Club meeting reports from Harrovian Speakers Club

6-Feb-2012

warrensheng — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:05:09 +0000

Despite the low turnout, this was a memorable, quality evening with as many guests as members. We re-arranged the seating to have a cosier feel. As we didn’t have a TM of the evening, we started a shocking 10 minutes late. Ruth was backup TM of the evening and we skipped the grammarian and GE roles. Gosbert gave us quite difficult Table Topics. Yoel, who was backup timekeeper, had a tough topic. He broke the Harrovians “you know” record (the number of “you knows” in one speech). With so many guests, I would have liked some of them to have been given a table topic.
David, who lives on Glebe Road, gave a superb Icebreaker about being born over here, going back to Jamaica for 14 yrs and then his struggle to get his first paid job in I.T. It was an inspiring tale about perseverance told with humour and humility. It was one of the best first speeches, I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. David has done the right thing: having just paid up, he is now our 20th member. But we need to recruit more.
Warren did a 10 mins job interview presentation, to prepare for a real job interview presentation two days later. Getting feedback from the floor, as opposed to just one person, was very beneficial as I made some mistakes in content. Ruth did a dry run of a Distinguished Club Programme speech prior to doing the real thing on Sunday. Again, feedback from several people was valuable. As we all gain from doing a speech again, I think there is great value in having feedback from many and rehearsing a speech before the real event. On Thursday, I gave a better presentation on job selection day—and was still rejected. Sigh. I now have to file a multiple lawsuit against all those who clearly gave me the wrong feedback.
The GE role is important so we got feedback from the floor.

30-Jan-2012

warrensheng — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:13:24 +0000

Three committee members gave their apologies on the day, but it was still an excellent meeting because we had 3 guests and one lapsed member visit us and those who did turn up were mostly very experienced. Indeed, most were advanced speakers, so the quality of the meeting remained high.
As TM of the evening, Warren explained he was like a captain of an Italian cruise liner. He had to make sure we arrived at our destination on time and avoid the rocks of Being Late. With 4 speeches, his dictatorial style steered us towards the target 9:30pm finish showing, conclusively, that miracles still happen in Stanmore.
Warren forgot to remind everyone to turn their mobile phones off. Alan’s mobile then rang at almost the precise moment that Riad spoke about a phone call, which was weird. Alan was punished by being forced to be Tea Maker. Warren cruelly reduced the break time by 3 minutes to recover lost time. We tried to finish the luxury mince pies left over from our Christmas meeting. We failed.
Pinky’s table topics were on current affairs. The subjects were fine and Alan won the best table topic ribbon by speaking, at length, on the previous topic. Pinky missed two things. She could have asked one of the guests to speak and she announced the speaker’s name before giving the topic subject, thereby denying the rest of us that delicious tension as we wonder who will be the chosen one.
Riad spoke about getting a job in Ireland. It’s not just about applying for advertised jobs but about finding information and people who can give you the right opportunities. Apt advice. Pinky’s body language speech was about the unpleasantness of her daily commute. The best part was when she demonstrated how other tube commuters take up too much elbow space on the armrests. She demonstrated this by sitting down on one of the 3 seats behind her. An even better additional “prop” would have been another commuter. She won the best speakers’ ribbon.
Ruth gave a humorous tale about a frustrating journey to a hard-to-find destination, which I found more painful tragedy than funny. Finally, Angela, who speaks at every opportunity, did a PR speech about a healthy life balance.
Pinky stepped into the gap and gave a good TT evaluation as Ruth had forgotten to take notes. Angela was timekeeper, a role she has not done for years partly as she dislikes the technology (of operating the stopwatch and the lights). I recommend she does again to overcome her techno fear.
Alan did two evaluations as that is his forte, so he had to win the evaluator of the evening ribbon. He recommended that Angela used fewer words. This was a very good point. On the same subject, Warren deliberately gave Alan less time for each evaluation to encourage him to not go over time.
It was good to see Maxine return to us after a year’s break from Toastmasters. She did an evaluation. Lorna was also back with us and she did a competent GE.
Warren asked the 3 guests what they liked and disliked. One felt our evaluations were too kind and not strong enough. I guess the secret is to scold someone but with a loving smile. Warren demonstrated this by smacking Alan’s hand for letting his mobile accidentally go off. Warren did this with affection, to avoid a Grievous Bodily Harm charge.
Our committee meeting later concentrated on the upcoming International Speech Contest. We need contestants. For the speeches, I recommend you spend at least 2 wks rehearsing it. By contest night, 5-March, you must have done 6 or more Competent Communicator speeches. Any member can enter the Evaluation contest. All non-contestants can help out as judges, timekeepers, etc. In other words, a role is mandatory.
It is also very important that we publicise this contest evening as the Mayor of Harrow is coming. We should publicise all meetings as we need more guests and new members to make our club a better one. Remember to invite your friends and colleagues. We suggest you contact and publicise our meetings to your local students’ union. Students who are smart realise they need to demonstrate leadership and speaking skills. And where better to do that than at Harrovians?

