This blog area is for all members of Chiltern Speakers to comment on meetings, discuss topics that have come up in speeches and share ideas that could help other members.
For example, do you have a favourite way of planning or practising a speech? Did you feel that some additional information would have been useful to you when performing a role?
Speak up! This space is for you.
Report by Gilly Stoddart
As a relatively new member of Toastmasters I’m still amazed at how much fun and how inspiring an evening with the Chiltern Speakers can be. Tonight was no exception.
For me, the table top discussions are both the most daunting and most fun part of the evening (“will I be picked to speak or won’t I”). Robert Stuart devised a most ingenious table topic; we were archaeologists exploring a midden and had to describe a number of artefacts that had been ‘found’. Rupe Mann found a light fitting, Jane Penson found a fabulous device to unscrew things, Esther described a step for reaching things that are just out of reach and Phil found a donglegrapher , an amazing device for drawing circles on the ceiling before the invention of computers, (how we survive without these nowadays, I’ll never know).
The set speeches followed. Phillip Sheahan gave his second speech which was entitled “What if” and described what might happen if you could plug a window into a parallel universe suffering from a plague of “Ad ludicum” which roughly translates to “common sense.” Krys Duvall used some great props in her eighth speech which described “What’s in a smile.” This informative speech explained what a smile is, why we smile and how to tell a fake smile. We then had two icebreaker speeches; Simon Fossel gave a very personal account about the “Yin and Yan” of his personality and Terry Edwards demonstrated great control of his voice as he recited two of his own poems and gave an insight into his life.
Thoughtful critique of the set speeches by the evaluators (Mike Kavanagh; Peter Shreeve; Tracy Miranda; Rupe Mann; Jane Penson) followed before the the evening was then wrapped up by the general evaluator, Mark Emanuelson, who summed up how the evening had progressed..
All in all, another great evening, with lots of fun and laughter, and gentle critique to help our friends improve their skills.
Big thanks to Barbara for this weeks blog.
Krys opened the meeting, introducing two guests – Bill and Ray; and welcomed two new members – Simon and Frank.
Krys reminded everyone that speaking slots are precious so it is important to let Jane know in advance if you’re not going to be able to make your slot so that it can be offered to someone else.
Krys handed over to Nikki, TM for the evening. Nikki advised the topic for the session – The Great Outdoors.
Peter Shreeve was Grammarian – CANDOR – was his word for the evening (that’s CANDOUR for us in the UK!)
Table Topics Master Bibi had six ‘great outdoors’ topics:
First speaker was Rupe with his second project from the Competent Communication Manual ; a 5-7 minute talk on ‘How to become an expert’. Chetan was evaluator for Rupe.
Second speech was from Neil D (his 7th), also of 5-7 mins duration. The topic was ‘Genius at work’. Neil told us how he has moved on from disliking Thomas Hardy at school to finding the Mayor of Casterbridge gripping more recently! Rob S was his evaluator who said he wanted to know more about Hardy and to read the books. Inspiring stuff indeed!
Just before the break, Krys spoke with candor/candour about having a screw loose (on her glasses!); Krys also provided an ‘educational slot’ in place of a speech scheduled by someone who was not able to attend the evening.
Krys also advised some important diary dates: an international contest on 21 February; an area event being hosted by Beaconsfield on 14 April and a mic night on 12 March (20 places, filling fast!).
The third and final speech of the evening was given by Mike Kavanagh. Evaluator Mark E advised that this was speciality speech # 2, of 8-10 minutes duration, and was meant to uplift the spirit. In his evaluation Mark described how Mike made a good bad case but felt that the positives could have been developed a little more.
Mike talked first of a about the Eurozone, the doom-monger newspapers (bad is good news-wise), stats, pollsters, the need for some reverse spin prior to reminding us of the ‘Reasons to be Cheerful’ including 21st century dentistry!
Grammarian peter commented on Neil being a master of language.
As general evaluator Phil Sheehan noted how Nikki never looked flustered and commended David for the fantastic job he regularly undertakes in setting up the room; he also commented how the evaluators need to get the balance right. He thanked Bibi for her table topics and commended Peter for being an excellent grammarian.
Phil then handed back to Krys who announced the winners as follows:
Best Table Topic speaker: Bill
Best Evaluator: Mark
Best Speaker: Mike
All in all, it was a lively and entertaining evening. Educational too!
Roll on 7 February.
Look forward to seeing you there.
Barbara
Chiltern Speakers will hold our contest on 21 February.
The time and place are exactly as for a normal meeting but the format is different.
Speaking contest.
Contestants have to have completed six of the speeches in the Competent Communicator manual to be eligible. Their speeches can be on any topic that would normally be acceptable in the club. (I have noticed, however, that if you are ambitious and would like to go through to the national final, motivational speeches tend to be popular). The speakers do not receive spoken evaluations. Instead there are judges who score each speech secretly to find a winner. We will arrange that some of the judges come from other clubs to ensure fairness and objectivity in the scoring.
Evaluation contest
All fully paid up club members are eligible. There will be a speaker from another club whose speech all the evaluation contestants evaluate. They do not hear each other’s evaluations until after they have delivered their own.
Other club members will fulfill the roles contest chair, chief judge, timers, counters, warm-up speaker and catering/room preparation.
