Meeting Report 26th October 2016

What an energising, engaging, even electrifying, show-stopping evening we had at Excalibur’s Guest Night Showcase last night. The room was buzzing with 33 attendees including 11 guests, all present to experience the best of what Excalibur has to offer.  And we didn’t disappoint!  

Paul Andreas Sergeant-at-Arms, opened the meeting with “oomph”! This was followed by Lynne Cantor’s Presidential welcome speech on Challenge, Quality and Variety, which was part of the PR Advanced Manual, Project 1 ‘The Goodwill Speech’. Lynne highlighted what Excalibur, a “club of excellence”, is all about, including our focus on intriguing introductions, taxing table topics and effective evaluations.  

All in green Cat Kipling then took command of the meeting as the Toastmaster of the Evening in her efficient, organised, collected manner. We knew we were in safe hands in the cocoon of Cat’s text book introductions – she had obviously done her homework so was able to share something about the speaker that we didn’t already know.

 “Captain” Bob Ferguson mainly pitted members against guests in the Table Topics vs Evaluation session with topics ranging from “is there a right time to do a wrong thing, or a wrong time to do the right thing”, “what modern wonder would you add to the seven wonders of the ancient world’, the ultimate escape and modern day hero. He took no prisoners in the instantaneous evaluations, expecting us to deliver specific what, why and how people could improve.

Giovanna Vasaturo delivered the first prepared speech “Professional Speakers” from project 3 ‘The Winning Proposal’ in the Persuasive Speaking manual, inspiring us to take our speeches to the next level, which was evaluated by Odile Facih.

The second speech was Irene Bradshaw’s memorable and visually descriptive monologue rant on “The Space Invaders” from Humorously Speaking Manual project 2 ‘Leave Them With A Smile’, that was full of wonderful descriptive phrases and vocal variety and was evaluated by Errol Williamson.

Simon Bucknall, delivering from Project 4 ‘The Touching Story’ in the Storytelling manual, enthralled us with his tale from inside Brixton maximum security jail! encouraging us all to take risks. This was evaluated by Katja van Koten.

Chinkata Okpara led the (controversial at times!) open feedback on not just the speeches but also the speech evaluators, where the audience had their chance to have their say on what they thought the speakers did well, or how they could have done even better.

Simon Cooper in his role as timekeeper delivered timely reports throughout the evening and was disappointed he only got to ring his bell once! 

With a challenge from Cat as to whether maximising his stage time or getting to the pub in time for a free pint from Cat was more important(!), Freddie Daniells provided insightful “feedback on those who have not yet had it”, a slight improvement on last week’s agenda!!  He, in turn, challenged us to up our game with our concluding commendations.*

Congratulations to Suzi Fish who was the Best Table Topics speaker, Errol Williamson who won the Best Evaluator and to Simon Bucknall as the winner of the Prepared Speech.

Our 11 guests all appeared to enjoy our jam packed showcase and are very welcome to visit again or even join us! Contact us at excaliburspeakers@gmail.com.

All in all, a successful and stupendous jam packed evening.

At our next meeting on Wednesday 9^th November, Irene Bradshaw will be delivering a workshop on how to breathe!

The one-day District 91 Conference and Humorous Speech and Table Topics Finals will be on Saturday 5^th November2016 in Woking. Our member Bob Ferguson will be delivering a workshop on leadership, and our President Lynne Cantor will be part of the High Performance Leadership (HPL) panel.  Book your place here.

Please like, comment, tag and share our posts on our Facebook page, as well as follow us on Twitter.

 *P.S.  Freddie did decide a pint was more important meaning the drinks were on Cat!!

October Newsletter

·         Excalibur Open Night

·         Call for 2017 Convention Presenters

·         International Convention on Demand

·         New Shop and Search Engine for TMI

·         Dates not to be missed

Excalibur Open Night – Wednesday 26^th October

We know that Excalibur is a club where members focus on the Advanced Manuals and so much more but we discovered earlier this year that many other Toastmasters did not.  Being the only club in D91 with that focus we decided to hold an open night to show case what we do and our unique meeting format.  With our mission this year to be a “Club of Excellence” and a desire for quality evaluations, stretched table topics and effective introductions, we wanted to attract visitors to experience for themselves the benefits of a club like Excalibur and also to their home clubs should they decide to join.  We have contacted 30 clubs, via their Presidents, put an article in The London Speaker and generally promoted the event.   A great agenda has been lined up with members new and old so do come along to support the event.  If you are planning on bringing someone along please send an email with their names as nos: are limited.  excaliburspeakers@gmail.com