16-Jan-2012

warrensheng — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:12:54 +0000

This was our 1st meeting in a month–and it showed. Our amiable TM of the evening, Alan, made several errors in the agenda as he forgot the sequence. I, too, started to forget the correct order of things. A senior moment? I moved one guest from the back (2nd) row to the front row which resulted in a unique situation: every person present sat on the front row. This is probably the only TM club in the world where this has been achieved.
Gosbert made a competent debut as Grammarian. As a former law student, he has a good vocabulary so it surprised me that he had apparently been trying to avoid this role. He also gave recommendations, which weaker Grammarians skip. It was an adroit performance (adroit being the word of the day.) Look, if your English is poor, the Grammarian role will challenge you to improve your English. If your English is superb, then you can teach and correct us. It’s a win-win situation.
Pinky Tanna’s mum introduced the guests, which included herself. Now, that’s confidence. Riad was timekeeper and enthusiastic tea maker. As he has now paid his membership dues, he is now a proper member. Hurray! Table Topics Master, Ruth, gave topics that were just right (not too hard or easy). One was addressed to Pinky. Is this Monday the most depressing day of the year? The correct answer is No! because it’s a Harrovians’ night.
Pinky was also GE. I particularly like two of her recommendations: our part 1 is too long compared to part 2. I recommend moving the table topics evaluations to part 2. Also, the President’s exhortation should (also) be at the end of the meeting after the VPE finds people to fill roles and ribbons are presented. That way, we end on a high note. Pinky also said, half-jokingly, that I should make fewer jokes. I take that point seriously. Yes, better to have fewer (and better) jokes than to have jokes every second sentence.
Yoel’s no. 3 speech (get to the point) was about a football manager addressing a (fictional) team. This was a challenging exercise as I was not clear who we were each individually. Does Angela resemble a goalkeeper?
Angela’s speech was on time. She can divide her day into 7 minute Toastmaster speech segments. Isn’t 7 minutes too long or too short for many tasks?
Alan was the best evaluator (again). Finally, Pinky presented some earrings to Ruth to thank her for her hard work. (Last meeting, which preceded Christmas, Ruth gave gifts to a number of people but somehow forgot to give herself a gift.

