Bedford Speakers

BEDFORD SPEAKERS

 

MEETING MINUTES

Thursday 8 March 2012

^5th Club Meeting of the Year

 

 

One wonders how to capture and relay such energetic badinage we witnessed on Thursday.  Thank you to everyone for joining in with the thrill of a considerable meeting.

 

We had 16 members and extend a very warm welcome to our 2 guests Dee and Kemi.  We hope you enjoyed the meeting and would be delighted to have you join us again.

 

The meeting started with an ice-breaking opportunity for everyone to share their highlight of the week, which established a convivial foundation for the evening.

 

Club highlights were that Gayna (Speech Competition Winner) and Janet (Evaluation Competition Winner) won the Area Competitions and will go forward to compete at the Division competition.  This is a stunning result ladies, very well done.

 

On to the meeting…

 

Val reminded us to ensure we have our Manuals signed for each speech or role we undertake as this recognises, records and reiterates both individual and club goals.

 

 

Tim’s Word of the Day:  Convivial

 

Speeches

 

Our three speeches offered diverse variety and purpose, demonstrating differing techniques which can be embraced depending on the aim of one’s speech.

 

1. Paul Hindess.  Show and Tell (Competent Communicator Manual 8).  Paul skilfully utilised origami visual aids, enhancing a personal and inspiring journey where challenge and a “hatred of origami” has clearly developed in to a dedicated craft.

 

1. Gayna Cooper.  Heads or Tails (Competition ‘Winning’ Speech).  Gayna gave her competition winning speech dispelling the adage of ‘Heads you Win and Tails you Lose’ to Win / Win.  Gayna’s speech was a wonderful example to us all, incorporating emotion, sincerity, inspiration, body language, intonation,  wonderful vocabulary and sign language!

 

1. Sue Savage.  Ideas are Everywhere (Better Speaking Series 5, Selecting Your Topic).  Sue gave a Toastmaster educational speech utilising PowerPoint as a visual aid, offering guidance and insight for the preparation of future speeches.  Links to Sue’s educational speeches are detailed below.

 

Table Topics

 

Roy hosted the evenings TableTopics session with ingenuity and enthusiasm inviting speakers to ‘Dress as Lady Gaga’ (Tony), ‘Create a Magazine’ (Paul Hayward), ‘Which Film’ (Janet) and ‘What to do with this Pub’ (Paul Breakey).

 

Note to Editor:  Next week, take hankies for laughter tears!  Well done to all for a fabulous TT session.

 

Evaluators

 

Paul and Gayna’s speeches were expertly evaluated by Janet and Cheryl respectively.  Both enthusiastically encouraged and offered personal guidance for development.

 

Narinder is to be congratulated for seeing through laughing eyes to constructively offer erudite feedback to TableTopic speakers.

 

Tony, as General Evaluator, explained the value of evaluations for both individuals and the club as a whole, where we continue to share and develop each other’s knowledge.

 

Paul Hayward, as Meeting Evaluator, reminded of Toastmasters etiquette in handing over the stage, introducing speakers and timekeeping, all key disciplines for a smooth-running and effective meeting.  Paul recommended that Feedback Slips are passed only during the break.

 

Awards

 

Word of the Day – Abuse:              Paul Breakey            (Special Award)

Grunts:                                               Maciej                         (Club Record Score)

Best Speaker:                                   Paul Hindess

Best TableTopic:                              Paul Hayward

Best Evaluation:                               Janet

Humour:                                            Paul Breakey

 

President’s Closing Words

 

In closing the meeting Janet thanked everyone for their supporting roles in making the evening such an awesome event.  Our two guests Dee and Kemi were congratulated and thanked for coming along and also for their feedback.  Janet then advised that Narinder has now accepted the role of VPE Membership.  Thanks and well done Narinder!

 

 

Good News

 

Congratulations to Narinder on her recent engagement.

Congratulations to our two competition winners Gayna and Janet

 

Future Events

 

22 March 2012.  Next Club Meeting

29 March 2012.  Moments of Truth Presentation (Toastmasters).

 

Notes

 

On behalf of our valued Treasurer, Byford, may I remind members that their subscriptions are due by 31st March 2012.  Byford sent an email with details of how to pay, etc.  If you did not receive it, please let myself or Byford know.

