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.

New club president Cat Kipling

After thanking her predecessor Andrew, Cat then passed control of the stage to the Toastmaster of the meeting (and club Treasurer), Chinkata, to run the evening's main proceedings by introducing all the speakers on the programme in turn.

Simon chaired a challenging table topics (impromptu speaking) session based around the theme of putting oneself in someone else's shoes. Participants included Carol who spoke about having to flee the country in the next 24 hours, David A who'd undergone an hypothetical sex-change operation and Tony who imagined himself in place of Rolf Harris during his first night in prison!

Our three prepared speeches could not have been more different. They were started by Lynne who gave us a passionate and expressive rendition of three "Poems by Elizabeth Bishop" for Project 2 from the Interpretive Reading manual. A Miracle for Breakfast described the scarcity of food in depression-era America, while Exchanging Hats subtly broached the subject of transvestitism and Poem described a painting passed down between generations of a family and the memories associated with it.

Sue, in character as Professor Suzie, gave an insightful and humorous presentation on the art of "Flirting" for Project 3 from the Speaking to Inform manual. She demonstrated various techniques for attracting potential suitors such as a provocative pose, the waving of a fan to draw attention and the dropping of a handkerchief to test a your target's manners - with unsuspecting audience members being made part of Sue's performance.

The club's new Sergeant at Arms Tony had the audience inspired and teary-eyed, with his beautiful story "The Tunnel" about a family member's gradual loss and regain of her vision. Based on Project 4 from the Storytelling manual, Tony's speech was both hard-hitting and humorous in places and ultimately reached an uplifting conclusion.

Evaluations that were as varied as our speeches followed from Freddie, David W and new VP Public Relations Swarajit, after which Kate led the Open Feedback session and Immediate Past President Andrew provided the general evaluation - all ably kept to time by VP Membership Karthik.

Next meeting

Our next meeting is on Wednesday, 13^th August at the Fitzrovia Community Centre. Please arrive from 6:50pm for a prompt 7pm start.

Also, on Saturday, 16^th August we'll be holding another session of Excalibur at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park, with more prepared speeches, table topics and evaluations, so put the date in your diaries!

What did you think of this meeting report? Let us know in the comments section or via excaliburspeak@gmail.com.