Early September 2010 meeting

The early September meeting was another lively one, with 17 people in attendance:

Members: Anurag Despande, Bob Nisbet, Chris Ascough, Christina, Deborah G, Devon Howell, Doug New, Harry Fish, Mark Willson, Maria James Mills, Martin Berry, Pam Williams and Sarah Williamson Green.

Guests: Andy Hamer, Gary Jenkins, Katie Nisbet and Nicola Coutts. 

The meeting was opened by Doug, our Sergeant-at-Arms for the evening, who handed the meeting to the club’s President, Martin, who welcomed everyone, with a special mention for our guests. Martin then handed the meeting to Chris, our Toastmaster of the evening. Chris introduced Devon, our Timekeeper, and Doug, our Grammarian and Ah Counter, and each in turn gave a summary of their roles.  

Gary introduced the “Warm up” session, with a “favourite music” theme which raised some enthusiastic responses, with a wide variety of musical tastes being embraced by those present, some with seemingly very long memories! 

The meeting continued with the three prepared speeches, as follows: 

1) My plans (CC01) – by Mark. This was Mark’s “Icebreaker” speech, which was clearly well prepared, and delivered with a fair degree of confidence. Mark explained how he was finding the benefits of involvement in Toastmasters very helpful in preparing himself for future career choices within the Armed Forces. We look forward to hearing more from Mark as his career develops. 

2) The Silent Killer (CC07) – by Pam. The subject matter was to warn us all, and men in particular, of the dangers of prostate cancer. The speech was obviously well researched by Pam, and the message was conveyed with power and conviction. 

3) Dr ABC (AD01) – by Sarah. This was a speech from the Advanced manual, where Sarah explained some of the principles used in dealing with accident scenes and victims, and used display materials and props (“live” ones!) to good effect.  

During the break, the assembled members and guests had informal discussions, and Maria and Deborah kindly dispensed tea, coffee and biscuits. 

The meeting resumed after the break with the speech evaluations. Anurag gave an appraisal of Mark’s speech, Harry gave an appraisal of Pam’s speech, and Bob gave an appraisal of Sarah’s speech. 

The Table Topics Master was Maria, who had some interesting subjects for the chosen participants, who were: Gary, Katie, Andy, Deborah, Nicola, Christina and Doug.

The Topics Evaluation was carried out by Martin, with some poignant and humorous comments on the performances of the participants. 

Doug was Grammarian/Ah Counter for the meeting, and gave us his account on the good and bad use of English over the course of the evening, and said that we had been very good overall, in not using too many “filler” words. (Ah, Oh, So, Um etc.)  

Christina gave her General Evaluation of the evening, with some useful comments about the meeting, and suggestions for future implementation. This was followed by Martin (our club President) presenting the awards, which were as follows:

Best Prepared speech, to Pam.

Best Topics speaker, to Gary, very much in the “firing line” with the US Army!

Best Evaluator to Bob. 

Martin then announced that the club had been awarded an extra ribbon to be added to our banner, to reflect the successful membership recruitment drive, that resulted in our increased membership numbers during Christina’s term of office as club President. Deborah kindly agreed to once again use her needlework skills to attach this to the club’s banner.

Martin concluded the meeting, and many then went to the nearby Duke of Clarence pub, for informal discussions.

Next meeting: Thursday 16th of September 2010, commencing 7.30 p.m. This is a special evening, for our Humorous Speech and Table Topics contest. Please arrive in good time, as we are expecting a big turnout, and we have some special guests. 

Club Membership: We welcome guests to our growing club. If you like what we do at Camberley Speakers, why not bring a guest or two with you next time, and they can see for themselves? If you would like to know more about joining, please ask a committee member at the next meeting, or e-mail me or Martin Berry for details.  

Club’s Newsletter: This newsletter will also be posted onto the website 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. 

Many hands make light work: A club like ours relies on volunteers, there are always jobs that are being done by committee and others, and often more that we could do to help the club grow and develop. If you would like to play your part in running the club, and learn some new skills at the same time, please contact our President, Martin Berry on: berry-martin1@sky.com   A vote of thanks please, to Devon Howell, who has kindly agreed to print some new name badges for recent joiners, once he has designed the layout on his computer, and created his own! Thanks Devon, in the short term, apart from yours, I think Quang and Mark need name badges. Anyone else, please let Devon know at the next meeting. 

Club’s Privacy Policy: We have noticed that by increased use of our website on the Internet, we obtain increased “name awareness” for Camberley Speakers in the area, which has helped in our drive to recruit new members, and which we regard overall as a benefit to the Club. However, we have received comments from both guests and some members, that they would prefer not to be “visible” to internet searches which rely on knowledge of full names, and we are of course happy to respect the wishes of those who wish to keep a low profile, and be invisible to website searches. If you would prefer us not to use your full name in our newsletters and on the information held on the website, please let me know your preferred option: 1) First name only, 2) First name and last name initial, as in “Joe B”, or 3) Totally anonymous. If you do not make your request, I will assume for the time being that you are happy to continue as at present, whereby your full name shows in the newsletters, which are then added to the website. These options will also be made available to all new joiners. 

Finally, please join me in wishing Anurag well, in his move to Leicester. Anurag has been an integral part of the club for some time, and we shall miss his enthusiastic and energetic approach to our meetings. We expect Anurag, that you will continue with your Toastmasters journey when you settle in Leicester. Be assured that you will of course be welcome to attend as a visitor at Camberley, when you are in the area. 

Happy Toastmastering All!

Harry Fish CC - (VPPR, Camberley Speakers)  

Phones: 01276-35164 and 07860-201387    E-mail: harryfish@thinkpositive.co.uk