Now we're talking!

The recent winter weather deprived us of the two meetings planned for December, but I am delighted to report that we had a spectacular first 2011 meeting on the 6th of January, with three good speeches and lots of humour all round. Total attendance 17:

Members: Adarsh Saini, Ben Dell, Bob Nisbet, Chris Ayscough, Christina, Deborah G, Harry Fish, Helen Clark, Maria James Mills, Martin Berry (Club President), Quang Truong Le, Rob Sutcliffe, Sarah Williamson Green.

Guest(s): Jessica Hayward (Farnham Speakers), Keith Hayward, Emma Earley, Doug New.

The meeting was started by our President, Martin, who welcomed everyone, with a special mention for our guests, some already known to the club, but also a first-time visitor, Emma Earley, who plans to join Camberley Speakers. Martin was also our Toastmaster of the evening on this occasion, and explained the last-minute changes that had been made to the agenda. He then introduced Quang Le, our Timekeeper for the evening, in conjunction with Chris, and Adarsh, our Grammarian and Ah Counter, and each in turn gave a summary of their roles. Adarsh’s chosen “Word of the Day” was LUCID. This word was on display in the front and back of the room.

Maria ran the “Warm up” session, by asking us to each speak for 15 seconds on her chosen theme: “Tell us about your New Year’s Resolution for this year or a previous year”. There were some interesting variations here, and lots of humour, and everyone present participated.

The meeting continued with three speeches, as follows:

1) I cook with wine (CC01) – by Helen. This was Helen’s “Icebreaker” speech, and told us about her love of wine and food, and cooking the Christmas lunch for her family, with a 3-meat roast from Wales. She was animated and witty, and this was an impressive first speech for Helen, who is a recent joiner to Camberley Speakers.

2) The curse of perfectionism (CC02) – by Rob. The theme here was that we all compete in life, but we cannot all be first, and that those who come second or beyond should not have their efforts belittled. Rob used some excellent descriptive and expressive language, and good humour, and this was another commendable speech.

3) The perfect choice (CC06) – by Christina. This was a touching and humorous speech given by Christina on the trials and tribulations of selecting a rescue cat to share her house. After several false starts, she now has Toby in her life, who sounds full of character, but we are informed is also fairly well-behaved.   

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

The meeting resumed after the break with the speech evaluations. Harry gave an appraisal of Helen’s speech, Bob gave an appraisal of Rob’s speech, and Deborah gave an appraisal of Christina’s speech.

The Table Topics Master was Quang Le, with a number of quotations taken from the internet, asking each participant to agree or disagree with the content. Those taking part were: Jessica, Keith, Emma, Martin, Maria, Bob and Doug.

The Topics Evaluation was carried out by Ben, with a summary of each speech, and some useful feedback for each of the TT speakers.

Adarsh took the floor as Grammarian/Ah Counter for the evening, and summarised the good and bad use of English over the course of the evening, and identified those who had used “filler” words. (Ah, Oh, So, Um etc.) Adarsh praised the use of good English, and those who had used well-structured phrases and the Word of the Day.

Jessica gave her General Evaluation of the evening, with some constructive comments about the timekeeping aspects, the advantages of stating the speech objectives, and some other useful pointers.

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

Best Evaluator: Bob.

Best Topics speaker, to Bob.

Best Prepared Speaker: Helen.

Martin concluded the meeting, and many then went to the Four Horseshoes for informal discussion, as the nearby Duke of Clarence pub, is undergoing changes.

Next meeting: Thursday 20th of January 2011, commencing 7.30 p.m.

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.

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.

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’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 need to cancel your attendance shortly before a meeting, and have a role to play, 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, and learn some new skills at the same time, 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