the next couple of weeks. Here are all the details:

DAVID JONES’S WORKSHOP
Date: Thursday, 12^th June
Time: 7pm
Venue: Phoenix Speakers, The Star Tavern, 6 Belgrave Mews West, SW1X 8HT
Cost: £5
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/table-topics-workshop-tickets-11508926509

PAUL CARROLL’S WORKSHOP
Date: Thursday, 19^th June
Time: 6:45pm-8:30pm
Venue: Citi Criers, Citigroup Centre, 33 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, E14 5LB
Cost: FREE but limited spaces
Booking: katywoolcott@hotmail.com

District 71 conference DVD and looking ahead to District 91

After our member Janet made it all the way to the last ever UK & Ireland final of the International Speech contest last month, we decided, for the sake of posterity, to purchase the official conference DVD for the club. This DVD is available to lend out to members and contains recordings of the District 71 International Speech and Evaluation contest finals that took place in Dublin last month.

If you’d like to borrow the DVD (and it’s well worth a watch!), just speak to one of the committee members at one of our regular meetings, but in the meantime you can whet your appetite by enjoying Janet’s semi-final performance of her speech “The 5 Stages of Grief” on YouTube:

Meanwhile, preparations are well underway for the first ever District 91 (Southern England and Southern Wales) conference in Brighton. The conference will, amongst other things, play host to the Humorous Speech and Table Topics contest finals – hopefully with representation from Bloomsbury Speakers again – and the ‘early bird’ discounts for booking sooner rather than later end this month. Details are below.

Dates: 31^st October-2^nd November 2014
Venue: Thistle Hotel, Brighton
Cost: See website
Website: http://www.autumn-conference.org/brighton2014/

Tip of the Month: Try out the Toastmaster role

As a member, the meeting role I find the most enjoyable and simultaneously the most challenging to perform is that of the Toastmaster. It can appear to be quite a daunting task at first, and many members shy away from the role, but it’s definitely the most rewarding and valuable experience in our regular meetings. Here are a few of the reasons why:

• It maximises your stage time. We all know the importance of taking as many opportunities to speak as possible and, as you’re required to address the audience before and after every single speaker on the programme, no one gets more stage time in a regular meeting than the Toastmaster.
• It’s both prepared and impromptu. As we like to have themes in our meetings, the role of Toastmaster requires almost as much preparation as a prepared speech. You need to introduce your theme (and role) at the start, as well as familiarise yourself with the speakers’ responses – perhaps adding your own take on them – but you’ll also have to think on your feet when something unexpected happens, whether that’s a change to the programme or an interruption at the venue.
• It combines skills from the other roles such as time management and listening. The Toastmaster is responsible for keeping the meeting running to time and therefore needs to make on-the-spot decisions about the length of the break and table topics session. Listening carefully to each speaker means that they can also make smooth transitions between each segment by referring back to what the audience just heard.

As you can see, the benefits (and challenges) are plentiful and, speaking personally, the ‘buzz’ I get from performing the Toastmaster role is unlike any other and needs to be experienced first-hand – so if you’ve performed all of the other functionary roles at least once, why not try out the Toastmaster role at the next opportunity? You won’t regret it!

That’s all from me – it’s been a pleasure serving you and I look forward to seeing the club continue to go from strength to strength. See you at a meeting soon!

Swarajit Das
Outgoing President
Bloomsbury Speakers

Key facts – just the stuff you really need to know

• Our regular meetings in June are on the 9^th and 23^rd – check ClubPlan for speaking slots.
• Bloomsbury Speakers has again achieved the title of President’s Distinguished Club, the first club in Division L to do so this year.
• Welcome to our two newest members, Peter and Emma, who will be giving their icebreaker speeches this month. Contact membership@bloomsburyspeakers.org.uk if you’re interested in becoming a member.
• A new committee will take over running the club from July, led by Jo (President) with Helen (VP Education), James (VP Membership & Mentoring), Svetlana (VP Public Relations), Rebecca (Treasurer), Michelle (Sergeant at Arms) and Liz (Secretary).
• Table Topics champion, David Jones will be running a workshop for Phoenix Speakers on Thursday, 12^th June. Tickets are £5 from Eventbrite.
• Former table topics champion, Paul Carroll will be running a workshop for Citi Criers on Thursday, 19^th June. Contact katywoolcott@hotmail.com to book.
• The club has a copy of the last District 71 conference DVD which is available for members to borrow on request.