MEETING MINUTES

Thursday 10 May 2012 9th Club Meeting of the Year

We had 11 members and 1 guest attend Thursday’s meeting.  The cats (Janet and Gayna) were away in Wexford allowing the mice to play.  And play we did, harvesting a fun-filled, challenging and rewarding evening of speeches, topics and evaluations.

We extend a warm welcome to Angela on her first visit to the club and look forward to meeting you again.

We opened with a warm-up led by Val on the theme of “are you an early bird or a night owl?”  After which Val reminded of the forthcoming AGM, inviting volunteers for the new committee; thanks to Tim and Kemi for volunteering.

Paul Hindess’s Theme of the Day:  Mathematical Terms

Speeches

We had 3 speeches this evening:

1. Sue Savage – So what is ACG anyway?  Sue presented from the Successful Club Series of the Toastmaster Educational Program, giving great insight in to the development and training paths available to members through Toastmasters.

2. Jaimen Lathia – TBC (Competent Communicator 4).  Jaimen’s speech focused on the character of Atticus Finch from the novel To kill a mockingbird. Atticus is a role model for the many noble qualities and principles he upholds including courage and compassion.  Jaimen concludes that Atticus is a hero, not a typical one who can fly or lift cars etc but for the courage, nobility and strength of character he displays.

3. Narinder Kaurbring – When good men do nothing.  (Competent Communicator 6).  Narinder delivered an excellent speech capturing an experience from memory with emotion, poise and flowing words which took us to the ‘there and then’.

Table Topics

Tony hosted TableTopics with the theme ‘On This Day In History’.  Dave, Tim, Roy, Kemi and Paul Hindess are congratulated for rising to this challenging session which included playing football with Fred Astaire (not Freddie Star) to giving Bono his school report.  Roy is congratulated on his dancing techniques.

Evaluators

Jaimen and Narinder’s speeches were evaluated by Tim and  Val respectively. Dave Minzey was the evenings General Evaluator and Roy our Meeting Evaluator.  As always, club evaluations provide amazing insight in to technique and thoughts from respective evaluators.  Thank you all for your guidance.

Awards

Best Speech:       Narinder

Best Table Topic:      Tim and Dave

Best Evaluator:      Tim

Best Humour:      Dave

Special Award:  Toastmaster of the Evening:  Tony

Closing Words

In closing the meeting Val thanked everyone for their supporting roles in making the evening such an inspiring meeting and reminded us that volunteers are required for the new committee.  The committee will be announced at the AGM on 24th May.

Val reminded members that Cornerstone Communicators Club has an open evening on Monday 21 May to which all members are welcome.

Good News

Congratulations to Janet (Evaluator) and Gayna (Speech) in doing so well in the Division Competition in April.

Future Events

Next Meeting:  Thursday 24th May 2012.

Next Officers Training Meeting will be on 2nd weekend of July.  Further details to follow.

MEETING MINUTES

Thursday 26 April 2012 8th Club Meeting of the Year

We had 14 members and 2 guests attend Thursday’s meeting, bringing a great and mixed dynamic for yet another fun filled, enlightening and energetic evening.  We extend a warm welcome to Nicola on her first visit to the Club and also a very warm welcoming return to Ashleigh.

We opened with a warm-up led by Roy on the theme of St George, which gave everyone the opportunity to say a few words on the past week.

Janet, our President, reminded that we will appoint new club officers at the AGM on Thursday 24th May.

Val, our VP Education requested that members use the club website to register attendance at each meeting and volunteer for roles.

Gayna’s Theme of the Day:  Herbs

Speeches

We had 2 speeches this evening:

1. Tim Sawyer – Seeing is Believing (Competent Communicator 3).  Tim gave very detailed insight in to the agenda behind some of the articles we see in the media, encouraging that we need not always believe what we hear or see when media manipulation, propaganda and spin is delivered for a purpose.  This was a very accomplished presentation given without notes.  Well done Tim.

