Meeting Report for Wednesday 23rd October, 2019

Monika and Gosia got our meeting off to a smooth start, performing the Meet & Greet and Call to Order roles, before President Nick took to the stage with some sage words. He then handed over to our Toastmaster for the evening, Cat.
Sarah then explained - and performed - the Timekeeper role.
We were then ready for Table Topics, hosted by David.
Being an advanced club, we like to do things a little differently and so members of the audience are invited on stage to do an instant evaluation on the previous table topic. House Rule: every evaluator must include a recommendation!
Three prepared, high quality speeches followed. The first was delivered by Ilaria: "Is this Mission Possible?" (Strategic Relationships #1-4 - Researching & Presenting; 5-7 mins).
Our second speech was delivered by Carolina: "More Honey" (Competition & Other speeches #10 - Non-manual speech (5:00-7:00 mins, which included 1:00 min of Q&A).
Then Freddie entertained us with "The Age of Transition" (The Professional Speaker #2 - Speaking to Entertain (15:00-20:00 mins).
The speeches were evaluated for 2-3:00 mins by Latifa, David and Chinkata, before Brian ran the Open Feedback session - in which audience members offer an additional two minutes of commendations and one minute of recommendations per speech.
Our General Evaluator for the evening, Gagan then evaluated everyone who hadn't previously been evaluated.
It was then time for the prizes. Freddie scooped Best Speaker, and Chinkata, who was on top form as usual, was voted both best Evaluator and best Table Topics contestant.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 13th November 2019 at The Fitzrovia Community Centre, 2 Foley St., London W1W 6DN. Guests are very welcome!

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In other news, we welcome Ilaria who had agreed to be our new VPE. She is very experienced Toastmaster and VPE - this will be her fifth time performing this important committee role. 

Meeting Report for Wednesday 9th October, 2019

We met on our traditional second (the other meeting being the fourth) Wednesday of the month at the Fitzrovia Community Centre, 2 Foley Street, W1W 6DN.
Our Toastmaster for the evening was new member Latifa, who delivered a faultless and entertaining performance - her fist time in this role for Excalibur. 
Ben then invited our guests on stage to introduce themselves:

Freddie took the Table Topics session. The participants were instantly evaluated by other members of the audience. 

We then had our three formal speeches: Deborah - "The Secret of Youth" Humorously Speaking # 3 "Make them Laugh". This excellent speech was followed by Robin's "Smart" - Speeches by Management #1 "The Briefing". Finally Prakesh delivered "Books we Read. People we Meet" - Visionary Communication #1-1 Icebreaker. 

The speeches were evaluated by Monika, Ilaria and Carolina. 

Then we had the Open Feedback session, in which the audience is invited to add three minutes per speech of extra commendations and suggestions. Congratulations to Robin (#2) who jumped in at short notice to perform this role!

Kat then delivered an insightful Open Feedback session - in which everyone who hadn't been previously evaluated on stage, received her thoughts and suggestions.

President Nick then awarded the prizes which were as follows: best table Topic: Deborah; best Evaluation: Monika; best Speech: Robin.

Our next meeting is at 19:00 on Wednesday 23th October, at The Fitzrovia Community Centre, 2 Foley Street, London W1W 6DN. Guests are very welcome!

Excalibur Humorous Speech and Table Topics Competition, 25th September, 2019

We met at our usual Fitzrovia venue (2 Foley St., W1W 6DN) for our hotly anticipated annual Humorous Speech and Table Topics competitions. The tension was so great, you could have cut it with a knife (or indeed, a sword).

Our Humorous Speech contestants consisted of Debbie, Chinkata, Ian, David and Ben. Each in turn fulfilled the brief with expertly delivered, funny speeches that lasted 5-7.5 mins (there we no disqualifications).

The Table Topics contestants were Melanie, Debbie, Ilaria, Simon and Robin who answered the question, "What is your most spectacular failure and how did you make it a success?" The permitted time for answers was 1-2.5 mins and again, there were no disqualifications. All gave well structured and thoughtful replies - following the (unwritten) brief of employing a beginning, middle and end.

The Certificates of Participation were then handed out:

After the judges had done their work, the results were announced. The winners of the Table Topics competition were:

First Place: Robin
Second Place: Debbie
Third Place: Ilaria

Humorous Speech Winners:

First Place: Ben
Second Place: Chinkata
Third Place: Debbie

A big thank-you to everyone who helped this fun evening be the great success it was. That includes the many functionaries needed to run a competition, both from Excalibur, and from other clubs. 

The Area Competition is at 18.30 on 29th October at Mindshare Toastmasters, who meet at 1 St Giles High Street, WC2H 8AR. Come and support Robin and Ben! 

The next Excalibur meeting is at 19:00 on 9th October, 2019 at The Fitzrovia Community Centre, 2 Foley Street, W1W 6DN. Guests are very welcome!