My Table Topics On Wisdom and Proverbs

I was Table Topics Master at Tampines West Toastmasters Club on Sunday April 14th 2019, appointed at the last moment and I had no topics planned. I should have had a page of table topics written on a blank page at the back of my diary for just such an occasion.

The President should - let's say could - have had a set of topics ready, written on card index cards, for a last minute replacement for the girl who was  supposed to be Table Topics Master but was unable to attend. She should - let's say could - have sent in her table topics for somebody else to read. That's assuming she had prepared.

Fortunately, I always carry the old Competent Leader manual which evaluates as a table topics master. One of the things it suggests is that table topics should be related to the theme of the meeting. So, even if I had prepared, I would have needed to adapt my topics to the theme of the meeting.

I knew already that our meeting's guests included two non-Toastmasters who had come through Meetup. So I first described the meaning of the title Table Topics and the purpose of table topics:

Table Topics are impromptu speeches giving an opportunity to speak unprepared to those who are not speaking in a prepared, scheduled speech.

Picking Numbers
Singaporeans like gambling and luck and lucky numbers and Table Topics Masters often give them the choice of numbers to pick. This delays everybody whilst they decide to pick a number. Only the speaker bothers to wonder what to say.

Announce Topic Before Speaker
Instead I shall follow the principle of the clubs I have attended in the UK, in London, where I announce the topic and everybody is obliged to think up an answer, just in case they get picked on.

Volunteers
I shall ask for a volunteer. Somebody might have an urgent desire to speak and tell some personal story or experience. However, after a short, few seconds, if nobody volunteers, to avoid further delay, I shall pick somebody.

Quotation
The theme of the day was a quotation:
Wisdom is what you achieve after making a stupid mistake.

The word of the day was wisdom, or the root word wise. Somebody in the audience suggested adding the adverb wisely.

I wrote down ten topics but was only allowed time for seven:
1 What wisdom or wise words did you hear from a teacher when you were in primary or secondary school?
2 What wisdom did you learn from parents, grandparents or family?
3 What wisdom did you learn not from words but from watching how somebody else used their skill or experience or creativity?
4 What wisdom have you learned from the Internet's videos or YouTube. ...
5 What words of wisdom did you hear in a proverb which you found memorable?
6 Do you follow the advice of words of wisdom attributed to Benjamin Franklin: A place for everything and Everything in its place.
7 What wisdom would you impart to children, your children, grandchildren, nephews and nieces, or children you teach?

The topics evoked the following responses:
4 From YouTube I learned from a football coach that you must be patient. Other clubs spent a lot of money poaching the top players from other clubs. Instead, he picked schoolboys who already showed talent and spend years training them. Eventually they became top players loyal to his team.
2 From my mother I learned to cook. At first I let her cook. Then I realized I would be working overseas and would have to cook for myself, so I started learning from her.
6 No. If you visited my house, you would see that it is a mess. There is no place for anything and nothing is in its place. I wish the cutlery was all in the kitchen instead of the bathroom. I would love to be organized. But that just is not me. If I were organized in all aspects of my life, it would make my life much easier. I was late today because I spent ten minutes hunting for an umbrella. So, no, I do not follow this advice. But I wish that I did.

Angela Lansbury, ALB, ACG, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Speeches On Coaching And Keep Safe

Audience in semi-circle at Harrovian Speakers' Club, August 2017.

Thank you to Ruth Vishnick who drove me to the meeting. We arrived smiling, in hysterics after driving over the gigantic potholes in the car park which had a switchback effect, jolting us up and down.

The audience sat arranged in a semicircle in Harovian Speakers Club's spacious hall. The venue is often delightfully decorated with colourful bunting or seasonal adornments.

President Sushil opened the meeting with his usual calm and efficiency. He conveyed the impression that all was well organised, despite delays because we did not have the projector for a speech, and were missing a speaker and an evaluator.

He replaced the evaluator by me, Angela Lansbury. I had put myself down as backup speaker and backup any role.

Suchil's most remarkable achievement was his novel way of replacing the missing printed agenda by writing the names of speakers on large oblong coloured pieces of paper, stuck onto the black back of the wheeled whiteboard. The black felt tip pen proved the most easy to read colour at a distance.

