Introductions

The meeting began with the outgoing club president Femi feeling a bit emotional because it was his last meeting as President of Bloomsbury Speakers.  He reminded us of Toastmasters’ purpose: to inspire and help women and men gain confidence in public speaking.

“When you plant a seed in the ground, and give it love and attention” said Femi, “it will grow and flourish.  So it is with your speaking skills”.  Joining Toastmasters is much like planting a seed in the ground and letting it grow into a powerful skill.

Femi handed over to the evening’s Toastmaster Jo, who declared the theme of the evening to be ‘summer’.  She was very confident that summer was soon to fall upon English soil and wanted to know everyone’s summer plans.  Jo revealed her own plans to finally exchange on her flat and begin decorating.  Jo clearly explained her role for the evening was to be a facilitator, rather like the ball-girls in the ongoing Wimbledon tennis matches.

Helen was the Timekeeper for the evening.  She gracefully explained the importance of time as she likened a perfect speech to the perfect summer season: not too short or too long.

Mike was the Grammarian for the meeting and he chose the Word of the Day “succinct” for the speakers to attempt to incorporate into their speeches.

Prepared Speeches

Ed was the first prepared speech for the evening with his No. 3 speech entitled “Time”.  He began by challenging us with a riddle: “What can we lose that we can never get back?” The answer, of course, Time.  He explained that we should always take a moment before responding to a request, in order to give ourselves the space to think about our reaction.   He reminded us that by responding too quickly, we lose our freedom, which can be seen as the time between a stimulus and a response.

Paula gave her No. 7 speech called “The Cool Geeks”, referring to those with Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome.  Paula told us that she often works with children and their parents who have been diagnosed with this condition.  She explained the difference between the 2 conditions and went back in history to explain how two Austrian psychiatrists shed light on this ever increasing diagnosis.  The 3 common behaviours are: communication difficulties, challenges with interaction and repetitive/obsessive behaviours.

In a speech called “Brave”, Janet gave her No. 8 speech.  Janet spoke about the meaning of Brave in the 21st century and how it lacks a relevant definition in modern life.  She looked to Mel Gibson, the dictionary, and Hollywood cinemas for a meaningful explanation of the term in modern society, but to no avail.  Instead Janet was inspired by the people in her life, her friends, her family and her fellow Toastmasters, who all give the perfect explanation of the word Brave.

Hari told a story for his advanced speech: “Swordplay and Success” that took place in 17th century Japan.  The story featured a boy who wanted to learn the art of sword fighting.  The story was about breaking down your preconceived notions and expectations before becoming ready to absorb the correct information.  The story’s moral conveyed how important it is to begin our journey at the bottom and raise through the ranks of knowledge properly.

After the prepared speeches, Nazia gave a brief summary of a new program that Toastmasters has initiated, called the Youth Leadership program.  The program is designed to help children to improve their public speaking while helping Toastmasters practice their skills.

Evaluations

Each speaker was given an evaluation by a fellow club member.

Rajeev gave a thorough evaluation of Ed’s speech on Time.  He began by commending Ed on his ability to deliver the speech without notes.  He also loved the quotes that Ed used to begin his talk.  Rajeev’s one recommendation for Ed was to better ‘sign-post’ the speech, which would have helped the audience follow his thought process more easily.  Regardless Rajeev thought that the speech was very well delivered.

Paula’s speech was evaluated by James.  James loved Paula’s interaction with the audience and commended her on a well-researched topic, filled with interesting statistics.  His recommendations were to keep the speech to time so that we could have discovered more about the speech’s title: The Cool Geeks, and its meaning. Other than that, it was effective and authoritative.

Bronia evaluated Janet’s speech “Brave”.  She felt that by using simple language and many examples, Janet was able to keep the audience interested throughout the speech.  Bronia recommended that Janet make better use of the visual props throughout the room because many people around the room could not see the screen that was displaying Janet’s presentation.  Overall, Bronia felt that the speech was heart-warming, engaging and entertaining.