2. Paul Hindess – Education, Education, Education (Competent Communicator 9).  Paul delivered anecdote after anecdote as he delivered a speech jammed with an encyclopaedic collection of musical song titles as he guided us along an intriguing path of tongue twisting trips and tales from the English language including “we don’t need no education”, do we?

Table Topics

The ingenuity of our Table Topics Master never ceases to amaze me.  Jaimen raised the bar once again with intriguing scenarios and questions for our speakers to improvise.  Gayna, Tony, Roy, Narinder and Cheryl are congratulated for delivering ingenious speeches highlighting the variety of style and skills that we have thriving in Bedford Speakers.

Evaluators

Tony evaluated Tim, Paul Hayward evaluated Paul Hindess and Dave Minzey evaluated Table Topics.  Gayna was General Evaluator.

Evaluations provide priceless feedback not only for the development of each speaker, but for all club members.  We had excellent insight and examples from all this evenings Evaluators.  Thank you for sharing your wisdom.

Janet evaluated Val, Jaimen evaluated Kemi and Sue evaluated Paul Hindess.  Tony evaluated TableTopics.  All evaluations were insightful, bona fide and encouraging with evaluators sharing opinions from which we can all learn.

Gayna as General Evaluator offered exceptional insight and feedback to Evaluators, mentoring on the value of evaluations and providing some tips on methods.

Narinder, our Meeting Evaluator, enthusiastically gave feedback on the key roles and general management of the meeting.

Pass the Baton

Our thanks go to Val for introducing a vibrant and fun Pass the Baton session which gave us all a 3-sentence opportunity to develop a story based on the thread set by the previous speaker.  This was a great challenge, clearly enjoyed by all.  A special congratulations to our 2 guests who actively participated.  Well done.

Awards

Best Speech:       Tim

Best Table Topic:      Gayna

Best Evaluator:      Tony

Special Award – Entertainment:    Paul Hindess

Grammarian Award – Best use of Language:  Paul Hindess

President’s Closing Words

In closing the meeting Janet thanked everyone for their supporting roles in making the evening such an inspiring meeting and reminded us that volunteers are required for the new committee.  The committee will be announced at the AGM on 24 May.

Janet invited our guests Nicola and Ashleigh to offer feedback on the meeting.  Both responded with refreshing and positive words… and promises to join!

Good News

Congratulations Janet (Evaluator) and Gayna (Speech) in doing so well in the Division Competition in April.

Future Events

Next Meeting:  Thursday 10 May 2012.  Paul Hayward will be Toastmaster.  Members are invited to contact Paul or register on the club website to undertake roles.

MEETING MINUTES
Thursday 12 April 2012
7th Club Meeting of the Year

We had 14 members attend Thursday’s meeting. All are thanked for bringing
energy, enthusiasm and enterprise in creating another rewarding evening.

The meeting opened with a warm-up opportunity for everyone to share Easter
experiences in response to the “What did you do” poser.

Val, our VPE, reminded of the clubs goal of achieving ‘Distinguished’ status, and that
by achieving our personal goals within the CC and CL manual, we can all participate
in taking the club forward. Members were reminded to have roles and speeches
signed off in respective manuals.

Paul’s Word of the Day: Oppugn

Speeches

1. Val Swanborough – All I know about ‘The English Language (Advanced TM
Series). Val’s topic was randomly selected from 5 possible themes. Val took
to the stage and gave wonderful insight to the skills, tricks and trips within the
English language. Well done Val on giving such an intuitive speech.

2. Kemi Tobias – Equal Opportunity (Ice Breaker). Kemi presented an
energetic, confident and thought provoking Ice Breaker by introducing her 3
best friends; determination, time and belief. Kemi gave personal insight in to
the challenges she has faced, posing some very intriguing questions. Well
done Kemi, this was an excellent speech and we look forward to hearing
more.

3. Paul Hindess. – Oppugning My Inner Voice (Competent Communicator 6).
Paul delivered a very well structured speech questioning ‘why challenge your
inner voices’ and ‘why commit to obligations’. Paul gave insight in to times

Table Topics

Dave Minzey indefatigably hosted the evenings TableTopics session, presenting a
challenging current affairs theme Tax and Charitable Donations. Sue, David Ryan,
Paul Breakey, Janet and Paul Hayward are congratulated for admirably rising to the
challenge and presenting excellent topics.

