Year of the Rabbit

The latest meeting of Camberley Speakers took place on Thursday the 3rd of February, and coincided with the start of the Chinese New Year, in the “Year of the Rabbit”, which we take as a good omen for the club. It was certainly a lively meeting, with many guests, from the local area and from other clubs. The total attendance was 21:

Members: Adarsh Saini, Bob Nisbet, Christina, Deborah G, Harry Fish, Helen Clark, Jonathan Alsop, Maria James Mills, Martin Berry (Club President), Natalie Kaye, Sarah Williamson Green.

Guest(s): Marlane Heard, David Brown, Doug New, Gary Jenkins, Allan Mornment, Hanna Mornment, Dan Benton, Cathy Richardson, Panos Panagou and Mark Jemison.

The meeting room was prepared by Sergeant at Arms Jonathan, and the meeting opened by 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 Christina who was our Toastmaster of the evening. Christina introduced Marlane, our Timekeeper for the evening, and Sarah, our Grammarian and Ah Counter, and each in turn gave a summary of their roles. Sarah’s chosen “Word of the Day” was UBIQUITOUS. This word was on display in the front and back of the room.

Natalie ran the “Warm up” session, by asking us to recall the last film we had seen, and to summarise the film in 3 words! This produced some interesting and amusing responses from the audience, and included willing participation from our new guests.

The meeting continued with three speeches, as follows:

1) I am present (CC02) – by Helen. Helen explained that the evolution of Homo Sapiens had equipped mankind for many eventualities, but the onset of technology and gadgets was in danger of intruding into our modern lives to our detriment, rather than for our benefit. She described coping strategies to help find peace and contentment despite the pressures of modern day life.

2) Illegal Alien (CC05) – by Jonathan. Jonathan took us through an interesting period in his life, when he was drawn by overwhelming forces to live in Switzerland, but his work permit was in some doubt, so he spent much of his time in clandestine cross-border activities, living in France but working in Switzerland.

3) Beware those sad eyes (Entertaining Speaker #2) – by Harry. This was targeted as a speech avoiding personal experiences, and focussed on the relationship between pets and humans, with the need to understand that most pets build a good rapport with their owners, but that strangers would do well to not take the goodwill of other people’s pets for granted.   

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

The meeting resumed after the break with the speech evaluations. Bob gave an appraisal of Helen’s speech, Gary gave an appraisal of Jonathan’s speech, and Adarsh gave an appraisal of Harry’s speech.

The Table Topics Master was Martin, with an interesting alternative to our normal “Individual” Table Topics Speeches, in that he had created a theme which required a “Double-Act” on each occasion. One member of the pairing was to promote or sell themselves with “hard to believe” promises from a politician, a car salesman, an estate agent, and others. The role of the other half was to strip away the gloss, and tell the truth! The end result was great fun, much laughter ensued. Those taking part were: Doug and Marlane, Panos and Cathy, Bob and Natalie, David and Mark, Helen and Allan, and Jonathan and Christina.

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

Sarah 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.) Sarah praised the use of good English, and those who had used well-structured phrases and the Word of the Day.

Maria gave her General Evaluation of the evening, with some constructive comments about the handovers between speakers, a reminder to all about the etiquette for how to address the Toastmaster audience when opening a speech, and rounded off by saying that she felt overall it had been a buzz-filled and positive meeting.

The meeting was then handed to Martin (Club President) who presented awards for:

Best Evaluator: Gary.

Best Topics speaker: (pairs) Bob and Natalie.

Best Prepared Speaker: Helen.

Martin concluded the meeting, and many then went to the Four Horseshoes for light refreshments and informal discussions.

Next meeting: Thursday 17th of February 2011, commencing 7.30 p.m.

Another date for your diary: Thursday the 17th of March, when the club will be holding a Speech Contest and Evaluation Contest on the same evening. In order to enter the speech contest a member needs to have completed 6 speeches from the Competent Communication manual. The speeches for this contest are timed for 5/6/7 minutes, with automatic disqualification if running over by more than 30 seconds. The theme of the speeches is “Inspirational” which gives you a lot of scope. You may use this opportunity to complete another speech in your manual if appropriate.

All current members qualify to enter the Evaluation Contest.

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.

Club publicity: We recently had the pleasure of the company of Mike Wright at one of our meetings. Mike is a journalist with the Camberley News. He let us know after the event how much he had enjoyed it, and that he would be publishing an article in the Camberley News at some stage in February. I understand this will come out on Friday the 11th, and that some people actually receive their copy on Thursday evening. I look forward with interest to seeing the article, which should bring some additional publicity to our already thriving club.

New members: Please welcome our most recent new joiners, Helen Clark and Natalie Kaye. Do give them any assistance they may require on their journey with Toastmasters. I am aware there are several others who are in the process of joining our club; they will be acknowledged shortly, once their applications have been processed. If you would like to know more about joining, please read the final page of this letter.

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 come forward and say so, there is normally someone who will be happy to assist. If you have a meeting role, but need to cancel, please let someone know 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

(See below for membership page)...............>>>>>>>>>

THE MEMBERSHIP PAGE 

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.

Some FAQs to guide new joiners:

- How much does it cost? – Membership is renewed every six months, in April and October, and currently costs £36 twice-yearly, which relates to £6/month and just £3 per meeting, if you attend them all, which many do. This covers the hire of the hall and other expenses. When you first join there is also a “one off” fee which is currently £16, to cover your registration onto the Toastmasters International system as a member, and to pay for the first two manuals that are sent to you.

- What do you get when you join the club? – As outlined above, your membership is acknowledged by Toastmasters Head Office in California, and you will receive your first two manuals, which have been designed to guide you through your first 10 speeches, and the other challenges you may choose to meet within the club, such as carrying out speech evaluations for others, and taking part in various parts of running your club, which will be acknowledged by your fellow members.

- Is there any help to get started? – Many of those joining Toastmasters for the first time experience a mixture of excitement and anxiety about what lies ahead. Fear not, you are in good company, we have all been through it! Be assured you are amongst friends who are there to help you, if help is required. Your Competent Communication manual will show you the outline themes for your first 10 speeches, and give a fair amount of guidance in writing. If you would also like some face-to-face assistance from a more experienced speaker, there are many within Camberley Speakers who are willing to give up some of their time to do this.

If you decide to join..........Welcome to the world of Toastmasters!