Back To School

Another great meeting at Doncaster Speakers on Monday evening.  As we segue out of the summer holidays and back into some form of normality, our Toastmaster for the evening (and club President) Lianna Williamson tapped nicely into her educational background and made “Learning” the theme of the evening.

A theme that was picked up by virtually everyone, not just by the Grammarian, Rai Bergmane (who chose “Curiosity” as Word of the Day) and first time Table Topics Master, Renata Oleinikova (whose questions were all around school, learning and self-development).

The biggest lesson from the evening was that we learn by making mistakes.  When we try things, get them wrong and are supported through the reflection process, then we come out stronger and wiser.  As that is what Toastmasters is all about, it was a great theme to run throughout the meeting.

Just the one speaker tonight, Rai giving herself an extra challenge a very aptly themed speech entitled “Turning Storms Into Opportunities”, which took a true story and showed how we can always take positives from adversity.

Another person that wasn’t prepared to sit back and just be content with a single role, Renata conducted her very first speech evaluation of Rai – and smashed it out of the park.  Summarising the speech beautifully and fully getting the key concept – that you evaluate the speaker, not the speech.  We don’t need to hear a replay of what the speech was about – we heard it too – but how it was done and how the speaker delivered it is what is important, and Renata did that so well.

There was also a very interesting way of presenting an education slot, with two people up on stage.  Rai (again !!) and Stephanie Bisby encouraged everyone to get involved with the upcoming Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contests by sharing their own competition experiences and reasons for taking part.

A quick nod to our award winners on the night.  Rai, obviously grabbed the Best Speaker Ribbon.  Stephanie forged to the front of the Best Evaluation field with her Ah Counter report, full of insightful observations and learnings.  There was shared spoils when it came to Best Table Topic with Roy Rungay and Andrew Miller splitting the vote.

A special mention to prospective new member, Naseer, for taking on the Table Topic Challenge again in his second meeting.

Overall, an evening of learning and serious messages all wrapped up in an envelope of fun and encouragement.

The next meeting is on 23^rd September.

If you’re interested in coming along, drop a line to us at doncasterspeakers@gmail.com and ask for details.

Andy Howell as Toastmaster gave us an engaging theme of the evening, inspired in part by Doncaster hosting national Pride on Saturday: ‘The Beauty of Being Different.’ The theme carried throughout the meeting thanks to Andrew Miller’s choice of ‘diverge(nt)’ as the word of the day, which members were challenged to include, and Lianna Williamson’s thought-provoking table topics questions on the theme of diversity.

With several absences due to holidays and last-minute dropouts due to illness, attendance was marked by quality rather than quantity, with just one prepared speech: Mark Kelly talking about the power of direct communication in a work environment. His best speaker ribbon, despite being awarded by default, was well deserved for a well put together speech, clearly and confidently delivered, with some lovely turns of phrase including powers of three. Mark was evaluated by Roy Rungay, who focused on the flow of the talk and the clear delivery as positives, while suggesting poise and stage presence as the next area of development for the speaker.

Stephanie Bisby delivered a brief education slot on giving feedback in meetings, encouraging all members to offer their thoughts concisely via the Slido system, summing up a positive and a pointer for improvement in a few words each, while remembering that more detailed personal feedback can be given in conversation during the break, or via easyspeak or the club WhatsApp after the event.

Having fewer speeches than usual gave space for an extended table topic session, with every attendee taking part including several visitors. The table topic master gave an excellent explanation of the ‘improv’ part of the evening before challenging each person to answer a question such as ‘What does cultural diversity mean to you?’ and ‘Tell us about a celebration or festival you remember from childhood.’ Mark added a second award to his collection as best table topic speaker of the night, while Steven Bisby won best evaluator for his feedback to the table topics participants, having offered each person both a commendation and a recommendation in his usual engaging and humorous style.

Next meeting will not take place on the usual fourth Monday of the month, due to the bank holiday. Instead we meet again next week, on 19^th August. Guests are welcome, as always! In September meetings will be back to their normal pattern, and in October we have club contests to look forward to.

Another good meeting at Doncaster Speakers.

We had 3 speakers, Renata performing her first ever speech at Toastmasters, The Ice Breaker Speech where the speaker give an introduction to themselves and a snip-it in to their lives. Tomas’s speech looked at how we can give a little bit more to succeed and Lianna gave a speech about her recent secondment at work.

