Tag: Toastmasters

This first December meeting was a special one in many respects for London Victorians. Toastmastering it as Toastmaster of the meeting was John that had stepped in at the last moment. Tasked with keeping this meeting on time was Hannah, followed by Sandra as grammarian, Nuala as harkmaster and finally Annabel as vote counter.

The first speaker of tonight’s meeting was Charles with “Who is Elon Musk?” In this speech done with the help of pictorial slides, we learnt everything there was to learn about Elon Musk. From his birth in South Africa, his first business venture in online payment and the cars Tesla Motors produces. Following on was Eleanor “The Silly Frog”. A humorous tale from the time Eleanor played a frog in a play in her Cornish hometown, where of course everyone had turned up to watch her in action! Prateek’s “Dating warriors” were the highlight of the third speech of the meeting. Featuring a comparison of modern day dating with the charge of the light brigade at Balaklava, beware of snipers though! The first of two advanced speeches this meeting was by Fahad “S.S.S” for speech slot crisis, exploring the current speech slot situation at London Victorians. Finally, club president Florian Bay closed off the prepared speech section of the meeting with his speech “British Food! Glorious British Food!” This humorous speech told us more about Florian’s taste for British food including numerous comparisons with French food.

Evaluating the first speaker was Alex who suggested that Charles rushes less when speaking on stage so that everyone can understand him more clearly. Terry as Eleanor’s evaluation recommended adding yet more body language to the speech, especially when actions like bouncing around are mentioned. Edwin recommended that Prateek’s incorporate more vocal variety when speaking and that he adjusts his volume to his audience. Thomas evaluated Fahad speech and praised him for tackling a difficult subject well. Kate as Florian’s evaluator highlighted that he should have kept up vocal variety throughout his speech.

Instead of the usual table topics session, the second half of the meeting was an extraordinary general meeting to discuss club business. In the light of recent growth in membership, the club’s committee recommended that meeting frequency be increased to weekly to be covered by an increase in membership fees. The motion proposed was unanimously agreed by all members present. We are pleased to say that this is the beginning of a new phase for our still barely a year old club!

Following the club business section. Maggie from Holborn Speakers did a general evaluation of the entire meeting.

It is always special when someone speak for the first time in Toastmasters and begins their journey as a speaker and leader. In our last meeting we’re privileged to have three of our members taking to the stage to speak for their icebreakers speeches!

Toastmastering the evening was Thomas whose theme of the meeting was “childhood phases”. Assisting him as timekeeper was Karen, followed by master of the spoken word Nuala as grammarian with “prosper” as word of the day. Prateek took on the harkmaster role and Andy assisted as vote counter.

First to speak was Tarjei “T.J” with “The power to believe” focusing attitudes towards dreaming big and in how in his native Norway dreaming big is frown upon. Though at the end of the day one should never forget that attitude not aptitude is what fundamentally matters. Second to speak was Mayo “Overcoming adversity”. Mayo decided to speak on how from his childhood in Nigeria to moving to the UK at 13 he had to overcome adversity beginning with racism. But how he nevertheless hanged on to his ambitions to achieve them and graduate with high grades. Third to speak was John “The best thing since” giving the example of how baby giraffes come to the world through a 8ft drop to illustrate the importance of believing in oneself and being strong. “Fire & Ice” was the title of Edwin’s speech where he spoke about his grandparents, their very different personalities and how their shaped him. Our final speaker of the evening was Joyce “Smile” who set out to speak on the importance of smiling in order to communicate effectively.

Evaluating tonight’s speakers were AK, Yvonne, Stephen, Fahad and Kate. Feedback to our speakers tonight including more eye contact. More vocal variety and the importance of using the correct gestures at the correct time. This was alongside praise for the very vivid language used by some speakers and the intriguing titles of some.

To keep ourselves on the edge as we could be asked to speak at any time during the session. Table topics master Isabelle selected table topics questions on the theme of childhood ranging from fashion styles when younger to favorite cartoon characters. Eleanor then evaluated the table topics session giving feedback on each of the speakers.

The meeting was wrapped up with Naula’s and Prateek’s reports followed by a general evaluation by senior Toastmaster Jakub.

The day when ones becomes a speaker and takes to the stage is always special. In our last club meeting, we were delighted to have six members of London Victorians doing their first speech. Alongside four others doing other speeches from the Competent Communication manual.

Edwin was our toastmastering our first ever speakathon. Ably assisted by Nuala as timekeeper and Hannah as vote counter.

Our first speaker of the night was Sandra ‘Find the Best, Remember the Joy’. Sandra spoke to us about his hometown of Timisoara and her study of Chemistry in the United States. She was followed by Abigail ‘When a man is tired of London he is tired of life’ as second speaker. While she never intended to move to London, it is now Abi’s home and where she met her family including two bunnies whose antics are legendary! Charles with ‘The Opening’ followed as third speaker. Charles told us his childhood in Paris, how his parents’ travails affected him and how he grasped the nettle and decided to change for the better himself. ‘What do you do?’ was Olivia’s speech on her job in the responsible investment industry and her objective to bring it in the mainstream. Finally our last speaker of the first half was Isabelle with ‘Journalism: the good, the bad, the ugly’.