Call for 2017 Convention Presenters

Are you a dynamic presenter? Apply to be a speaker at the 2017 International Convention next August in Vancouver, Canada. If you have proven experience addressing international audiences of 1,000 or more, submit your video and application by December 31, 2016.

http://www.toastmasters.org/Events/2017-International-Convention/call-for-presenters

International Convention on Demand

Did you miss the 2016 World Championship of Public Speaking^®? Want to hear Golden Gavel recipient Tony Buzan's inspirational speech? These convention moments and more are available at Toastmasters On Demand.   https://www.toastmastersondemand.com/

New Shop and Search Engine for TMI

In September, the Toastmasters website was enhanced with major updates to the shop and search engine. Enjoy a faster way to find Toastmasters products on your desktop and mobile device!     https://www.toastmasters.org/shop

Dates not to be Missed

·         Wednesday 26^th October – Excalibur Open Night

o   Excalibur’s Show Case event promoting our unique meeting format

·         Saturday  5^th November  -  District 91 Contest

      Both the Humorous Speech and Table Topic finals plus:- 

o   Bob Ferguson will be facilitating a workshop ‘So, you want to be the World Champion of Public Speaking, eh?’

o   Lynne Cantor will be on the panel for the High Performance Leadership workshop

    Craig Valentine - Monday 14^th November

o   Book to see one of the top speaking coaches in the world.  www.smarturl.it/Craig

o   Craig will be holding a non-Toastmasters full day session on Tuesday 15th. If you would like details of this please get in touch with Freddie Daniells. 

Meeting Report 12th October 2016

What an entertaining Excalibur experience we had at our latest meeting on Wednesday, 12 October 2016

 

Freddie Daniells put on his first hat of the meeting and called us to order, before transitioning into the President role on behalf of Lynne Cantor. As ever he ignited the meeting with his everlasting exuberant energy, whilst sharing the importance of knowing your audience. The much more stable, poised and composed Tony Winyard then took command and equilibrium was restored as he took on the role of Toastmaster for the evening.

 

Paul Andreas kept us to time as Cat Kipling kicked off the Table Topics with a theme of persuasion reminding us that “no-one is safe” from being called up to deliver a Table Topic or an immediate evaluation!  Topics included Cats vs Dogs, North vs South, Fact vs Fiction, Books vs Film, Arts vs Science and British vs Citizens of the World.

 

Chinkata Okpara led the first of three prepared speeches sharing tales of his brother during his best man’s speech from the Entertaining Speaker manual project 5 ‘Speaking After Dinner’.

 

Freddie Daniells put on his third hat of the evening with his Speciality Speech 3 ‘Sell a Product’ persuading Tony Winyard to accept his coaching services. (FD - Tony didn't stand a chance! lol!) 

 

Sergey Karassov then stood into the breech at the last minute and pulled out a mini workshop from his back pocket on body language. He showed us just how much can be communicated by the use of body language alone and by demonstrating the art of silence!

 

Giovanna Vasaturo evaluated Chinkata, Katja van Koten evaluated Freddie, and guest Tissa Dissanayaka fed back on Sergay.

 

Suzi Fish facilitated the open feedback session, and then the whole meeting was humorously evaluated by Glen “Mr Tickle” Savage, a guest General Evaluator from Riverside Communicators. He started by mocking our agenda where it suggests that the GE "evaluates feedback on everyone who has not spoken…”  Hmmm… perhaps we need to amend the agenda on that one!!  His evaluation used the GIT formula -  no, not Gross, Irritating and Tragic, but Grabbed Me, an Invitation, Tickled Me including the observation that “learning is fun” at Excalibur!

 

Freddie and Glen both shared the prize for Best Table Topic...

...Chinkata won the Best Speech... 

...and Tissa was the Best Evaluator on the night.

 

(Don't ask what was going on here!)

We had 6 guests join us from places as far flung as Aberdeen, India, Sri Lanka and Ukraine and we look forward to seeing them again. Three suggested that they may join! 

 

Our next meeting will be our Open Evening Showcase on Wednesday 26^th October at Fitzrovia Community Centre from 6:45 for a 7pm prompt start.  Please contact Freddie Daniells if you would like to attend as a guest as space is limited.