On Thursday the 14th July 2011 at 7:02 pm the first Croydon Communicators meeting of the new Toastmasters year started. We had a total of 22 attendees. The theme was "The Night of Champions".
Cecilia as Sergeant-At-Arms introduced the president. President Dave gave us all a warm welcome and displayed his championship form in presiding over the club. Toastmaster for the night was Colin wearing a tie which was so bright it literally blazed like an Olympic flame. He explained The Night of Champions theme and began to take us on the journey through the meeting. Saladine lead us all on a rousing warm-up, then for a 'tip of the day' he did an amazing routine by showing us some spectacular breathing techniques. Arlene explained her role as time-keeper and then Neelam confidently talked about her own role as Grammarian and had a well chosen 'word of the day'.
Next was the prepared speech section.
Clifford Wheatley gave an excellent practice speech for his daughters upcoming wedding and it was clear that he will give a championship speech at the actual event. Michael gave an informative and highly interesting speech about "The Role of the Auditor" where he used the projector screen and power-point slides to amazing and memorable effect. Vathani delivered the final speech "English Rose" where she talked of her love for 'sugar crafting' and handed out a lovely demonstration rose for us all to see and feel.
Next up were the evaluations.
Dave Longley evaluated Clifford, Cecilia evaluated Michael, and David evaluated Vathani. All were constructive, positive and helpful. Arlene told all the speakers how well they doing for time. The first half of the meeting ended and attendees tucked into the sandwich buffet which was laid on specially for this event as food is not usually provided at our meetings. It was truly a 'Buffet of Champions'.
Toastmaster Colin began the next half of the meeting after the 15 minute break. Harish led an amazing and challenging table topics section with topics as varied as "what would your computer mouse say to you?" and all of the table topics speakers were awarded with championship medals for taking on the challenge. David evaluated all the table topics speakers with his usual award-winning standard of articulate flair and useful feedback. Grammarian Neelam gave us a resounding grammar report then time-keeper Arlene Foster gave a final report on our time. The incredible Shegun was our General Evaluator and showed attention to detail that was impeccable coupled with a highly impressive delivery style. Toastmaster Colin returned the meeting to the president Dave Longley who welcomed our guests and made announcements.
The meeting ended at 9:15 pm.
What an unforgettable night it was, who can forget those championship standard prepared speeches, who can forget The Buffet of Champions, who can forget the brave Table Topics champions, who can forget Colin's tie!
The legendary film director Woody Allen once said that "80% of success is simply showing up" and so everybody who turned up on the night, (and anybody who goes to any Toastmasters club anywhere) is a true champion. A big thank you to all the functionaries, speech givers, and audience, we all made it a night to remember. The Croydon Communicators are the home of champions and we are the only club in the whole of England who can say we produced the current UK and Ireland Speaking champion for 2011 (OUR member, Malachi). We are the champions! See you at the next meeting!
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