David Adams called our festive and final meeting of the year to order. As encouraged by Cat (VPEEE, but not VPE!) at the last meeting, the room was buzzing with “Shiny, Happy People” in our jolly tinsel dished out by our esteemed President, Lynne Cantor.
Our 5 guests were warmly welcomed to our “same but different” club of excellence and challenged to step out of their comfort zones in a safe environment. These included Pedro who was visiting from a Spanish club, Ian, an ex-member of Holborn, who has recently returned to the country, Deborah joining us from the other side of the world in New Zealand, Lloyd from Riverside Communicators and Jacqui, President of Riverside Communicators.
Fun David Lennon, who told us he placed in the Top Ten of the UK Annual Lying Contest in 2015 (but was that true?)…..was our Toastmaster running the jovial show.
Janet Tarasofsky, a “courageous conversation” encourager, ho, ho, ho-sted the Table Topics session! Ian, Errol Williamson, Freddie Daniells and Bob Ferguson talked about subjects as diverse as Santa’s sleigh breaking down, inviting a homeless man for Christmas dinner, killing Rudolph with his flying chopper… don’t ask!.....and forgiveness in a prison.
Sue Mannering, David Adams, Monika Swiderska and Mike Thompson instantly and ably evaluated the topics with specific recommendations and commendations.
Our first prepared speaker was Bob Ferguson, DTM, doing his icebreaker from the Competent Communicator manual….! Bob, managing to get a laugh every 30 seconds, shared the “Confessions of a Sad Engineer” and encouraged us to “map my book”. His speech was competently evaluated by Errol Williamson.
Our next speaker was Monika Swiderska, sharing her very personal and heartfelt story “Beauty Doesn’t Matter” from Storytelling #2 “Let’s Get Personal”. You could hear a pin drop, so engrossed were we in her moving tale. Freddie Daniells was her masterly evaluator highlighting that speaking is about “connection not perfection”.
Our third and final speaker was Lynne Cantor, memorably roasting Excalibur members and entertaining us from the Special Occasion Speeches #3. Brian Skelton, DTM, undertook the evaluation in his first role since becoming a member of Excalibur.
Giovanna Vasaturo facilitated the Open Feedback session on the speeches with commendations and recommendations from the floor.
Multi-tasker Suzi Fish shared some interesting timing anecdotes in her role as Timekeeper.
Katja van Koten, the “Chocolate Fairy”, was the Harkmaster quizzing us on what we heard throughout the evening and rewarding those of us who showed they had paid close attention with chocolate!
Cat Kipling shared her insightful observations and suggestions on how we could do better next time in her role as the General Evaluator. We certainly felt we had been educated and entertained at our event, so Cat our VPEEE had done her job well with organising the meeting!
Congratulations to Errol Williamson, the winner of Best Table Topic. Monika Swiderska as the winner of the Best Prepared Speech, and Freddie Daniells, the Best Evaluator.
Prizes also went to those who had made the most festive effort with their dress. Anne Bingham came third in her red hat, Bob Ferguson was second in his Rudolph Christmas jumper, and Mike Thompson came first with his Father Christmas hat and beard!
The frivolity and fun continued in the King and Queen pub afterward!
Future Meetings:
Our January 2017 meetings will be on the 11th and 25th with an additional extraordinary Winning Winning Speeches Workshop on 18th January – cost and venue TBC.
To make our VPE Freddie’s job easier, kindly let us know if you are attending and accept your allocated roles via Easyspeak.
Visitors are welcome to experience Excalibur at any time and we are always seeking guest GEs. Contact us at excaliburspeakers@gmail.com.
The District 91 2017 Spring Conference for the International Speech and Evaluation Finals will be at The Grand Harbour Hotel in Southampton on 5-7th May 2017. Put the date in your diaries and book your earlybird ticket now!
Social Media:
Please like, comment, tag photos and share our posts on our Facebook page, and follow us on Twitter, thank you.
In the meantime, have a wonderfully festive Christmas to our members and fans, and all the best for a brand new ‘Shiny, Happy” New Year!
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