July 2011 - club meetings

This is a new blog to talk about what we do in Benjamin Toastmasters Club, which meets on alternate Fridays at lunchtime at University of Canberra.

Like all Toastmasters clubs, our club aims to help our members build up our self-confidence and leadership skills, which results from our standing up and speaking in front of our small friendly group.

There are three meetings this month, July 2011: two are already over, and the third one is on 29 July.

The first meeting was on 1 July, and it was a 'Table Topics Tornado'. That is our name for a meeting in which everyone speaks for 1 - 2 minutes on a topic they have just been given, out of the blue.

Our meetings are only 1 hour long (12.30 - 1.30) so there was only time for 2 rounds of topics for everyone. Two 'ringmasters' had each prepared a list of topics, one for each round, and they read them out one at a time and nominated one person in the group to stand up and talk about each one. In Toastmasters, as you will know if you know Toastmasters, everything receives feedback or 'evaluation' within the same meeting. And so it is in our Table Topics Tornados. Everyone not only stands up and speaks about the 'Table Topic' they've just been given, they also, at the end of that round, stand up and give brief verbal feedback about a speaker's delivery and speech content. In this case each person evaluated the person who spoke next after them in the round.

Evaluation / feedback in Toastmasters focuses mainly on the points a speaker has done well, and only makes one (or perhaps two, for experienced speakers) recommendation, sandwiched between commendations. The idea is to be supportive and helpful, not damning.

At our second July meeting this last Friday, 15 July, we held our club contests for Humorous Speech and Table Topics. Here, eligible contestants (members) who have nominated previously, present a humorous speech they have prepared and practised, and/or they respond impromptu to a Table Topic they have not heard before.

Humorous speeches are allowed 5-7 minutes each, and they are judged formally by a panel, for their speech's characteristics such as its structure, ideas, interest and effectiveness (surprise, humour), and manner of delivery.

For the Table Topics contest, contestants wait out of earshot for their turn. When they enter the room, they are told the topic for the contest - the same one that is given to all the contestants. That puts the judging on an even footing - so contestants are only being compared for their inventiveness and manner of delivery for their short 1-2 minute speech on that one topic.

Our contest was judged by our Area Governor and two club members, and we had three contestants, all of whom did very well. None was disqualified for speaking for too little or too long a time. I'm sure the judges had a difficult task, but they were helped by having standard Toastmasters scoring sheets to use, tailored to each type of contest.

Lee won both Humorous Speech and Table Topics in our club contests. Lee is now invited to represent our club at the Area contests (both Humorous and Table Topics) on 24 September. At the Area contests, Lee will compete against the winners of the club contests being held over the next few weeks in the five other clubs in our Belconnen area.

Our third July meeting is on 29 July and it will be a normal Toastmasters meeting. There are likely to be two speeches, each about 5-7 minutes in length, a Table Topics session, and a Word of the Day, a tonic or a reading from the Toastmasters magazine, a small amount of club business, and verbal evaluations of all the aspects of the meeting. The speeches will aim to meet the requirements set out for particular 'projects' in the Toastmasters training manuals, and they will also receive written evaluation as prescribed in those manuals.

Everyone is welcome to Benjamin Toastmasters Club meetings. It's helpful if we know to expect you , so please email us at benjamin-toastmasters@hotmail.com before 28 July.

Meetings are in building 20, University of Canberra, in room A2, at 12.30 to 1.30.
Here is a link to the campus map: http://www.canberra.edu.au/university/maps.
After 29 July, the next meeting is a fortnight later, 12 August.