The weather may be variable but the fun and speaking skills on offer remained constant as we kicked off July.
Carolyn Barber was our Toastmaster of the evening and she had the pleasure to welcome three guests as well as our own membership. She quickly settled everyone down with a run through of the protocols, before explaining her them of the evening 'Family Heirlooms'. As she did she proudly held aloft a gavel which her father had passed on to her.
Carolyn then invited Michael John Smithson to explain the role of Timekeeper, before asking Ray Adams to explain his role of Grammarian. Ray explained his role had three parts,to look for good language, to identify the use of filler words,and to set the word of the evening which he announced to be 'Stuffocation' – a sense of being overwhelmed by stuff.
With the audience suitably enlightened Carolyn asked Simon Roberts to lead the warm-up to relax and involve the audience. His theme was if your house was on fire which item would you rescue. Computers featured as did photos and diaries, but also were items of sentimental value such as jewellery, clocks and mirrors which had been passed down through the generations. Even the guests participated.
It was now time for the prepared speeches. Marie Newman was up first with her Project 8 speech (Get comfortable with visual aids) with a talk using powerpoint on Energy Performance Certificates and the 2018 Legislation. Marie explained how all buildings would need to be energy efficient and explained ways in which this could be achieved.
Ellie Zheleva followed with her Icebreaker leading us through her early life in Bulgaria to her life in the UK and exhorted the audience not to make excuses but just to do it.
Our third speaker had cried off as she was detained in Wiltshire, so Wendy Benson stepped forward to give a brief talk on the use and benefits of Easyspeak, the club website.
Following the voting for Best Speaker we moved to the network break.
We resumed with the evaluations given by Karen Chapman and Wendy Benson, each highlighting the positives of their respective speakers and identifying areas for improvement.
Keith Oliver was now invited to the lectern to host the Table Topics. He started by referring to the Toastmaster magazine and in particular an item in the June issue on 'improv'. Using this as his cue, and picking up on the theme of the evening he called pairs of contestants up to play out scenarios, giving them each an opening and closing sentence. The couples chosen soon got into the swing of things mush to the amusement and entertainment of the audience. Again it was good to see our guests take an active part.
Ray Adams/Karen Chapman – Royalty/Elephants
Simon Roberts/Sally Harding (guest) – Jewellery/umbrella
Wendy Benson/Ammon Al-Mahrouq (guest) – Inheritance/Paris
Carolyn Barber/Marie Newman – Item found in drawer/Penguins
Michael John Smithson/Renata Costa (guest) – Magic Beans/school
As usual the meeting was coming too soon to a close. Ray gave his Grammarian's report, followed by Brent Crouch who evaluated the Table Topics. There was no General Evaluator so Carolynasked those attending what they though went well and suggestions for improvement.
Wendy Benson, our Club President, now took the lectern and set out the club business, thanking Keith Oliver as outgoing President and highlighting forthcoming conferences and meetings.
Finally it fell to Michael John Smithson to hand out the awards, including the club bag to Ellie for having commenced her Communication path.
Best Speaker – Ellie Zheleva
Best Evaluator – Wendy Benson
Best Table Topics – Carolyn Barber/Marie Newman.