 

Links to Toastmaster educational presentations (Sue’s Speech) are below, please note that access is gained by purchase via the Toastmasters International website:

 

http://www.toastmasters.org/MainMenuCategories/Shop/DigitalContent/EducationalMaterials/274DCD.aspx

 

http://www.toastmasters.org/MainMenuCategories/Shop/DigitalContent/EducationalMaterials/273DCD.aspx

 

 

 

 

 

 

BEDFORD SPEAKERS

MEETING MINUTES

Thursday 23 February 2012

4^th Club Meeting of the Year

 

Speech and Evaluation Competition

 Wow, what a night we had!  A heartfelt thank you to members and the huge amount of guests who supported us by joining in with the fun and excitement of our Speech and Evaluation Competition.

 Cheryl expertly and calmly hosted the evening and is worthy of the highest commendation.  Such events are never easy to prepare and manage, yet Cheryl made it look so ‘natural’ and polished, setting a wonderful tone for the evening.

 Our speech competitors, Janet, Tony, Roy and Val are congratulated and thanked for delivering fantastic speeches.  A super congratulations to Val on winning and Janet on being a very worthy runner-up.

 Moving on to our Evaluation Competition, firstly a huge thank you to Jaimen for stepping up to the plate with his speech ‘The Puzzle of Equality’.  Well done Jaimen! 

 The evaluation competitors, Janet, Paul Breakey, Maciej and Tony are congratulated for delivering 4 very wise and considered evaluations.  Congratulations to Janet on winning and to Tony on achieving runner-up, an excellent result for a 1^st competition.

 Val (speech) and Janet (evaluation) will go forward to represent Bedford Speakers, joining Gayna representing CornerStone at the Area44 contest on Wednesday 7^th March, arrive 7.15pm for 7.30 start at the National Badmington Centre in Milton Keynes. It would be great if as many of you as possible could attend to give them your support.  We wish you all every success.

 Cheryl hosted the evening’s TableTopics, inviting visiting guests and returning faces to take to the stage and present a variety of excellent styles for delivering impromptu speeches on the theme of ‘new’ Olympic Sport. 

 Topping off the evening, it was lovely to welcome Anna back to the club and witness her TableTopic skills continue to shine.  Also to congratulate and welcome David, our new member, we look forward to catching up with you at our next meeting.

The night proved to be a huge success due to the commitment, participation and support of you all, from timekeepers to judges, guests and members.  Thank you, thank you, thank you. 

Members are invited to register for roles on the club website

Next Club Meeting:  Thursday 8 March

 Members are reminded that video cameras are welcome should you wish to record and review speeches

 

Hi all

Following a great training session with colleagues from other clubs held at the Badminton Centre Milton Keynes, we held a Club Committee Meeting at Janet’s house.  Dave has prevented us from divulging the quantity of chocolate sweeties munched, however, it would be fair to say that Janet’s hospitality was exceptionally kind.

Please find the Minutes of the Committee Meeting attached.

Regards

Tony

Bedford Speakers – Committee Meeting Minutes – Saturday 11 February 2012

BEDFORD SPEAKERS

 MEETING MINUTES

Thursday 9 February 2012

3^rd Club Meeting of the Year

 

Welcome to the Minutes of our 3rd meeting of 2012.  We had 11 members and welcome our guest Malcolm Campbell.

 Gayna, our Sergeant at Arms for the evening, opened the meeting promptly and effectively by leading a round-the-room ice-breaker opportunity for all members to introduce themselves and present their favourite word of the moment.  This was an illustrious and engaging route to start, well done Gayna.

 Janet.  Yayyyy, welcome back Janet our President!  Janet took her rightful place at the helm by reminding of the Officers Training on Saturday 11 February at the Badminton Centre Milton Keynes from 9am.  Following the training Janet will host a Club Committee Meeting.  These meetings are open to all members and are a great opportunity to meet and learn from the larger Toastmasters family.

 Val informed of the value in keeping training records current for both individual and club recognition.  The club is aiming to achieve the Distinguished Club award for the third year running.

 Word of the Day:  Avid

 TableTopics

 We started the evening with TableTopics hosted by Sue on the theme of romantic music.  Dave chose the 60’s, Janet the 70’s, Val the 50’s and Tony the 80’s.  Bizarre fact, speakers chose numbers 56789 – was this a cunning plan?  Well done to Sue and all participants for their entertaining topics, all within time.