19 Dec 2011

warrensheng — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:26:18 +0000

Our end of year meeting on 19-Dec was the most expensive and magical one of the year. If you missed it, you’ll never see such a meeting again. Expensive because several of us bought and brought a lot of party food and gave away gifts to half the membership and magical because 20 people came including two visiting Toastmasters from Watford. They are a married couple and they are both magicians (illusionists). Mandy used an optical illusion device that seemed to hypnotise you. The guinea pig was my 11 year old son, Caleb. After staring at this device for a minute, we looked at Caleb’s head and it seemed to explode in size. (When he was a toddler, Caleb’s nickname was Big Head.) Rob Cox, who is a humorous speech contest winner, showed the classic 3-rope trick where 3 different sized ropes become equal size. The only magic trick previously known to Harrovians is when Toastmasters disappear even when they have a meeting role….
My just 17 year old son, Isaac, having not seen Alan for many months, remarked at how much weight he had lost. Yes, this was a splendid disappearing tummy illusion.
Riad gave a superb ice-breaker which had plenty of autobiographical data, humour and two twists. He said he would deliberately give us one lie among all the truthful facts. He also started and ended in the same small bedroom in his parent’s home. Intrigued? You should have been there. We can only hope Riad will actually join us in January, a process known as paying membership dues. Gosbert was our only other speaker but now that two weeks have past, I simply cannot remember what his speech was about. It was good to see Trevor and Maneesha.
Yoel, who is Jewish, wore a Santa Claus costume and Pinky, who was the TM of the evening, decorated the hall with Christmas decorations.
Warren sang a new version of Silent Night (see below); gave a bible-based Christmas quiz of which the “best” question was “Where in the bible are we told to celebrate Jesus’ birth?” Answer: nowhere.

Silent night, Toastmaster of the Evening is–nowhere in sight
No agenda—we’re start to panic
Let’s gather round yon President Vishnick
The meeting’s a series of mistakes
At least Ruthie has brought her cupcakes
At least Ruthie has brought her cupcakes

Silent night, so few of us are here
Ruth’s President, speaker and evaluatair (sic)
But Grammarian: who shall we pick?
The choice is clear: Ruthie Vishnick
Ruthie, our Saviour is here
Ruthie, our Saviour is here

5 Dec 2011

warrensheng — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 11:02:50 +0000

