Doncaster Speakers Meeting Report | Monday 9th November 2015

Report from Toastmaster meeting 9th November 2015 by Derek Lucian

Another fantastic demonstration of ‘doing it the way it was meant to be done’. Our meeting tonight had the key ingredients for a successful Toastmaster evening. One in which a dash of humour added to an abundance of energy made for a very interesting evening of Toastmastery (is that a word?)

In honour of Remembrance Day, our theme was memory

Every Sergeant at Arms would be happy to borrow the authority that lies within the vocal chords of Andy Howell as he maintained the order of the meeting at the opening and the mid-section. The Doncaster Speakers meeting was fabulously facilitated by our Toastmaster, Stephanie Bisby. Stephanie made the role look easy as she segued effortlessly from one segment to the next, a move that injected something extra into the agenda and kept it all the more interesting with her keen observations throughout. We can do nothing but forgive her the one little foible in which she almost forgot to ask us to vote for the best speaker.

In the role of timer, for the first time, Alison Turner demonstrated good organisation, good humour and good tea-making. The tea-making is an addition to the role much appreciated by this GE and I will not dwell on the fact that the timer ‘remembered late’ to take her coloured cards up to the lecterns as it was her time to explain the role.

David Allen, our illustrious ‘Ah-counter’, gave a good explanation of his duty for the meeting, leaving a good portion of his allotted time for doing so, unused, thus giving us a good example of getting to the point without any superfluous jibber jabber. He also delivered a winning recounting of the overall ‘ah’ temperature on the night as a result of his keen listening skills.

The Grammarian role was taken by long-standing Doncaster Toastmaster, Richard Bluck, who delivered a solid introduction to the role, followed by a detailed explanation both clear and complete. Richard reported back to the group some examples of good use of the English language, however did not manage to use up his minimum allocated time for the report.

Table Topics evaluator for the meeting was Shelagh Jones, another long-standing member of Doncaster Speakers, who took on this almost always difficult role. Shelagh’s great confidence was evident as she delivered the evaluation of each TT speaker, with a particular focus on how we can all do more with the time we are allowed in a TT.

We had two speeches on the night; the first one an ‘Ice-Breaker’, was evaluated by seasoned Toastmaster, Andrew Miller. After introducing us to the speaker by way of a brief bio of Julie Dawtry, Andrew covered all of the appropriate details relating to the project. He continued this confident, competent manner as he presented his evaluation of the speech, providing Julie with sound commendations as well as encouragement in the comments reflecting her status as a new Toastmaster and that she will learn to use pauses as she develops in the club. Andrew also gave an excellent suggestion that could benefit anyone in a similar situation – that since Julie has asked for her speech to be videotaped; perhaps she might consider videotaping her 10th speech to gauge how far she will have progressed.

The second speech evaluator was Sean Gordon who commented on the attention getting opener in the speech by Bridget Pearson. Sean gave a number of examples of where her strengths could be observed, namely, her sense of humour and strong structure to the speech. He also commented on how she might consider reflecting on where she was when she first started in Toastmasters compared to where she is now.

In summary, key observations for the night are around the great energy, excellent humour and a well-run Toastmasters meeting.

Doncaster Speakers Meeting Report | Monday 12th October 2015

Report from Toastmaster meeting 12th October 2015

The theme of the meeting was ‘What’s in a Name?’. The meeting started at 7.00pm and was opened by the Sgt at Arms, Julie Gordon, and the Toastmaster for the evening was Richard Bluck. He explained the thinking behind the theme of the evening and had even looked up the meanings of some of the members’ first names.

What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

The other roles filled, were Timekeeper, David Allen; Grammarian, Andrew Miller; and Ah Counter, Bridget Pearson. They were introduced to the meeting by Richard and explained their role for the evening. Andrew introduced the word for the evening which was Derive (v) and the (n) Derivation. He invited people to introduce the word into their various times carrying out presentations etc.

First speaker was Jean Stewart, whose speech was from the Advanced Manual on Humorously Speeches and was entitled: ‘Well Woman Clinic’. This was evaluated by Shelagh Jones. The Second speaker was Shelagh Jones and the speech was entitled: ‘The Award goes to’ and was evaluated by Sean Gordon.

Before the break Andrew Miller introduced the Education Session and from the group was able to identify subjects for future Education Sessions. After the break Julie called the meeting to order and Richard welcomed everyone back. This was the time for Evaluators to provide feedback to the group and pointers to enable the speakers to pick up on feedback on best practice and with some recommendations.

Following this the Table Topics Master introduced the Table Topics challenge and this was taken up by seven members of the group. The theme for these followed the evening theme of ‘What’s in a name?’. The Grammarian, Ah Counter and Timekeeper were able to provide feedback on how the evening had related to their roles.

At the end of the evening, the President, Jean Stewart, informed the group that the Area Director, Euan Bayliss, would be attending the next meeting on 26th October and has volunteered to take on the role of General Evaluator. Also she reminded the group that Andrew Miller will be representing the Club at the Division Table Topics Contest on 25th October and invited members to attend if they wished to do so.