Speeches 

 We had three very diverse speeches this evening, all of which were excellently delivered, highlighting the broad spectrum of skills and talent that we possess within the club:

 1.    Tim Sawyer.  Plain old Mr Fred (Competent Communicator 2).  Tim intricately weaved an intriguing insight in to the career history of Fred ‘the shred’ Goodwin.  Tim highlighted that Fred’s career has developed on the strength of corporate financial successes and £ rewards.  Has Fred recent media fame been of his own creation or has he been the scapegoat?  The words ‘Sins of action, Sins of In-action’ were a very appropriate fit.

 2.    Narinder Kaurbring.  To Infinity and Beyond… (Competent Communicator – 7).  Narinder’s aim was two-fold; firstly to achieve the objectives of speech 7 and also to prepare and rehearse a work-based presentation.  Narinder requested constructive guidance and would welcome any additional feedback by email. The presentation, enhanced by PowerPoint, achieved the objectives of the manual very quickly, as clearly much research had been done to inform the audience of the past, present and avenues for the future development within the specialised profession of a pharmacist.   

 3.    Gayna Cooper.  Jacob Thomas.  (Storytelling 1).  Gayna vividly painted a picture of Jacob from birth, through early years to adulthood, identifying the challenges faced by youth, the impact and distress that Jacob caused.  Artistically taking the audience through each emotional hurdle, Gayna built the tempo leading to Jacob being caught red-handed… or paw first.

 Evaluators

 Janet, Tony and David rose to the challenge of evaluating 3 excellent speeches, offering commendations, insight and guidance to the benefit of speakers and all members.  Well done also to Paul Hindess as Table Topics Evaluator who took to the stage confessing to enjoying the music theme and not focussing on evaluations, then delivered a wonderful and humorous evaluation which any stand-up comic would have been proud of.

General Evaluator and Meeting Evaluator

 Maciej deserves congratulations for combining both roles and giving great feedback to this evenings evaluators, then switching hats to offer a meeting evaluation and all this while reflecting on temperatures of -30 in Poland.  We’ll expect you in beach shorts at next meeting!

 President

 Janet rounded off the evening with an explanation to our guest on the etiquette behind handshakes, the handing over of the stage, and applause to encourage each speaker. 

 Awards

 Best Speaker:           Tim

Best Evaluator:         Tony and Paul

Best Table Topic:     Val

Bravery:                     Karl Bodaly on taking on the Timekeeper role with no notice.

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Future events

 1.    11^th Feb.  Officer Training – Badminton Centre, Milton Keynes (10am to 1pm), all members are welcome to attend for greater insight into District workings.

2.    11^th Feb.  Club Committee Meeting, immediately following Officer Training.

3.    23^rd Feb.  Club Competition:  2-part competition for Speaker and Evaluators.  Competitors required and support for numerous roles.  Names to Cheryl please.

4.    29^th Feb.  Bob Ferguson and Andrew Brammer in Dunstable.  Please contact Gayna.  Costs £7.

5.    5^th March (TBC).  Moment of Truth.  See note below.

 Members are invited to register for roles on the club website

Next Club Meeting:  Thursday 23 February – Competition Night

Friends and Family are welcome

Members are reminded that video cameras are welcome should you wish to record and review speeches

 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Notices

Speech and Evaluation Contest – Thursday 23^rd February.

 “Hi fellow toastmasters, our speech and evaluation contest is on Thursday 23rd February and I have agreed to be the contest chair.   To make it a successful evening we need several things to happen which involves your good selves.  Firstly we need people to compete!  For the speech contest you need to have done six speeches and your membership should be up to date. If you haven’t done your six speeches, you could do a speech at another club. For the evaluation contest you just need your membership to be up to date.  Secondly we need someone prepared to give a speech on the 23rd that will be used for the evaluation competition.   Lastly we need a sergeant at arms, two timers and two counters for the night.  If you told me at the last meeting that you are thinking of doing a speech there is no need to email me but for everyone else please consider the “ opportunities “ above and email me .  I look forward to have lots of emails!  Regards, Cheryl

The 2nd Club Meeting of the Year.