Finally Hari’s speech was evaluated by Renars.  Renars let us know that Hari is generally one of his favourite speakers and he very much enjoyed listening to his story as well as Hari’s animated delivery.  Renars recommendation was for Hari to be clearer in his message to the audience.  The point of the story was difficult for many to relate to their everyday life.  If a bit more clarity was added, then Renars felt it would have been spectacular.

Table Topics

Table Topics were led by Glen who cleverly played on the theme of “summer weather”.  His questions were challenging and innovative giving each of the speakers a few minutes to develop their one-the-spot speaking skills and included:

• Whether it’s acceptable for men to wear shorts to the office in summer
• Whether your job is easier or harder during the summer
• Whether 6 weeks is too much time for school children to have off over the summer
• Whether Boris Johnson should introduce any initiatives to make life easier for Londoners during the summer

Henry effortlessly gave an evaluation of all the Table Topics participants.  He summed up each person’s commendable attributes and followed by a helpful recommendation.  Henry found an admirable credit in each speaker that could inspire them to be willing to take another chance with Table Topics.

Reports

Helen and Mike helped Jo close the evening by reporting on the accuracy on time and innovation with words respectively.  Mike was thrilled with the countless number of times the word ‘succinct’ was used.

Closing and Awards

The evening came to an end when Swarajit, the incoming president, gave Femi, the outgoing president, a gift from all the Toastmasters committee who wanted to say thank you for Femi’s efforts throughout this past year.  Femi will be much missed as our Club President!

Femi announced the awards as voted by the audience:

• Best Table Topic went to: Dan, a guest
• Best Evaluator award was given to Henry
• Best Speech went to Janet

Next Meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday 8^th July 2013 upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU.

Doors open at 6.30pm for a prompt 6.45pm start.

Introduction

The Club President Femi opened the meeting by testing our knowledge of Toastmasters – both the organisation generally and Bloomsbury Speakers. “You’re going to see a range of speakers” he said: “beginners to advanced. But it’s not like X factor – you won’t get kicked out if you don’t do well!”

The Toastmaster for the evening was Janet who explained that it was her responsibility to make sure that the meeting “ran smoothly with easy transitions and with everyone understanding who’s speaking and when”. She introduced the theme of “addictions” explaining that it was now 42 days since she had last smoked.

She then introduced the functionaries who would be supporting her:

• Joowon – the Timekeeper – explained her role in the meeting and told the speakers “not to panic on the red light” as they still had 30 seconds to use. She even timed herself on stage to ensure no overruns on her part!
• Jo – the Grammarian – said that she would be listening to all language and reporting back on interesting usage. She told us that English has a huge vocabulary but the average speaker only uses 10% of their own. She then introduced the “Word NOT of the Day” – great – and encouraged everyone to use more creative alternatives instead.

Prepared Speeches

The first speaker was Marie with her Ice Breaker speech “It’s My Life” where she used three simple questions she is often asked to structure her speech:

• Where are you from?
• Why did you join Toastmasters?
• What do you do?

She told the story of her decision to move from the Czech Republic to London in her teens, how she had joined Toastmasters to improve her skills and confidence as a speaker and the wide variety of jobs she had tried in her life so far – from aerobics instructor to events manager.

Saija was our next speaker with a No. 2 speech entitled “Green Shoots in the City”. She asked everyone about their stress levels – “Is you boss breathing down your neck?” – and introduced her speech topic: how to deal with stress and avoid burnout. She strongly recommended gardening as a solution and told the story of her mother regaining mobility in a damaged hand through her determination to rid the vegetable patch of weeds.

Adam was our third speaker with his No. 10 speech entitled “FAIL” which we learned stood for Flair – “failing with class”, Action – “never giving up”, Individual – “being yourself” and Learning – “learning from your experiences”. He told us that the difference between achievers and non-achievers in life is their attitude to failure and told the story of Abraham Lincoln who’d encountered many failures and few successes by the age of 40.

