This Wednesday 08-Aug-18, St Paul’s Speakers were proud to host a very special guest; District 91 International Speech Contest Champion Fabio de Sio. Fabio has beaten off every competitor from the south of the UK to reach the Semi Finals which he will compete in next month in Chicago. With Fabio performing two speeches, the format was slightly different and members were treated to an evaluation extravaganza!

Opening the proceedings was Mayra, Sergeant at Arms; who completed the house-keeping elements of the role with aplomb. This added an air of formality as she welcomed Rakesh, the club President to the stage.

Rakesh, as always, spoke with great enthusiasm and his excitement for what would be a great meeting, fed into the energy of the audience.

The Toastmaster for the evening was Caroline, whose natural and relaxed delivery put the audience at ease. She introduced the speakers and functionaries, Alessandaro as Timekeeper and Alexander as Grammarian, smoothly and encouragingly.

Alessendaro gave us concise reports of every speaker; commending those who that kept to their allotted time and for those who took a little too long, notes to take way and improve.

Alexander owned his role of Grammarian; encouraging the audience to keep the energy high. When he delivered his report, he noted all the interesting uses of language throughout the meeting.

The first speaker up was Sarah Beckwith, who gave a tutorial in how to evaluate. She drew from real life examples of what to commend and recommend from her experiences in evaluating club members, as well as giving some evaluation structure models for people to experiment with.

Then the Fabulous Fabio took to the stage; charismatic and energetic, he commanded the stage with style and oozed authenticity. Whilst incredibly funny, Fabio didn’t shy away from sadder personal subject matter and gave the audience a revealing account of his life in both his speeches.

Fabio performed a speech either side of the break with evaluations following immediately after.

The first to evaluate Fabio’s first speech was Florian; commanding and composed, he highlighted the positives of the speech but with bold recommendations of how to take it to the next level.

Robyn took to the stage next. A beaming smile on her face throughout conveyed her enjoyment of the speech. Her speech, however, was packed with structure; following a “Saw, Heard, Felt” format, she managed to find both commendations and recommendations in each section.

Tom was then next up and in his first ever evaluation, was evaluating a District Champion. Nevertheless, he found succinct commendations and conveyed how he now had a “Man-Crush” on Fabio!

Mayra was back to the stage with her welcoming of the guests, which she did with warmth and openness.

Lewis was next up after the break, the first to evaluate Fabio’s second speech. He commended Fabio on his genuine performance and gave technical recommendations to accentuate some of the sadder moments of the story.

Pedro, with a commanding voice, gave us a solid evaluation and demonstrated how the stage could be fully utilised by coming right into the audience.

Finally, Chris gave an enthusiastic evaluation with nice technical commendations and as a recommendation, commented on the speech as a whole and the message Fabio was trying to communicate.

The General Evaluator, Margherita, did an excellent job. With so few speakers and so many evaluators, she managed to give everyone at least one commendation and recommendation – all in the standard allocated time…just!

To close the meeting, Rakesh came back to the stage. In what was a lovely touch, gave a mini general evaluation of everyone who came to the stage, highlighting everyone’s contribution to a memorable meeting.

The two Evaluation winners, one from each section, were Florian and Chris. St Paul’s were also delighted to welcome Alessandaro and Rinat as members of the club. We are looking forward to them starting their Toastmasters journey with us.

Whilst a break in the traditional format, St Paul’s Speakers once again proved its value of being a friendly and welcoming club, especially when welcoming a District Champion. To that end, St Paul’s Speakers wishes Fabio de Sio best of luck in Chicago!

London St Paul’s Speakers Toastmasters Club

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London Toastmasters | 25-July-18

25-July-18 was a meeting unlike most… 
London St Paul’s Speakers Toastmasters club (London Toastmasters Club) held another fabulous meeting of Public Speaking on Wednesday 25-July-18, here follows the highlights:

This Wednesday marked the first meeting of St Paul’s Speakers’ new President, Rakesh.

He came to the stage brimming with confidence and charisma that he brings to every meeting and introduced our toastmaster for the evening Kash.

Kash bounced onto the stage with enthusiasm and charm. This was Kash’s first time as Toastmaster but his energy and composure, you would have been forgiven for thinking he was a Toastmaster veteran. He introduced the Functionaries, Tom as Timekeeper and Lewis as Grammarian (who then later stepped in as Sargent at Arms).

Tom gave us concise reports of every speaker; great for those who that kept to their allotted time and for those who took a little too long, some food for thought.

