After many happy meetings at our old venue, we’re moving to The Regent Hotel, just on the edge of Doncaster, from Monday 22nd April.
The hotel’s very easy to find and there’s plenty of parking nearby.
We’re all looking forward to the move, and we’re looking forward to new guests and members joining us very soon.
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The Regent Hotel, Regent Square, Doncaster, DN1 2DS
If you’ve ever thought about joining Doncaster Speakers, we have a great opportunity for you to try us out by coming along to our February Open Evening.
We’ve decided focus a whole meeting on introducing guests to the Toastmasters system and Doncaster Speakers. All of the ordinary components of our meetings will be included, and we’ll be showcasing many of the ways that we develop speaking, evaluation and leadership skills together.
The Open Evening is totally free to attend (if you later decide to join up, there’s a £47 joining fee and a £12 monthly payment, but there’s absolutely no obligation).
We’ll be meeting, as usual, at The Base, Marshgate, DN5 8AF. There’s plenty of free parking available on site and nearby.
The meeting starts at 7pm and ends at around 9.30pm. We’ll provide refreshments – you don’t need to bring anything other than yourself.
Click here to learn more, and to register for your free place.
Mark Powell took on the task of evaluating our only meeting in December 2012. Here’s his report…
When I arrived I saw that the room was well laid out and a copy of the agenda and voting slip had been placed on each chair.
The meeting was opened on time, to the split second, by Sgt at Arms, Paul Hart. Then from stage right entered our Toastmaster for the evening, and staring in that role was none other than Jean Stewart. This was Jean’s first time in this role though no one would have ever guessed. Everyone was welcomed to the club and Jean gave a personal welcome to our guest Collum. One thing that I particularly liked was the way that Jean used her own experience when she first joined Toastmasters to put Collum at ease.
Jean then introduced our Timekeeper Alison Straw, Ah Counter Paul Hart and Grammarian Derek Lucian.
Alison did a really good job of explaining how important it was to stick to time, something which I obviously forgot later in the meeting. She also used Jeans introduction as an example of the timings and told us at what points she had held up the cards. This came across really well and I thought it was a good explanation. What she forgot to explain though, and something I didn’t realise either, is that when you go 5 minutes over, a person sitting at the back of the room, waves the red card at you with one hand while drawing a pointed finger across her throat with the other and mouthing the words “GET OFF”. Obviously a point there for all future timekeepers to cover.
The multi-tasking Paul Hart doubled up on his roles last night and was also the Ah Counter. Paul did an excellent job of explaining his role, and likened it to him being the ‘speech police’. Something that we should all think about when we feel the urge to erm, ah, so or well. After all no one likes being caught by The Fuzz!
Derek Lucian was our Grammarian and he went with the new idea of giving the definition of the Word of the Day and letting people guess. Truly an inspired idea from the mind of a genius I thought. Oh yes, the Word of the Day was……..INDUBITABLE. And I still can’t pronounce it now. A really good word though, even if it doesn’t trip of the tongue like our clubs favourite….SO.
Then came the speeches. Michael J Clarke introduced Gail’s speech, ‘Eliza Binks’. As always Michael covered all the aims of the speech and also mentioned some of the points that Gail had asked him to look out for in addition. Gail performed her speech #5 and, without wanting to sound biased, I thought that it was her best speech to date, nicely paced with good use of body language and she even included the word of the day. When Michael evaluated the speech he gave some really good feedback for Gail which was both constructive and well thought out.
Jamie Godfrey introduced Derek Badger’s speech, ‘Friday Night at 9 0’clock’. Again Jamie covered all the aims of speech #8 as well as extra points that Derek wanted him to look at. But then Jamie went one step further and told us an extra point that he had identified himself that he was going to evaluate Derek on. As we expect now, Derek’s speech was full of facts and figures and was an interesting speech. I particularly liked the way it went full circle. A nicely thought out speech. In his evaluation, Jamie done a great job. In fact he done really well. He gave feedback which was both balanced and constructive, and gave Derek something to work on for his next speech. One thing that Jamie is going to have to watch though is his use of the word ‘done’. I’m not sure if anyone else has noticed this, but you do tend to use it quite a lot Jamie. Let’s hope the ‘Speech Police’ don’t pick up on this or you might end up getting done.
Richard Bluck introduced Sundip Murwaha’s speech #4 entitled, ‘Heaven’s Gate’. Once again Richard covered all the aims of the speech and it was obvious that he had also taken the time to speak to Sundip beforehand, something that every speech evaluator should do. Sundip’s speech was brilliant. His use of descriptive words was exploited to the extreme. He gave everyone present a vivid picture in their minds eye of what was happening. All I can say is that I’m glad I didn’t miss this one. Richard’s evaluation was again balanced and fair and he gave Sundip good words of advice for future speeches.
