Excalibur Speakers Meeting Report for 9th January, 2019

Our Toastmasters advanced speaking club met on 9th January to a near-full house.

Meet and Greet/Call to Order was expertly handled by Brian (who was also Timekeeper), before he handed over to our club President, Monika, who in turn introduced our dynamic Toastmaster, Freddie.

We had eight guests this evening, who were introduced by Freddie. Each in turn told us a little about themselves...

Ben was Table Topics Master. The theme was storytelling and each participant was given the first sentence of a story, which they were invited to complete in 1-2 mins. Topics included something you forgot to take along on your dream date, the interviewer who asked the one question you prayed they wouldn't, you doctor laughing before s/he reads out your test results and your excuse when stopped for speeding.

Our first speaker was Ken, with "Ordinary Life, Extraordinary Mission" (Storytelling - 5 - Bringing History to Life).

Chinkata, then delivered, via two poems (one of which was an amusing take on the Cinderella story) "What is the Point of Poetry" (Interpretive Reading - 2 - Interpretive Poetry).

Our third speaker was David, with "Try, Try, Try Again" (Presentation Mastery - 3 - Evaluation and Feedback - 2).

 Our three speeches were then evaluated by Ian, Simon and Cat.

Prakash ran the Open Feedback session - we are one of the very few clubs that offers members and guests the opportunity to add additional commends and recommends to the speakers. Our General Evaluator for the evening was the extremely experienced Aditya, who made a number of useful comments about our club.

Table Topics winner for the evening was guest, Chris. The Best Evaluator award went to Cat and Ken was voted best speaker.

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

Meeting Report for 12th December, 2018

Excalibur Speakers met on the 12th December for our last meting of the year, which was a Christmas-themed delight. Our Toastmaster was Brian.

Freddie introduced a new idea: a game of spot the (Christmas) word bingo, which kept members and guests on their toes (or edges of their seats) as they identified the various words cunningly disguised throughout the evening's oratory. Our President, Monika, proved to be the most alert person in the room, winning this rare and highly prestigious award.

Cat then took control of Table Topics. We do things a little differently at Excalibur: immediately after someone has delivered a TT, another club member or guest is invited on stage to evaluate it.

Our first prepared speech was delivered by Paul, "The Wandering Star" (CC Manual - 7 - Research Your Topic) - in which he examined evidence from several sources to determine whether the Bible story of The Star of Bethlehem was based on fact or fiction.

Ian delivered the second speech, "Queen's Gambit" (Speciality Speeches - 4 - Read Out Loud) - which was a beautifully delivered reading about a famous people perfectly adapted to long distance running.

Ben got on stage next, with "Bottle Top" (Speciality Speeches - 2 - Inspire Your Audience) - a treatise on how improved individual wellbeing is good for the economy, society and planet.

The speeches were evaluated by Chinkata, Lynne and Errol with their commendations and recommendations further developed (along with new insights) in our Open Feedback session, which was run by Ian.

Anke was General Evaluator. The highlight of her session peaked when she announced she was going to join Excalibur!

The best Table Topic winner was our guest, Melanie. Best speech evaluator was Errol and the best speaker award went to Ben.

Out next meeting is at 19:00hrs on 9th January, 2019 at the Fitzrovian Community Centre, Foley St., W1W 6DN. All members and guest are most welcome!

Meeting Report for 28th November, 2018

Our President Monica opened the meeting before handing over to our Toastmaster for the evening, Cat, who invited Carolina to introduce out three guests.

Our Timekeeper, Lukasz then explained his role before Ian took to the floor to run the Table Topics session. Developing a challenging theme proposed by Brian at the last meeting, participants were invited on stage in pairs to debate alternative design scenarios of various body parts (!). Instant evaluations were then delivered by our club members.

Freddie delivered the first speech of the evening: Special Occasion Speeches - Accepting an Award. This was to celebrate his ASS award which was achieved in a record Toastmasters' time. Which may or may not have been a record slow time.