Evaluators

Janet evaluated Val, Jaimen evaluated Kemi and Sue evaluated Paul Hindess. Tony
evaluated TableTopics. All evaluations were insightful, bona fide and encouraging
with evaluators sharing opinions from which we can all learn.

Gayna as General Evaluator offered exceptional insight and feedback to Evaluators,
mentoring on the value of evaluations and providing some tips on methods.

Tim, our Meeting Evaluator, had clearly focused and digested every aspect of the
meeting evidenced by very articulate and well- resented round-up delivered with
detail and humour.

Awards

Special Awards – Toastmaster Pins:
Special Award – Most Improved:
Best Table Topics:
Best Evaluator:
Best Humour:

President’s Closing Words

In closing the meeting Janet thanked everyone for their supporting roles in making
the evening such an awesome event.

Janet invited volunteers for the new Committee. Names to Janet please.

Good News

Congratulations Maciej to you and your wife on the safe arrival of Emilia

Future Events

Next Meeting: Thursday 26 April 2012

Tim and Kemi
Jaimen
Paul Breakey
Jaimen and Tony (Tie)
Paul Breakey

MEETING MINUTES

Thursday 22nd March 2012

6th Club Meeting of the Year

This week’s minutes are provided by Paul Hayward.

Sergeant-at-Arms Roy Manley opened the meeting in his inimitable style.

Warm Up: conducted by Roy Manley on the meeting’s theme of Springtime. Each person gave their take on what Spring meant to them. Toastmaster of the Evening Sue Savage had generously distributed miniature chocolate Easter Eggs and Rabbits on all the tables to underline the theme and get all us ‘in the mood’.

President Janet Graham welcomed members and 2nd time guest Kemi, plus the Area Governor Jenny Chalmers who was paying one of her twice-yearly visits to see how well the Club is performing.

Toastmaster of the Evening Sue Savage described the slightly unusual programme for the evening, offering Narinder Kaubring multi-evaluations of her CC Project 5 speech “Serendipity” and the opportunity to evaluate the latest version of Gayna Cooper’s competition speech “Heads or Tails” with possible alternative endings. Sue also introduced the officials for the evening who were:

Timekeeper Dave Ryan, a relatively new member, who carried out this role for the first time and did it well;
Grammarian Jaimen Laitha who chose “Rejuvenated” as Word of the Day which was well used by those who spoke during the evening;
Grunt Counter Peter Goode who reported at the end of the evening that he had little to do as those who spoke grunted hardly at all. Grunt counter ‘winner’ of the evening was Jaimen Laitha.

1st Speaker was Narinder Kaubring with her CC Project 5 speech “Serendipity”. Narinder told the engaging, amusing and entertaining story of attempting to pass off some innocent boy as her fiancé only for the boy’s unsuspecting mother to learn of the ‘engagement’.

2nd Speaker was Gayna Cooper with her competition speech “Heads or Tails” with possible alternative endings. This gave her the chance for some extra practice and a way to test the effectiveness of the closing.

Table Topics was introduced by Val Swanborough with a longer session than usual because the meeting had few speakers. Val stuck to the theme of the evening and the Table Topics participants were:

- Gayna Cooper (favourite part of spring)

- Peter Goode (favourite season)

- Kemi (How to throw a party) Although a guest Kemi’s speech was notable for the evocative phrase “ballerina of the night” and her use of the Word of the Day. Kemi was voted Best TT Speaker.

- Jenny Chalmers (project plan for spring)

- Roy Manley (What lets you know spring is here)

- Jaimen Laitha (where to spend spring)

- Sue Savage (personification of spring)

The break was enriched by scrumptious cakes, again generously provided by Sue Savage, our benevolent commissary for the evening.

Evaluations of the speeches followed the break, with Paul Hayward giving the formal evaluation of Narinder’s speech. He particularly commended the humour, confidence and enthusiasm of the speaker and recommended avoiding speaking from a sitting position, if possible, because it restricts breathing and inhibits projection.