I had to miss this meeting, so Angela kindly volunteered to write.
You Enjoyed or Missed At Harrovians: how to write a book, speak Spanish, diet, fly a plane, turn a bystander into a Toastmaster of the evening, magically convert one speech into four, and speak humorously pretending to support something you don’t even agree with!
President Ruth Vishnick enthusiastically welcomed us by asking us about the benefits of a club or team, which include friendship, a sense of community–the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. Ruth showed the chart listing goals our club should achieve, which includes new members and existing members reaching their CC or completing other manuals to obtain points for the club. GE suggested the chart should have been Blutacked to the wall throughout the meeting for keen members to peruse during the break.
Ruth triumphantly waved a copy of the Harrow Times which featured an article on member Pinky Tanna, a volunteer with the police, who advises on law. This delighted everybody including a guest–Pinky’s mother! Pinky’s mother is called ‘D’ (short for a name people can’t remember or can’t pronounce). D was a guest who has seen such an improvement in Pinky’s speech and stage skills that D intends to join us as a member. D can do this by contacting Warren Sheng who will instantly arrange for quick, painless payment on line.
Khandy lamented the absence of Treasurer Warren, who can be relied upon to leave Lorna, Khandy, Angela and other over-sensitive souls open-mouthed and drop-jawed with his directness. We debated whether this was a characteristic of the Orientals and Americans, unlike the ‘polite’ Brits and even more careful Japanese who can’t say no. Angela tried not to tell Khandy that he could be equally cutting, but declined his offer to be her forthright speech evaluator and opted for the diplomatic, gentle Gosbert Chagula.
Our Toastmaster of the day did not appear, despite having volunteered, which shows it’s a good idea for the President/ VPE to confirm that the Toastmaster will be on time, and will at least remember to attend despite any work or family crisis. If not, replace. We should have the Toastmaster of Day’s number on the committee members’ mobile phones. They should have ours.
In Singapore the club address card has all committee members’ phone numbers as well as emails on the back so a guest, or Toastmaster can quickly contact with delays or apologies. Once the topics master was held up in traffic but texted the topics to the stand-in topics master. An impressive piece of worst case scenario planning.
However, Gosbert took over the role of Toastmaster of the Day with his usual suave bonhomie.
I, Angela, was the only person listed on the agenda with a planned speech and during the drive to the meeting I persuaded Ruth that she could give a speech she has recently given outside Toastmasters. One of the advanced manuals has a speech for a five minute impromptu speech. However, Ruth’s extra role was not needed. A slight delay in the start of the meeting, waiting for the Toastmaster (come in Charmaine – all excuses gladly accepted) enabled me to persuade not just two other speakers, (the quorum needed for ribbons to be awarded) but three. So we had a ‘full house’ of four speeches, giving four speakers practise, four chances for evaluators, and a more entertaining meeting.
Yoel was volunteered to the Timer’s table. Ruth later thanked him for this ‘thankless’ task which she said deserved thanks.
Mathew Rupasinha produced table topics all on one theme in the news which we must have read about–public sector Strikers. Topics included: should strikers be shot (as infamously suggested by Jeremy Clarkson.
Alan McMahon won the Best Topic ribbon, showing how to tackle supporting an idea you don’t agree with. By vehemently agreeing with the idea which he debunked by ending with the facetious comment that we should all work for nothing til we dropped dead ‘with our knuckles bleeding’. (Pinky, as grammarian, praised that novel, visual phrase.)
Ruth missed the first two topics, having so many jobs to do that she momentarily forgot she was topics evaluator. This has happened before. Topics Evaluator should be listed on the agenda. Toastmaster could go through the roles and members doing them at the start, double checking by mentioning the name of the topics evaluator, and speech evaluators, before speakers start.
Gosbert forgot to tell us to switch off phones Yoel’s phone buzzed when Angela was half way through her life story. (Yoel, please turn off phone and change buzzer to a pop tune. I brought my speech to an untimely close.) The timer should have an overseer or assistant like at competitions.
Angela gave an ice-breaker speech on her life as an author, from childhood wannabe writer through being well-paid but unknown as a copywriter, to being famous but poorly paid as a writer of Wedding Speeches & Toasts, finally early retirement writing and self-publishing books of her choosing such as Quick Quotations, using Lulu.com. Evaluator Gosbert recommended fewer props (books); stick to no more than four. Alan said he wanted to know how I wrote the books. Khandy said he wanted to know how he could write books (to enhance professional credibility), using less time and money than he did using Amazon (slow) and e-lance (fast).
Mathew’s impromptu 5-7 minute speech, gave the ‘demonstration’ talk, using paper folded to show how aeroplane wings curved on top so they lift, which he then demonstrated by blowing between two pieces of paper. (‘Any physicists here?’ he asked. “No? Good!’ That raised a laugh.) We were astonished when the two pieces of paper instead of blowing apart, blew together.
Khandy won the best speech ribbon for his talk on dieting and famous personalities, the moral being men can lose weight exercising but women must combine exercise with diet and lose weight slowly. (Thus needing more visits to his Harley Street weight loss clinic.)
Alan’s impromptu five minute speech was on being an expert speaking Spanish. He demonstrated several sentences in Spanish, including I don’t speak Spanish. He concluded the Spanish don’t speak Spanish well because they cannot understand the expert, Alan.
Khandy won the Best Evaluator’s ribbon with the recommendation reminding speakers to tell the audience where the speech is going. Alan recommended Khandy to keep his eyes on the audience members’ eyes, not Angela’s knees, or the floor. GE Ruth recommended Toastmaster Gosbert should not retreat to the back of the stage but use the front of the stage, to engage the audience more.
Angela’s phone was not operating as a camera because she dropped it earlier in the day, excitedly taking photos of her new book but Gosbert had a phone which took pictures and captured shots of proud two-ribbon winner, normally camera-shy Khandy.
Few manuals were in evidence. I had mine but in the flurry forgot to give it to my evaluator Gosbert. It would be helpful to have a box of spare manuals so evaluators can copy the questions or at least spare photocopied evaluation forms for last minute speakers and evaluators.
Some evaluators (erstwhile member Saley) used to email their evaluations to the speaker afterwards. Saley also rewrote his speech, using the evaluators’ recommendations.
Out of chaos, a hugely entertaining and instructive evening. And a learning experience for us all on organising speeches and having a stand-in speech ready.
The committee stayed behind to plan the next meeting – our Christmas party! We will have two jolly speeches, seasonal topics, decorations, funny hats, and lots of nosh catering to meat-eaters, vegetarians, dieters and health food fanatics who want vegetables and veggie dips, as well as chocolate guzzlers and home-made scones by Ruth. Guests, members and ex-members, family and friends are all invited and you can bring extra food or just enjoy ours–paid for by our members’ subscriptions. Old members –come along and see our new venue and new members, hear a couple of speeches and socialise.
Angela Lansbury, Secretary