Brian then spoke: "Uncle George the Marathon Man" - Motivational Strategies - 2 - Evaluation and Feedback. The speech was an amusing and fascinating insight into a relative's 1908 Olympic performance.

Robin entertained us in her Star Trek uniform (including pointy ears) with "A Vulcan in the Dragon's Den" - Speciality Speeches - 3 - Sell a Product. She successfully raised VL150m (Vulcan Lira or £40m at the 2055 exchange rate). 

The speeches we evaluated by Simon, Paul and Chinkata before Ben teased more commendations and recommendations from the audience in our Open Feedback session.

Hoang, our General Evaluator, then presented his thoughts on what he liked and what he'd change about Excalibur. The former outnumbered the latter by a considerable margin.

Monika then awarded the prizes for the evening. Best Table Topics was shared by Robin and one of our guests, Panikkos. Chinkata was voted best evaluator. Robin then scooped a second prize - Best Speaker - which she shared with Freddie.

The next meeting is on 12th December, at the Fitzrovia Community Centre, 2 Foley Street, W1W 6DN.

   

Meeting Report for 14th November, 2018

Our meeting got underway after Harsha had met and gret (I know - but it rhymes) and Brian had called us to order. An auspicious start by two DTMs in as many minutes! We are, an advanced club, after all...
Then our President, Monica took over before handing over to the TM for the evening, Ben, whose meeting theme was important lessons learned when travelling. As the evening progressed, our sophisticated, reflective and well-travelled members were introduced on stage, to share hugely valuable travel-related philosophical insights. Or not, as the case may be.
Our Timekeeper, (Commander) Robin took time out from her time travels around Alfa Centauri to (Star) Trek all the way to Fitzrovia and no sooner had she illuminated us as to the meaning of the magical lights, Brian came on stage to run the Table Topics session. He introduced an interesting new idea: a Q & A between an imaginary employer (Cat) and a potential Santa Claus (David). Despite the piercing questions, there was universal approval when it was announced that he got the job.

Three excellent speeches were then delivered: Harsha described his life as an "Ugly Duckling" (Dynamic Leadership - 1 - Icebreaker); Ian talked us through his "Pathways Experience" (The Entertaining Speaker - Make Them Laugh) and David read aloud an abbreviated version of Oscar Wilde's "The Model Millionaire" (Interpretive Reading - 1 - Tell a Story).
The speeches were evaluated by Carolina, Freddie and Chinkata.
Cat then teased out more commendations and recommendations on the speeches in our Open Feedback session - a feature in which Excalibur is (almost?) unique.

Our visiting General Evaluator was Chris, whose insightful delivery brought the meeting (nearly) to a close...

...but not before the evening's awards were handed out. Cat and David shared best Table Topics, Freddie and Chinkata were voted best evaluators and David scooped best speaker.

With special thanks to out stand-in photographer of the evening.

Our next meeting is on 28th November at 19:00, at the Fitzrovia Community Centre, 2 Foley Street, W1W 6DN. Guests are very welcome!

Meeting on Wednesday 10th October 2018

The club met on 10th October for another high quality and entertaining evening. After (acting) President Freddie had started the evening off, he handed over to Toastmaster Errol, who steered the good ship Excalibur with his usual usual finesse. Table Topics Master was Ben and Timekeeper David kept everything on (err...) time.

Our four guests (including our GE Adolfo, who later performed this role with great energy and insight) were introduced by Harsha. Each told us a little about themselves.

Table Topics Master Ben then fired a range of randomly selected questions at a number of eager participants. Whether explaining, "Why I love sharks", "Why French food is superior to Italian" or "Why horse riding should be taught in schools", none of the questions managed to throw a participant. Not that they were intended to.

