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Thursday, 9 February 2017

Meeting Summary 8th Feb 2017


Enthusiastic SaA Paul Andreas welcomed us and called our “same but different” club meeting to order.

Our dedicated President, Lynne Cantor advised us not to have “a curly hair day” when passing through passport control, and neatly tied it in to not confusing the audience in our speaking. ‘If you confuse you lose!’. Our 9 guests from as far afield as Hungary and Austria were warmly welcomed.

Lynne warned us not to pick a fight with our Toastmaster of the evening, Monika “brains and braun” Swiderska, who was proudly sporting a black eye – you should have seen the other guy!!  Her theme as our “Icebreaker Toastmaster” was to bring us all closer to achieving our dreams and she did this in a positive, smiling manner throughout.

Brian Skelton’s inspired and memorable Table Topics session (“they’re like marmite – you either love them or hate them!”), was all about being a household object and responding to a family’s typical day; cue much laughter!  Paul ‘bathroom mirror” Andreas, David “dining room table” West, Fodor “front door” and Freddie “excitable, funny but bizarre dog!” Daniells!  They were instantly evaluated by Suzi Fish, Mustapha Hanafi, Anne Bingham and Carol West respectively.  Those who ‘forgot’ to provide a recommendation were advised to ask the audience.  They did!  Good luck to Brian in his quest to do a TEDx speech incidentally!

Our first prepared speaker was our resident DJ Tony Winyard, speaking about “Peace of Mind” from the The Professional Speaker advanced manual, #3, The Sales Training Speech, ably proving as to why he was voted the “Best DJ of the Year 2016” with his sales pitch to wedding couples!

Lynne Cantor did a double act with “There is More After 10” as part of her Public Relations advanced manual, Project #2 The Radio Talk Show, and was interviewed on TMI Radio’s “Toastmasters Matters” by Suzi Fish.  Lynne effectively explained and answered questions as to why she is so passionate about Excalibur Speakers and what makes us a club of excellence.  Afterwards she offered to share her speech with us to encourage us to share these messages in our home clubs (check out Facebook!).

Our final speaker with her “Excalibur Icebreaker” was Hannah Van Der Deiji with “Datamining: should we be worried?” from the Speaking To Inform advanced manual #1 The Speech To Inform.  This was very topical and talked about how a London based data management company was instrumental in the recent US elections, and how important using data with integrity is.

The insightful evaluators were Katja van Koten, Freddie Daniells and Cat Kipling respectively.  In the lead up to the Evaluation Contest in two weeks’ time, the evaluators were the subject of the Open Feedback Session, led by Mustapha Hanafi (also doing  his Excalibur Ice Breaker role)

Time conscious Odile Facih efficiently timed us all after getting us all tuned in to how long a minute actually was, but we still went over time!

The general evaluation was ably delivered by our guest GE, Tom from Citi Speakers.  He reminded us that the more prepared we are the more things flow smoothly!  True words Tom!

Tonight’s awards were presented to David West for Best Table Topic, Cat Kipling for her Evaluation, and Tony Winyard for his prepared Speech.  Well done all!


Future Meetings:
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 22nd February, and is our International Speech and Evaluation Contest.  If you would like to enter the Evaluation Contest, be a Judge or take on a functionary role please get in touch with our VPE Freddie
Kindly also let us know if you are attending future meetings and accept your allocated roles via Easyspeak.  Thank you.

Irene Bradshaw is holding an Excalibur “How to Breathe” Workshop on Wednesday 22nd March at The Plough, 27 Museum Street, London, WC1A 1LH, 6:45pm for a 7pm prompt start.

The Area Contest will be Thursday 30th March – more details to follow.

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!

Visitors are welcome to experience Excalibur at any time.  Those who have completed 7CC speeches and above would most benefit.   We are always seeking guest GEs.  Contact us at excaliburspeakers@gmail.com.

Club Matters – New Buddying Programme (Less formal than a mentoring Programme but still supportive)
David West will be contacting us all shortly via email.  Please respond as we would like everyone to either be a Buddy or be Buddied or both. 

We are seeking volunteers for the club committee to take Excalibur Speakers forward in the next Toastmaster year.  Kindly contact Lynne or excaliburspeakers@gmail.com if you are interested in finding out more.

Social Media:
Please like, comment, tag photos and share our posts on our Facebook page, and follow us on Twitter, thank you. 


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