Our final prepared speaker Renars gave an inspirational advanced speech “What Makes You Itch?” which told of his decision as a young man to leave his country and find something he loved doing or “die trying”. He told a number of stories including one of reading out loud to his landlady (whether she wanted to listen or not!) in order to improve his English.

Evaluations

Glen evaluated Marie’s Ice Breaker speech. He commended her confident, relaxed stance, good hand gestures and clear structure. He recommended a little more vocal variety and to announce her three question structure upfront.

Barney evaluated Saija’s No. 2 speech. He commended her opening questions and use of examples but recommended that next time she gave more detail on fewer points – he felt she had tried to cover too much ground in one speech.

Kate evaluated Adam’s speech and said she thought he had “upped his game and blossomed for his 10^th speech”. She felt that while his pace had improved he was still speaking a little too fast in places.

Ahmed evaluated Renars’ advanced speech. He liked Renars’ use of anecdotes and felt his speech was “focussed, passionate and well-rounded”. He recommended reducing the speed and also trying to speak without the support of notes.

Table Topics

Joe was Table Topicsmaster for the evening and continued the Toastmaster’s theme with a series of questions for volunteer impromptu speakers inspired by “addiction”.

His questions included:

• What’s “so good, it’s bad?”
• Should we be able to live without addictions?
• What’s a good addiction – one you would encourage?
• Is betting good or bad for the country?
• Cannabis is enjoyed in Holland – should it be allowed in London?
• Are Londoners addicted to stress?

Bronia was the Table Topics evaluator and gave very thorough feedback to all participants despite very little time to prepare (the curse of the topics evaluator!)

Awards

Closing the meeting our outgoing president (he has just one more meeting in that role!) Femi gave out the awards based on the votes from the audience:

• Best topics speaker went to John for his answer to “What’s so good it’s bad?”
• Best evaluator was shared by Kate and Glen
• Best speaker went to Adam for his No. 10 speech

Femi also acknowledged key events in two Toastmaster’s ‘careers’ by giving out commemorative ribbons: one to Marie for completing her Ice Breaker and another to Adam for completing his 10th speech (and becoming a Competent Communicator!)

Next Meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday 24^th June 2013 upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU.

Doors open at 6.30pm for a prompt 6.45pm start.

Introductions

Our president, Femi, got us off to a great start by reminding us that Toastmasters is an opportunity to practise public speaking with friends. You should put yourself on the stage as often as you can, and be sure to practise with insight, using the wealth of resources available.

The Toastmaster for the evening was Glen, our immediate past president, and webmaster of our award-winning website. Glen reflected on the nostalgia of meeting at the Real Man Pizza Company, which was once the club’s temporary home, and gave a few tips on the idiosyncrasies of the space. He likened the role of Toastmaster to that of an engineer aboard a ship, making sure that things run smoothly.

In light of the last-minute change of venue, Glen’s theme for the meeting was, “If I wanted to change your mind at the last minute, how would I do it?”

• Ed – the Timekeeper – explained the importance of expressing an idea within a specific amount of time, along with the significance of the numbers on the agenda and the functioning of the lights in timing each speech.
• Swarajit – the Grammarian – set the word of the day, the purpose of which is to introduce a word to people’s vocabulary that they may not use regularly. Swarajit’s role was also to comment on use of language in general. In particular, he was looking for interesting uses of collective nouns, and he took the opportunity to introduce a new one, “A wunch of bankers.” The word of the day was:

TENUOUS – adjective

1. Thin or slender in form, as a thread.
2. Lacking a sound basis, as reasoning; unsubstantiated; weak: a tenuous argument.
3. Thin in consistency; rare or rarefied.
4. Of slight importance or significance; unsubstantial: He holds a rather tenuous position in history.
5. Lacking in clarity; vague: He gave a rather tenuous account of his past life.

