 | | | | Feel free to contact us with any questions, suggestions or feedback. | | | | | | | Tuesday 20th July Report | | | | The evening began with the committee carrying out their plan to make sure that any guests were made to feel welcome; this backfired slightly when, at the end of the meeting, feedback from one of the guests mentioned that he felt his welcome had been a little ‘forced’! Whoops! Perhaps, a little less enthusiasm next time.
Apart from 4 guests, we had a grand total of 9 members! It’s either the summer weather or... football hangover/depression or ... any suggestions?
The meeting tonight began with the Sergeant at Arms, Joan, telling us that there are three things (Rule of Three, yeah!) which are important to Toastmasters; these are:-
Believe in yourself
Set your goals, by booking speech slots and ‘roles’ with the VP Education
Be an active team member
It is all our responsibility, we were told. Quite right, Joan.
‘New President’, Abbi, reminded us of the origins of ‘Toastmasters’ which was started in 1924 in a basement in California and now has members in 160 countries with 12,500 of them being in the UK and Ireland.
Then, it was over to Camilla, Toastmaster for tonight; her first time, ‘ inaugural’, she told us. Camilla spoke about her recent trip to Bognor, practicing for a charity ‘pedalo’ competition; sounds fun. The charity which will to benefit is, City Gateway, a charity specialising in helping children from disadvantaged backgrounds to become personal fitness trainers. Very worthwhile!
As an extension to this, Camilla’s ‘warm-up’ was for attendees to tell us what their favourite charity was. The inimitable and witty, Neil, told us that, “Charity begins at home”; though he does support various bona fide charities! Abbi actually works for MIND and Claire takes a suitcase of clothes on holiday to give away to needy people. All excellent causes.
So, it was on to the people with roles for the night. Neil was Timekeeper. He described the reasoning behind the various lights, finishing with an explanation of the “Bell of shame”; when one will be “booed off”!
The word of the night was to be “Conversant”, (an adjective meaning familiar with, especially as a result of experience or study). There was no specific Grammarian; however, in the absence of any other volunteers, Pauline offered to be Ah counter, using the word, “conversant” for the first time. Whohay!
Before introducing the first speaker for the night, Camilla explained the evaluation sheets to the audience; this was very helpful, especially to the guests. First to speak was Jack who was performing his CC4. His speech was entitled, “Ah Counting”; very interesting! Camilla had looked up definitions of speakers’ names; apparently, Jack is a name for boys/men used in many nursery rhymes as it is a name “for all men”! Jack gave us the pros and cons of Ah counting; it was, certainly, food for thought. Apparently, the evidence shows that, putting filler words at the beginning of a sentence in a speech increases recall. Well, you learn something new every day. Jack’s speech obviously caught everyone’s attention, and had enough recall for him to be voted ‘best speaker’ for the night.
Next up was Moniek. Her name, or the nearest to it, Monica, means “stage fright”! Ominous. She was also presenting her CC4 speech, with the title of “Into the Wild”; this was partly to do the subject matter of the film of the same title (http://www.intothewild.com/) (http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/reviews.php?film_id=12866) and partly about Moniek’s experiences in life. She used a quote from the film, “If you want to do something in life you want to reach out and grab it”. Her attitude is, “Take every opportunity”; (how many of us, actually, do so?). Moniek had a blank blip in the middle of this speech (stage fright?) but was soon back on track with some very good advice for the audience. You kept your nerve, Moniek; well done. Keep up the progression.
Third speaker was Abbi (Abbeline); the nearest name to hers, Abigail, has the meaning of, “My father’s joy”. Her speech was from the “Make them laugh” book. Abbi recounted the story of her first grandchild’s birth and the jollity surrounding it. This included a couple of jokes; one about the postman (no, not the milkman!) and another about babies’ names. Very humorous!
Sudanta, doing his, gold, was the last speaker. He performed a very different speech. This entailed speaking as if he was being interviewed on the radio with a question and answer session at the end. Sudanta, nearest name meaning – Sudashan- good looking, (lucky thing!) made an excellent interviewee and knew his subject, “Holistic Living and Management”, inside out. Joan, who was evaluating, was equally as impressive as she had to ad lib her questions; definitely an example of “thinking on one’s feet”! Sudanta’s advice was, to put yourself last.
Evaluators were Camilla, for Jack; Joan, for Moniek; Vanessa for Abbi and.....for Sudanta, Joan again! Vanessa, VP Education, had put some advice up on the board at the beginning of the meeting This advice was ,when evaluating, COMMEND, RECOMMEND, COMMEND; meaning that, after giving advice for possible improvements, an evaluator should always finish with a commend to bolster confidence. The evaluators were careful to do this. Let us always remember to do so. Best evaluator was Joan; not sure for which evaluation but she was great at both and, particularly, for Sudanta’s. Well done, Joan.
After the break we came to the Table Topics. Master for this evening was Pauline; having to follow Jack’s excellent topics of last week with the animals and the Ark! Pauline had, yet another, poem about her role and topics:-
Impromptu speaking is a skill to be learned;
When given an opportunity it is not to be spurned.
Subjects for Table Topics are usually quite fun,
The Table Topics Master can pick on, just, anyone,
And ask them to speak for a minute or two
About a topic that will hopefully amuse all of you.
In your kitchens you may have gadgets aplenty;
I am sure that I have at least twenty.
Hiding in cupboards, in their very own place,
No use to anyone just taking up space.
So, I’d like the speakers to tell us all why
Any of these white elephants we should go and buy!
Pauline had a tin containing names of various kitchen gadgets which people buy and rarely or never use. The “victims” were asked to tell the audience why they thought we should purchase the item they had picked out. There were some excellent reasons for us to buy a milk frother, espresso machine, rice cooker or fondue set. There was also some very good advice about the amount of water to use when cooking rice and how not to burn the cheese in a fondue. Hilarious! Three of the speakers were guests; very brave of them. The fourth was Vanessa. Winner of “Best table topics” accolade was Tim, one of the guests. (His was the rice cooker!)Well done, Tim.
Camilla closed her part of the evening with a lovely gesture; having placed a piece of paper with a smiley face on the underside of a chair, the occupier of the chair would win a prize. There was great hilarity as everyone upturned their chair; no luck. Eventually, Omar (guest) found it under a vacant chair. This made him the winner of..... a stick of Bognor rock and a tub of candy floss; lucky guy! His children will be happy. Well done, Camilla, your carried out your role with great professionalism and aplomb!
So, it was back to Abbi for awards and a final piece of advice; Toastmasters, “It is all about sharing”. Quite right.
I mentioned feedback from guests at the beginning with regards to our excessive enthusiasm in welcoming guests. This was countered when the guest followed up by saying that things became more relaxed and he really enjoyed his experience. So, in all, a job well done.
See you all on Tuesday 3rd August; 7.30 pm prompt start. Let us try to start on time, eh folks?
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