Categories
Contest Past meetings

Toastmasters Speech Contests A Great Success

It’s contest season in the Toastmasters’ calendar and last week London Victorians held their Humorous Speech and Table Table contests. As always, club contests are a great way to show off some of a club’s more proficient speakers while giving others their first taste of competitive speaking.

The contests kicked off with the Humorous Speech contest with Contest Chair, Andrew, confirming with the Chief Judge that all judges had been briefed. He then introduced the first speaker. Charlotte began by playing on the common social insecurity of how her job title never seemed to be as impressive as her friend’s. She told of the time, as a wedding witness, she was called up among a surgeon and consultant as “admin” and from there on decided it was better to lie about her job. With great storytelling skills, she recalled convincing her nephew she was actually a spy and the consequences that come with telling white lies, especially with children involved.

Next up was Alex who vexed over how the popular dating app Tinder had taken the challenge out of dating. He reminisced about the days when meeting a girl meant calling the family’s home phone and convincing a protective father that they should be allowed to speak! He then described the hilarious responses he received when setting up parody accounts for famous people including Kim Jong Un who, apparently, was looking for a new girlfriend after the strange disappearance of his wife.

Jasmine teaching us how to pretend to work

Nick followed with what was to be a dress rehearsal for his upcoming best man’s speech. I’m sure there are a few toastmasters who appreciated this speech as the fear of a pending best man’s speech is an often cited reason for members first joining Toastmasters. If you’re going to entertain both the bride and grooms family and friends then you’ll want to make it funny. Nick did not disappoint with just the right balance of embarrassing anecdotes and supporting words.

Thomas’ speech reminded us about young love and the joys of dating. In his words, he was “young, handsome and looking for love”. Playing on the insecurities we all know about at that stage of life, he told the story of his dream date that turned to disaster and put him firmly in the “friend zone”.

If you want to be sure of a few laughs then comparing human behaviour to animals is never going to disappoint. Mohammed talked about his observation of animals and thought what we could learn from them. Giving himself many opportunities for facial expressions and full use of the stage, Mohammed suggested we replace property laws and allow people to mark their territory like cats and described how much less inconvenienced we would be if we learned to poo while walking, just like horses. I think you get the gist!

The final speaker in the London Victorians Humorous Speech Contest was Jasmine who shared what I’m sure is a familiar journey of youth and optimism when starting your first proper job to the harsh realities of the modern workplace. Jasmine shared her secret to being effective at work – “pretend to work” – and gave some humorous examples of techniques she had witnessed including one colleague who used a picture of a spreadsheet as her desktop wallpaper. Genius.

The second half of this Toastmasters meeting was the Table Topic Contest. Negin took over as Contest Chair and posed the same question to each contestant as they entered the room one at a time:

“If you could live in any time in history when would it be and why?”

Answers ranged from going back to Babylon, giving way to discussion about the everlasting rules to how we manage our money; the free love hippy movement of the sixties; the present day, after all, with the technology revolution, what could be a more exciting time to live?

Paul giving his winning table topic

A couple of speakers took us into the future, with one suggesting our minds could be downloaded allowing us to live forever. While, more pessimistically, Paul wondered if we would have reinvented new ways to have conflicts – or a better dating app than Tinder!

Vahagn was more modest in his time travelling ambitions, wanting to return to when he was just eight years old and learning to swim, but he suggested doing it in water this time might be more effective!

All together, both contests were a great success. We know, at Toastmasters it’s all about learning through practice so it really is the taking part that counts. However, with both first and second place going through to the next round, we all waited for the results with some impromptu but less competitive table topics.

Thomas and Paul took first place in Humorous Speech and Table Tables respectively, while Charlotte and Alex took, presumably, a close second.

Humorous Speech Contest winner Thomas collecting his ribbon
Categories
Contest Past meetings Table Topics

Happy Birthday London Victorians!

Happy Birthday London Victorian’s – the club is officially 2 years old! In this short time, the club has grown into one of the leading Toastmasters clubs in London, where leaders are made. The encouraging atmosphere and committed members are just a couple of examples why we love our club so much.

Founding President, Florian welcomed us to the meeting with his usual gusto and gave a very informative introduction about the history of Toastmasters. He also welcomed our newest members Paul, Andrew and Narayn.

Florian, founding president
Florian wishing London Victorians a Happy Birthday

Florian then handed over to Py, who made his debut as Toastmaster. Py did an excellent job, leading the meeting seamlessly and with confidence. He introduced the birthday theme and asked each speaker what they loved about the club and what birthday gift they would get London Victorians. Some gifts were of a practical nature – coffee machine, storage cupboard and even thrones to sit on! Others were more about public speaking development – like delivering the evaluation without saying “you”.

Toastmaster Py wishing the club a Happy Birthday
Py, making his debut as Toastmaster

Py was supported by Mike as Timekeeper (1st role), Alex as Grammarian and Charlotte as Harkmaster. Each functionary accompanied their role description with an apt personal story to make their message even more memorable. Paul, one of our newest members, stepped up to take on the Sergeant at Arms role. He welcomed the guests with the confidence of a member that has been attending the club for years – well done!