Prepared Speeches

Peter kicked off the prepared speeches with an outstanding icebreaker. He began by telling us how storytelling is fundamental to him and how it has impacted his personal life, thus setting the stage for his speech. He described his father as boring, dull and unassuming, though he was not always that way, as Peter soon illustrated in the story of his father’s adventures. Peter’s father and uncle travelled extensively, encountered tigers, escaped slavery, and met the gentle, pious people of Tibet. Eventually Peter’s uncle returned home, while his father enlisted in the army. The horrors of war led him to become the person he is today.

In her speech, entitled, “Natural Born Speaker,” Alex echoed and elaborated on some of the ideas Femi presented in his introduction. Speaking, according to Alex, can be learnt with practice just like any other skill. She spoke about the psychology behind the fear of speaking and the fact that in overcoming that fear, practice makes perfect. No one is born an eloquent speaker, she concluded, but we are all born with the potential to be an eloquent speaker.

Rajeev gave us some insight into wine tasting and selection in his speech, entitled, “Second-cheapest Wine.” Like almost 25% of people, Rajeev would always default to the second- or third-cheapest wine in restaurants until he recently learned more about wine. He then shared some of his knowledge on the different types of wine, some tips on tasting wine, and what we can all do to learn more, all in the hope that we would not make the same mistake, and in future, opt for the house wine instead.

In his advanced speech, Femi treated us to the story of the inception of Bloomsbury Speakers – a story of perseverance and passion. He told us how Bloomsbury Speakers was born out of Holborn Speakers in 2009 as the brainchild of the then president of Holborn Speakers. He described in detail the dedication and sacrifices involved, but was interrupted by the gavel. Part II of the story was promised in due time!

Evaluations

Hari described Peter’s icebreaker as having obliterated the objectives in the first ten seconds. He seemed already comfortable speaking in front of an audience, and in particular telling this story, which was clearly quite familiar. Hari recommended that Peter not use notes, though his use of them on this occasion appeared not to detract from the speech. Finally, he commended Peter’s soothing voice and fantastic story, though it did not end on such a joyous tone.

Damien found Alex’s speech engaging as her choice of topic resonated with us all and she was willing to open up early in the speech and make it quite personal. He broke his feedback down into the areas of voice, body language and content, commending Alex’s soft but balanced voice, her open stance and eye contact, as well as the structure and uplifting nature of her speech. He suggested a few more hand gestures and closing the speech by reminding us what she had told us. All in all, Damien found that Alex had made us feel that the status of an ideal speaker was attainable in the future.

Rufina commended Rajeev’s opening, stating that one of the attributes of a great speaker is the ability to get the audience involved, as Rajeev did. His structure, according to her, was great, as it utilised the power of three. His use of a glass of wine as a prop added a lot to his speech, though perhaps he could have showed a few different types of wine to illustrate the differences. Rufina also recommended that he lose his notes as he didn’t use them much. He came across to her as very confident and made her keen to try his wine tasting techniques the next time she goes out.

Paula found Femi’s speech a pleasure. His unique perspective on Bloomsbury Speakers enabled him to give a speech that no one else could have given, in a way that was decorative and detailed. If anything, Paula found Femi’s speech too detailed and was lost at times due to a lack of structure. She worried that as an experienced speaker, Femi may have tried to wing it a bit. She reminded us that structure is always needed, and that it is important to keep it simple.

Table Topics

Bronia, our Table Topics Master of the evening, began by describing her experience as a social entrepreneur. At the beginning, she felt as though she was at the bottom of Mount Everest, but a couple of years later, things began to move forward. Each topic was related to a quote she had chosen.

• “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill

Nazia answered the question of how she picks herself up when she falls by first describing some of the setbacks she’s had in her life. She then said that integrating mind and body through activities like running and yoga was very valuable for her in dealing with them.

• “Success is contagious: you can catch it by surrounding yourself with positive people.”