The President and his agenda board. Sushil, President of Harrovians Speakers' Club, wrote the speakers' names on paper coloured cheering, eye-catching yellow, orange and pink.

Jayanthini was Timer and explained the lights in a cheerful and positive fashion, saying, "It's my honour to be your timer." She admitted she had not been timer for many months, adding amusingly, "It's time for me to be timer!"

She described how an Advanced club claps when a speaker has spoken too long. We adopted that system for the meeting.

We started with table topics - impromptu speeches which in the early days of Toastmasters in the USA in the last century involved the speakers picking topics from cards which were on the table. I presume having topics hidden, face down, creates excitement and a random and surprise effect. But face up the topics would have offered choice to nervous speakers.

Indra Sikdar presenting table topics as Table Topics Master.

The programme stated that that Indra would evaluate odd numbered topics and another person would evaluate even numbered topics. However, Amparo was appointed topics evaluator. Ruth instead introduced the first three topics as Topic Master and Indra introduced the next three topics. Sharing the Topics Master role is a good system to give practise to more people and be more inclusive. The audience also gets to hear and to know more people.

Table Topics speaker.

Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. (More photos of this event are available from Angela Lansbury to members of Toastmasters International.)

Grammarian Biju introduced the word of the day, Sanguine.

Seema spoke on Keep Safe. she described how the police had changed their way of communicating danger quickly to the public by tweeting.

She gave us a list of ten things we could do to keep safe. These included having a phone which can act as a torch (and knowing how to turn on the torch) so that in an emergency we can find our way around in the dark. (A torch can also be used to signal.) A mobile phone should also be kept charged in case you need it.

Most people thought that these precautions were easy to achieve and remember. However, carrying a door wedge to stop others breaking in through a door was not so easy. (But it's a matter of putting your mind to it. Door wedges are inexpensive and you can buy them in DIY shops or order them online.)

Oqbonnayei gave her icebreaker or first speech to introduce herself to the members. She spoke about fulfilling her dream of going to live and work in Atlanta, Georgia, in the USA.

Lorna spoke on Coaching.

Lorna gave a speech from the Advanced manual on Coaching, project 4 of the Communication manual. 

I usually make notes whilst listening to the speech. At the end of the meeting I copy the notes, briefly, into the manual. This delays the person giving me a lift home.

This time I wrote a detailed analysis in her manual. Afterwards I simply photographed the page with my mobile phone so that I had a record. (If she ever lost her manual, I would be able to give her the dates when she did her speech.) I also have a photo record of what I said, plus a video of myself on my mobile phone, if I need to get the record of my giving an evaluation in my leadership manual.

Jesus giving the General Evaluation of the evaluators and the whole meeting.

Jesus, GE, offered useful tips on the advantages of pausing instead of saying um and filler words. Pausing enables the speaker to gather thoughts, planning what to say next. The audience has time to reflect for a moment. You, as a speaker, sound less rushed, calmer. 

Members of the audience.

Members of the audience.

Jayanthini operating the lights.

Where's my ribbon?

President Sushil presented the winners with awards for the achievements of the evening. Winners of the ribbons were (left to right):
Rhea for Best Table Topic;
Oqbonnayei for delivering her Icebreaker speech;
President Sushil Shah (centre) presenting prize ribbons;
Seema Menon, best speech on the subject of Keep Safe;
Angela Lansbury, best evaluator, for her evaluation of Lorna's speech project on Coaching.

Author
Angela Lansbury, CL, ACG. Member of Harrovian Speakers and HOD in London, UK, and Braddell Hieghts Advanced Club in Singapore.

What I learned at Thomson Toastmasters

The table topics (impromptu speeches) were Powerpoint Karaoke - with speakers taking the picture or caption of a series of slides on a topic chosen from half a dozen, such as adventure travel. The first would be an obvious phrase, an obvious quotation or proverb, then something totally unexpected, another picture, another quotations, finally Thank you.

Most people were given five slides on which to improvise a two minute speech. One person was given seven slides and he went over the time limit.

 The results were hilarious. One person was deadly serious, despite the absurd situations. Another kept appealing to the audience, "What does this mean?' and, "Do you know what this means?" and "neither do I!" The quotations came from Patton and Anne of Green Gables. I thought this would be a good way to practise topics in a workshop. Other people thought they would take the system back to their clubs.

