Category: Past meetings

Our last meeting had an auspicious start, with the sun stretching its rays into every single corners of our room in the Windsor Castle Pub. We were ably led by current area 33 governor, Brian Skelton as toastmasters of the evening. Assisted in this crucial role by Rosie as timekeeper, Eddie as grammarian whose word of the day was “exquisite” and George as vote counter.

Two icebreakers were on the program of the evening. The first one by new member Monica “Life as Art”. Talking about her passion for art since she was younger and how it helped defining her personality. The second icebreaker of the night was by Eleanor “The stories we tell ourselves”. Eleanor regaled us with tale of how one’s identity can shift over time, ranging from her own childhood in Cornwall with limited access to technology, to now working in a data company. What’s more her story has only just begun! A fifth speech from the Competent Communicator manual, “We’re going on a work hunt” by Terry followed. The speech’s objectives of using one’s body to convey a message was met, as we went through the morning blues of a day that does not quite start according to plan. The oratory was closed off by Warren with “Ermm”, a humorous speech on the word Erm that can be a power word in some circumstances and what’s more the word is universally understood too! A very humorous, that will clearly feature in this year’s edition of the humorous speech contest in the autumn.

The evaluations were started off by Fahad, who provided recommendation on speech structure and the use of transitional words. Following was Marina, suggesting pauses to enhance one’s message and make a stronger impact on the audience. Daniela then evaluated Terry. Alan’s evaluation of Warren was special, as it used the official judging criteria used in speaking competitions.

New member Thomas chaired the table topics session. Creatively using real-word events to ask participants how they would react to it. These including Wimbledon banning selfie sticks, a mystery tunnel in Toronto and 5.5tons of Nutella being stolen. Club president Florian Bay then evaluated the table topics session, reminding everyone that table topics should be structured as a prepared speech would by including a clear structure and a punchy conclusion. The entire meeting was finally evaluated by veteran Toastmaster Andy O’Sullivan.

This last meeting of the club was very special as we’re now a chartered club with Toastmasters International. Just over seven months after our first demonstration meeting, the vision of the club founders was fulfilled this month with club membership crossing the twenties strong. Many thanks to all that have helped us in making this achievement possible, ranging from our sponsor clubs, London Olympians, St Pauls Speakers and Connected Speakers. But also to fellow Toastmasters from all over London, that came in to do roles at our meeting in those crucial first few months.

The standard of our previous meetings was high and last time was no exception. The Toastmaster of the evening was our VP Membership Terry Pullin. Assisted by Edwin as timekeeper, Eleanor as grammarian (well done for your first time!) and Lindsay as vote counter.

Opening the speeches was an icebreaker by Natalie ‘You’re going where’. Recounting her journey to Malaysia as a music teacher, reconnecting with her passion for music following a stint of work in the fashion industry. The speech was filled with anecdotes including monkeys looking out into windows and crimson clad stewardesses on her flight from London. Following her was Rosie with her second speech from the Competent Communication manual ‘Talking Rubbish’. A very informative speech on the subject of waste in the UK, how much is produced every year and how little is recycled or reuse. VP Education Fahad, followed with his first speech from the Public Relations manual ‘The WWH of Public Speaking’ an address describing the benefits of Toastmasters and how the organisation helped change his life. The final speaker of the evening was by Sergey, with ‘The GROW Model’ used in coaching.

The evaluators of the evening were Florian, Magda, Marina and Joann. Topics covered included speech structure, vocabulary and using as much of the allocated time as possible. With the general elections fast approaching, politics was the theme of the table topics session led by Prateek for the first time (well done!). The questions asked were as diverse as “imagine yourself as Prime Minister for a day” or “What’s your take on marijuana legalisation?”. Eddie took up to the challenge of evaluating these topics, providing such recommendations as maintaining eye contact throughout a speech and avoiding hands clasping to show openness on stage. The glamorous Jane Houghton then closed off the meeting with her general evaluation.

The evening was finished off with a speech by founding president Florian Bay on the achievements on the past few months and objectives for the future. Chartering the club is merely the “end of the beginning” and the aspiration is for London Victorians to become London’s premier Toastmaster club. District leader Dorothea Stuart also gave the official club President ribbon to Florian to mark the occasion.

