I tried to visit two clubs in one night - and failed

I tried to visit a club which was supposed to run from 5.30 to 7, then a club from 7 to 10.30.

I thought that the person driving me to the first club would let me speak first, drive me to the MRT station at half time. I might arrive late at the second club, but not later than half time.

Several other toastmasters do two clubs in one evening. They leave at half time. But they have cars and drive themselves on to the next club.

You could occasionally do it by public transport. But only if the places were nearby, and you could be sure the second meeting would run late and not end early.

Don't rely on somebody else to get you moving.

If you want to leave, insist on it. Don't just tell the person giving you a lift. Tell the person responsible for ensuring the meeting runs on time.

My second time as timer

The second time I was timer it was a new club and the members were all busy giving speeches and evaluations. I had been invited along by the area director and club sponsor who was busy, fully occupied with others tasks as the Toastmaster of the evening and Language Evaluator and General Evaluator. She had invited me along as I wanted to visit clubs in Singapore (every night of my working holiday) and she needed extra people to help and experienced people to show all the novices at the new club how to do roles. Therefor this time I was the sole timer. I uttered a feeble protest but she briskly reassured me that I could do it. No point in adding to the general mood of 'Oh, gosh, this is my first time - not sure I can do it.' I was part of the old timers team and supposed to be bright and confident. My role was to do the job, look confident. Being sole timer at a club felt like more responsibility than being shared timer at a contest. Whether you are joint timer, or in my case one of three, somebody else can be sharing the responsibility, the credit and blame, and discuss any uncertainly. On the other hand, if you are acting alone, nobody knows what you are doing. So, in theory, you can announce glibly that the speaker was on time, and make up any number if questioned, and nobody is likely to query you. Often at club level in a new club, the actual number of seconds seems irrelevant. All that they really want is to know is, was I a) In time (don't worry - well done!) b) Disqualified by only a second or two (nearly there - just be careful) or e) Wildly out of time! (Must watch the time. However good your speech is, you won't win. Any other idiot with a short speech not half as good as yours will beat you. Don't let that happen! On the other hand, your 'I could have done better' speech can win - if the other better speaker gets carried away and goes wildly over time.) What usually happens? To any guests, and for me for several years, the timer's lists of numbers meant nothing. First of all I didn't know the names. The first speaker ..... (name I can't remember so I don't know who it was and don't care about the person nor can I recall whether they were over brief or longwinded. Then lists of numbers: 1 minute 31 seconds, 2 minutes and four seconds, three minutes and ten seconds. You just stop listening. Whilst you try to work out whether the first person was on time, you miss the next number. Another way of announcing at a blue meeting when you are short of time (or didn't keep accurate records) is to announce 'Everybody was on time'. To the newcomers, without a proper explanation, the disqualifications sound like an arbitrary way of penalising people you don't like on a technicality. You also want to make every explanation positive. In theory, if anybody has a video they can replay the speech and check the time. But in most contests a video is not allowed, except at the finals in the USA where an official video company makes a video which can be sold or distributed. The best, most amusing and most useful timer report I saw recently at a club turned the timing report into exhortations rather than lists of numbers. "All speakers except one were on time - please applaud those who were on time. Now, groans and sobs please for Michael, who was liquified. Sniff, Sob, wipe eyes. Now, cheer up. It's only a game. It's a learning experience. Next time he'll be on time." "Now the good news in detail. Speaker a - our wonderful Wendy with the blonde wig, spoke enthusiastically about the joys of motoring, and finished promptly at two minutes twenty five seconds. Well timed, but what a worry - two thirty is the limit, my hand was shaking , reaching for the buzzer - another five seconds and she would have been disqualified! "Jimmy, our horseback riding enthusiast, ran out of things to say but was encouraged to complete the mini topics speech with a summary, and reached one minute one second. The minimum length for a topic is one minute, so those last two vital seconds qualified him for your voting."

Angela Lansbury, CL, ACG.

Fear, Happiness and Improv Songwriting - What an Evening of speeches at Harrovians Monday 5 Jan 2014

What An Evening
Fear, Happiness and Improv Songwriting - What an Evening of speeches at Harrovians Monday 5 Jan 2014 at Glebe Hall, Stanmore, cosy with the electric fire.

What do you do when the President is away and not enough people reply to emails? While President Indra was away in India, or maybe an Indian restaurant, past past president Ruth Vishnick CC followed the precedents Indra and another past President Gosbert had established by reading out the Toastmasters mission statement. She then quickly, enthusiastically handed over steering the evening's proceedings to Minh, beaming, debut Toastmaster of the Evening.

Minh's New Year Theme
Minh Tran had received emails from several members on New Year Resolutions and tips for running your year and life. She had supplemented them with her own favourite ideas, selected from the internet, printed them out and placed them in an envelope for each person taking the stage to read. This system gave the evening a coherent running theme, as well as  holding the audience's attention with an element of surprise

Happy Time
Karen Carter, seemed very happy in her Happy Hour as time keeper of the evening. By happy chance, when Minh called Karen to tell us how the timing works, Karen selected a tip on time keeping, a quotation from Abraham Lincoln, that those of us poor in other ways are rich in time. Karen continued on a positive note, saying that as time keeper, her job was to help us keep to time.

So often I've heard time keepers emphasize negative aspects of running over time. I must remember to advise future timekeepers to emphasize the benefits of keeping to time.

How helpful it is to have a timekeeper warning us how well we are doing.  Speakers see they have successfully reached the green light for the minimum time allotted. Then they see orange, suggesting that it's a good time to move towards the conclusion. Finally, on the red light it's over - time's up - we have successfully spoken right to the last second, as Rudyard Kipling said in his poem If: 'filling every minute ...'

Grammarian
Grammarian Chinamelu Ezeh (Chi for short) gave us the word of the day, obstreperous.

Veeren Taylor presented a variety of table topics for brief impromptu speeches, all thought-provoking  subjects without being over-challenging.

Table Topics

Happiness -The First Prepared Speech Subject
Sachin Madhav

Introduction to happy Harri Sethi
Harri gave us a classic rags to riches story. In his childhood his father had fallen ill and while the parent was ill the business lost all its money. Harri grew up fast, with more responsibility than is usual for a child. The good news was he ended up, with his father's encouragement, seeking to be qualified to work in business and finance, coming to the UK to further his studies. He is now furthering his skills by attending our Toastmasters International speakers' training club.

Fear by Nigel Tranah

Evaluations of Speeches
Seema
Ruth
Warren evaluating Angela

Prize Winners
Prize winners were Nigel for best prepared speech.

Warren won a ribbon for best evaluation of a speech.

 For best impromptu table topic, Ampara.

For my speech on
What the Brighton Speakers conference taught us about performing on stage, using props and improvising songs, see next post.

Evaluations

CC = Competent Communicator (One who has completed the ten speeches in the first manual).
CL=Competent Leader
ACB= Advanced Communicator Bronze (20 speeches)
ACS=Advanced Communicator Silver (30 speeches)
ACG Advanced Communicator Gold (40 speeches)

Meetings are held twice, occasionally three times a month.
The next meeting is on Monday January 19th.
Speech Contest is Feb 2nd 2015.
Club Officer Training is at the venue of sister club HOD. (I am a member of both).
Guests are very welcome at both Toastmaster Clubs. if you wish to attend a meeting please contact the clubs through their website(s). Toastmasters International Find a club. The clubs are also on Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Angela Lansbury CC ACG