By Paul Andreas

On a warm summer evening Georgina, manning the Hospitality Desk,  gave an even warmer smile to welcome our members and guests.

Our Sergeant at Arms, Neil, started the meeting by telling us about the wonderful biscuits that he had bought us for break, so that we couldn’t wait to try them.  Thanks also to Simon, who brought in some extra special biscuits, which he donated to the club.

Neil then handed over to our President, Paul Andreas. Paul announced that he had been looking for ways to encourage each other and had updated the club’s website with some useful resources.

Our Toastmaster for the evening was Karen who introduced her team. Bryony was the Timekeeper, Alexis the Ah Counter and Derrick  the Grammarian.  They all did a wonderful job.

Georgina led The Warm Up by asking us to share things that we like to do this hot wether, which was very relevant.

Royston gave us a Hot Tip about setting goals, which is to act on a consistent basis with deadlines.  Don’t try to be perfect – just do it.

Our first speaker was Alexander with speech #2 from the CC Manual called “Life in plastic:  It’s fantastic?”.  This was an entertaining and informative speech about how the plastic industry has developed following the invention of Bakelite by Leo Baekeland.  Bakelite was the first synthetic plastic. 

Next was Riya with speech # 7 from the CC Manual called “Latest Love of my Life” which is her hoola hoop.   Riya told us how she was advised to take up hoola hooping to develop her abs, how she researched which of the three types were the best and then showed us some moves.

The speeches were ably evaluated by Alain and Richard G respectively.

After the break Vinu led the Table Topics.  She had thirteen topics in total, which gave everyone without a role a chance to speak

Alex had the daunting task of evaluating thirteen table topics, which he did very well.  Well done Alex.

Our General Evaluator for the evening was Paul L who gave us lots of useful feedback.

Our President, Paul A, presented the Awards. Neil and Alexis were joint winners of the Best Table Topics.  Neil’s winning speech was about, “Which day of Your Life Would You Want to Relive”.  Of course, Neil said it was the first time that he attended Toastmasters, ten years ago.  Alexis told an entertaining tale about the night that he got pulled over for speeding.

 

Paul then presented some ribbons to members who had recently completed their Ice Breaker speech or their Competent Communicator Manual..

Two of our members, Bryony and Alexander have recently married and Paul presented them with a card signed by all the members.  Congratulations Alex and Bryony.

Paul A then drew the meeting to a close by reminding everyone to come to the Annual Dinner at the Bickley Manor Hotel on Thursday 6 July.

A big thank you to all those who took on roles, gave speeches and helped to make the evening a great success.

News

Annual Dinner

This will be held on Thursday 6 July when our existing Committee will handover to our new Committee.  Tickets are going fast.  Contact Jenny Taggart and book up while you still can.  This is also our 25^th Anniversary Dinner and we want to make it special.  We are hoping that some of our past presidents, past Area Directors and our new Division Director will be able to attend.

The venue is beautiful.  You can see it here:

https://www.themanoratbickley.co.uk/

Resources

We have updated our website Resources page with details of good videos and articles about completing the CC Manual.  You can see them here:

Useful resources

We also intend to create a new website page called videos and load up to it some videos of educational speeches that we have had at the club, such as Body Language and Table Topics.

 

 

 

 

Our meeting was kicked off by our Sergeant at Arms, Neil, who then handed over to our President, Paul Andreas. Paul encouraged everyone by reading a passage, “The Journey of a Speaker” from one of his favorite books, “The Speakers Toolbox”.   The passage is reproduced at the end of this email.

Our Toastmaster for the evening was Richard G, who introduced his team. Vinu was the Timekeeper, Adam the Ah Counter and Nick, the Grammarian.  They all did a great job.

Annelise led The Warm Up by asking us to share a good habit that we had adopted this year. This got some interesting and useful responses.

Dave H gave us a Hot Tip about always having a back-pocket speech, which was very timely as two speakers had dropped out creating some last minute slots.

Our first speaker was Oscar with speech #6 from the CC Manual called “Sounds of Silence”, which has an objective of Vocal Variety.

Next was Paul A, with speech # 5 from the CC Manual called “Body Language”.  This was an educational speech about how to use body language in our speeches. Paul demonstrated how you can use your body language to increase your self-confidence.

The speeches were ably evaluated by Tony and Neil respectively.

After the break Richard M led the Table Topics with a twist.  He has a book called “The Book of Answers” and he invited members to the stage to ask a question of the book.  They then had to answer their own question based on the answer from the book.

So, the crafty ones asked the book a question that they knew a lot about to make it easier.

Simon evaluated the Table Topics and managed to evaluate twelve topics in only eight minutes. Well done Simon, especially as he was feeling tired after a really busy day at work.

Our General Evaluator for the evening was Eddie who gave us lots of tips and insights with his usual humour.

Our President, Paul A, presented the Awards. Susan and John were joint winners of the Best Table Topics.  There were no other awards as we had only two speakers.

A big thank you to all those who took on roles, gave speeches and helped to make the evening a great success.

After the meeting some of us went to the pub with Freddie who said that he had been impressed by the high standards of the speeches and the role holders.  That is praise indeed from someone with his experience!

News

The Shortlands Tavern

Members reported that they really enjoyed the meeting last week at the Shortlands Tavern and were happy to return there for more meetings.

The next meeting there has been pencilled in for Thursday 27 July to give our members more speaking opportunities and reduce the wait time for a speech.

Annual Dinner

This will be held on Thursday 6 July when our existing Committee will handover to our new Committee.  Tickets are going fast.  Contact Jenny Taggart and book up while you still can.  This is also our 25^th Anniversary Dinner and we want to make it special.  We are hoping that some of our past presidents, past Area Directors and our new Division Director will be able to attend.

The Speaker’s Journey

Initially, most speakers are self-centred so that they are nervous about themselves – Will I remember the lines?  Do I look good, sound good?  How’s my language?  What techniques should I be thinking about? Do I have the right phrases?  Are gestures right?

Then, later, experience takes over and you move to a different level.  It moves from “me” to “the audience”.

Your over-arching goal becomes:  How can I serve the audience?  What can I share from my experiences and insights to serve them? To help lift them?

Speaking is a journey – you learn who you are: you become comfortable standing in front of audiences and share “stuff” (your stuff) to help them. The Speaker’s Toolbox, P94.

Resources

Here’s a great resource that I’ve found recently for anyone completing their CC Manual:

http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/toastmasters-speech-0-competent-communicator/