Lewis, in his Grammarian role; gave us the word of the day; ‘alleviate’. In his report, he was pleased to note it was used three times, even by a guest at Table Topics in what was her first ever Toastmasters meeting! He kept track of filler words used by the speakers and evaluators so that they can be aware of these habits and address that and continue their improvement. He also gave us a commentary of interesting uses of language, both in terms of clever techniques and other phrases that just stuck a chord with him.

Our first Speaker of the meeting was Christelle, who told us why she has deleted Facebook, and is now looking to engage with ‘Real life friends’ not just Facebook friends.

Caroline was next up with an account of how a bad-break up nearly cost her her best friend. Caroline concluded a revealing account with such a poignant message – ‘Due to all the circumstances that led to my friend meeting her husband, none of their happiness would have happened if I didn’t have my heart broken.’ Her story touched a lot of the audience… as was discovered after the meeting at The Pub!

The final Speech was delivered by Adam who gave us a guide to Corporate Failure, rich with real-life examples of those who have failed spectacularly. He set up a clear structure and gave a robust delivery which parodied the inspirational styles of self-improvement you can find on Ted Talks.
Lewis returned to the stage as Sergeant at Arms and welcomed the guests to share their favourite thing about Summer. With so many guests, there were a couple of repeat answers like “the long days” and “going out for beers and wine” which were met with hums of approval.

After the break, the first evaluation up was Pedro, who gave an organised and accomplished evaluation on Chrystelle’s ‘Facebook speech’, with a commanding tone and valuable recommendations.

Sarah evaluated Caroline’s speech and provided enlightening assessment. Sarah analysed the techniques which were present in Caroline’s speech and those which could be used to greater effect for Caroline to accentuate the heart of her message.

Rakesh, the President (also dual-roling this evening) evaluated Adam’s speech on Corporate failure. His analysis was sharp with critique but rich in praise, and delivered in a style that matched Adam’s own enthusiastic performance.

Anthony, as Table Topics Master, gave us a wonderful spin on the Toastmaster tradition; giving each speaker an obscure word for them to define as they believed the word to be. Three guests who were brand new to Toastmaster gave Table Topics a go and all done extremely well. And whilst there were accomplished performances from the St Pauls Speaker’s members, plaudits went to the fourth guest Andy from London Victorians, with his mischievous anecdote of his friends performing the ‘Lolygag.”

Chris, St Paul’s outgoing president, gave a technically encouraging Table Topic evaluation. Commending all which was fun and impressive from the speakers, with everyone taking something away to improve for next time.

Our general Evaluator followed his starring role in Table Topics with a valuable assessment on St Paul’s Speakers. Realising the meeting was running a little over, he trimmed his evaluation so that the meeting would finish on time. With minimal notes at a commanding stage presence, Andy highlighted the energy and venue of the meeting as strong commendations – sentiments that were echoed by the guests.

Overall, a meeting filled with energy and enthusiasm which was then taken to the pub to revel in the fun some more!

If you would like to see what makes St Paul’s Speakers so special, please attend our next meeting on 8th August 2018.

This happens to be a special meeting, where we are delighted to welcome Fabio de Sio, District 91 Speech Champion, to our club. Fabio will deliver both his Semi-Final and Final Speech to the club ahead of the World Finals in Chicago! St Paul’s Speakers belongs to District 91, so it’s a great chance to see your champion in the flesh!

London Toastmasters | 27-June-18

27-June-18 was a meeting unlike most… 

London St Paul’s Speakers Toastmasters club (London Toastmasters Club) held another fabulous meeting on Wednesday 27-June-18, here follows the highlights:

Our President Chris, quick wittingly took on the Toastmaster role and eased the meeting flow with his colourful selection of headwear changes!

Our Timekeeper Allesandro (from a Toastmasters club in Rotterdam) kindly stepped into the role due to last minute absenteeism. He commanded the stage well and detailed perfect timings.

We were treated to 4 amazing speakers:

Michelle brought into being our inner zen with her relaxing speech on Yoga.
Khash reflected on how we see the world in new and differing perspectives.
Sarah Beckworth truly brought to life the joy and prominence of language, ameliorating our range of words.
Rax encouraged an end to procrastination prompting you all to pencil in a date for your next speech!

Marvellous evaluations by Sarah Hawkins, Lewis, Robyn and Ashvin who all gave positive examples on how each speaker could implement improvements.

Sarah Hawkins conducted a very witty table topic session, inviting each speaker to elaborate and explain their take on the meaning of forgotten words/phrases in bygone days. Our table topics speakers gave us their witty take on each word including a “monkeys wedding”!

