Author: London Victorians

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Past meetings Toastmasters International

Toastmasters Meeting – 6th September

On Tuesday 6th September guests and members were treated to a meeting full of fun, energy and enthusiasm as former President Florian Bay took to the stage as Toastmaster of the Meeting.

Eleanor G was grammarian with the word of the day being “quaint”, which with this being London Victorians, this meeting was never going to be! Gary stood in at the last minute as timekeeper, telling us that if you want to be a valuer of life then you should be a valuer of time. Eleanor H completed the functionaries as harkmaster, ensuring everyone listened intently, with the promise of chocolate rewards if we did.

Competent Communicator Speeches

Bruna doing Competent Communicator Speech 2 - Organise Your SpeechMajdouline El Aasemi gave the first speech with her icebreaker titled “Dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum” which translates to “I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am”. Majdouline’s speech gave us insight into how she views the world by sharing some short stories of her life. An impassioned speech, definitely achieving the objectives and displaying a vast array of speaking skills far in advance of an icebreaker.

The second speaker was Bruna who was doing her second speech from the competent communicators manual. Immediately grabbing the audience’s attention with a theatrical opening, Bruna used rhetorical questions throughout to encourage us to think about how we make decisions in life. The speech was titled “Oh, noooo, it’s going to be a disaster” but Bruna’s confidence and engaging style made sure it was never going to be.

The third speaker of the meeting was Fahad who was doing an advanced speech from the Speaking to Inform manual. Fahad had the whole audience involved, he had us all on our feet, eyes closed, breathing purposefully, demonstrating how we can find calm in stressful situations. He called this finding your “Ha-Ra”, which was also the title of his speech. With everyone feeling so calm and refreshed after his interactive demonstration, it’s not surprising Fahad won the best speaker award for the meeting.

Table Topics

Terry doing Table Topics

The second half of the meeting Sophia took to the stage as Table Topic Master. Instead of asking a question of the speakers, Sophia asked them each to pick a surprise item from a bag and to sell it to the audience. This led to some hilarious instances including Pranav almost convincing us that a paint brush was in fact a magical brush that makes you love life and Terry doing an amazing improvised sketch of a mum and daughter extolling the virtues of the platinum range of Fairy Liquid.

The competition was tough as the standards were high but it was Florian who won the best table topic speaker award with his promotion of a can of hairspray that would, apparently, prevent your hair from making you look like a shrew!

Join us at our next meeting on 13th September when London Victorians will be hosting their annual Humorous Speaking and Table Topics contests.

View all the meeting photos in our gallery or see us on Facebook.

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Announcements Toastmasters International

Join one of London’s only Weekly Meeting Toastmaster Clubs!

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London Victorians has been meeting weekly for all of 2016 and our members benefit from:

  • 50 Meetings a Year to listen, learn and take part
  • 200 Speech Slots to progress speech giving skills
  • 270 Table Topic slots to develop impromptu speaking
  • Dedicated experienced mentor for every member
  • Leadership opportunities within the club committee

We have proof that we are a great club:

  • President Distinguished Club (the highest club accolade) in 2015-16
  • Hosted a workshop with the 2015 World Champion of Public Speaking
  • Home Club of the Division Director
  • Distinguished Toastmaster (the higher personal accolade) member
  • Over 45 happy & successful members
  • Smedley & Beat the Clock Awards for club growth
  • And much more

ALL THESE OPPORTUNITIES TO DEVELOP YOUR PUBLIC SPEAKING AND LEADERSHIP SKILLS FOR JUST £15 A MONTH

Please join us as a guest at our next meeting or get in touch for more information

Categories
Past meetings Toastmasters International

Speaking in the Summer – 30th August

On Tuesday 30th August, St James the Less Church buzzed with anticipation as toastmasters and guests took their seats. Eleanor Gelston filled in for Terry as President and kicked off the meeting by reminiscing about her own Toastmasters journey and how she had faced her fear of speaking in public. She ended on a powerful notes “all you have to do is do it” before handing over to the Toastmasters of the evening, Prateek.

Toastmasters give rapturous applause
Enthusiastic club members

Prateek immediately filled the room with energy and enthusiasm. He encouraged both sides of the room to cheer and clap as loudly as possible as he first introduced the functionaries and then the speakers.

Christophe gave the first speech of the night. Speaking about the US Presidential Elections and why his support goes to Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. He used powerful language to describe why Clinton would drive the USA to the ground as opposed to Trump who will make the country great again. He analysed the candidates’ solutions to three current issues: international trade, Russia and the terrorist organisation ISIS. He concluded that Trump has brought these issues to the forefront and is committed to solving them, while Clinton has no real solutions.

The second speaker was Eleanor Bucher who took us on a journey through Iceland. She guided the audience through the country by their senses, describing the sensation of standing on tectonic plates, the sound of horses’ hooves, the smell of “lip-curling” sulphur, the taste of salty fish and finally the magnificent sight of the honeycomb harbour building in Reykjavik.