Welcome to the Minutes of our 2nd meeting of 2012. We had 13 members and 1 guest, Karl, who impressively took on the role of Grunt Counter. Well done Karl! Scuffles between ‘Wanna be President’ Val and Gayna were kept to a restrained minimum in Janet’s absence, with both graciously presiding and informing of forthcoming club and district events. More on this later…

Maciej’s Word of the Day: Sassy Speeches

We had three speeches this evening: 1. Jaimen Lathia. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? (Competent Communicator – 2). Jaimen gave great insight in to the psychological 5-factor analysis used to assess Extroversion/Introvert, Neuroticism, Contiensciousness, Agreeableness and Openness, explaining the reasoning and benefits behind such analysis.

2. Peter Goode. A little bit about a little bit about a sycamore tree. (Competent Communicator – 4). Peter painted a vivid picture of trees, leaf structure and detailed insight into the skeletal intricacy and their functions, using flowing and colourful words enhanced with wonderful wit.

3. Sue Savage. Better Speaking or How I learned to stop worrying and love Table Topics (Better Speaker Series – 4). Sue gave a very insightful presentation, enhanced with PowerPoint, detailing great tips and considerations to be utilised when impromptu speaking. Focusing on TableTopics, Sue gave key tips of: Listen, Pause, Confirm, Tell and End. Then concluded with guidance to: be confident, be brief and be sincere.

Table Topics Paul Hindess introduced TableTopics with his observation that perhaps 9/10th of any TableTopic theme may be forgotten by the speaker, so kept his introductions short by delivering two options from which speakers could choose. Congratulations to Sue, Roy, Jaimen and Val for rising to the challenge all within the time.

Evaluators Val, Cheryl and Gayna offered in-depth evaluations of the main speakers with guidance from which we can all develop. Congratulations to Roy on his 1st ever Toastmaster of the Evening role and to Narinder for a very detailed and positive TableTopics evaluation which was encouraging to all.

General Evaluator Tony Stead gave insight in to the value of evaluations, relating to the forthcoming competition (23 February), where for last year’s event, Tony gave his 4th speech for the 4 competitors to evaluate. “Such quality feedback was priceless in helping my continued development” stated Tony. Tony offered feedback to the 3 evaluators with particular compliment to Gayna for including the audience’s perspective within Sue’s evaluation.

Meeting Evaluator Paul Breakey thanked all supporting roles and participants for their assistance in making the meeting yet another great and fun evening, paying particular compliment to Karl Bodaly, who, on his 2nd visit to the club, very confidently undertook the Grunt Counter role and delivered a very comprehensive end-of-meeting report. In retrospect it seems we overlooked evaluating the TableTopics Evaluator (perhaps this is something we can review at the next meeting).

Awards Best Speaker: Sue Savage Best Evaluator: Narinder Kaurbring Best Table Topic: Sue Savage Grunts: – Humour: Val Swanborough 1st Timer Role Karl Bodaly

Future events:

1. 7th Feb. Freddy Daniels, next District Governor, Watford Speakers (speak with Gayna for more details).

2. 11th Feb. Officer Training – Badminton Centre, Milton Keynes (10am to 1pm), all members are welcome to attend for greater insight into District workings.

3. 23rd Feb. Club Competition: 2-part competition for Speaker and Evaluators. Competitors required and support for numerous roles. Names to Cheryl please.

4. 29th Feb. Bob Ferguson and Andrew Brammer in Dunstable. Please contact Gayna. Costs £7. 5. 5th March (TBC). Moment of Truth. See note below. Members are invited to register for roles on the club website Next Club Meeting: Thursday 9 February Notices Speech and Evaluation Contest – Thursday 23rd February.

Hi fellow toastmasters, Our speech and evaluation contest is on Thursday 23rd February and I have agreed to be the contest chair. To make it a successful evening we need several things to happen which involves your good selves. Firstly we need people to compete! For the speech contest you need to have done six speeches and your membership should be up to date. If you haven’t done your six speeches, you could do a speech at another club. For the evaluation contest you just need your membership to be up to date. Secondly we need someone prepared to give a speech on the 23rd that will be used for the evaluation competition. Lastly we need a sergeant at arms, two timers and two counters for the night. If you told me at the last meeting that you are thinking of doing a speech there is no need to email me but for everyone else please consider the “ opportunities “ above and email me . I look forward to have lots of emails! Regards Cheryl

Moment of Truth Hello, We’ve been talking about having an extra meeting to run the Moments of Truth program (for those of you who haven’t seen it, a sort of MOT for the club) on the 5th Thursday in March. I’ve had a couple of ideas about it. How about inviting other clubs in the area to join us? Like us, they may appreciate the chance to do it without impacting on regular meetings. If there’s time, how about having another programme item as an extra incentive to come? Perhaps our area contest winner could practice presenting their speech? Sue

Good News – New Member Congratulations to Karl Bodaly who joined the club at the end of the meeting. Welcome aboard Karl.