Myra as grammarian offered a fabulous word of the day ‘filibuster’ meaning “an action such as prolonged speaking which obstructs progress in a legislative assembly in a way that does not technically contravene the required procedures.” She treated the audience with a detailed “um and ahh” count for all our speakers. In addition to reminiscing noteworthy uses of grammar and metaphorical devices.

Our General Evaluator, Marti Canal, delivered an exemplar and systematic detailed overview of the club and all functionary roles. Providing some valuable advice on how we might prepare the stage a little differently in future meetings. We thank him graciously for attending our club.

Closing and final notes by our President Chris gave rise to pastures new. Marked by having graciously served his term and momentously handing over the official medallion to Rakesh who will be your new Club President from July.

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London St Paul’s Speakers Toastmasters Club

The most friendliest London Public Speaking group in the City of London

London Toastmasters

27-June-2018

Last Meeting

March 14th was a meeting unlike most… with a speech & evaluation competition!

This last week we shifted gears. In place of our regular meeting format of speeches and table topics, we had an energetic and competitive round of speeches and evaluations. In the end, we had 4 entries for the speech competition and 6 entries for the speech evaluation contest!

President Christopher Walker introduced the meeting. John Wooller acted as the Competition Chairperson for the International Speech Contest. Rakesh Patel acted as the Competition Chairperson for the Evaluation Contest. In total, we were happy to host over 10 guests, in addition to more than 20 regular members!

International Speech & Evaluation Competitions

The international speech competition featured speeches from 4 speakers: McVal Osborne, Alexander Dziri, Kashrul Hussain, and Solmaz Jarchlou. McVal Osborne gave us a lesson in facing up to challenging situations in a speech titled “How to Face the Music”. Alexander Dziri gave us a speech on giving back to those around you in a speech called “The Truth about Finding Connection”. Kashrul Hussain told us about one of his favourite films in a speech titled “Gladiator”. Solmaz Jarchlou spoke to us about how to strengthen our democratic values in a speech called “Take Back the Power!”

Afterwards, judges voted and we moved to the evaluation contest. The evaluation competition featured a speech by a mystery speaker from another club. Similar to the speech competition, we had evaluations from 6 club members: Sarah Hawkins, Giovanni Giardina, Lewis Kyriacou, Michelle Manuel, McVal Osborne, and Anthony Grice. All contestants listened to the same speech and were given five minutes to prepare their notes on how best to approach the evaluation.

Winners & Pictures

In the end, anonymous judges weighed in to decide the victors. Chief Judge Florian Bay announced the winners of first and second place for speeches and first, second and third for evaluations. Judges only gave awards to first and second place participants. In the end, judges named Alexander Dziri best speaker for the club level of the international speech competition. Judges awarded McVal Osborne second place. After careful consideration, judges voted Lewis Kyriacou best evaluator for the evaluation competition and awarded Sarah Hawkins second place.

In conclusion, well done to both winners, and to all those who attended and took part!!

Last Meeting

January 31st was a “Special Event” meeting!

Because it was the fifth Wednesday of the month, our last meeting was a highly educational. It featured an hour-long workshop from highly experienced champion speaker Chris Boden. We were also able to fit in a speech and six spontaneous Table Topics!

President Christopher Walker introduced the meeting, highlighting his longstanding relationship with Chris. We also discovered Chris Boden was a founding member of St. Paul’s Speakers. Toastmaster Lewis Kyriacou then presided over the proceedings.We were happy to host almost 30 guests, in addition to more than 25 regular members!

Workshop: Speeches That Matter

Chris Boden – Champion speaker in each of the prepared speech, humorous speech, spontaneous speech and speech evaluation categories – enlightened us all his workshop entitles “Speeches that Matter.” While Chris’ tips for creating a master speech were surprisingly simple – have a great idea, practice hard, and get lucky – the functional tips behind them, such as writing down your ideas, recording your voice, injecting humour, telling stories, and limiting your word count.were invaluable.The engaging and practical workshop was very well received.

Speeches & Table Topics

With the workshop modifying the typical schedule, we had just one speech this week – from Alexander Dziri, his fourth speech entitled “Make the Choice,” who was then expertly evaluated by Rakesh Patel. Since there was only one speech and evaluation, there were no awards given, but both speakers would have been worthy winners.

Despite the other festivities, we also included six “Table Topics”. Club members had 1-2 minutes to show off their spontaneous speaking skills. Topics this week took the focus of “would you rather” – a choice between two options. Caroline Morgan took the top prize for describing her future career in ice Skating. Well done Caroline!

Last Meeting

At our last meeting on January 24 we had FIVE great speeches from the Competent Communicator’s manual and enough time for a lively round of Table Topics.