The evening finished with the awards. Best Speaker Award went to Shelagh Jones, and the Table Topics Award was shared between Andrew Miller and Derek Lucian, with Evaluator Award going to Alison Turner. The meeting closed at 9.05pm.

The next meeting will take place at 7pm on 26th October at the Regent Hotel, Doncaster – all are welcome.

Doncaster Speakers Meeting Report | Monday 28th September 2015

General Evaluator’s Report | 28th September 2015 | By Jean Stewart

“Imagery”

The Sgt at Arms, Alison Turner, started the meeting on time and covered the housekeeping details. She then introduced the Toastmaster for the evening, Bridget Pearson.

The theme for the evening was ‘The Power of Imagery’, and Bridget explained why the theme had been chosen. She then introduced Sean Gordon, who was the Timekeeper and he explained the importance of keeping to the times allocated to all roles and also to the Speakers. Then Lisa Johnson, Grammarian, provided the meeting with the two words she had chosen, which were ‘Conjure’ and ‘Evoke’, which she had linked to the theme of the meeting. During the evening Lisa reminded the meeting of these two words and how they could be used.

Camera image sourced from Pixabay
Exploring the evocative power of images

Stephanie Bisby, the Ah Counter, then explained her role of keeping count of words such as ‘ah’ ‘um’ and also identifying use of good English grammar, and that she would provide feedback at the end of the meeting.

At this point the first speaker, Stephanie Bisby, was introduced by her Evaluator, Shelagh Jones. Stephanie delivered her Icebreaker speech “Have Kindle, will travel”. The second speaker, Shelagh Jones, was introduced by her Evaluator, Andrew Miller. Shelagh’s speech was from the list of Special Occasion Speeches and entitled “The Roast”.

The Table Topics session was organised by Sean Gordon, and he had also linked his approach as TT Master by providing each speaker with a picture to use as the basis of their 2 minute delivery. This worked extremely well and linked very well with the meeting theme.

The President, Jean Stewart, announced to the meeting that Doncaster Speakers had been awarded the ‘Select Distinguished Club’ for 2014 – 2015. The meeting thanked Andrew Miller, President for this period, for his work and the work of the members during that year.

The Awards were then handed out. Andrew Miller won both the ‘Best Evaluator Award’ and ‘Best Table Topics Speaker Award’. Stephanie Bisby won the ‘Best Speaker Award’. The meeting closed at 9.00pm.

Next meeting is on 12th October at the Regent Hotel at 7pm and, as always, guests are welcome.

Results of Doncaster Speakers 2015 Table Topics and Humorous Speeches Contest

Report on Doncaster Speakers Contest | Monday 14th September 2015

Doncaster Speakers held this year’s Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contests on Monday 14th September at the Regent Hotel.

contest group photo 14092015
Contest Chair Jean Stewart with winner Andrew Miller, organisers and participants

Andrew Miller won the Humorous Speech Contest with a highly entertaining speech entitled ‘Humour most Fowl’.  Table Topics Speakers were asked to talk about ‘What makes a good party?’, with suggestions including the right mix of guests, cocktails, and even a ukulele! Once again it was Andrew Miller’s speech which carried the day, meaning that Andrew will represent Doncaster in both categories at the Area Contest in Leeds on Saturday 3rd October.

Andrew Miller contest photo 14092015
Andrew Miller receiving his Winner’s Certificate from Contest Chair Jean Stewart
Stephanie Bisby contest photo 14092015
Stephanie Bisby receiving the certificate for Second Place in the Table Topics contest from Contest Chair Jean Stewart
Bridget Pearson contest photo 14092015
Bridget Pearson receiving a Certificate of Participation from Contest Chair Jean Stewart

The Club wishes Andrew every success at the area contest, which takes place at Jury’s Inn, Brewery Wharf, Leeds from 10.30am on 3rd October.

Guests are welcome at Doncaster Speakers’ next meeting, which takes place at The Regent Hotel on 28th September from 7pm.

Doncaster Speakers Meeting Report | Monday 24th August 2015

General Evaluator’s Report | 24th August 2015 | By Jean Stewart

“Personal Development Plans”

With the Summer Holidays in full swing there were only 8 members at this meeting, although there was a visitor, Chris Kennedy, who was keen to become a new member.     Both the Toastmaster role and that of Sgt at Arms were covered by Jean Stewart.   The meeting started on time and Jean introduced the theme of ‘Personal Development Plans’.

Plan Ahead

Jean linked her theme to the different skills needed to make an accomplished speaker and it was clear to see that Toastmasters provides an excellent opportunity to develop current and future employees.    She then introduced Julie Gordon, who took on the role of Timekeeper and she explained the importance of keeping within the times set for each role being covered during the evening.    Catherine Winfield, who is a new member of the Club, took on the role of Ah Counter and explained the various ‘crutch’ words she would be looking for.