Eleanor Handslip spoke next about “another Eleanor” (Eleanors took centre stage at this meeting!) and told us about the difficult life of Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the USA. She described Eleanor Roosevelt’s sad childhood as an orphan and her marriage to Franklin D.Roosevelt which was complicated by his interfering mother and his affair with his secretary. She then related how Eleanor Roosevelt overcame these challenges and became a role model for ambitious women as well as an advocate for human rights.

The final speech was by Thomas who shared a powerful and persuasive message: everyone must share in globalisation and wealth. He told us that he put money behind Brexit and described the vote to leave the EU as a “vote against globalisation”. He then outlined the history behind globalisation and international trade, taking us back to the Industrial Revolution. He highlighted the link between globalisation and xenophobia and the rise of nationalism.

Tom doing his competant communicator speech 9 - persuade with power
Toastmaster of the meeting Thomas

In the second half of the meeting we listened to some entertaining and insightful table topics. Isabelle who chose “looking back and moving forward” as the theme asked speakers to talk about memories and future plans. Questions ranged from “would you take part in a mission to Mars” to “if you could invite a historical figure to dinner, who would you choose?”

It was a great meeting which showcased the talent of London Victorians – come along to the next meeting on Tuesday 6th September at 6.45pm!

Categories
Past meetings Toastmasters International

Develop Speaking Skills

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Prateek as Toastmaster, developing his leadership skills

At 6:30 every Tuesday we meet in St. James the Less Church conveniently located between Victoria and Pimlico to develop leadership and develop speaking skills. On Tuesday 16th August Prateek was Toastmaster of the evening running an energetic night. He had a team to assist him, Bruna was timekeeper and Nuala was sergeant at arms. Isabelle was grammarian and Christophe was harkmaster.

There were four prepared speeches on the night, first on stage was Pranav delivering his Icebreaker. He informed the audience of his challenging journey which resulted in outstanding achievements while working in the robotics industry.

Pranav delivering his icebreaker speech
Pranav delivering his icebreaker speech

Second on stage was John, delivering speech 4 from the Competent Communication manual ‘How to Say it’. He compared facing adversity to teabags; it’s only when you put teabags in hot water you find out how strong they are. Similarly, when people face adversity it can bring out their best.

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Robert delivering his speech

Third on stage was Sophia delivering speech 5 from the Competent Communication manual ‘Your Body Speaks’. Inspired by a book ‘Hinds Feet on High Places’, Sophia delivered a message about developing courage to overcome fear and humiliation.

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Members and guests conversing at the meeting break

Fourth on stage was Robert who spoke about advances in tech, how the speed of technological change has made life easier for the end consumer. Providing examples such as apps such XE currency which offers convenience and the best foreign exchange rates possible.

The four speeches were evaluated by Stephen, Fahad, Romain and Florian respectively. Evaluations happen throughout a Toastmaster meeting so speakers learn where their strengths lie, and are also made aware of areas they can improve. 

Majdouline then hosted the table topics session to develop speaking skills, with the theme of idioms, speakers were challenged to speak for 1-2 minutes on idioms such as ‘out of the blue’ and ‘as keen as mustard’. An inventive session with interesting answers that were then evaluated by Tatiana.

Guests are always welcome to join us so come along to our next meeting on the 23rd August!

Categories
Past meetings Toastmasters International

Public Speaking and Leadership Skills – 9th August 

Tuesday 9th August and Eleanor G was Toastmaster, introducing the theme of festivals for the meeting. She had a team to assist her, Pranav was Timekeeper, John was Sergeant At Arms and Christophe was Grammarian introducing Jovial as word of the day. Every week we have meetings to support our members in building their public speaking and leadership skills.

Eleanor as Toastmaster
Eleanor’s leadership task of being Toastmaster

Eleanor B was harkmaster, informing the audience of the importance of listening by stating “Hearing is uncontrollable whereas listening is a skill”, citing 5 types of listening; pseudo, appreciative, empathetic, comprehensive and critical listening.

We had three speeches on the night, first on stage was Miller delivering her icebreaker which is the first speech in the competent communication manual. Miller informed the audience about challenges she has overcome, how in life sometimes things work out differently than planned. Her speech ended with the message, that only by repeatedly asking ‘Who am I?’ do we truly start to know ourselves.

Miller who delivered her Icebreaker
Miller who delivered her Icebreaker

Second on stage was Cleo, delivering the second speech from the competent communication manual “Organise Your Speech”. Cleo informed the audience of the traditional Brazillian and Portuguese food, Feijoada. Likening the dish to a magic potion, Cleo informed the audience of the history, ingredients and how the Feijoada dish came to life in other parts of the World.

Lastly was Yyvonne delivering speech 3 from the Competent Communication manual “Get to the point”. Her speech was about the Olympics including some interesting statistics such as how there are 13,000 athletes competing in Rio, in 33 sports and 400 different events. Yyvonne also informed the audience of when her dog competed in doglympics in Taiwan!

Fahad then hosted the table topics inviting impromptu speaking volunteers to the stage to deliver a 1-2 minute speech. Speeches were then evaluated by Isabelle, who provided each speaker commendations on what they did well and also included tips on how to make their impromptu speech better. Join us next week to see how we help our members improve their public speaking and leadership skills.