21 November 2011

warrensheng — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 11:00:29 +0000

Self-censorship prevents me from revealing how many came this evening but let’s just say, it was the highest for some time. This made all the difference.
It was wonderful to see Pinky back with us after her long holiday in Australia. She took the humble role of timekeeper as she has either lost the art of speaking English or she has picked up too much Australian slang. Khandee was our TM of the evening, which he did with almost no errors. He made it look easy.
Warren spent a whole week preparing his table topics and it showed. He had 7 topics on the theme of disability and by some miracle, avoided offending anyone. Probably. The subjects were designed for humour but there was a serious message. E.g. If you are paralysed from the neck downwards, you have almost no body language to display. Our guest speaker found it almost impossible to keep his hands from moving. Khandy was asked to display all the symptoms of a weak public speaker. This is much harder than it seems. He lacked good eye contact but he could have shown less vocal variety and perhaps tripped over the projector. It takes real skill to deliberately speak in a monotone and mispronounce your words. And use the word “fantastic” 10 times. Yoel, with the disability of acute depression, spoke with a big smile. This was almost sinister but I think he needs to go back to acting school. Yes, speaking is a bit of an act. Finally, Ruth, the shortest ever Harrovian President, revealed her true disability: she is low in stature. Warren provided her with an 8 inch footstool. She rose to the occasion (by standing on the footstool).
Mathew is making excellent progress. His no. 7 speech was on the poppy (as in Remembrance Day poppy) which was very interesting. He even mentioned the Opium Wars in China. If you weren’t there, then sadly you missed out on this history lesson of how the British took Hong Kong.
Angela, back from Singapore, did the Demonstration Talk. I did this a few years ago and demonstrated Chinese stir-fry cooking. I brought a camping stove and cooked a tiny dish on top of the pub meeting room table. It was a real demonstration and thankfully, I didn’t burn the room down. Angela chose to demonstrate her props. Somehow, this is not really in the spirit of “demonstrating” as her evaluator, Warren, cruelly pointed out. I dread the day when someone’s advanced speech interpretation of the Demonstration speech is to demonstrate how to speak in public.
Ruth used Powerpoint to tell us about cooking to impress. She read out nearly all her bullet points because most of her audience cannot read English or are blind. (That was dry humour.) Evaluator Khandy praised Ruth for becoming more humorous and more confident in the last year. I agree.
Gosbert made his debut as General Evaluator. His funniest moment was when he was just about to complain that we don’t have ribbons any more when Ruth mentioned that we do have ribbons (they were airmailed from the U.S. only a week ago). Gosbert did what is known as a pre-emptive evaluation of what will happen as opposed to what has happened. Yoel did his debut evaluation. All I remember was that it was rather short whereas Khandy and mine were just under 3 mins 30 secs (the maximum time allowed).
Charmaine was grammarian and told us the many phrases she liked. She failed to point out any she did not like. Grammarians must try to find recommendations or it will become just a congratulatory speech. She has now re-joined us officially as a member. Khandy also re-joined us the day after showing that 5 e-mails and 3 reminders finally persuaded him to pay up.
Guests Ayrton, David and Riad came again. I hope they will all join.
Khandy won the best TT speaker and the best evaluator ribbons and Ruth awarded herself the best speaker ribbon.
I will be away on 5th December as I am attending my middle son’s Parent’s Evening. I think this is the first meeting I have missed for 3 years except when I have been on holiday. Would one you kindly volunteer to write the What an Evening report please? It can demonstrate your prowess in prose. Gosbert said that advantage of being GE is that no-one will evaluate you. Wrong. This report is the vehicle to evaluate the GE.

