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28th June marked London Victorian’s last meeting of the Toastmaster year and what a special meeting it was! Florian Bay our founding president was awarded Distinguished Toastmaster by Neil Coleman the Division B Director, who was also general evaluator of the meeting. Terry the incoming president presented Florian with a token on behalf of the club to thank him for his relentless hard work and dedication throughout the time he served as club President.

Owen took on the role of toastmaster of the night, injecting his personality and comedic charm throughout. He had a team to assist him; Laurence as timekeeper and John as grammarian utilizing the word “Panic” as the word of the day. Terry was Sergeant at Arms introducing the guests who attended the meeting.

Christophe delivered his icebreaker on the night, introducing himself to the club by informing the audience of his life’s journey and career from an entrepreneur to now investor. He informed the audience of the struggles he has overcome and the changes in his life’s direction which lead him to present day.

Second speech was Annabel delivering her 6th speech from the competent communication manual. Annabel informed the audience of the unwritten handbook of the office, the rules she has observed over her four years working. Her tips included etiquette of communication, personal branding and things you should never do.

Third on stage was Ernesto delivering a speech from an advanced manual, “speeches to inform”. Ernesto delivered a visually rich speech informing the audience of the universe in relation to the Earth and the possibility that we are not alone. He supported his research with facts, info-graphics, and stunning images.

The speeches were evaluated by Eleanor B, Edwin and Nuala who provided feedback to the respective speakers they were evaluating. The evaluations included techniques to improve eye contact, body language and methods of increasing the impact of the speech.

Tatiana was table topic master and asked impromptu speaking volunteers imaginative questions. She intertwined magic and technology in the subjects she selected. Speakers on the topics were then evaluated by Sergey.

Join us next week when we have our first meeting of the new year with more speeches, evaluations and table topics!

Thomas was toastmaster for the evening taking command of the stage and introducing each speaker with a visual of their ideal place to live. He had a team to assist him, Bruna was timekeeper, and Christophe was Sergeant at Arms. Cleo was Grammarian with Allure for the word of the day and Paul was Harkmaster. We had three speeches from the competent communication manual and a Best Man’s speech.

There were four speeches during the meeting. First on stage was founding Club President Florian, in his 50th speech he revisited the icebreaker, the first speech from the competent communication manual. In this speech Florian shared personal stories of his background and how he overcame adversity to realise his dreams.

Second on stage was Tatiana delivering speech 3 from the competent communication manual. Her speech provided the audience with potential solutions on how to stay awake, ranging from changing your environment, exercises, and the consumption of caffeinated beverages.

Eleanor H was on stage delivering speech 5 from the competent communication manual, opening her speech with the question “What stops you from taking risks?” Citing, fear, regret and grudges as three main elements of what stops people when dealing with fear, Eleanor encouraged the audience to “Let It Go”

Fourth on stage was Robert who took the opportunity to practice his best man’s speech, even having a prop of the future husband and wife. Many members initially join Toastmasters because of an upcoming speech in order to receive feedback and learn the critical skills of successful public speaking.

The four speakers were provided feedback by the respective evaluators Annabel, Hannah, Isabelle and Sophia.

The second half of the meeting involved impromptu speaking, Prateek the Table Topic Master selected the Brexit referendum for the topic for the impromptu speeches. Regardless of their opinion each speaker had 1-2 minutes to voice either why they want to stay in the EU or leave the EU. The table topic speakers were then evaluated by Nuala.

A successful meeting with lots of excellent speakers and entertaining table topics. Join us on Tuesday for our next meeting.

It has been suggested that the meeting time is put back by 15 minutes to try and prevent people arriving late. Please indicate your preference using the poll below:

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On Tuesday 14th of June Stephen was Toastmaster with a team to assist him, Romain was Timekeeper and Annabel was Sergeant at Arms. Tatiana was Grammarian, Ed was Harkmaster.

There were four speeches, three from the competent communication manual and one from an advanced manual.

Lawrence was first on stage with his icebreaker “Never Forget Where You Came From” which informed the audience about his childhood in Ealing and his Italian roots which influenced much of his upbringing.

Nuala was next delivering speech 6 from the manual “Vocal Variety”. Her speech detailed one of her first experiences living in London which involved a defrosting rat on the cooker, how she has a love-hate relationship with the city however, ultimately feels it is a great place to live.

Third on stage was Thomas who delivered a visual presentation educating the audience on why bullet trains were invented, how they work and detailed the countries that currently use them. Citing aerodynamics, and a continuous welded track as two of the main technologies that enable bullet trains to function, Thomas illustrated these elements through the use of visuals.

Fourth speaker was Prateek who delivered a speech from the Humorously Speaking manual. Entitled “Money See Monkey Do”, Prateek told tales of New Years Resolutions gone array, characterising different types of gym goers and relating them to monkeys through humour and body language.

The four speeches were evaluated by their respective evaluators; Eleanor B, Sophia, Florian and Isabelle. Each evaluator praised the speaker on positive aspects of their speech and also suggested improvements to make their technique in speech delivering even better.

The second half of the meeting involved impromptu table topics provided by Cleo which were then evaluated by Eleanor G.

Join us next week for more speeches, evaluations and impromptu speeches.