Next came coffee break. I’d love to tell you what went on, but as we all know, what happens in coffee break, stays in coffee break.
The second half started on time, Paul again calling the meeting to order with great authority.
Jean re-opened the meeting and Derek reminded us all of the Word of the Day, and how often it hadn’t been used. Then I, your General Evaluator, or GE as we like to be called in GE circles, introduced the speech evaluators.
Then came Table Topics. Our Table Topics Master was Michael J Clarke and he came up with a really good session. He gave each participant an album title to talk about. What I really liked was that each album title had a little story of what that album meant to Michael. All in all one of the best ideas for Table Topics I’ve seen, excellent. Collum earned his First Timer ribbon with his speech topic of the Rolling Stones album Tonight’s the Night, but it was Hazel who stole the show and won best Table Topics with the topic, Rumours, which was of course an album by the great Fleetwood Mac, who incidentally got their name after visiting the northern town of Fleetwood but forgetting to equip themselves properly for the inclement weather, and having to raid the local C&A and buy suitable clothing. The band called them their Fleetwood Macs, and so the name stuck.
Next came the reports from our Table Topics evaluator Ryan Sean, sorry Sean Ryan. Sean was on top form with his evaluation and managed to have everyone laughing yet at the same time gave worthwhile feedback to all those who had taken part. Sean went on to win the best evaluators ribbon. Well done Sean.
The ‘Speech Police’ in the form of Paul Hart provided evaluation on the numbers of Erm, ums and ah’s we had all used and Derek Lucian gave evaluations on how we’d all taken to using the word indubitable, or not, during the night, as well as other good and bad examples of the use of English.
Of course all that had gone before was a mere appetiser for what came next. The main event of the evening, my meeting evaluation. It was epic. Nearly as long as Ben-Hur. And to think I had been sitting there wondering how I was going to fill 10 minutes.
Our Toastmaster Jean once more took to the stage for a question and answer session and Gail had the honour of handing out the evening’s prizes to the deserved winners.
Finally Sundip stood at the front and thanked everyone for the feedback and support that he had received at the last meeting. I’m sure I’m not alone in being constantly inspired by Sundip’s progress and know that he will constantly improve become more and more confident in the safe environment that everyone at the club had provided.
Finally the meeting came to a close. Amazingly on time.
Hazel’s evaluation of our meeting on Monday 22nd October. This is one of our ordinary Toastmasters meetings, with the usual mix of speakers, evaluations, table topics and education – all with the individual’s personal flair.
It was a really enjoyable evening and as I have not attended for a while it was as though I was seeing a meeting through fresh eyes.
It was encouraging to see several new faces – visitors as well as members and as ever the meeting began on time. Always a good sign.
Several people were performing their role for the first time – Paul Hart as Toastmaster, Karen Trem as Timekeeper, Alison Straw as Table Topics Master, Mark Powell as Sergeant at Arms and myself, suddenly drafted in as General Evaluator as Michael J. Clarke was indisposed.
Paul Hart was Toastmaster and there were 3 excellent speeches, one of them an Icebreaker. That one was given by Jean Stewart (A Lesson Learnt), the others being given by Richard Bluck (A Miracle of Flight) and Mark Powell(The Falcon of Malta). Synchronicity or what – all the speeches had an inner theme of benefit to humanity.
Shelagh Jones gave us an excellent Education session – The Who, Why, What and When of Evaluation showing how the principle of CANI – constant and never-ending improvement would enable speakers to put their message across effectively and cleanly. The Toastmaster way of giving feedback was through recommendation and improvement rather than criticism. This meant that Feedback was much easier to receive and act upon.
The second part of the meeting began on time with Table Topics. The theme of the meeting was “The First Time” so some lucky people were invited to talk on a selected subject e.g. moving house, first pet. Derek Lucian won out here with his talk about a Turkey as his first pet! Well, it was till Thanksgiving!
There is always learning to be had when performing a role for the first time – both for yourself and others observing. Paul did what he does so well – drawing an audience together with apt words and a story and creating a lovely ambience. Then he recollected some of the Toastmaster “essentials” like the history and structure of Toastmasters and the meaning of the handshaking done. Thus he went over his allocated time by 2 mins. The time allowed for each activity is listed on the Agenda, for training purposes.
As for me, doing General Evaluator, in nearly 18 months of membership, it had not dawned on me what a big role it is in the second part of the meeting, with introductions, reporting and general evaluation. It helped that members realised I was learning! Thank you all. The first is the worst!!