7 Nov 2011

warrensheng — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 22:42:45 +0000

This was a remarkable meeting as our VPE-with-agenda was somehow unable to come. One speaker didn’t turn up. This gave Yoel, in his debut role as TM of the evening and Riad, our guest and guest timekeeper, quite a challenge which they overcame magnificently. You must try these roles without much experience and without an agenda (which is full of “To Be Decided” names for roles): it’s really difficult!
The meeting started slightly late as Ruth waited for Gosbert. As Khandy, our GE, pointed out, her Presidential speech was rather apologetic. It’s important to start the meeting with high energy to set the tone, even if you don’t feel high energy yourself. Ruth did highlight the Competent Leadership manual which rarely gets too much publicity. If you have not done your CL award, you should bring this to every meeting as you can get a credit for most of the “non-speaker” roles from mentor to a guest to speech evaluator or Grammarian.
Warren declined to be the backup Table Topics master again so he suggested that each person doing a table topic then state the next subject and select the next topics speaker. (Does that make sense?) In other words, Table Topics without a master. This worked quite well but Khandy, as TT Evaluator, felt our topics were too difficult. Perhaps we should have had more light-hearted topics but as the first topic was about the Greek crisis, it was hard to find something amusing to follow. Mathew won the best TT ribbon by speaking very fluently on the tent city outside St. Paul’s Cathedral. For the record, Mathew has no sympathy for them and started off by saying they should go home and have a shower.
Charmaine’s Get to the Point no. 3 speech sounded almost like an inspirational no. 10 speech when she spoke about overcoming your circumstances to achieve your dreams. She also managed to incorporate her mini-autobiography and publicise a book she has co-authored. Mathew’s no. 6 speech was on the Ghurkhas and the conflict between democratic consensus and informed or educated consensus. This was a very informative speech but his evaluator (a member of another TM club) correctly pointed out it lacked vocal variety which was the speech objective.
Warren spoke on and demonstrated Body Language using the FREE PDF and Powerpoint slides that he downloaded from the TMI website. I rehearsed this speech about 4 times but should have rehearsed it two more times as I lost my way a couple of times. As body language is NOT my strength, it was a good challenge to cover this important topic. Evaluator Mathew liked the way I used specific not generic examples. I somehow won the best speaker’s ribbon.
Ruth evaluated one speech and was also Grammarian. In her triple role, she ran out of words as Grammarian stopping after just over 3 minutes. It was short and sweet, much like Ruth herself. Her word of the day, indulge, was only used once, by Charmaine. Even if you are not a natural grammarian, it’s a good role to grow into.
Khandy, as always, was a very good, witty GE pointing out that achieving the speech objectives is the most important single goal. I challenge him to do the Timekeeper’s role and an advanced speech.
Yoel did a brilliant debut role. He will do even better next time with an agenda, without jeans and without his Tarot cards which Khandy disliked using a three letter acronym that cannot be used in polite society. Riad, on his 2nd visit to Harrovians, was the backup timekeeper. I have never seen this role done so well by a newcomer, and without an agenda! It was also good to see David again, who lives on Glebe Road. We hope to see Riad and David next meeting and hope they join as members.