Mike as Timekeeper
Alex displays the word of the day as grammarian
Charlotte sharing Easter treats as Harkmaster
Paul stepping up as Sergeant at Arms

Speeches

The initial part of the meeting was for prepared speeches. First up was Mickaela who gave an extremely fluid, humorous and informative icebreaker speech about her life in South Africa. Well done Mickaela for making the first step on the Toastmasters journey!

Next was Sophia, who performed speech number 8. She used facts and visual aids to great effect in her empowering speech about embracing what makes you individual.

Prateek was the final speaker, practicing his competition speech for the last time before Saturday’s contest. This speech about the vertical endurance challenge Prateek completed dramatically improved from his speech 2 weeks ago. He also inspired us to push our limits and do amazing things with our lives.

Prateek at the top of an Austrian mountain

Good luck Prateek on Saturday 22nd April! Don’t forget to book your tickets to the Division B contest and show your support.

Evaluations

This week’s evaluations followed a slightly different format. Ani and Lorenzo evaluated Mickaela and Sophia respectively. Andrew, Vahagn and Florian all evaluated Prateek, to give him maximum feedback before his competition. Audience members also completed feedback slips.

Speech feedback tip of the week (provided by Lorenzo): Place visual aids somewhere in front of you/to your side. This helps you to always face the audience (and keep them engaged) when you retrieve them. Also, make sure visual aids are completely visible when you are using them to make a point.

Table topics

The second part of the meeting was for Table Topics. Pascale was Table Topics Master and challenged members and guests to talk about various Easter themed situations on the spot.

Well done Ajanta for winning the best table topic ribbon!

Afterwards, Paulina evaluated all table topics succinctly with helpful tips. For example, use the lighthouse technique to scan the whole room, making sure your voice travels all the way to the back. Well done to George, Florian and guests Pan, Sarah, Abi and Ajanta for taking part!

Congratulations to Sophia, Lorenzo/Florian and Ajanta, who were tonight’s respective speech, evaluator and table topics winners and to all who helped make this a fantastic birthday meeting. It was great to see newer members taking up roles for the first time and so many guests getting involved. We look forward to seeing everyone next Tuesday!

Categories
Contest Past meetings

Competition themed meeting

This week’s meeting was extra special competition theme. Not only did we have two speeches from both ends of the Toastmasters spectrum, two division finalists delivered their winning speeches! They are just 2 steps away from the international speech contest finals in August in Vancouver.

All speakers stated which competition they would most like to win (excluding a public speaking competition). Answers ranged from bake off to directing to golf and gave some interesting insights into our members’ hobbies.

Isabelle as Toastmaster
Isabelle as Toastmaster for the competition theme meeting

Isabelle was the Toastmaster for the night and guided us through the meeting with great poise. She was supported by Mickaela as Timekeeper and Andrew as Harkmaster. Negin, our newest member, was Sergeant at Arms and welcomed the numerous guests who joined our meeting.

Welcome to London Victorians Negin!

Speeches

The initial part of the meeting was for prepared speeches. First up was Charlotte who gave a very inspiring icebreaker speech about her leap into the unknown to becoming a freelancer. Well done Charlotte for making the first step on the Toastmasters journey!

Well done Charlotte for successfully delivering the icebreaker speech

Next was Florian gave a Special Occasion Speech, titled “Roasting Terry”. He used humour and vocal variety to brilliant effect to challenge our President, Terry’s, reasons for becoming a vegetarian.

Prateek was the first of the contest finalists. He captivated the audience with dramatic displays of movement and a rousing call to action to challenge yourself and follow through.

Finally Edwin, the second contest finalist, delivered a powerful speech called “Me and my dad”. His story, with a clever twist in the middle, inspired the audience to let go and move on.

Edwin, contest finalist
Congratulations Edwin, this weeks speech winner!

Good luck to Edwin and Prateek in the division contests. Don’t forget to book your tickets to the Division B contest on 22nd April and show your support.

Evaluations

After the speeches, Pascale, PY, Stephen and Nuala performed evaluations. Audience members also completed feedback slips or an official speech judging form for the contest finalists.

Competition judging slip
Terry displaying the official judging slip

Speech feedback tip (provided by Nuala): The audience are more likely to engage with your message when they feel happy and laugh. Therefore it is important to include humour in your speech. Every Toastmasters international speech contest winner has had at least 8 instances of humour in their speech (roughly 1 laugh/minute).

Congratulations Nuala for winning the best evaluation!

Table topics

The second part of the meeting was for Table Topics. Terry was Table Topics Master and presented a unique theme. Members and guests talked about the same situation involving Waitrose, a man and a dog, while expressing a different emotion such as joy, surprise, or anger. Afterwards, Fahad evaluated all table topics succinctly with helpful tips. Well done to Christophe, Negin, Hannah, Vahagn, Naryan and Andrew for taking part!

