A change of scene

Easter activities at St Michael's church hall, our normal venue, meant that we were obliged to re-locate elsewhere for the meeting which took place on Thursday the 21st of April. Fortunately through our good connections with Camberley Rugby Club we were able to use their downstairs function room, which served our purpose well, and may be used on future occasions if the need arises.  

The meeting took place the night before the 4-day Easter break, and attendance was lower than usual, but nonetheless we had a lively and exciting evening which included two first-time guests, Ruth Duffield and Eamonn D'Arcy. The total attendance was 14: 

Camberley Members: Atulya Verma, Bob Nisbet, Chris Ayscough, Christina, Deborah G, Harry Fish, Maria James, Martin Berry (Club President), Natalie Kay, Sarah Williamson Green.  

Visitors and Guest(s): Panos Panagou, Katie Nisbet, Ruth Duffield, Eamonn D'Arcy. 

The meeting room was prepared collectively by the members, and the meeting opened by Harry, standing in as Sergeant-at-Arms, with a short introduction. The meeting was then handed to our President, Martin, who welcomed everyone, with a special mention for our guests. Martin explained the last-minute agenda changes, then handed the meeting to Chris, our Toastmaster of the evening. Chris introduced Sarah, our Timekeeper for the evening, and Deborah, our Grammarian and Ah Counter, and each in turn gave a summary of their roles. Deborah had chosen "SERENDIPITY" as the word of the day, and gave us a brief description of its meaning and origins.   

Harry ran the "Warm up" session, saying that Seven-a-side rugby was to become an Olympic sport for the first time in 2016 at Rio de Janeiro, and if he was allowed, he would like to be picked for the England team. He then passed a rugby ball to the next person in the audience, and each in turn had to speak for between 10-15 seconds telling us what Olympic sport they would like to play, then pass on the ball. This gave everyone the chance to relax by speaking briefly, and resulted in lots of good humour.   

The meeting continued with two speeches, as follows:

1) Summer Solstice at Stonehenge (CC02) - by Natalie. This was Natalie's second speech, and described how she had spent the night at Stonehenge on two occasions, in order to watch the sun rise on Midsummer's Day, which it did the second time!

2) A Cornish Adventure (AC04) - by Harry. This was an advanced speech taken from the Entertaining Speaker manual, describing a ride in a sea-going kayak off the Cornish coast, which ended in disaster.   

During the break, the assembled members and guests had informal discussions, and the speech evaluators had the opportunity to prepare for the second part of the meeting. 

The meeting resumed after the break with the speech evaluations. Christina gave an appraisal of Natalie's speech, and Bob gave an appraisal of Harry's speech.  

The Table Topics Master was Martin, who had a shopping bag full of surprises, various objects to be explained by the chosen speakers, who were to elaborate on their possible uses, and the likely value of them. Those chosen to speak on this occasion were: Atulya, Maria, Deborah, Katie, Natalie, Ruth, Chris and Bob.  

The Table Topics Evaluation was carried out by Panos, with a summary of the roles played by each speaker, and some useful feedback for everyone.  

Deborah took the floor as Grammarian/Ah Counter for the evening, and detailed the use of good and bad English over the course of the evening, identifying those who had used "filler" words. (Ah, Oh, So, Um etc.) She praised the use of good English, and those who had used well-structured phrases and the Word of the Day. 

Maria then gave a General Evaluation of the evening, with some constructive comments for the participants, and commended the club on running a successful and enjoyable meeting.
The meeting was handed back to Martin (Club President) to present the awards. On this occasion as there were only two speeches, under club rules there were no awards presented for the speeches or the speech evaluations, so Bob decided to have three prizes for the Table Topics speeches, as follows:

1st Equal: Katie with her powerful attraction to a soup tin, and Natalie's determination to turn a workman's hard hat into a fashion item.

3rd: Atulya, with a mystery item from the kitchen, which most of us thought was a potato masher. 

Martin concluded the meeting, and many then went upstairs to the Rugby Club bar for light refreshments and informal discussions.