31 Oct 2011

warrensheng — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 16:04:52 +0000

As the new SAA, Yoel opened Glebe Hall and, for the first time in ages, he brought the club resources back to his home. In the past, Ruth has kindly done this, plus tea and refreshments as well as her President’s role. This is a thankless job so I would like to publicly thank Ruth for having such an uncomplaining servant’s heart, having looked after the club resources for several months. As backup SAA, I am also delighted that Yoel has taken on this important job.
The highlight of this evening was having a large chunk of extra chocolaty Halloween cake that Ruth brought. Yes, I actually had cake and tea for a change.
The second best part was welcoming 5 visitors, which made such a beneficial difference. Amit flew in from Mumbai bringing an Indian friend with him. Amit has re-joined us as a member. I was going to say this is because no one in Mumbai Toastmasters can understand him but you might not understand my dry humour.
David, who lives about 50 yards away on Glebe Road itself, came because Warren and Ayrton, a guest, cold called him last meeting by just knocking at his door, proving that cold calling works. Charmaine, who was a Harrovian 3 years ago when we met in a dark pub meeting room, came back and was rewarded with the timekeeper’s role, which she did well. Audrey and Ryad (spelling) also came.
Warren triple rolled (TT Master, General Evaluator and Grammarian) which meant he was trying to write notes with his left hand and his right hand at the same time. Rather difficult. His Table Topics was whining and we heard speakers complain about public transport, their job, people who are always late, the economy. When Ryad was asked to complain about his wife, he managed to tell us about her good points! The table topics were evaluated by Ruth who gave every speaker a commendation and recommendation. Easy in theory but difficult in practice as you have to think and write quickly.
Lorna, back from the Jewish religious holiday period, was the TM of the evening. She did this with her usual competence using a new simplified agenda. Ruth gave everyone present at least one chocolate Halloween gift. Now you know what you missing when you don’t come: chocolate, self-development, confidence, new friends to network with and more chocolate. Personally, I value chocolate more highly than a ribbon.
Yoel gave a humorous no. 2 speech on how things he buys just break down from vacuum cleaners to printers to laptops. Now he has custody of the club lectern, I just hope it doesn’t break into small pieces…
Warren’s “word” of the day was the pause, which Mark Twain regarded as the most effective part of communication. Amit and Lorna used the pause well so barely used the filler word, erm. In contrast, Yoel interrupted his erms with words. When he learns to close his mouth and pause more, he will become an even better speaker. As he is so committed to Harrovians, I am sure we will see this improvement.
Amit gave a quickly prepared speech on “Let it Go” starting with a story about how hunters catch monkeys. He inspired us to let things go. You can apply this to many things including broken down vacuum cleaners. Just don’t let go of Harrovians because you know the Toastmaster experience is good for you. At least 4 of the guests asked about membership. We do need new, enthusiastic members so this was a great conclusion to another high quality meeting.

