Regular Meeting report for 10 December 2014

Early arrivals to our last meeting of the year were treated to some musical entertainment from flautist Joss, visiting from 1^st London Toastmasters. Joss played pieces inspired by the story of Peter Pan and was dressed quite appropriately for the part!

Pre-meeting entertainment was provided by Joss

Speak Out report for 27 November 2014

The last Speak Out of the year was another intimate and purposeful session that gave Excalibur Speakers members an opportunity to test and develop their public speaking skills on projects that would be difficult to accommodate within a regular evening meeting. David A presided over the meeting as Toastmaster, with Andrew and Anne providing feedback for the two speech projects that afternoon.

Regular Meeting report for 12 November 2014

After an abrupt call to attention from acting Sergeant at Arms Richard, club president Cat opened this month's regular meeting rather cryptically by playing the theme tune from BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing – promising all would be revealed later on. After making our guests (including several first-timers) feel very welcome, Cat handed over control of the meeting to David L as Toastmaster of the evening.

David L as Toastmaster

President's Newsletter, November 2014 – Our new district

If you weren't able to attend the inaugural District 91 conference earlier this month, then I'm afraid you missed out! It was an honour to be representing Excalibur Speakers at the District Council meeting, and I was delighted to see so many familiar faces over the weekend.

Congratulations to Excaliburger David J - representing Division L - who came second in the Table Topics contest and also to Tazud M, fellow Area 45-er, who won the Humorous Speech contest.

Speak Out report for 23 October 2014

A very intimate Speak Out session took place at the Concert Artistes Association last month, with jovial Toastmaster for the day being Immediate Past President Andrew and featuring speeches from members Tony W, Marc and Jane.

President's Newsletter, October 2014 – Celebrating 90 years

Welcome to this "Happy 90th Anniversary Toastmasters International" newsletter! Did you know that it is 90 years this week since the first Toastmasters meeting was held at the YMCA in Santa Ana, California? The organisation grew out of a single club, Ralph C. Smedley's Smedley Chapter One Club, which would become the first Toastmasters club.

The official anniversary is on Wednesday, 22nd October, and it marks the beginning of a yearlong tribute that will be celebrated in clubs across the world. From that one club, the organisation now stands at more than 313,000 members in more than 14,650 clubs in 126 countries!

Looking ahead to...

Regular Meeting report for 8 October 2014

On a rather damp and dreary evening, club president Cat opened what turned out to be a fun-packed meeting with an anecdote based on her recent experience of hosting an Annual General Meeting. She explained how treating your audience as if they're the most important people in the world can make them hang on your every word. Cat then handed the meeting's proceedings over for David, the Toastmaster of the meeting, to take forward.

Toastmaster of the meeting, David

Speak Out report for 25 September 2014

The September monthly Speak Out event got the new season off to a busy start with Ken announcing the schedule of Speakers, to be followed by the open feedback from the floor.

Contest report for 10 September 2014

September marks the start of the autumn contest season and this month's regular meeting played host to the club's Humorous Speech & Table Topics contests. After a quick welcome from club president Cat, contest chair Ken got things started with an explanation of the rules and speaking order for the Humorous Speech contest.

Ken announcing the speaking order

President's Newsletter, August 2014 – The gloves are off

Welcome friends to a somewhat belated August newsletter (my excuse is that I'm desperately hanging onto the last of the summer...). August was something of a thrill at Excalibur Speakers, with a rich and varied Regular meeting in week two followed by an exhilarating outdoor meeting at Speakers' Corner in week 3.

Pushing boundaries at Speakers’ Corner - 16 August 2014

Stepping outside of your comfort zone is an underlying theme of Toastmasters – pushing boundaries to raise your game. Last Saturday, at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park, Excalibur Speakers came together with Toastmasters from across London and beyond to deliver an entertaining and informative meeting to the unsuspecting public.

Toastmasters and guests gathered at Speakers' Corner, Hyde Park

Regular Meeting report for 13 August 2014

Club president Cat opened this month's meeting promptly at the new start time of 7pm by giving an introduction to Toastmasters as an organisation and then inviting the guests to introduce themselves. She then passed control of the stage to VP Education Ken to run the rest of the meeting as Toastmaster of the evening and introduce each of the speakers on the programme.

President's Newsletter, July 2014 – Raising the bar

After giving my inaugural Presidential address at our meeting this month – inspired by Past President Simon's rendition of JFK's inaugural speech – it seemed only fitting for me to greet you all formally via cyberspace as well.

Regular Meeting report for 9 July 2014

Our first meeting of the Toastmasters year kicked off with some celebratory 'fizz' and new club president Cat speaking about her recent preparations for embarking on her leadership role. Inspired by past president Simon's recent interpretative reading of JFK's inaugural presidential address at the previous club meeting, Cat had researched other opening speeches on YouTube to prepare for her own. She threw down the gauntlet for the year ahead by encouraging members to be part of 'raising the bar' at Excalibur Speakers.

Welcome to Excalibur Speakers

Welcome to the blog for Excalibur Speakers.

This is a holding post to get the blog started, but in future we intend to publish club news and meeting reports here.

In the meantime, please check out our main website at excalibur-speakers.co.uk where this blog is also available.