Lisa came for the first part of the meeting before going off to feed her babies and Jamie stayed longer. The ribbons were awarded to Gail Powell for Best Evaluator; Derek Lucian for Best Table Topic and Jean Stewart won the Best Speaker award. And if you are wondering, what The Lesson Leant is – ask her at the next meeting.
Derek (pictured on the front page of our website) took on the role of General Evaluator at our recent Open Evening. Here’s his report…
Congratulations to Doncaster Speakers Toastmasters on a hugely successful first “Open Day”. The Club rose to the occasion in the presence of a record number of guests, by holding an efficient and smoothly-run meeting once again.
Some of the time allocations for roles were shortened to give more time for interaction with the guests at break. Bearing this in mind, the report by the General Evaluator was to be as brief as possible whilst still giving the visitors a taste of what Toastmasters is all about. I think we all managed to portray our Club as having a good blend of professionalism and people having fun on the evening. As General Evaluator, I observed that members of this Club are clearly competent in the business of running a meeting. Top marks go to Yvonne McGowan who didn’t miss a beat while introducing her slot as Timekeeper as two late arrivals threatened to, but in the end did not, disrupt the proceedings. Doncaster Speakers showed the level of attainment that can be reached in a relatively short period of time by dedicated and committed membership.
It could be said that one thing of which we are all guilty is inconsistency when it comes to the small matter of segues. I am referring to those brief snippets of time in between the role introductions, speeches, table topics and reports, in which we are given an opportunity to provide a personal reaction or commentary – to offset the dry, business sections of the meeting. Some of us do it some of the time, but no one does it all of the time. A suggestion might be to give a bit more of a “personal” or biographical sketch of the speaker coming up to give a speech, anything to show we’re here for more than just to participate in a serious meeting.
A wonderful example illustrating this came from Toastmaster Louise Roffey with, “…wish you an enjoyable evening, particularly those of you who are here for the first time”, when introducing her role as Ah Counter. Another noteworthy instance came from Richard Bluck as he concluded his Table Topics session introduction with, “Good luck everyone”. He also gave some quick reactions/comments to each table topic speaker as soon as they delivered their talk. As I said, we could do with more of this throughout our meetings, i.e. become more “segue savvy”, which I think adds interest to the meetings.
This club has grown in leaps and bounds, with such a pace that it is difficult to appreciate just how far individual members have come since joining the group. One of the advantages of being responsible for the General Evaluation is that one takes the job of observing, listening and paying attention a little more seriously than one does normally in a meeting. The downside is that I feel I cannot bask in the joy of listening to a speech or table topic because I am busy making notes. One thing that I noticed was the employment of different evaluation and communication techniques. Fred Roberts began the introduction of her role as Grammarian with a question, as did Derek Badger when he began his speech. As we all know, starting with a question is an immediate attention grabber,… isn’t it? Several individuals used the well-known “sandwich technique” or C-R-C method of delivering an evaluation. For a club that has not been around for very long, there is a high level of sophisticated technical ability being exhibited by its membership.
In summary, we’ve got the basics down to an art; the meeting started on time, guests were made to feel welcome, the room was set up properly and housekeeping matters were addressed at the opening of the meeting. The Toastmaster of the day introduced the committee, gave some background information about the club and ran the meeting in a manner befitting of an accomplished Toastmaster. The speeches were top notch as were the evaluators of those speeches. The table topics were, as always, a highlight of the evening, with one of our welcomed guests, (Jean) being voted the best table topic speaker of the night.
The meeting ended on time with a feeling that the evening was enjoyed by all and anticipation that there will be soon some new members gracing the stage at the Base on Monday nights in the Doncaster Speakers Toastmasters Club.
Have you ever thought about developing your public speaking skills? Doncaster Speakers is a varied mix of men and women of all ages, all learning from each other in a really supportive and fun environment.
We’re always open to new people joining.
We’ve decided focus a whole meeting on introducing guests to the Toastmasters system and Doncaster Speakers. All of the ordinary components of our meetings will be included, and we’ll be showcasing many of the ways that we develop speaking, evaluation and leadership skills together.
We’ve also timetabled time for chatting to our current members, so there’ll be opportunity to have all of your questions answered.
The Open Evening is totally free to attend (if you later decide to join up, there’s a £47 joining fee and a £12 monthly payment, but there’s absolutely no obligation).
We’ll be meeting, as usual, at The Base, Marshgate, DN5 8AF. There’s plenty of free parking available on site and nearby.
The meeting starts at 7pm and ends at around 9.30pm. We’ll provide refreshments – you don’t need to bring anything other than yourself.
There’s lots more info about Doncaster Speakers on this site – have a click around to find out more about us.
Update
After the success of our September Open Evening, we’ve now scheduled another to take place on 25th February.
Click here to learn more, and to register for your free place.
Doncaster Speakers