The best speaker ribbon went to Renata.

As well as speeches lots of members carry out evaluation roles, from the simple speech evaluations to specific roles such as Ah Counter (They look for all those ums and ars in your speech)

The best evaluator ribbon went to Andrew.

Table Topics, the impromptu section was a little different this meeting with members paired up and given the scenario that they were on a burning Airship with only one parachute between then and they had to debate why they should have the parachute.

The best Table Topic went to Roy & Mark.

We look forward to more fun at our next meeting on the 12th August 2024 at 7pm at the Regent Hotel, Doncaster.

Do you want to improve your presentation skills? Why not join us on the 12th and see a Toastmasters meeting for your own eyes.

Meeting Theme – Money Talks By Andrew Miller,

Edited and Published By: Donald Sweeting Sr.

Another great meeting at Doncaster Speakers on Monday evening, with a number of recent additions to the club stepping up and getting involved.
First timer at the Toastmaster role, the person who facilitates the meeting, was Mihail Pricop and he chose a great theme for the evening. It was all about Personal Finances. Not the most obvious themes for a speaking event but it worked really well, with Mihail sharing tips and suggestions throughout the meeting and the speeches, word of the day and table topics all connecting to the theme.

We also had two ice breaker speeches. Nicole Stead shared her journey to date and her energy and enthusiasm shone through in her speech entitled “Don’t Stop Me Now”. Then we had member in waiting Stephen Quayle and his speech “Decoding You”. Stephen is already an experienced speaker and he was able to use the Toastmaster platform to practice a section of a larger speech he’s putting together.

We also had a speech from Mark Kelly. He does have a couple of speeches under his belt but is still relatively new to the club and adjusted his speech to fit the theme of today, sharing three key areas to make the most of your finances. Informative and fun, Mark managed to carry off the crown of Best Speaker of the night.
At the same time, he doubled up as Grammarian and gave us “Diversification” as the Word of the Day. A challenging word indeed, but a challenge that was picked up by everyone and carried across the finish line with aplomb.

Mark was clearly the golden charm of the evening as his evaluator, Steven Bisby, was deemed Best Evaluator of the evening, although he did have to share the spoils with Andy Howell who had evaluated Steve Q’s speech.
Not that Nicole missed out on the award ceremony as she carried off the Best Table Topic ribbon, sharing her love of cleaning products (you had to be there, I guess). Not the obvious answer to a question that, like all of the Table Topics, was all to do with money in some way shape or form. But that’s the beauty of this round. The answers can go anywhere.

As ever, an evening of learning and serious messages all wrapped up in an envelope of fun and encouragement.

The next meeting is on 10 th June.
If you’re interested in coming along, drop a line to us at doncasterspeakers@gmail.com and ask for details.

Master Toastmaster, Fellow Toastmasters, Most Welcomed Guests… I have said this to you all before on several occasions in the past, so I am sure you will not mind hearing it from me again one last time…

EVALUATIONS ARE THE POWERHOUSE OF TOASTMASTERS!!!

It is my privilege to perform the role of General Evaluator for our meeting tonight as “I Get To Evaluate The Evaluators” and ANYTHING ELSE about the meeting in general that is not already picked up by someone else.

The meeting started with the BANG OF THE GAVEL!!! On time, at exactly 17.00 hours. This is one of the fundamental pillars of the Toastmaster’s Educational System as timing sets the standard for everything else that we do. Keeping to time respects the time of others and becomes even more important as you graduate to Competitive Public Speaking as you move up through the Toastmasters system.

Toastmaster Roy Run made a very strong opening by explaining the Educational Program and the Pathways that are available to EVERY MEMBER who signs up to the Toastmasters Promise. Roy Run injected humour from the beginning of his masterful command of the evening and continued to have us rolling in the aisles throughout the meeting, so well done on being ‘Ringmaster’ for the evening.

In keeping with the Theme for the Evening “FUN” this was particularly noted that Roy Run has a future in our humorous speech contests later in the NEXT Toastmasters year so please watch this space or come and join us the next time he is Toastmaster and in charge of the entire meeting.