There was one speaker, Shelagh Jones, who delivered a Special Occasion Speech – Speaking in Praise, and the title was ‘Margaret Thatcher’.   Andrew Miller, her Evaluator, introduced Shelagh to the Club.     Shelagh delivered an excellent speech full of information on the character of Margaret Thatcher, with comments on the possible reasons for her failure to continue as Prime Minister.

It was at this point, that a video of the International winning speech was planned to the Club.    Needless to say this speech contained everything a Toastmaster member would aspire to achieve.   It had humour, interesting facts, appropriate pauses, covering the stage effectively, with a beginning, middle and ending that gave a excellent structure to the speech.     Everyone felt that viewing this level of speech was useful.

Following a break of 15 minutes the meeting resumed with Andrew Miller providing feedback on Shelagh’s speech.    He congratulated her on the content of the speech and made a couple of recommendations that he felt would improve her delivery further.    He mentioned her courage in delivering a speech on a politician not greatly admired in South Yorkshire but felt she had addressed the subject matter well.

Following this Sean Gordon was the Table Topics Master and invited seven people from the Club to speak for up to 2 minutes of a topic provided at short notice.    These went well and linked nicely into the theme of the evening.

Feedback was then provided from Catherine, Ah Counter, who congratulated everyone on the small number of crutch words used.    Andrew Miller then provided feedback on the Table Topics, and in his usual style, provided a detailed account of all the speakers with recommendations provided to assist the speakers.

The evening ended at 8.50pm with awards going to:    Best Speech – Shelagh Jones, Best Evaluator – Andrew Miller and Best Table Topics subject – Andrew Miller.

 

Next meeting is on 14th September and this will be the Humorous and Table Topics Competitions.

 

Doncaster Speakers Meeting Report | Monday 10th August 2015

General Evaluator’s Report | 10th August 2015 | By Bridget Pearson

“Success”

The staff at the Regent Hotel in Doncaster dotingly hosted the second meeting of the Toastmasters year, with the accomplished new committee, and I personally deemed it a success!

Image of trophies
What does ‘Success’ mean to you?

David Allen was our Sergeant at Arms for the evening, confidently kicking off the meeting on time. He did a great job throughout the evening, ensuring everyone was back in their seats for the second half too.

Alison and Catherine were the two speakers this evening, both doing their ice breaker. I thought it would be appropriate to quote Andrew here, “The first speech smack-down is upon us!”

Lisa Johnson was in charge as Toastmaster; she chose “success” as the theme of the night. She shared a story of man of the match Stuart Broad, who helped bowl Australia out for 60 at the Ashes last Saturday. Lisa told us that she and Stuart had something that connected them- Stuart was a premature baby. She outlined that Stuart’s parents would have seen him getting out the hospital as a success, and then walking and then starting school. She made the point that success comes in many different forms and you can find it in everything.

Catherine was the first speaker of the evening, she delivered a speech titled “A Week to Remember”. It was an emotional tale of her eventful week which involved saying goodbye to one of her twin daughters as she jetted off to America for University. Mixed in with all this was the turmoil of unfortunately not getting the job she interviewed for. Karry summed it up well in her evaluation as “it was sadness to laughter in the space of a sentence”. It was a great first speech and I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room!

Our club president, Jean Stewart, announced the word of the day as “accomplish”. She used the word in her own mini speech as the grammarian and told us in the second half that the word had been used 4 times. Jean also pointed out Shelagh’s slightly odd use of language of “got born” in table topics. Jean always speaks with passion and enthusiasm and never fails to get a laugh or smile in the room!

There was a chill in the room next as Alison Turner began “Skating on Thin Ice”. Alison was doing a juggling act tonight and was also Ah Counter for the evening, (although there weren’t many ahs or ums to count!). She told us about her trials and trepidations of ice skating, using strong imagery and related props to strengthen her case. In Andrew’s thorough evaluation of her speech, he noted her good use of body language and awesome alliteration.

Timekeeper and greeter this evening was Shelagh Jones. She arrived to the Regent’s Hotel at 6.20pm, setting a good example for everyone. She gave a great introduction and used the coloured signs very well. I particularly liked the fact that she checked with Lisa, as Toastmaster, whether she could clearly see the cards from the back of the room.

Stephanie Bisby hosted our table topics for the evening with an excellent evaluation from Michael J Clarke who famously (in the Toastmaster world) declares that “Evaluation is the powerhouse of Toastmasters”. Stephanie tied the theme of success into her table topics subject, asking us all to give a story of somebody who we believe to have been successful in a certain field. I chose David Beckham in my table topics, simply because of his dedication to sport and ability to be an excellent role model due to his devotion to his family.

Thank you to Lisa Johnson for running our night. To sum up, it was another great meeting with a fantastic general evaluator overlooking the evening!

The next meeting will be on Monday 24th August.  Guests welcome, as usual!