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

David explained the structure of the meeting and the word of the day, "evocative", before introducing Carl on stage as the timekeeper. After Carl's quick introduction to his role, it was over to Swarajit to run the table topics session on his chosen theme of reality TV shows.

Anne reflected on whether we now live in a 'Big Brother' society but decided that being responsible for the thousands of security cameras that monitor our every move would be a very boring job indeed! Nazeer, visiting past District 79 governor from Saudi Arabia, considered whether he would take part in I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! and decided that he would rather turn vegetarian even though it would not be an easy task in his home country.

Nazeer giving his table topic response

Kate decided that she would do her best to be fired from The Apprentice because she hates the show, while Olga explained why she felt the Royal Family (who are entertained by the winners of Britain's Got Talent) are simply irreplaceable and any alternative would simply not live up to them. Each topic response was given an impromptu evaluation by Richard, Cat, Andrew and Tony W respectively.

Kate speaking about The Apprentice

Karthik started off the prepared speeches tonight with a speech on how to "Donate Your Way to Happiness" based on Project 9 of the Competent Communication manual. Karthik attempted to persuade the audience to "think before giving while giving without thought", enforcing his point with pertinent quotes and statistics – such as the surprising result that only twenty per cent of donations end up going to the intended beneficiary.

Karthik giving his speech "Donate Your Way to Happiness"

Next up was George with a brainstorming session based on Project 2 from the Facilitating Discussion manual. George, assisted by Kate, hosted a discussion on how Excalibur Speakers can best achieve its goals in the Distinguished Club Programme (DCP) when the majority of its members have dual membership. Ideas flowed throughout the workshop, including assigning awards to the club at which the bulk of the learning takes place or splitting communication and leadership awards between the different clubs.

George facilitating the discussion on DCP points

The final prepared speech was given by club secretary Justine, speaking in praise of Sir Nicholas Winton for Project 2 from the Special Occasion Speeches manual. Justine told the story of the man who became known as the 'British Schindler' because of his work in organising the rescue of hundreds of Jewish refugees in Czechoslovakia and ensuring their safe passage to the UK. Winton was knighted in 2003 in recognition of his achievements and also received the highest honour awarded by the Czech Republic.

After the prepared speeches, Kate stepped up again to evaluate Karthik's No. 9 speech. Kate praised the vast improvement she'd witnessed in Karthik's delivery style as well as the easy-to-follow structure of his speech and clear call to action. She recommended that in order to persuade an audience more powerfully, Karthik could try to speak in a more emotive way by varying his tone of voice and using personal stories.

Freddie evaluated George's workshop and commended him for keeping in control of the time with the help of his assistant. He recommended that, as a facilitator, George should have remained neutral on the subject himself and allowed the group to come to a decision about the best options to take forward by means of a vote.

Sue evaluated Justine's special occasion speech, beginning with a recommendation that a bigger hook was required open the speech but praising her research as well as the choice of topic and facts to share.

Sue evaluating Justine

Finally, Lyn facilitated an open feedback session where the whole audience was invited to give commendations and recommendations for each of the preceding presentations.

Lyn chairing the open feedback

Evaluating the meeting as a whole was Neil visiting from Early Bird Speakers who impressively delivered his general evaluation without notes and gave useful recommendations such as not just aiming to project our voices to the back of the room but also to the person five feet behind the stage.

Neil giving his general evaluation

Awards

Closing the meeting, president Cat returned to the stage to make some special announcements and hand out the awards that had been voted for:

• The award for best table topic went to Anne.
• Freddie was voted best evaluator.
• The best prepared speech award went to Justine.

And finally...

The purpose behind Cat's musical introduction to the meeting became clear as she invited all the club members to the Area 45 festive social, Strictly Come Toastmasters on Thursday, 4^th December (members, check your e-mail for your invitation) and showed us a highly entertaining video clip featuring the making of the trophy that dancers will be competing for on the night.

Sue M and Lynne C will each be leading a dance team to represent Excalibur Speakers at the contest, so please get in touch with them via ToastmasterClub.org if you'd like to take part.

Next meeting

Our next meeting is a Speak Out event on Thursday, 27^th November at the Concert Artistes Association. Arrive in time for a prompt 12 noon start.

Our last regular meeting of the year is on Wednesday, 10^th December from 7pm at the Fitzrovia Community Centre.