Mike shared what he had learned from the succesful people surrounding him, some of whom can be intimidating at first. He found, however, that they often fail a number of times before becoming successful – something that can be both inspiring and contagious.

• “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me… Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.” – Steve Jobs

Marta, coming from a not-for-profit background, found the quote extremely relevant to her. She spoke about the ability of the people around her who inspire her to continue no matter what the challenges are. She pointed out how all of us at Toastmasters are united by the aim to become better every day.

• “A goal is a dream with a deadline.” – Napoleon Hill

Marie agreed wholeheartedly with the quote and the importance of having goals and planning to get to them. Attaining one’s goals makes what once seemed unattainable become reality. It is important then to keep going and seek inspiration every day.

• “A good plan… executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” – General George Patton

Asked if perfectionism is good or bad, Stella described it as appalling. She went on to describe the crippling level of detail in which she would research an item as simple as a bar of soap before making a purchase. Her conclusion: it is far better to do things in a way that is acceptable.

Before beginning his evaluations, Joe shared how much he loves table topics, likening it to live theatre. He was impressed by the confidence conveyed by several of the speakers, their use of body language and ability to draw laughs from the audience, though he suggested that a couple of the speakers could have made their stories more personal.

Reports

Swarajit was fairly satisfied with the use of the word of the day, citing examples from Glen, Rajeev and the guest introductions. There were not many collective nouns, though Alex did refer to groups of people, which Swarajit suggested could instead be described as tribes. He pointed out many good uses of language, including several vivid metaphors that appeared throughout the evening. He counted very few ums but found that the phrase, “you know,” had crept in.

Our General Evaluator, Karthik, came to us from Canary Wharf Communicators. He made several keen observations about each evaluator, as well as our President and Toastmaster for the evening. He also made several suggestions including the use of pauses to avoid “spark plug” phrases, displaying the manuals, and circulating the speaking slots for the next few weeks. Overall, he thought we were among the top five of the twelve clubs he’s visited over the last six weeks.

Awards

President Femi made a few club announcements before presenting the awards:

• Best Evaluator went to Paula.
• Best Table Topic went to Nazia.
• Best Speaker went to Peter for his Icebreaker.
• The President’s Award went to Marie and Rufina, who helped set up the room when Femi was late.

Next Meeting

Our next regular meeting will be held on Monday, 17 June upstairs at The Clerk & Well pub, 156 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DU.

Doors open at 6.30pm for a prompt 6.45pm start.

Report written by Helen.

Introductions

The meeting began with the Club President Femi sharing words of inspiration with his fellow Toastmasters and guests.  Femi told us about a recent presentation that he gave at work which went very smoothly.  After the presentation, one of his colleagues complemented his presentation style and told him that he was a natural – but Femi knew that there is no such thing as a natural public speaker.  Anyone with the right motivation and the necessary dedication has the power to speak and influence an audience.  It doesn’t take ‘charisma’ says Femi, it takes commitment.

Femi handed over to the evening’s Toastmaster Henry, who explained why he had chosen the theme of “Humour” for the meeting.  He said he believes that humour is the glue that holds us together in times of strife. It has the ability to lift a frown and to keep people looking at the lighter side of life.  In fact, he joked that the only reason that his partner has stayed in their relationship, is because she finds him very droll.

The Timekeeper Rufina explained the duties of her role and how the meeting would be run with reference to time allowances to ensure that the meeting did not overrun.

Visiting Grammarian Stella shared the word of the day ‘embroider’.  She explained its dual meaning – to decorate with sewing or to embellish a point – and revealed why she chose the word.  She encouraged all speakers to use colourful language and also to be careful how many “Ahs” and “Ums” crept into their speaking.

Prepared Speeches

Helen presented her Icebreaker speech entitled ‘The Essence of an Icebreaker’.  It was filled with Helen’s personal deliberations as to what to include in her speech.  She pondered sharing that she is a dancer and loves all forms of dance, or possibly divulging that she is a software expert that has been writing code since the age of 6.  By the end Helen had covered all these topics and began the speech at the very end with an introduction of herself!