17 Oct 2011

warrensheng — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:45:17 +0000

As the original speaker cancelled at short notice, Kamlesh was the backup Toastmaster of the Evening. He did this role competently, but it was amusing to see how he deviated from the agenda. We now deliberately have all the speeches in part 1, not part 2, but Kamlesh didn’t seem to notice this and wanted to change the agenda. Hint: using the agenda is not cheating. It is supposed to help even if it has inaccuracies. There was no TT evaluator, grammarian or GE, which was a great pity. However, later on, Angela did give a very high quality GE report. She felt that the cold-calling was the highlight of the evening. I agree.
We had two very welcome guests, 19 year old Ayrton and not-quite-19 Cristina, an Italian lady. This made such a difference.
Ruth triple rolled. As TT master, she invited speakers to take something out of her bag and then talk about it. These items included a pencil and an alarm clock. This is quite an easy technique and our two guests also spoke.
Youthful looking Yoel’s Icebreaker was quite revealing. Yoel said he was 39 which was shocking. He doesn’t look a day older than 38, yet he is already middle aged with children. Yoel won the best speaker “ribbon” as he also bravely revealed that he was not fully mature. Age does not, of itself, bring maturity. I know the feeling. When I was 19, I felt and was told I was quite mature. When I reached 39, I realised I was only nearly mature.
Angela gave a speech on how a speech can save a life. She had all sorts of props laid out just behind her but then didn’t seem to use any… Warren, fresh from a successful time being forced to cold call recently, gave a practical speech on cold-calling. The call to action, straight after the speech, was to go out into the darkness of Glebe Road with Warren and, armed with invitation leaflets, knock on a few doors and invite our “neighbours” to come to Harrovians as we need new members. Gosbert bravely went out as did our guest, Ayrton! The cold calling went down well. As cold-calling is not a popular pastime, I congratulate all 3 of us for going out. Gosbert and Ayrton were rewarded with several bags of crisps.
Sobithan made a rare return to Harrovians and was timekeeper. He gave some quotes on time but I felt some of his timekeeping was incorrect. I was given a time of nearly 9 minutes (!) but I remember stopping at the amber light.
Mathew gave a stunningly perceptive and winning evaluation of Warren’s speech. Warren had never realised he occasionally smacks his lips although the fact that he leans slightly to the right may be because he has voted Conservative his entire life. I’m amazed that someone as young as Mathew could give such a mature evaluation. Perhaps Mathew is older than Yoel, in some ways?
In Ruth’s evaluation, she mentioned that she has clothes older than Ayrton. Warren asked whether she meant her adult clothes or her children’s clothes but she failed to fall into the trap.
In the short open committee meeting following, Yoel kindly agreed to be the new SAA as Sobithan, the current SAA, cannot make every meeting.

3 Oct 2011

warrensheng — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 09:49:45 +0000

This was a remarkable meeting as Ruth had FOUR roles: President, speaker on Stephen Hawking, and she evaluated two speeches! I was the timekeeper but could have done an additional role. In my experience, no role is bad, one or two roles are good and 3 or more is too much stress. I think Ruth was suffering from the rare malady of EF, Evaluation Fatigue, by the end. I felt she liked Stephen Hawking a little too much. Doesn’t he have any weaknesses (apart from his disability)? Ruth also mentioned that she was the only Harrovian present at the recent Area Contest. She came 3rd for her humorous speech which was a good ranking for her first Area Contest speech. We should have supported her better.
Kandy (note the deliberate misspelling to protect his Google rankings) was the excellent Grammarian with his dry humour. His only flaw was using the word “nice” about 6 times, which is 6 times too many. He does this role too well, too often and too easily. I’d like him to tackle the advanced speech manuals. And the supremely difficult role of humble timekeeper.
Angela spoke about Jewish New Year and Yom Kippur, the day of Atonement (involving fasting and confession of sin). This was an informative speech but it was also from the Entertaining speech manual. I do find New Year entertaining but I find fasting and confession of sin less so. This was a long speech with a useful Q&A at the end. As evaluator, Gos, pointed out, not all of us are familiar with biblical stories. Angela also spoke about the death of her father. Perhaps moving but not actually entertaining. Angela also gave a very strong, convincing evaluation of Ruth’s speech.
Ami seemed to speak in a very long sentence but it was an intriguing speech on the 3 faces of Marrakesh. We know it was intriguing as this is how Ami described her speech. Perhaps it’s a case of evaluating one’s own speech in the first paragraph? This showed originality and guts. My speech next Monday is on cold-calling(!) and perhaps I should begin by saying “This is an outstanding speech”.
Mathew’s no. 3 speech title was “Is oratory as vital to leadership as it once was?” Sounds like a debate title. He didn’t smile enough and, ironically, it seemed to lack vocal variety. Indeed, does one need oratory skills to speak about oratory? I’m not 100% clear how oratory is defined or perhaps it is like an elephant: difficult to describe but everyone knows what you mean.
Kamlesh was Table Topics Master but I would have liked one or more topics. I have now forgotten the topic titles.
Pinky was kept working late into the evening so we didn’t have a GE but hey, I wrote this report. It is not politically correct to state how many people attended this meeting but let’s just say the number was well under 100 and we need to make more efforts to bring guests.
As I was the backup SAA again, I would appreciate if some other volunteer did the role.