Narinder’s speech was then evaluated by Janet Graham and Paul Hindess under competition format with the meeting using judging criteria provided on the reverse of the meeting agenda to work out their own assessment.

Janet Graham followed the evaluation format advocated by Freddie Daniels in his training sessions. She particularly commended Narinder on her use of body language and descriptive idioms, finishing by hoping to receive an invitation to the putative wedding.

Paul Hindess, using great good humour, offered advice on using more of the platform among other things.

Other people remarked on the good use of body language in conveying the characters, the engaging nature of her storytelling evident in all her speeches and how well she portrays the colour and background in her presentations.

Gayna Cooper’s competition speech was also briefly evaluated by the meeting. In summary, its delivery had improved; it was more polished and flowed more readily. The ending where the coin is tossed away prior to the final close was generally preferred.

The Meeting Evaluator Roy Manley felt the evening had gone well and Jenny Chalmers, as Area Governor, felt the Club was warm and welcoming and making good progress.

Humour Vote was won by Paul Hindess.

Our guest Kemi said she would sign up as a new member!

The President Janet Graham thanked Sue for the cakes, Easter eggs and chocolate rabbits; asked for support for Gayna and Janet at the Division G International Speech and Evaluation Contest on 14 April 2012 at Hemingford Abbots; encouraged Toastmasters to sign up for Moments of Truth next week (29th March) – names to Janet/Sue by Friday and reminded members that 6 monthly membership fees (£48) are now due.

The meeting was declared closed at 9.35pm.

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

First came the speech contest, where we were represented by Val Swanborough and her speech “Sparing the Blushes.” Gayna Cooper was also competing, officially representing Cornerstone Communicators – although of course we all think of her as ours. Despite some very strong competition from the other local clubs, Gayna’s speech “Heads or Tails” impressed the judges enough to win her first place and a place in the Division G contest.

Next came the evaluation contest, and the speech to evaluate was presented by Martin Berry from Camberley Speakers. Martin told us a hilarious tale of how on the way to a Toastmasters meeting he stepped through a tear in the space-time continuum and found himself in prehistoric Guilford.

Janet Graham represented Bedford in the evaluation contest – having attended Freddie Daniels’ evaluaton workshop the night before she was well prepared to give a superb evaluation, and while all the competitors were excellent, it was Janet who took first place. (And if Martin ever wants company in his time travelling exploits, he knows who to call.)

Other Bedford Speakers members at the contest included Dave, Sue, Roy, Paul Hindess and Paul Hayward, who were serving as timers, judges, counters, and the all important role of audience members.

We’re very proud of our two winners who’ll be representing Bedford and Area 44 in the next round. The Division G contest takes place on Saturday 14th April at the Cambridge Golf and Conference Centre in Hemingford Abbots, and features not only the speech and evaluation contests, but also no less than two keynote speakers, including the opportunity to learn a bit more about our past Division Governer, Graham Frost. All this plus lunch for only £10!

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

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

Then the snow started, and my plans for the following weekend got cancelled. Suddenly I was free to attend the training – so why not?

Bedford had a great showing – no less than eight members present! The room was crowded, but bursting with enthusiasm as well. Any time I meet up with other Toastmasters members I find myself meeting old friends and making new ones, and this was no exception.

During the training we broke off into small groups, each discussing one objective, and identifying assets and actions. My group’s objective was attracting new members – identifying our assets gave us a lot of ideas for making sure the word gets out about Toastmasters.

We also had a presentation on district reformation – while this sounds complicated, all it means is that the UK and Ireland make up one of the biggest Toastmasters districts in the world with nearly 250 clubs, and we need to split in half. The complicated part is where that split is going to be.

We left the training ready for a committee meeting at Janet’s house where we could discuss everything we’d learned at the training (and also have coffee and biscuits!) After the success of the Christmas dinner, going back to the Ruby Murray for another social event with a Toastmasters twist was a popular suggestion.

In short, while officer training may not sound very exciting, it’s so much fun I wanted to do it all again!

 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

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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