Our prepared speeches were given firstly by Robin, "An Irish Reading" (Speciality Speaking - 4 - Read Out Loud). The quality, excitement, erudition, pace, grammar, characterisation and interwoven subtleties of the first chapter of whatever book she chose to read from generated gasps from the on-the-edge-of-their-seats audience. The Table Topic Master was recorded as having made a comment to the effect that the content sounded vaguely familiar and your blog chronicler echoes that sentiment.

David then spoke for seven minutes as he took us on a fascinating trip that reached back to his schooldays, with, "What to Find and Where" (Innovative Planning - 2 - Evaluation and Feedback.

Our third speech was delivered by Chinkata, which was a practice of his competition-winning humorous speech, "In the name of the Father, the Son and the Grandfather". It produced laughs all around.

The speeches were evaluated by Paul, Ian and Simon before Lukasz ran the open feedback session, where members and guests made further commendations and recommendation on the speeches. This element of the evening is unusual - perhaps unique to Excalibur (which is an advanced Toastmasters club) -  and provides both more insights for the speakers' (and audience's) benefit, as well as an opportunity for more people to contribute to the evening.

Simon was on top form this evening, scooping the best Table Topics and evaluator awards. Chinkata was the winner of the best speaker award.

The evening was a great success. Many thanks to all who attended, including those who participated, whether with roles, spontaneous or prepared material.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 24th October at the Fitzrovia Centre, 2 Foley Street, W1W 6DN. All are very welcome!   

 
 

Improve Your Slides!

Planning on using slides in a presentation? Well, there's more to it that just cramming every last bullet -pointed fact or photo into PowerPoint!

My thanks to Ian, who brought these useful articles to my attention.

Aspect Ratios: 

https://photography.tutsplus.com/articles/the-art-of-using-aspect-ratios-in-digital-photography--photo-7947

https://www.woodst.com/web-design-development/what-is-image-aspect-ratio-and-why-it-matters-a-lot/

The Golden Ratio:
http://emptyeasel.com/2009/01/20/a-guide-to-the-golden-ratio-aka-golden-section-or-golden-mean-for-artists/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio

2018 Excalibur Speakers Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contests

We held our annual Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contests on Wednesday 12th September in our Fitzrovia venue and unsurprisingly, the room was packed!

Sergeant at Arms, Marcin brought some order to the excited audience when he opened the meeting before handing over to the evening's President, Freddie, who then injected even more excitement and energy into the buzzing room! The Competition Chairperson, Sonia then took to the stage to explain how the contest works, the rules and the speaker order for the Humorous Speech Contest.

First on stage was Ian, with a speech titled "Kakistocracy"- which was a beautifully constructed discourse on the absurdity by which government and businesses are run by the very worst qualified people. Brain - looking dapper in his security guard outfit - was second on stage with his spooky-funny tale "A Night at the Museum". Third up was Monika, with "Professional Interviewee" in which she recounted the many lows and highs of job seeking before finally Chinkata, with "Father, Son and Grandfather", shared some of the experiences and lessons he'd learned via three generations of his family back in Nigeria. There were laughs aplenty but because Toastmasters doesn't allow filming of competitions, you'll have to take my word for it!

Next we had the Table Topics Contest, with contestants David, Simon, Brian, Ian and Chinkata ready to do (friendly) battle. The Table Topic question was, "Aliens have invaded Earth. Your boss wants to hire them. What do you tell your team to convince them this is a good idea?" Each provided a unique and clever answer within the allocated time and no contestants were disqualified in either this or the Humorous Speech Contest for time infringements.

When the votes were finally counted and recounted and rerecounted, it was time for the prize-giving. David won the Table Topics, with Chinkata second and Simon third. 

Prize certificates were awarded by the Chief Judge, Andy, who kept everything running smoothly throughout the entertaining evening. 

Chinkata won the Humorous Speech Contest with Monika in second place. David and Chinkata will now progress to the Area competition.

The evening was a great success and our next meeting starts at 7pm on Wednesday 26th September at the Fitzrovia Centre, 2 Foley Street, W1W 6DN - guests are very welcome!