We need you all to be there so please get the date in your diary and let nothing get in the way!
3 January
Attendance: 18 members plus two guests
17 January
20 Members and three guests
7 February
19 members and five guests
21 February (contest)
22 members, two guests and seven visitors from other clubs
Winner, International Speech: Neil Dickinson
Winner, Evaluation: Nikki Grinham
The theme was… New Year’s resolutions of course!
Table topics master Harminder Dhillon asked us all to advise him on how he should go about keeping to a whole list of resolutions and Zaklina made us all laugh with her strategy for making the most of the post Christmas sales.
Philip Macoun’s ambitious advanced speech involved co-ordinating three other speakers: Claire Sumner, Robert Sumner and Mike Kavanagh to present the case for and against High Speed Rail.
Debbie Jeremiah gave a fifth speech with very practical and interesting advice about how to make decisions so taken as a whole, the meeting encouraged us all to challenge our ideas and thought processes. A good start to the year by anyone’s standards!
Every one of the evaluators took their role to heart and provided valuable feedback.
Our grammarian had everybody on their feet, stretching – and stretch was our word for the evening.
Chetan Bhatt introduced a novel Table Topics theme, where speakers were applicants for a job, and had to raise their ‘have you any questions?’ points … Jacqui Hogan applied for a role as Window Cleaner for the Space Station, and, stretching a point, Stewart Linford talked about Poisons Taster to Royalty.
With four main speeches, including two Ice Breakers we had a busy evening. Well done to Ice Breakers Rupe Mann, who told us about his love of cricket, and Peter Shreeve, who told us about his job roles.
Pradeep Parmar told us about making pottery, and displayed some of his own work.
Harminder Dhillon gave a wonderful talk about the importance of labels, and how the way we label something changes the way we think about it.
Jane Penson gave an education spot, highlighting events organised for the next few months (check here), including the annual club dinner and a forthcoming Microphone session on Monday 12 March. Members should note the unusual day.
We have several special events planned – other than the normal Tuesday meetings and we don’t want you to miss them. Please get these dates into your diary.
Tuesday 17 Jan
Normal meeting
Saturday 21 Jan
Dinner at the Hit or Miss – but don’t miss it! Partners welcome. Please book with Nikki Grinham who is collecting names.
Tuesday 7 Feb
Normal meeting
Tuesday 21 Feb International contest. Usual time and place but different format. You can compete if you have completed 6 speeches from the CC manual by then.
Tuesday 6 March Normal meeting
Monday 12 March Microphone session in the big room downstairs at the Fitzwilliam Centre
Tuesday 20 March Normal meeting
Tuesday 3 April Normal Meeting
Saturday 14 April We are hosting the area International Contest at our club. This is where the winners from all the local clubs including ours compete to find the area winner. It is an afternoon session.
Tuesday 17 April Normal meeting
Every seat was full. We welcomed three new members: Peter Shreeve, Rupe Mann and Terry Edwards and were delighted to see two long-standing members again who had been absent for a while: Debbie Hunter and Tracy Miranda.
Table topics was a tough challenge with the theme of armistice day and wartime but everyone called up to the front coped well. Peter gave new meaning to ‘losing’ soldiers – his needed a map rather than an honourable burial. Mike Kavanagh let us know that he has become more of a confirmed pacifist than ever and Phillip Sheahan managed to find some dubious humour in the trenches.
Five excellent speeches followed:
Claire Sumner’s ice-breaker showed how Christmas has changed over the years but always remained loving and fun. It also showed that she has been learning from listening carefully at all the meetings she has attended. It was a stunning performance for a first speech.
David Selwood (CC project 6) fascinated us all with the history of the telephone and even brought along a ‘brick’ – a mobile (well nearly mobile) phone from the 1980s.
Julie Joseph (CC project 3) was very funny on the subject of her gardening efforts in her new house. She has clearly learned how to get results from the flower beds, her boyfriend and the neighbours.
Neil Dickinson (CC project 6) was his usual self-assured, warm self with a stage presence that helps to understand what the phrase means. He told us that there was no such thing as luck and that we should rely on our talents.
Mark Emanuelson (CC project 2) demonstrated the value of working through the CC manual for a second time. His performance was exemplary, and he applied each of his own five tips for giving a great speech that he had observed in action by attending TED talks.
Each speaker received a spoken and written evaluation from an experienced Toastmaster – and every one of them somehow managed to find a little suggestion for the speaker to make their next performance even better.
We all learned a lot, laughed a lot and look forward to the meeting on 6 December when Neil Dickinson will be in the chair.
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On 6 September we held our humorous speech and table topics contest. It was open to all paid-up club members and we had a strong group of contestants.
Chetan Bhatt won the humorous contest with his speech about going for job interviews. He poked fun at himself (a reliable source of great subject matter if you can do it) and yet kept the topic open enough for all of us to be able to relate to his humour.
Phillip Sheahan came second with his tale about both statistics and a courting couple.
The table topics contestants spoke for two minutes with no warning about ‘the nights are drawing in – what does that mean for you?’. Chetan won again, so he goes forward to the area contest on 8 October at the Windsor club. If you would like to come and support Chetan, let Jan Trewartha know on jan.trewartha@btinternet.com
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