Evaluating each speaker in turn were Eddie, Fahad, Yvonne, Marina and Prateek. Recommendations included using the stage more, incorporating more vocal variety, eye contact and not using notes if possible.

The second half of our speakathon followed after the break. The speaker opening it was Sophia ‘Facing my fear’ outlining her journey so far in facing her fear of public speaking. Nadia followed with her Icebreaker speech, where she talked about the story of launching her own smoothie making business and her travels to Jordan. Stephen followed on with ‘Bitcoin’. There we learnt all there was to learn about Bitcoins, including that they are linked to virtual wallets and how there are 21m of them out there! AK then did a project #3 from the Competent Communication manual ‘Friendship’. Giving the example of two relationships with friends and how they changed and evolved over the years. Thomas was then our final speaker of the evening with ‘Two Stars’ a review of the movie Fifty Shades of Grey seen on an airplane.

Our evaluators for the second half were Florian, Terry, Joyce, Eleanor and Kate. Recommendations given covered included use of notes, speech structure and length and the usage of body language.

The mammoth task of evaluating our ten evaluators fell to Polina who provided feedback to everyone.

Well done everyone on making our first speakathon a rousing success!

Our second meeting in our new airy venue of St James Church was special as three of our member took to the stage with their icebreaker speech. The very first speech one gives during the course of their Toastmasters journey.

Toastmastering the session was legendary Croydonian Joyce Reid, who launched the meeting with her usual energy and enthusiasm. Assisting her as timekeeper, was Isabelle. Followed by John as grammarian and “fluid” as his word of the day. Karen then introduced the harkmaster role and urged everyone to open their ears wide and listen. Finally Sandra explained her vote counter role.

Our first icebreaker was by Eleanor “Bowler Hats and Pin Stripes”. Eleanor talked about her career as a civil servant, from working in the excise department in Heathrow’s customers to influencing policy and saying “Yes Minister”. Following on with her icebreaker was Nuala “Creative Threads” on her passion for art and creativity. Said creativity led her to study textile design and she now works in this industry. The third icebreaker was “Cymru” by Hannah. During this icebreaker speech, we learnt everything there was to learn about Wales, including some Welsh and the local traditions of Hannah’s hometown of Porthcawl. Our fourth speech of the evening was my club president Florian “Travel by Train”. A humorous speech peppered with anecdotes from his various experiences of travelling by train all over Britain.

Evaluating the first icebreaker was Alex who praised Eleanor limited use of notes but suggested that she tell more about herself. Edwin then evaluated Nuala’s icebreaker, highlighting her purposeful use of the stage and recommending more eye contact next time. Thomas followed on as the evaluator of Hannah’s speech, praising her effective use of visual aids but recommending more vocal variety and stage presence. Finally, Florian’s speech was evaluated by Fahad who suggested a cleaner and more seamless delivery.

Tonight’s table topics session led by Prateek featured ten random words such as royalty, bikini, Viking, boulevard, alligator. Each participant had to make up a story feature as many of the words as possible with the next speaker taking on where the story had left. An intriguing concept that went down a treat! Yvonne evaluated the table topics session and gave feedback to all the speakers taking part.

John and Karen than came back for their reports. With general evaluator Kate then giving feedback on the entire meeting.

See you all at our next meeting on November 3^rd for our speakathon!

What a fantastic debut meeting in our brand new venue! Despite the wet weather we were well attended by our members and also new and returning guests. Terry Pullin was our acting President for the evening and got the meeting off to an energetic start.

Our Toastmaster for the evening was Prateek. Prateek was doing the toastmaster role for the very first time. He came across as a veteran though as he expertly guided us through the evening’s proceedings. Assisting Prateek in running the meeting was Sandra (first time) time keeper, Yvonne (first time) grammarian and Nadia as vote counter.

In our prepared speech section, we had three speeches ranging from ice breaker to advanced manual. Isabelle gave her maiden speech, and took us on a journey from the Netherlands to the UK. Alex was giving his number four speech, took us behind the scenes of a games developer. Our VP of Education Fahad, speaking from an advanced manual gave us an inspirational argument for helping refugees in need.

Evaluating, we had Stephen for Isabelle, Eleanor for Alex and Terry evaluating Fahad’s speech.

Introducing the guests was done by our VP Mentorship Edwin. As always we had a good number of new and returning guests.

The second half of the meeting was led by Eleanor, doing the Table topics master role for the first time. Eleanor gave an array of coffee related questions which all our participants thoroughly enjoyed answering. The evaluations for the table topics were carried out by our very own Joyce who gave enthusiastic and insightful evaluations to all our participants.

Our General evaluator for the evening was Samantha Sherwood, President of the ACCA members Breakfast club. Samantha gave some great recommendations on how to make use of our new venue as well as other helpful hints to make us a stronger club. We hope to welcome her back very soon to see how we have progressed.