The Timekeeper – President Stephanie Bisby and Grammarian Andy Howarth then took their turns to explain their roles with GREAT ENTHUSIASM and APLOMB. The “WORD OF THE DAY” – DONCASTER – is meant to be used in the most inventive and challenging ways to see who emerges as our Master Wordsmith of the evening.

The Ah Counter – Tom… Explained his role with GREAT E~NTHUSIASM and in a clear and concise manner, considering English is NOT his original language. Well done Tom, your command of English alone speaks volumes as to why you are here among us as one of the most inclusive organizations on the planet for 100 years…

1st Evaluator – Liana Williamson (Formerly Cairns) As a VERY E$XPERIENCED SPEAKER, Lianna was as always a JOY to behold when in full flow. Her diction was very clear and concise, with her introduction of Mark’s speech. This was a great pairing of a mentor and mentee as an example of how that dynamic relationship is meant to develop and evolve over time spent in service to club members.

This moment also caught me a little off guard as I reminisced about the times when Lianna was my VERY OWN MENTOR… when I first joined Toastmasters and a little birdy told me recently that later this year, she will produce her come back victory tour after giving birth to two lovely children and she will be Doncaster PRESIDENT!

2nd Evaluator – Mark K is a very expressive spe4aker that also injects humour into his narrative alongside his unique personality, which draws the unsuspecting soul in to and forevermore in servitude, to the magnificence, that is this Toastmasters thing that we do 2X per month for 100 years so far and for 100 more years to come…

BiZZO or more affectionately known as Steven Bisby was the unfortunate subject of Mark’s worthwhile performance, as Steve has often been the COMIC RELIEF that we have all needed throughout the pandemic and his eventful presidency, he is also the partner of our current president… Oh Dear…

Moving swiftly along to our Third Evaluator – Mihal… Again for a 1st Generation, 2nd Language Speaker of English, Mihal has a command of the English language that is First Class with clear and concise feedback given to the 3rd Speaker…. Haha The FUN FUN FUN in Doncaster Speakers has only just begun… God Blessss

Then there was an Educational Session conducted by ASH 5th <Andy Howarth> himself… The ultimate Vador in my eyes… multiple times winner of numerous awards for public speaking, all the way up to district championships in just the most recent past. His first question was – What did you think of The Hat ? He was ALWAYS the guy you wante4d to beat for the best speaker award…

– Perhaps Ironic I know or it could be that my various hats throughout the years of Doncaster’s Toastmasters have prompted the committee to award ‘The Hat’ with an honorary membership of its own… LOL, ”i Dont Know…

Andy’s speech began very strongly on the value of evaluations and in keeping with the established theme…. It was almost like him giving feedback without the lecturing bit sandwiched in between… like a hangover sandwich that we have all tasted and its not pleasant in the slightest…

But as reigning champions go it would still be my absolute pleasure to collect his autograph for my future great great grand children can look back and say their Daaa was once associated with TMI royalty. He sets the bar very high indeed for the rest of us to follow… and it is a pleasure to try to follow in his footsteps.

The Table Topics Evaluator: – These were very well planned and researched Table Topics by a well seasoned practitioner of the Art Of Table Topics – a great deal of though with planning went into it again by BIZZO AKA Steven Bisby… Lets be honest, it kept us entertained and on topic of ‘FUN’ throughout the evening. Steve was very funny and as usual a very accomplished speaker delivering exellence.

“It was all a JOLLY GOOD BIT OF FUN”…

This UNFORTUNATELY is one of my last “IN PERSON” speeches at Doncaster for a while as I embark on the next chapter of my Toastmasters journey. I have been appointed as Deputy Area Director for Area 6, and PPC (Prospective Presidential Candidate) for Lincolnshire Conservatives 2024 / 2025…

To also add to the importance of this event, I have only last night been discharged from hospital having had a proce3edure under general anesthetic but when asked the question, if my attendance at tonight’s meeting was worth risking my health, I asked another question in return, “If it’s my life or toastmasters? – No Contest.

I would not have missed my graduation ceremony for the completion of my level 5 on my Dynamic Leadership Pathway for the world…. So here I AM, NAILING IT… In conclusion I just wanted to give my heart felt thanks to ALL of you for your support and guidance since I w as first introduced to the club in October 2015…

As Always @ Doncaster Speakers… IT WAS FUN…

By Donald D Sweeting Sr. VPPR ~ Doncaster ~Speakers Toastmasters Club.