 You need five or six topics and five slides for each. A little time for the research. But once you have created it you can do it again for the same club at one year intervals, or for different clubs.

My other idea for a workshop is that I will ask the audience to form into pairs. Each person will take part of themselves of their clothing or items nearby as a prop and subject for their speech one one of four themes.

For example, the objects could be: body parts and clothes a pony tail, a bald head; reading glasses; a hat; a tie, shoes. Nearby objects a briefcase, a rucksack, a desk, a practical chair, a screen, a flip chart.

Subjects could be: what you can do to solve a problem, my new year's resolution, celebrate differences, the right way to do it, expensive or cheap - which is best, how to improve what you have. They then get into pairs and take turns picking one of the questions and answering it using the prop. I was language evaluator and grammarian.

 My word of the day was Oxymoron. Positive words I liked included enchanting. Two negative phrases which I liked despite the negatives, because the emotions expressed was positive were: No worries. I don't give a damn.

 'I want to share with you' is a good opening, but not the second or third time from additional speakers.

 'In conclusion' signposts where you are going, helping the audience to follow, as well as keeping yourself on track and to time.

 Angela Lansbury, author and speaker.

Humorous Speeches including mine on learning languages (James Cook uni)

I was invited to give the test speech for evaluators at a humorous speech evening held by the Toastmasters club at James Cook university in Singapore. (Nearest MRT Aljuniad.) I spent the afternoon preparing a speech on the joys of learning other languages. The format of the evening was two humorous speeches, my test speech and two evaluations, plus table topics, impromptu speeches. Of the two humorous speeches presented by members, I shall always remember the one by an American who claimed he did not support either Hilary Clinton nor Donald Trump. He said that Donald Trump wanted to build a wall between America and Mexico and the Chinese know that doesn't work because they built the Great Wall to keep out the Mongols and then the Mongols took over. The Other speech by Ethan Defabulous was about how he wanted to be a Disney Princess, who filed her nails whilst everybody else, animal and human, wielded brooms doing all the housework, and seven little dwarfs ran around her catering to every whim. My semi-humorous speech started by saying I'd wanted to learn Chinese but was discouraged by people who claimed Singaporeans all spoke English, but they didn't tell me that Singaporeans spoke Singlish. I bought several books on Signalise. (I held up a book on Singlish.) My first anecdote was about: " a shop assistant told me to White Here. I thought maybe whites had a separate area and I was puzzled. Until she thanked me for whiting." My second anecdote was about: I previously lived in America. You might think English people would have no trouble in America. I understand that autumn is fall and so do most people. " America and Britain being separated by a common language, English." In America I asked an assistant in a supermarket for a rubber. I was told to try a drug store (which in England would be a chemist.) Afterwards I spotted a rubber and pointed this out to the assistant. I asked her what she called it. She said it was an eraser. Rubbers are items sold in the drug store. (Hands up who understands what they are?) If you can't guess what they are, ask me later - or other members of the audience will tell you." The only word of Chinese I learned recently was from a Toastmasters meeting which was bilingual Chinese and English. I knew the greeting Nee How was how are you. At the meeting I heard the convener asking the audience questions to which they replied how. Later they explained that how meant good. So now I know how to say 'how' which is Good. I decided Spanish would be easier than Chinese and took up learning languages on Duolingo. My husband recognises the Greek alphabet from mathematics, the signs of Pi and Theta. In Athens on holiday I learned two words, X and D - exit on the airplane was marked exodus, like the bible, and the word Athens on the gantry overhead for miles as me drove out of Athens and back taught me theta. Duo lingo didn't have Greek but it had Russian and Hebrew so I thought I'd try both. I managed to download the alphabets. The trouble is that although the letters appear when you type the keys, you don't know which key they are under. If you want a P in russian or an H in Hebrew the only way to find it is to run your finger along all three lines of keys and then delete all the letters except the one you want. Very tedious and time consuming. So I sent off for stickers, which are printed, guess where? Russia? No.Israel? No. China. Russian and Hebrew Alphabet stickers, are printed in China. (I held up the stickers.) The stickers are wonderful. The only trouble is, if you put the Russian and English sticker on, you still can't do your daily exercise in Hebrew. And