Christopher Walker kicked things off by doing the President’s Introduction. He was followed by Florian Bay acting as Toastmaster. Florian explained the schedule for the evening and outlined next steps. Robyn Brewer then came on stage to explain her role as the timekeeper. Finally, Sarah Hawkins discussed her role as Grammarian.

Speeches

This week we had the pleasure of listening to FIVE speeches including THREE CC#4 “How to Say It” speeches.

The five speeches were as follows:

• Alexander Dziri with “Dancing is my fight club” (Competent Communication Manual #3 – Get to the Point)
• McVal Osborne with “The Long Journey” (Competent Communication Manual #4 – How to Say It)
• Anthony Grice with “My Journey to Toastmasters” (Competent Communication Manual #4 – How to Say It)
• Khashrul Hussain with “Losing your dream home” (Competent Communication Manual #4 – How to Say It)
• Roxanna Zea with “Do you know what your body is trying to tell you?” (Competent Communication Manual #5 – Your Body Speaks)

Table Topics!

After five amazing speeches, we managed to squeeze in a short round of Table Topics for the members who had yet to speak and even a few guests!

For those of you who need a quick reminder, Table Topics are impromptu speeches. The purpose of the Table Topics section is to help members think on their feet. Each person speaks on a given subject for between one and two minutes. It also allows speaking opportunities for those who are not programmed for other roles on the agenda.

SPECIAL: Jan 31st Speech Workshop [FREE]

On the fifth Wednesday of this month we have a Special Workshop. Here’s a brief description of what you can expect…

Speeches That Matter

It’s a great skill in Toastmasters to knock up a speech in no time and deliver it well. But what would you do when it really counts? A speech contest, a big work presentation, a special event; how do you prepare for the speeches that matter? In this workshop Chris will look at the process he went through to take speeches from strange ideas in his head to District finals and ultimately to the World Championships in Malaysia in 2014. What is the difference between a speech that wins a club night ribbon and one that wins a District final? And how can you turn one into the other? In this workshop Chris will look at:

• The steps for taking a speech from an idea to a finished piece.
• How to make your speech stand out from the crowd.
• How to delivery what you’ve prepared so you will be remembered.

Chris Boden joined Toastmasters in 2007 to overcome his shyness and learn to speak with authority at work. He is a former President of Holborn Speakers and founder member of St Paul’s Speakers.  Since 2011 he has made eight District finals, winning two of them (Evaluation 2011, International Speech 2014) and taking a trophy in five others. He is one of a small handful of people to have won a District trophy in all four contest disciplines.

(Above: Alexander Dziri and Anthony Grice winning Best Speakers.)

(Above: Returning members…)

Last Meeting

Hello St. Paul’s Speakers!! At our last meeting on January 10 we had FIVE great speeches from the Competent Communicator’s manual and enough time for a lively round of TableTopics.

Christopher Walker kicked things off by doing the President’s Introduction. He was followed by McVal Osborne acting as Toastmaster. McVal explained the schedule for the evening and outlined next steps. Katie Aird then came on stage to explain her role as the timekeeper. Finally, Jamie Hamer discussed his role as Grammarian.

Speeches

This week we had the pleasure of listening to FIVE speeches including THREE Icebreaker speeches from new members. Among the new speakers we heard from:

• Ravi Kaskana, who gave us a great Icebreaker speech titled “Cricket”.
• Ashvin Heeramun, who spoke to us eloquently in an Icebreaker speech titled “Life is a Journey”.
• Daniel Morris, who gave a heartfelt Icebreaker and a great introduction in a speech titled “Chill Your Idols”.

After the break we then heard from two additional speakers:

• Alan Leroux spoke to us about the importance of reading newspapers with a convincing and passionate speech titled “Read all about it!”
• Rakesh Patel gave us a well structured and humorous second speech all about his morning commute, titled “Commuting ‘rages to riches'”.

Table Topics!

After five amazing speeches, we managed to squeeze in a short round of Table Topics for the members who had yet to speak and even a few guests!

Last Regular Meeting

At our last regular meeting (November 22nd) we had two great speeches from the Competent Communicator’s manual.

Christopher Walker kicked things off by doing the President’s Introduction. He was followed by Caroline Morgan as Toastmaster. Caroline explained the schedule for the evening and outlined next steps. Jamie Hamer then came on stage to explain his role as the timekeeper. Finally, Bashir Ali discussed his role as Grammarian.

Catherine Casale delivered an excellent workshop on evaluations where I learned some new techniques. What was particularly pleasing was a couple of newer members saying how this had helped give them a framework for performing evaluations.

Last week’s meeting – October 25, 2017