Well done Hannah for winning the best table topic!

Congratulations to Edwin, Nuala and Hannah, who were tonight’s respective speech, evaluator and table topics winners and to all who helped make this a marvellous meeting as always. We look forward to seeing members and guests at our meeting next week!

 

 

Categories
Announcements Contest Education

The New Year at London Victorians Toastmasters

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

The new year at London Victorians is packed with opportunity for all our members and guests. Normal meetings start back on Tuesday the 10th of January and then every week until next December!

Every meeting this year will be special, with our members progressing their public speaking & leadership skills to the highest possible standard. In particular, we have a couple of key events coming up to make Tuesday nights in Victoria, London really special.

How to Inspire your Audience WorkshopTuesday 17th January

One of London’s highest regarded Toastmasters, Freddie Daniels, will be coming to London Victorians at our second meeting of the year on the 17th of January to give a special workshop.

Giving Inspirational speeches is an aspiration for many and this workshop is designed to educate us on how to really inspire our audiences.

The workshop has been timed in our agenda to provide an educational meeting ahead of this years…….

Club Level International Speech and Evaluation Contest – Tuesday 7th March

The first contest of the year is coming up in March and now available on our page at toastmastersclub.org for members to take part.

International speeches are normally of a inspirational style and the workshop in January will give you lots of tips on how to win this contest.

Last year, a member from a close partner club of ours, St Paul’s Speakers, went all the way to the International final in Washington DC, so we hope to be sending someone from our club this year, get started writing those speeches in January.

Club member “speakathon’s” – January 24th and February 21st

Also in January and February we have two special nights were we offer up to 8 speeches in one night. These meetings are included in the agenda to help members progress through the speech manuals sooner.

They are also a fantastic opportunity if you are not actually taking part to watch and listen to lots of different speakers on one night, for tips and tricks you might want to include in your own speeches.

It’s going to be a great new year at London Victorians Toastmasters Club in Westminster, if you are a member please register your attendance to meetings on EasySpeak and if you are considering coming as a guest, please just come along or contact us for more information, everyone is welcome!!!

Categories
Contest Past meetings Toastmasters International

Homorous Speech and Table Topics Contest

The lights were dimmed, guests were in their seats, and the judges had been briefed; most were relaxed, looking forward to the evening’s entertaining speeches. The contestants and organisers were looking a bit more serious. 13th September 2016 was the London Victorians contests evening.

rsz_IMG_1082The first half of the meeting was the Humorous Speech Contest and, after a short introduction from the club President, Sophia to took the stage as Contest Chair.

Sophia bounded with energy and enthusiasm as she explained the important rules and order of events. Looking calm and relaxed on stage, it is great to see the amazing benefits of regular toastmasters practice coming together for such a demanding role. She made sure each and every contestant was welcomed to the stage with rapturous applause, London Victorians style.

Humorous Speaking Contest

We had four humorous speeches lined up. Christophe was first, with a speech titled “Worst Advice”, where he told us of all the wonderful advice he has received in his life, along with the consequences. With advice like “just be yourself and everything will be fine” and “if you ignore the bullies, they’ll get bored and leave you alone”, Christophe took life examples many people can relate to and emphasised the ridiculousness of the advice they are  often given. A sure fire way to ensure the audience would be roaring with laughter.

Next up was George who used a part of his life story to take us on his journey from being “caught” by his wife through the Plenty of Fish dating website to his experiences as a white man living in Uganda. In particular, the way he was perceived by the locals and his attempts to negotiate a fair price on anything he bought. George mixed his humour with a serious message, concluding with a plea to treat everyone fairly.

rsz_IMG_1105Then came AK who taught us the art of lying. He said that lying was a very bad thing…if you don’t have the skills. AK then proceeded to go through the ethics of lying with using very funny examples.

Last but by no means least was John who, apparently (see photo), is a life coach but is definitely aware of how prolific the industry has become with “self help gurus”. John explained that he specialised in helping those suffering a “quarter life crisis”. He dispelled some myths in his attempts to convince us the condition was real and was adamant that a quarter was not equal to half a midlife crisis, rather it was a full on medical condition in its own right!

Table Topic Contest

The second half of the meeting Tom took over as Contest Chair for the Table Topics Contest. The format here was slightly different so Tom asked the Sergeant at Arms, Stephen and Ed, to escort the contestants outside the room. They then returned one at a time where they each answered the same table topic question:

“What little white lies do you tell?”

As you would expect, each contestant put their own spin on their responses but, let’s just say, it turns out a lot of London Victorians lie about their age!

Tom kept everyone entertained with an informal table topic session while the judges formalised the results. He then handed the stage to Florian who, as Chief Judge, announced the results of both contests.

John and Christophe took first and second place respectively in the Humorous Speech contest. Christophe, Lawrence and Gary came first, second and third in the Table Topics.

rsz_IMG_1180