vice versa. However, learning languages is always fun. I enjoy learning languages, every day on the MRT station after mind the gap in English which I understand, and the same in Chinese, which I still don't understand, I hear the Malay ending t e r i m a k a s i. So I can end my speech with thank you in Malay, t e r m i m a k a s i h. My evaluator Anil gave the helpful suggestion that I could keep my props in the pockets of my photographer's jacket, instead of on the table which meant a delay whilst I walked over to pick them up and replace them. My other evaluator was under the impression that she was supposed to give a humorous evaluation and this made her hesitate a couple of times whilst she tried to think of something funny to say. If you cannot think of anything funny for a speech or evaluation, just talk on and hope something funny will emerge. What did I learn from this meeting? Regarding my speech: I should have structured my speech more clearly, with a summary as part of the introduction and ending. I should have made a clearer answer to what's in it for the listener, such as the BBC article I read a day later confirming previous research that people who are bilingual do not suffer from Alzheimer's until five years later than non linguistic. I should also have made a clearer call to action, getting the audience to stand or write or shout their agreement or promise to take action. Regarding running a Toastmasters meeting: What I liked: A humorous evening in which the speeches are humorous and members of the audience are asked to tall a joke. Everyone, every speaker, meeting chair, should carry two or three jokes in their pocket, either as a time filler, or to insert into a speech. Table Topics The table topics were following the theme of sell yourself at an interview. Volunteers were asked to sell the characters shown. It sounded like a good idea. They should have started with an experienced toastmaster who could waffles through anything. Or a demo by the Topics Master. I could have sold Humpty Dumpty, talking about the qualities of a boiled egg, how to crack it, the nutrition. I was given a b l o b with two big eyes. The eyes were the obvious talking point. I said: The obvious feature of this character is the eyes, the windows of the s o u l, and big eyes which look you in the eye are so appealing. He's so cute. He's been adopted as mascot of a local football club. Unfortunately, looking closer, you can see he has a squint. I think we should fix this. Our health service in Singapore is excellent and can fix this. It will cost a lot of money. He's an orphan and has no money. So we should start a go fund me page. I hope you will all give generously. I know you are kind people and I'm sure you will. Other people ate sting topics had hesitated, hummed and ummed and ahed. The secret is to keep talking confidently and enthusiastically. The lesson is that if the volunteers don't understand, don't explain to them privately because the audience lose interest and talk amongst themselves. The next volunteers still doesn't know. Talk into the microphone or to the whole audience. Some to the visitors sat on both sides of a table so that some had their back to the stage which encouraged them to talk to each other and not notice when speakers on stage started. The TME could move chairs forward, or make sure all the audience face forward.All in all, an interesting and educational evening. I was given a small gift of cosmetics, which I liked very much, for being test speaker, as well as winning the ribbon for best table topic. James Cook Uni 2016 Aug 18 Thursday (3rd in month) Angela Lansbury, ACG, CL. (Advanced Communicator Gold, Competent Leader.)

Challenging The Judge On Table Topics

A table topic is only two minutes, not the five to seven minutes of the Prepared speech. (Actually a speech of four and half minutes is allowed. However, most speakers go over time. I have only seen the occasional speaker (twice in ten years) who forgets their speech and loses heart and leaves. I have watched them forget, start again, get lost again, give up again.

They did not think to sum up but left  abruptly and did not reach the five minutes. That's the problem with not having a proper set of notes to consult in an emergency. No husband or wife or mentor in the audience to shout a prompt.

The other problem is needing to read a speech like a memorised poem. You should have three main stories, and a clear link. Then the speech is like pearls on a chain. If it is a time line - title, explain title, summary, my childhood, may teenage years, where I am now, conclusion - repeat title, it would be hard to get lost.

A table topic is different. You have to devise the answer to the question. You can read/repeat the question which seals it in your mind so you don't wander off topic and this gives time to think but takes up time reducing the number of points you can make.  If it's a long question, or quotation, you have time to really both halves.

A recent challenge took place at a contest at Singapore's venue on the East coast near Changi airport. The topic was a quotation by Churchill, about optimism and pessimism.

