German from the President, a former policeman on traffic lights, and chocolates

From left: Jesus, President Jayanthiny, Michael, Krzysztof.

Photo taken and edited by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

"As mentoring co-ordinator I sent around a piece of paper for people to give their name and the name of their mentor. I am mentoring co-ordinator with a committee of Lorna and Ruth.

"The evening opened with Jayanthiny addressing us in German. I know there are German speaking clubs but I don’t think this has ever been done before in an English speaking club. 

"Some people did not recognize which language she was speaking. It was an original idea and I am very keen to see us speaking languages and learning languages. 

Jayanthiny, President of Harrovian Speakers' Club, with the club banner, Michael beside her, on the right tall Krzysztof and Jesus. Photo taken and edited by Angela Lansbury. Copyright 2017. 

"It would have been useful to distribute a handout with the German. I hope she does this again. Next time I would like to hear alternating sentences translated - a sentence in German then Jayanthiny or another could have read the translation in English. 

"That is what you might do at a wedding. I have written books on wedding speeches and wedding etiquette and this is what I would recommend to an audience of mixed languages. 

"Toastmasters has a German manual. Next time I would also like to be emailed the introduction in advance as I am learning German through Duolingo. I could also have acted as interpreter and translated it on paper and at the meeting for my own benefit or for everybody else’s. (I have done simultaneous translation from French at conferences.)

"One of my dreams is to start a multi-lingual online Toastmasters Club. Or an advanced club which is multi-lingual.

"Democracy was the theme of Harrovians' Speakers' Club meeting on Monday June 5th 2017. Toastmaster of the Evening and VPE Sushil had chosen this subject.

"Our first speaker, Adam, was missing because his wife was about to give birth. Everybody had sent him good wishes on Whats Ap during the day. 

"Jesus entertained us with a series of jokes about the funny things children say. 

“Jayanthiny’s speech gave us strategies for selling, five steps, starting with knowing your customers or audience, ending with making sure they see themselves enjoying the successful solution to a problem

"Seema encouraged us to do High Performance Leadership. I learned that you can do this at any stage of your Toastmasters path, although it comes in as an option for the CL manual project on mentoring. 

"Michael Francis gave an entertaining ice breaker speech about his career as a policeman in Wembley. He tested us on our knowledge of real traffic lights, not the ones we use to time speeches. 

"Amparo’s speech topics were bang up to date on the subject of democracy.  Sushil encouraged us all to vote in the elections in the UK held nationally next Thursday.

"When I wrote  the above paragraph, I first wrote that Sushil encouraged us to vote. That was ambiguous. In this context you might have though I meant to encourage us to vote for best speaker. I don't know if he noticed it. He didn't mention it, but he could have linked voting for the best speaker in a Toastmasters meeting to voting in the elections.

"In the interval we were treated to chocolates by a visitor who is planning a chocolate business They taste as good as they look. I do hope she becomes a member!"

Photo taken and edited by Angela Lansbury. Copyright 2017.

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Angela Lansbury, author of:

Wedding Speeches and Toasts. (Word Lock and Cassell.)

Quick quotations. (See Lulu and Amazon.)

Who said what when? (Quotations by day of the year. See Lulu.com and Amazon.)

Please bookmark your favourite pasts and share links to them.

Harrovian Speakers on singing, quotations and more

Thanks to VPE Ruth who gave me a lift, I arrived early at Harrovians Speakers' Club in Stanmore. We were to enjoy a speech on singing, my speech on quotations - an evening of fun lay ahead. First we were busy with practical matters, setting out the chairs, and I insisted on moving the timer's table with lights to one side of the aisle so that the aisle was not blocked and in an emergency everybody had a quick, clear run to the fire exit. Safety first.

Heroes of the evening included Gosbert Chagula, a former President, presented with Heroes chocolates by Ruth Vishnik, another former president.

President Indra Sikdar, ATMS, AL,  opened the meeting with the Toastmasters' International mission statement. He told a story about soldiers painting masks to help cope with internal traumas.

Toastmaster of the evening was Gosbert Chagula, who began, most originally, quoting a radio announcer, 'Welcome to another edition of Harrovians!'
Gosbert welcomed returning member Matthew who, I recall, once gave us a speech on throwing Frisbees, and guest Aslam from Northwood.

 Guest Aslam, an enthusiast who joined at his first Harrovians Speakers' Club meeting, like I did the first time I attended. President Indra Sikdar was able to offer the choice of pay tomorrow on line or now by cheque or cash, whichever is easier and quicker for you.

Grammarian Karim Tharani had prepared by researching very thoroughly and spoke authoritatively. he told us that his name is Arabic for generous, and generously shared his knowledge with us. His word of the day was Augur, from Greeks who interpreted the flights of birds in order to predict. Karim reminded us that Hamlet, in the Shakespeare play of that name, defies the auguries (plural of augury). Karim recommended the Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar. He advised that he would be looking out for alliteration, triads and accurate spelling in any visual aids.

Ampura was our timer.

Hari who was supposed to be table topics master was unable to attend, but had emailed his topics to VPE Ruth who took over.

The first question for the impromptu speeches was:
1 Tell us about a brave or heroic new activity you've tried. 

Dear Reader, I suggest you think about how you would answer this topic and the others.

Indra Sikdar described how he belonged to Spice which organises outdoor activities and restaurant visits. The group took him to Luton for indoor surfing. Indra demonstrated surfing horizontally, balancing.

The other new activity he tried was a mock parachute jump. A fan created the rich of air you would feel when jumping - handy to prepare you if you are planning on the real thing. He finished, 'Been there - done that.'

2 Your serene holiday turned into an adventure. Tell us about it.

Veeren - went to an overseas wedding and enjoyed witnessing a beach wedding at a hotel with all inclusive unlimited food and tried the Caipirinha cocktail, the Brazilian national drink. After three days on the beach he took tours to see a Mayan temple, the Tuloom caves, an astrological hole, and swimming underwater in sunlight.

3 If you had a dream job, what would it be?

Lorna,

What (crazy thing) did you do to attract the attention of your first crush?

myself (Angela) on my first crush and what I did.

Which one item would you buy if you won the lottery?

Jay said she would have a car, for independence, so she would not have to wait for a bus.

In a crisis, what would you do?


Jayanthiny Kangatharai gave a speech about the small number of minority ethnic and racial groups in academia and as professors. The lack of women also. So there were few role models. She quoted statistics.

Sanjay started his speech The Joy of Singing by singing. He ended by quoting Ella Fitzgerald: The only thing better than singing is - more singing!

I (Angela Lansbury) gave a speech on quotations entitled: All's Well That End's Well.
I began by asking who could not say who originated that phrase?  To my surprise, I saw a sea of hands.

So I asked who knew? Only two people. English teacher Lorna, and Indra Sikdar, were confident that is was William Shakespeare (Shakespeare's play is given the title All's Well That Ends Well).

Angela Lansbury with book Quick Quotations for successful speeches. Angela Lansbury is another former President of Harrovians.

Evaluations

VPE Ruth Vishnik presented Gosbert, immediate past president who is leaving to live elsewhere, with a blue and white shirt as well as the chocolates called Heroes.

Sanjay the singer won the ribbon for best speech. He had used a quotation, too.

Glossary
ATMS
AL

See previous post for glossary.