Next meeting: The exciting "Tall Tales Contest" to be held on Thursday the 5th of May 2011, commencing 7.30 p.m. at the normal venue, St. Michael's church hall, London Road/A30, Camberley. This contest is open to all paid-up members of Camberley Speakers, by contacting Christina, as shown in the attached e-mail. Speech time is 5-7 minutes with normal competition rules applying.  

Club's Newsletter: This newsletter is e-mailed to "Friends of Camberley Speakers" who are current club members, friends from other Toastmasters clubs, past members and prospective new members who have shown an interest in joining the club. If you no longer wish to be on the list, please "Unsubscribe" to harryfish@thinkpositive.co.uk

The newsletter will also be posted onto the websites shown on the top of this letter, which you can access without a password. If you'd like to include additional information which is relevant to Toastmasters, do let me (Harry) know. 

New members: Please welcome our most recent joiner at Camberley Speakers, Atulya Verma, and give him any assistance he may require on his journey with Toastmasters. If you would like to know more about joining, please read the final page of this letter.

Members' badges: Natalie Kay has created a badge template to help new members and regular visitors to be easily identifiable. Please let Natalie know if you need a badge: ndkay@hotmail.co.uk  

Members' manuals: In return for paying a joining fee, new members are enrolled on the Toastmasters International system, issued with a PIN, and receive their first two manuals, the Competent Communicator manual, and the Competent Leadership manual. Do bring these with you to our meetings, and ensure that whenever you carry out a role, you find a fellow member to evaluate your efforts, and have this recorded in your manuals. This way you will progress towards your first two Toastmaster awards. 

News roundup:

1) Tall Tales Contest: As shown above, this takes place on Thursday the 5th of May, with speaking entries for members only, but guests are welcome as always, for what promises to be an entertaining and enjoyable evening.

2) New Year, and new committee! The Toastmasters "Year" runs from the 1st of July each year to the 30th of June. The current committee will stand down at the end of June, to be replaced by a new committee, which will be voted in by YOU, if you are a paid-up member of Camberley Speakers. This is your chance to have a say in how your club is run, by a) Voting, and b) Volunteering. Some of the current committee have agreed to stand again next year, which is important to ensure we retain a core of experienced members, but some positions have now become vacant, specifically:

Vice President Public Relations: Maintain the club's profile in the local community, liaison with the press, HR departments of local companies, general club publicity.

Sergeant-at-Arms: (One of two) A shared job. Helps to set up the meeting room, helps to start the meeting, helps the Toastmaster cope with last-minute changes.

If you would like to consider a position on the committee, please be assured that you will receive guidance and support, and probably learn some new skills in the process. You will also earn credits towards your goals in the Competent Leadership manual.

3) D71 District Spring Conference: This is to be held in London on the 6^th, 7^th and 8^th of May, marked by a number of key speeches and workshops. Booking is via the D71 website which members can access, using their Toastmasters passwords. 

You have seen above, that the end of year approaches for Toastmasters International clubs around the world. This is an exciting time, as we build towards meeting our goals for the current year, in terms of helping individual members to achieve their objectives with progressing through their Competent Communication and Competent Leadership manuals. Points win prizes, or in fact ribbons, to be added to those we already have on the club's banner. I know that we have several members who are close to reaching their intended goals within the current year. They will be given every encouragement and opportunity to do so. The message is clear, achieve your goals, and help your club to achieve its goals.   

Club's atmosphere: Our objective is to help members to develop their public speaking abilities in a friendly and supportive environment. If you have a problem in attending because you need a lift, do say so, somebody may be able to help. If you have a meeting role, but need to cancel, please inform us ASAP, so that the agenda can be revised. We have enthusiastic members, at Camberley and elsewhere, who are willing to take on roles at short notice, and a hard-working VPE (Quang) who is prepared to juggle the agenda as required, to ensure that "It will be alright on the night." 

Many hands make light work: A club like ours relies on volunteers. If you would like to play your part in running the club, even taking on a small role, please contact our President, Martin Berry on: berry-martin1@sky.com   or 01252-650001.   

I hope to see you at the next meeting. Happy Toastmastering All! 

Harry Fish CC - (VPPR, Camberley Speakers)

Phones: 01276-35164 and 07860-201387

E-mail: harryfish@thinkpositive.co.uk