Most contestants heard the topic, then took hold of the left hand side of the piece of paper with one hand, their right hand, sharing the paper with the contest chair,  and read it silently, or took the paper in both hands and read it silently or aloud and then handed it back.

One contestant took hold of the paper and kept hold of it. He answered the first half of the question and from where I was sitting (a few rows back) seemed to put it in his pocket. (I worried through the whole speech that he would 'lose' it, leaving the rest of the contestants with no topic1

Then, if I both saw and remembered rightly, he got it out again to read it again to be sure he answered the second half of the question.

Later contestants are not allowed the advantage of hearing the question prior to their entrance, nor hearing another speaker before they speak, so the only rival contestant who saw this and objected must have been a previous contestant. (Or one whose friends and family or fellow club members had told him about it. Only the contestant could object, not his club members or family members in the audience.)

When the chief judge returned with the results, a member of the audience (the objecting contestant) raised his hands to say he had an objection. The judge said to the audience that he had already been told of the objection.

The contestant in the audience protested that everybody should hear the objection and the reasons for it and have a proper debate on the subject in case it arose again.

By now members of the audience were intrigued, curious, anxious to know, and supported the contestant objecting and wanted to hear the objection.

The objection was that the person who kept hold of the piece of paper with the topic a) should not have been allowed to do so and it was against the rules and this should not be allowed in future contests b) the contestant who did so if it was against the rules should possibly be disqualified for doing so.

Various members of the audience started saying that it was or wasn't in the rules, and some people got out their handphones (previously off and silent during contests so as to not distract speakers)and starting hunting on line. Nobody could find a specific rule about the contestant not being allowed to keep hold of the paper.

The Chief judge said that the chief Judge's ruling was final. He remained very calm, decisive, polite to the parties and good-humoured, treating it not as a confrontation but as an interesting technical point. After two or three times saying that the judge's decision was final, he ended by drawing a conclusion by saying we had to finish so that people could go home but could continue debating the point later.

The person who complained turned out to be one of the (two, I think) winners going forward to the next contest.

The Chief Judge said that the objection had nothing to do with the fact that he had won. (Which is decided by the number of points allocated to each of the top three speakers, thee points for those you think should be first, two points to the person who is second, one point to the person who is third. If the number of points is equal for any of the top three, then the tie-breaker's scoring is used. The tie-breaker's marks are not needed and not checked unless there is a query.

***

Angela Lansbury, speaker, winner of club contests (UK), judge and tie-breaker judge in some contests (UK and Singapore). You are not allowed to be a judge at your club or another club if you are a speaker in a contest in previous contest in that area or listed as a future contestant at another club in the area (which comprises about four or five clubs - too complicated to go into here, but you get the idea). Equally you cannot be a contestant if you have previously been a judge.

Lots more information on club websites and the forums on LinkedIn. I have written this post because I have far more to say than would be reasonable to write on the forums where each comment is about 3-5 sentences and 3-5 lines long.

Angela Lansbury, CL, ACG.

How to revive a dying/dwindling speakers club

A man who has started fifteen clubs and revived a dying/dwindling club gave me the benefit of his experience which I am passing on to you.

Andy O'Sullivan is the man. He is a member of a London public speaking club. I had met him previously when I sat next to him at a workshop in central London. He visited HOD Toastmasters and gave me this advice:

1 Fit the room size and chair numbers.
He went to a club which had dwindling numbers. They met in a huge hall seating 1-200, but put out 30 chairs and had only 15 or fewer members who looked lost in the huge space. He moved them into a smaller room which they could fill.

2 Have a friendly welcome at the door.
Put one or two people on the door so the moment a visitor walks in somebody speaks to them.
(I was the meeter and greeter at HOD. I and the topics master sat at a small desk by the door.

I had copies of the Speakers' CC manual clipped to a clip board by the blank back cover with the club name on the cover, so the copy did not get lost or abandoned and could be seen easily when I wanted to retrieve it and replace it in the cupboard at the end of the evening. I attached a piece of A4 paper to a clip board. I wrote down the name of the person entering, or asked them to write their name in capital letters. I added the short form or nickname in quotation marks and underlined the name or nickname we should use.

I write M for member or G for guest. I ask whether they came through a friend or website.
We achieved getting the names of the guests so we could ensure a confident members of the club spoke first to demonstrate how to do a table topic, then guests to ensure those without a role (of speaker or evaluator etc) all got a turn.

