Regular Meeting report for 14 January 2015

Our first meeting of 2015 kicked off with club president Cat explaining that incremental gains - much like professional athletes aim to achieve in their performance - are the key to overall improvement in public speaking and leadership, and Toastmasters clubs provide the perfect environment for this to happen.

Cat giving her introduction

President's Newsletter, January 2015 – Start as you mean to go on

Happy New Year Exaliburgers, Fellow Toastmasters and Friends!

January marks new starts for many of us, with aspirations for slimmer figures and fatter bank balances. But just like improving our Public Speaking skills, these things don't come about without hard work!

We started our Excalibur year all the way back in July, and as such we are already half way through our next step on the club's journey. As a Committee, we are pleased with our successes to date but we don't want it to stop here!

If you too are starting the year as you mean to go on, how about you get stuck in early and be part of raising the bar at Excalibur Speakers through:

• Signing up to meeting roles well ahead of time
• Working towards your Leadership and Communication awards
• Competing in the upcoming International Speech or Evaluations contests
• Facilitating the contest night, as Contest Chair, Judge or functionary
• Considering a Committee role for 2015/16 (see here for more information)

As always, if you have any questions please do get in touch.

Looking ahead to...

Regular Meeting report for 10 December 2014

Early arrivals to our last meeting of the year were treated to some musical entertainment from flautist Joss, visiting from 1^st London Toastmasters. Joss played pieces inspired by the story of Peter Pan and was dressed quite appropriately for the part!

Pre-meeting entertainment was provided by Joss

Speak Out report for 27 November 2014

The last Speak Out of the year was another intimate and purposeful session that gave Excalibur Speakers members an opportunity to test and develop their public speaking skills on projects that would be difficult to accommodate within a regular evening meeting. David A presided over the meeting as Toastmaster, with Andrew and Anne providing feedback for the two speech projects that afternoon.

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

President's Newsletter, November 2014 – Our new district

If you weren't able to attend the inaugural District 91 conference earlier this month, then I'm afraid you missed out! It was an honour to be representing Excalibur Speakers at the District Council meeting, and I was delighted to see so many familiar faces over the weekend.

Congratulations to Excaliburger David J - representing Division L - who came second in the Table Topics contest and also to Tazud M, fellow Area 45-er, who won the Humorous Speech contest.

Speak Out report for 23 October 2014

A very intimate Speak Out session took place at the Concert Artistes Association last month, with jovial Toastmaster for the day being Immediate Past President Andrew and featuring speeches from members Tony W, Marc and Jane.