Spring was in the air four this first meeting of April, with the sun rays reaching into every corners of our lovely venue, the upstairs room of the Windsor Castle pub. London Victorians was lucky to have a master of Toastmasters in charge of the evening as Andy O’Sullivan. Ably assisted by Eddie as timekeeper, Natalie as grammarian and newly joined Alex as vote-counter. Well done to all three of you for doing these roles for the first time!

Kicking off the four speeches of the evening was Prateek with ‘Your Kind of Crazy’ whose theme was friendship and finding like-minded people through activities. Following him was VP-PR Marina with a speech from the Speeches by Management manual, ‘Your chance to lead’ highlighting the benefit of mentoring to mentees and mentors alike beginning with leading and developing someone. Sergey followed with ‘A willow tree’ from the Interpersonal Communication manual on defusing and handling verbal criticism from others. Veteran storyteller Alan Thomas closed with a ‘Carroll can’t concentrate’ of the Storytelling manual. A fiction on Lewis Carroll overcoming writers block for the finishing touches of Alice in Wonderland with the help of some talking mischievous cats.

Speeches were evaluated by Ayokunle, Florian, Hiram and Warren. Covering topics such as posture on stage, vocal variety and chosing subjects for each projects. We were then onto the table topics session led by first-timer Rosie (well done Rosie) going around the world in several postcards from places such as Dubai, Hong Kong or New York. Evaluating eight speakers was VPE Fahad. The evening was then closed off with a general evaluation from the president of Clerkenwell Speakers, Kaveh Pourvand.

Every year, Toastmasters clubs worldwide run speech and evaluation contest. Winners of the international speech after competing in the club, area, division and district levels will then take part in the world championship of public speaking due to take place in Las Vegas this august. On Tuesday it was London Victorians turn to enter the Toastmaster contest season, with our VP Membership Terry Pullin chairing over both the speech and evaluation contests.

New member Natalie was the first to take part in the speech contest. With a speech ‘Music in the digital age’ covering changes brought to the music industry by the advent of platforms such as Spotify or YouTube were artists can express themselves for free. She was followed by one of our advanced members, Alan with ‘It’s a racket’ on the impact high noises can have on human wellbeing and health. Third to join the fray was Hiram ‘The voices in my head’ on how to overcome fear of failure. Closing off the competition was Sergey and his story ‘The drum’.

The mystery speaker for our evaluation contest was our very own Magda ‘AI creating god’. Using the staircase analogy whereby humans can now look down on worms as an inferior species. The challenges of AI surpassing humans were highlighted, or “what happens when we are the worms”. Ross, Sergey and Eddie took turns evaluating Magda’s speech. A testament to the high level of the competition was that none of the three participants in the evaluation contest used notes!

A short interview of some participants preceded the announcement of the results by chief judge Brian Skelton. The winner of London Victorians 2015 International speech contest was Hiram followed by Alan for in second place. Congratulations go to Ross for winning the evaluation contest.

Many thanks to the judges for your help in making this contest a success. Thanks too to vote counters Eleanor and Lindsay and for our timer of the evening club president Florian Bay.

One of the most interesting about Toastmasters is that subjects are up for members to choose, allowing a unique insights into the personality of our members. Our last meeting was no different! Toastmastering us was the glamorous Jane Houghton, assisted by timekeeper Magda, first time grammarian Rosie (well done Rosie!) and Vote Counter Prateek.

Starting off a diverse series of speech that night was Ross with “Aiming High” on the extraordinary life of aviator Douglas Bader. Who in spite of losing both legs in an airplane accident, went back up to the skies to fight for the RAF in WW2! Our VP Membership Terry followed with “A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood”. Using the power of the AIDA sales techniques as a backdrop, we embarked on a fairy tale journey through a deep dark forest alongside a cunning mouse beating off monsters including gruffaloes with its sharp tongue and quick wit. Club President Florian guided us through a fact-finding report on the reasons for British industrial decline. Afterwards answering a flurry of questions from the audience on why it matters. Sergey closed off a very diverse evening of speeches with “What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this” from the Interpersonal Communication manual.

Evaluations were taken up by Sergey, Fahad, Daniela and Andy. Covering points such as the importance of eye contact and of vocal variety to build a strong connection with the audience.

Movies were the theme of a very energising table topics session chaired by Secretary Ayokunle and evaluated by VP PR Marina. The entire evening was finally evaluated by Warren Sheng.