Meeting Report for Wednesday 11th December 2019

Our Christmas-themed meeting started at 19:00 at our Fitzrovia venue, with a few members posing for the camera in their festive costumes.

Ken then called us to order before handing over to our President, Nick, who, after a few inspiring words, introduced our Toastmaster for the evening, Freddie.

Melanie, performing the Meet & Greet role, then invited our guests on stage, who each took a moment to tell us a little about themselves.

Our Timekeeper, Ilaria explained her role before Gosia conducted a Christmas-themed Table Topics session. At Excalibur, each TT is evaluated immediately after it has been delivered for up to 45 seconds by  a member of the audience.  

Our formal speeches then followed. The first was delivered by David: "From Dauphin to Charlemagne" (Presentation Mastery #2-3 Introduction to Toastmaster Mentoring). This was followed by Nick, with "Naughty of Nice?" (Humorously Speaking #4 - Keep them Laughing) and then Simon delivered "Who do you think I am?" (Presentation Mastery #1-2 - Evaluation and Feedback - 1). 

The speeches were evaluated by Latifa, Ian and Cat, before Ben took the Open Feedback session - in which members and guests are invited to add two minutes of commendations and one minute of suggestions to each speech.

Our General Evaluator, Alice then gave her meeting report - in which she explained what she liked about our club and made a few suggestions about how members could improve their performances.

Then it was time for the prizes! Cat was chosen as best Evaluator, Lynne scooped the Best Table Topic award and Simon was awarded the Best Speaker prize - for a speech that many present agreed was the best they'd heard him deliver.

And so ended another fun, high quality Excalibur meeting. Our next is on 8th January, 2020 at our usual venue, the Fitzrovia Community Centre, 2 Foley Street, W1W 6DN. Guests are very welcome!

Meeting Report for 27th November, 2019

Ben called the meeting to order before  handing over to our President, Nick. After a few inspiring words from him, he introduced Monika, who was Toastmaster for the evening. She then invited David on stage who introduced our seven guests.

Our Table Topics Master was Ilaria who posed a number of thought-provoking TTs, which were answered and then instantly evaluated by audience members, in our packed Fitzrovia venue. 

The prepared speeches were: Melanie, with "The Annual Review" (Speeches by Management #2 - Appraise with Praise). This was followed by Sarah, with "Emotional Authenticity" (Visionary Commuication #2-2 - Understanding your Communication Style). Thirdly, Ian delivered "Using Schedules Effectively in Software Development" (Speaking to Inform #4 - A Fact-Finding Report).

The speeches were then evaluated by Robin, Freddie and Gosia before Lynne took our Open Feedback session - in which members and guests have three minutes per speech to add additional commendations and recommendations.

Visiting guest, Dominik then performed the General Evaluator role, which he did flawlessly, without notes (which was particularly impressive, as he remembered everyone's name!). 

Winner of Best Table Topic was David, Freddie scooped best Evaluator and Sarah was voted best speaker. 

Our next meeting is at 19:00 on 11th December, at The Fitzrovia Community Centre, W1W 6DN. Guests, as always, are very welcome!