Bedford Speakers

BEDFORD SPEAKERS

MEETING MINUTES – THURSDAY 12 JANUARY 2012

1^st Club Meeting of the Year

 

Happy New Year to you all and welcome back to Bedford Speakers on our 1^st meeting of the year.

 It was great to catch up with everyone and to find such great energy as we all got in to the swing of what proved to be yet another successful, educational and inspirational evening.

 We had 11 members and 2 guests in attendance, and extend a warm welcome to Carl on his first visit to Bedford Speakers.

 

Jaimen’s Word of the  Day:  Anamnesis

 

Speeches 

 We had three speeches this evening:

 1.    Tony Stead – Discharge ‘Em (Competent Communicator – 9).  The Evaluation Guide for Speech 9 states Persuade with Power, Tony achieved this to great effect citing fact and event to present a very convincing argument challenging the welfare model used to treat very seriously injured in the Armed Forces.  

2.    Roy Manley – 2012 (Persuasive Speaking – 5).  Welcome back Roy!  Who would believe that 6 months has passed so quickly?  Roy returned to the stage with his usual charm and presented very enthusiastic speech encouraging us to step up to the plate and be leaders.  Roy’s quote “I don’t see you as you see yourself, I see you as great leaders” really hit a poignant note.  Well done Roy.

 3.    Narinder Kaurbring – Living… I mean really living (Competent    Communicator – 4).  Narinder painted a vivid picture of a trip to
India and the experiences that gave cause to reflect on life and to appreciate those people, events and special moments that we can occasionally take for granted or miss.  Narinder delivered the intriguing dilemma, when packing traditional Indian clothing to return to the hustle bustle of UK life, concluding with “living, I mean really living”.  Well done Narinder, this was a really thought-provoking speech.

  

Table Topics

 

Val Swanborough hosted Table Topics on themes related to Christmas.  Well done to Tim, Peter, Dave and Paul Hayward for four excellent answers which all managed to be within 4 seconds of the 2-minute light.

 

Evaluators

 Sue, Paul Hindess and Gayna are thanked for their insightful evaluations of the main speakers and well done to Paul Breakey, this evenings Toastmaster, for hosting a novel TableTopics group evaluation which proved to be a great and interactive way for sharing, learning and evaluating Table Topics.

 

General Evaluator

 

David offered onsiderable gems of feedback and guidance to both evaluators and speakers from which all club members can benefit.

 

Meeting Evaluator

 

Roy, excitedly rapped up the meeting with feedback and praise for all the roles, congratulating Jaimen and Tim on jobs well done, as 1^st timers as Grammarian and Grunt Counter respectively. Both, having clearly listened intensely to the meeting, gave very accurate and encouraging reports.

 

Awards

 

Best Speaker:           Narinder

Best Evaluator:         Paul Hndess

Best Table Topic:     Dave and Tim

Grunts:                       -

Humour:                     -

 

Future events

 1.   7 Feb.  International Speaking Competition

2.  11 Feb.  Officer Training – Badminton Centre, Milton Keynes

3.  23 Feb.  Freddy Daniels, next District Governor, Watford Speakers (speak with Gayna for more details).

 

Members are invited to register for roles on the club website, or email Roy (Meeting Toastmaster)

 

Next Club Meeting:  Thursday 26 January