However, one of our guests declined to stand. Another stood and could not understand the question or formulate an answer. Despite our reassurance that simply standing up on stag is the first step, it will probably take a phone call to enthusiastically invite him back to ensure he has the confidence and enthusiasm to return.

I should have asked guests if they were happy stand up and speak for a minute or two in a table topic, and any subjects they could talk about. (We had two guests with broken English who were nervous about standing up. If we had asked them about their job, or home or family or their native language or why they want to learn public speaking, we could probably have got them on stage.)

3 Make your club name clear and findable on the internet
We have discussed changing our club name at both clubs of which I am a member, Harrovians and HOD. Each time we had objections, about confusion, tradition, and especially about the cost of new banners and stationery, feedback forms and badges, changing certificates, the cost and time needed to inform HQ and change websites.

Andy said you don't have to change the club name. All you need to do is have a headline of the new 'name' which people might search for, such as French Public Speakers Club, New York Public Speakers Club, and direct readers to your website and venue.

Angela Lansbury, speaker and author.

Birthday Party Theme Speakers' Meeting at HOD Speakers' Club in Harrow and what I learned

Birthday Theme
Birthdays was the theme I chose when I (Angela Lansbury) was toastmaster of the evening at an HOD Speakers' meeting because that week was my birthday. I wore a badge which said Birthday Girl; I placed a larger stand up It's My Birthday badge on the table; I asked a member to hang my Happy Birthday banner across the pinboard behind the lectern and I wore a gold foil hat.

Birthday theme topics was part of my plan. Importantly I had prepared half a dozen topics on the theme of birthdays and written them on a sheet of A4 paper to hand to anybody at the meeting if I had to ask somebody else to do topics unprepared, even a newcomer. All they had to do was look nonchalant and read out the topic.

Looking back, I could have gone a step further by asking each person who came onto the stage to say their birth sign or birthday month and why they like it.

I could have said, "My month is March and it's daffodil month," and I could have brought my vase of daffodils. I did think of that. But I had banner and badges and cake to carry. No time to tip out the water, nor find an unbreakable vase.

It would have been quicker to have grabbed scissors and cut a couple of flowers on my way out through the garden to the car. Maybe next year. If we'd had only two speakers at the meeting I could have filled time with the ongoing chats about birthday months.

Panic, Problem - Keep Calm & Carry On
Panic could have set in. President, Tony Winyard, was unable to attend because he was the winner of another club's contest.  Three more backbone members of the club were absent. Gil Ornstein was a target speaker at a contest.  Founder member and meeter and greeter Mike was away on holiday.

So I was greeting, waving at newcomers, rushing forward to hand out badges and pens. I wanted badges with names written large - preferably felt tip pens, not biro or pencil, to help me remember who was who when calling them onto the stage.

If I could not read the badge at a distance at least thanking them by name and leading applause as they left. The name is important for the audience to remember if they want to vote for that person - in fact next time I'm Toastmaster of the Evening I shall say that, "Please help me give a rousing round of applause for our speaker - 'John/Joan Smith' - and note his/her name on your feedback form and tick his/her name on your agenda it or make a mental note if you think s/he deserves a ribbon."

The reminders about feedback and voting would also help me to remember to ask the audience to write feedback for one minute after each speech and to vote.

Alan was taken ill leaving un unfilled speech slot. President Tony had helpfully emailed members asking for volunteers to fill roles. Early in the week I'd had trouble logging into the club website. At one point I found myself on an old website, which delayed matters further.

I also had too many photos from toastmasters meetings worldwide on my laptops, phones and icloud storage. I knew that I would have computer trouble later in the week. I offered to give up the role of Toastmaster to somebody else who had access for phone and laptop and website, but Tony told me to carry on and said he would get David to send me login details and he (Tony) would email members and try to fill the remaining roles.

The evening before seemed like a total disaster looming, as I had been out all day and had no laptop access at all and very little an intermittent phone coverage. Tony and I agreed that 'it'll be all right on the night'.

Luckily I had printed off one copy of the agenda with mostly empty roles the previous week. I had thought of doing what I'd seen done in a club in Singapore. Set up my laptop, or somebody else's, either to project on screen, or to read off it as a reminder.