Ben delivered his No. 2 speech entitled “Roller Coasters”.  He delved into the topic with a brief history of roller coasters and explained their evolution.  He then gave the audience 3 reasons why he loved to ride roller coasters, each one including a lesson which the audience could take away.  His points were that roller coasters can put your real-life issues into perspective, enhance your creativity and give you a new perspective on life.

Samuel delivered his 3rd speech at Toastmasters entitled “Dreams”. He educated the audience about how best to control their dreams in order to avoid having disturbing nightmares.  He reminded us to relax before bedtime, taught us to roll our eyes open slowly to wake up from a bad dream, and told us about a particular herb that can be found in his birthplace of Malawi which promotes sleep.  He closed his speech by asking the audience to shut their eyes and dream that he had just delivered an excellent speech!

Finally we had an advanced speech given by Mike entitled ‘The Changing Energy Market’.  The objective of the speech project was to role-play that he was chairing a meeting at work and needed to persuade the audience, his colleagues, to support his efforts to change the government’s way of thinking.  He explained why the energy market should not be simplified and then held a question and answer session at the end of the speech.

Evaluations

Each speaker was given an evaluation by a fellow club member.

Jo gave a thorough evaluation of Helen’s ice breaker speech.  She began by ‘apologising’ to the audience for Helen’s speech being well above the normal standard and told the room not to let her speech set a new bar for speech quality.  She recommended that perhaps Helen could have moved around the stage more but aside from that minor detail, felt she had given a cracking talk to begin her Toastmaster’s career.

Janet evaluated Ben’s No. 2 speech.  She commended Ben on his well-organised structure and shared how impressed she was by the profound lessons that came out of each of his rational points on roller coaster riding. She suggested that he varied his voice more often and used more of the space around him.  In general Janet felt that the speech was passionate and met all of his objectives.

Ahmed was very impressed with Samuel’s speech on dreams.  He felt that the speech was creative and well thought through.  Ahmed told Samuel that he spoke confidently and looked very relaxed on stage but he felt that a bit more structure may have helped the audience follow with more ease.

Finally Mike’s speech was evaluated by Joe who felt that Mike’s speech was full of confidence and distinction.  He also felt that Mike was engaging and enjoyed the interaction with the audience.  He recommended that Mike structure his speech differently in order to bring more clarity to the audience.  He commended Mike on his Q&A session and thanked him for a unique speech.

Table Topics – Impromptu Speaking

The Table Topics were led by Renars who adopted Henry’s theme for the evening and had devised topics that were about Humour.  Questions to participants – who were given only a few seconds to consider their answers – included:

• What is the funniest thing that has happened to you recently?
• Who is the funniest person in the world in your opinion?
• What’s the funniest date you have ever been on?
• Tell us a joke or funny story.
• What’s the worst situation to make a joke?

Glen effortlessly gave an evaluation of all the table topic participants.  He summed up each person’s commendable attributes and followed by a helpful recommendation.  Throughout his evaluation he showed commitment and charisma.

Rufina and Stella helped Henry close the evening by giving their reports on time and language respectively.  Stella was pleased with some of the language used by participants but felt that more effort could have been made on using the Word of the Day.

General Evaluator Alexis summed up the evening by giving an evaluation of all those who had not yet been evaluated.  Overall she felt that the club did a fantastic job and gave a charming and insightful synopsis of the various parts of the evening.

Awards

Closing the meeting Femi handed out the awards based on votes from the audience:

• Best Table Topics was a tie between: Hugh and Saija
• Best Evaluator award was given to Glen for his Table Topics evaluation
• Best speech was Helen for her Ice Breaker

Next meeting

The next regular meeting on Monday, June 10^th downstairs at The Real Man Pizza Company, 91-95 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5BX. Please note the change of venue!

Doors open at 6.30pm for a prompt 6.45pm start.

Meeting report written by Janet.