Category: Toastmasters International

Our second meeting of May was an occasion to ponder the last few months of the club but also to prepare its future. Our newest club member was welcome at the start of the meeting. It is our official club banner that came all the way from California by post. She will now stand proud and tall at every single one our meetings and no doubt be coated with numerous ribbons in a short space of time!

Toastmastering the meeting was current Area 52 governor, Marc Lottig whose towering presence meant that we were in very safe hands indeed. Our timekeeper of the evening was Alex, (well done Alex for your first club role!). The word of the day of tonight’s grammarian Edem was ‘ponder’. Closing the trio of assistant functionaries was Monica as vote counter.

Prateek started the evening of speeches with the third speech from the Competent Communicator manual. In “Rules of Engagement’ we were treated with a very factual speech on modern day dating app Tinder and its 22 billion daily swipes! Following was Marina with a speech from the Speeches by Management manual. Her speech ‘LinkedOut’ explored how to give feedback in an unsuccessful job application. Closing off the evening of speeches was Alan Thomas, with ‘Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind’ from the Entertaining Speaker manual. A dramatic talk on the story of an author meeting sprites and spirits in a house.

The first evaluator of the evening was Terry, who emphasised the importance of not having too loud a voice tone and of moving on stage while making points for added impact. Fahad then evaluated Marina, highlighting the importance of choosing the right speech topic for the manual’s objectives. Daniela finished off by evaluating Alan, emphasising the importance of effective vocal variety and of setting up props correctly.

 

London Victorians annual general meeting then followed. Starting off with the election of the new committee. The club committee for the 2015/16 Toastmasters year will consist of:

President: Florian Bay

Vice-President Education: Fahad Alturkait

Vice-President Membership: Terry Pullin

Vice-President Public Relations: Marina Lussich

Vice-President Mentorship: Edwin Atiegoba

Treasurer: Ayokunle Sangoyomi

Sergeant at Arms: Prateek Trehun

A short overview of the past year was made by club president Florian Bay, highlighting the impressive achievement of having started the club from scratch and now having 24 members with more in the pipeline. The club’s ambition remains to become the leading Toastmaster club in London and to meet every Tuesday. The next Toastmasters year already looks promising but it is the sum of the individual achievements of all the members that will make the club great!

The table topics session led by Eleanor was themed around the titles of strange books. Participants had to tell the story behind interesting titles such as ‘Afterthoughts of a Worm Hunter’ or ‘How to play with a Lion’s testicules’. Rosie evaluated the session for her first crack at an evaluation role (bravo Rosie!). The entire meeting was finally evaluated by Gagan Singh coming from London Athenians.

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.