Three of us arrived an hour early, David, Peter, and me - thanks to Peter, our Sergeant at Arms (the person who often has the key to the venue as well as setting up the room/s, banners and lecterns and chairs). I wrote onto my agenda the names of people as they came in through the door and volunteered them.

Stand-in President was former President David. Coralie, president of another club and former Area Governor (managing five clubs) could be relied on to do a major role. She wanted to be an evaluator as she was to be an evaluator later in a contest.

When I was driven to the meeting by Peter, our SAA, extra time talking together was a great help, because I was able to persuade him to give a third speech. As meeting organizer it's my policy to always have a minimum of three speeches to be sure that you can present prizes, which are not awarded when the meeting has only two speakers.

First speaker - 'Lucky' Kuldeep
Out speech session started with an Icebreaker, the first speech in the Toastmasters speech manual, by Kuldeep, whose name means light. His title was 'Lucky'. His punchline was, The harder you work the luckier you get.

Second speaker - Bijan enjoying 'Happy New Year!'
Bijan on Happy New Year, the Persian Muslim New Year which marks the vernal equinox. He explained that the vernal equinox is when the days and nights are the same length in the northern and southern hemisphere. He also showed the set of foods eaten then, which all begin with the letter S in the Persian language.




Third speaker - Peter on 'Belief - or Relief?'
Peter's speech featured a drama, imagine you are in the Lake District following a group, it gets foggy, you lose the others, and fall, hurting your ankle and tumbling over the edge of a steep drop. You call and perhaps pray for help. When your group leader or friends return to rescue you, do you feel belief or just relief?

Table Topics - Birthdays

What was your last/best birthday gift, given or received?
Richard Baker said he got pneumonia in the evening, after a great birthday.

Describe your best birthday restaurant.
Angela Lansbury: Magic restaurant - door handle hidden in a wall of door handles. Magician throws scroll on table which turns out to be the menu. Restaurant now closed. Previous years we went to Fellini and other Italian restaurants in Hatch End dim lights and bring the birthday boy or girl a cake slice topped by a candles which has a flame a like firework rocket, which you blow but it goes out and relights. Happy Birthday music fills the room.

Break time Birthday, Beetroot and New Year Date
I had brought birthday sponge cake. Bijan's mother offered her confections of dates in pastry. (See later post for more pictures.) Robert Baker brought beetroot and chocolate minicakes.

Evaluations
Peter had no evaluator so he conducted an audience Evaluation of his speech.
Coralie praised speakers for triads (sets of three), deeper, steeper, longer.

Evaluator David congratulated Bijan on 'impersonating a clock'.  (The countdown hand on TV/radio going tick tock, Bijan's hand left right left.)

General Evaluation
As we did not have a general evaluator, we asked the whole audience to act as general evaluator of the whole meeting. Toastmaster Angela, was commended for verve and theme. One suggestions was to have a printed agenda, although some people said they'd enjoyed the more informal meeting just for once for a change, like a holiday, or Friday. Another recommend: welcome guests by name at the start and invite them to introduce themselves.

I think the Toastmaster's in HOD has too much to do. In other clubs the President or VPE prints the agenda. The Toastmaster's main job is to set the theme, plan introductions to speakers and guests, and check everybody knows what to do in their roles. So I think the VPE, President or another helper should do the printing and find the GE, timer, and other last minute roles to fill.

Speakers: Peter pointed out that at least two people stood casually with a hand hidden in their pocket. Amusingly Peter said, mentioning no names, then mentioned their names.

Prize Winning Speakers

Peter won the best speaker ribbon, presented by President of the night, former President David Phelops.

Best Speaker ribbon went too Peter Jacques for his speech on Belief and Relief
 Best evaluator ribbon went to David.

Best Table Topics speakers

Best table Topics speakers were Angela and Robert Baker.

Coralie asked how many people had brought their manuals to the meeting and got their role evaluated? I'd brought my manual but not had it filled in for the Toastmasters role. (Can somebody now do that, please,  Coralie?) Coralie asked who had read the entire manual.
A heckler shouted, "Are you going to test us?"
"Yes," enthused Coralie, "read your manual and I'll test you at the next meeting! Manual test - ten questions!"