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

BEDFORD SPEAKERS

 

MEETING MINUTES – THURSDAY 24 NOVEMBER 2011

22^nd Club Meeting of the Year

 Hi all, thanks for a great evening on Thursday.  We managed to pack in a great evening of excellent speeches, humour and table topics.  Thanks to you all for attending and participating.

 We had 16 members and 1 guest attend Thursday’s meeting and would like to extend a warm welcome Jaimen who recently joined the club.

 Tim’s Word of the Day:  Effusive

 Speeches 

 We had three speeches this evening:

 1.    Sue Savage – Tartuffe (Interpretive Reading: 4).  Sue effusively recited an extract from Moliere’s Tartuffe, bringing life and energy to the scenario with great vocal variety, dialects and body language.  Well done Sue.

 2.    Maciej Sadza – Presentations 101 (Competent Communicator: 7).  Mac delivered a speech which is related to a Public Speaking Course he shall shortly undertake.  Mac gave great guidance on public speaking tips and a very useful handout.

 3.    David Minzey – Etna Event (Entertaining Speaker: 4).  Dave gave an thrilling, energetic and very confident speech employing body language, vocal variety and relating to a recent holiday in Sicily.

 Table Topics

 Paul Hayward hosted Table Topics on the musical theme of song titles and what they mean to you.  Well done to Byford, Paul Hindess,
Narinder and Tim (first Table Topic), for rising to the occasion, combining wit with quick thinking to present great impromptu speeches.

 Evaluators

 Tony Stead, Tony David, Val and Martin were thanked for sharing their wisdom and experience and for providing alternative examples of expression.

 General Evaluator

 Gayna reminded us of the value within evaluations, highlighting how we all enjoy receiving our feedback slips and the impact they can make.
Gayna then commended Evaluators and offered great guidance for further development.

 Meeting Evaluator

 Dave, in his usual energetic, proactive and encouraging style, rounded off the meeting by recognising the importance of each role in making the evening a rewarding and successful event. 

 Awards

 Best Speaker:           David Minzey

Best Evaluator:         Val

Best Table Topic:     Paul Hindess and Tim

Grunts:                       Paul Breakey

Humour:                     David Minzey

 Future events

 1.         Christmas Dinner – 1 December 2011

2.         Speech and Evaluation Contest – 23rd February 2012

3.         Area Speech and Evaluation Contest – 21 March 2012

4.         Division Speech and Evaluation Contest – 21 April 2012

5.         National Speech and Evaluation Contest – TBC

 Members are invited to register for roles on the club website.

 Next Club Meeting:  Thursday 8 December

 The Club Christmas Meal will be held at 7.30pm on Thursday 1^st December at the Ruby Murray Restaurant, High Street, Bedford http://www.rubymurrayrestaurant.co.uk/.  The invitation is extended to guests.  Names to Gayna (gaynacooper@gmail.com) soonest please.

 The theme of the evening will be a Tall Tales competition.  There will also be Limericks throughout the evening; participation is encouraged.

 ——-

 Fellow Toastmaster

Bedford Speakers cordially welcomes you to an evening of fun, food
and laughter at our annual …

 

TALL TALES Contest 2011

When: Thursday 1st December 2011

Time: 7:30pm

Where:  Ruby Murray

17
High Street

Bedford,

MK40
1RN.

See link: http://www.rubymurrayrestaurant.co.uk/

Tall Tales are not the result of a cross between a giraffe and monkey….or are they???

Not sure what a Tall Tale is?…..don’t trust me to tell you the truth?

Narinder linked an archived article from Toastmasters for your convenience: http://www.toastmasters.org/ToastmastersMagazine/ToastmasterArchive/2007/November/TallTales.aspx
Have a read and see if you would like to give it a go.   Bonus…you can count it towards your CC manual… (don’t forget to ask someone to be your evaluator)