Le Tour d'Thursday nuit! One never fails to learn something new on a Thursday evening at... where? Croydon Communicators!
And how nice it is to see guests both regular and new attending for more inspiration, learning and fun... WELCOME, WELCOME, WELCOME!
Sergeant at Arms Anne, reliably set order and gathered the audience to open the meeting with a brief explanation of amenities, fire & safety, silence phones and off we go for another great evening ahead.
We had another first time role by stand-in President - Joe. And there's more proof of what being a member of Croydon Communicators for less than one year can do! Diligently describing how one can develop leadership, public speaking and presentation skills in a supportive environment and with the full backup of an inspiring team... right here at Croydon Communicators.
Toastmaster for the evening was the forever inspiring David T, who took the helm and set the wheels in motion for another exciting evening ahead.
Straight in with the roles and intros with, who is going to keep order with Time and Grammaticism for the show?
First, Mohan in his first time role (CONGRATULATIONS) as Timekeeper, was not afraid to 'issue a ticket' to anyone exceeding their allotted speech time.
Then Grammarian, Raquel explained the benefits of speech Grammaticism and 'Collaboration' as the word of the day. Surely we will collaborate as always... "Excellence Together".
With the rules & regulations clearly defined, how about a Tip of The day. Isaac, an entrepreneur in the making instilled some perseverance, self believe and determination into the audience, which definitely got the audience motivated & inspired. What a great start!
It was time to get the audience acquainted; and with 'Bond, James Bond 007' hitting the limelight this week, Kuashik in his first role as warm up leader (CONGRATULATIONS), warmed up the audience with a question; "Tell us your name, in classic James Bond style; and if you were to come back in the afterlife, who or what would you come back as?". This threw back a range of humorous responses including 000, 002, 5374 oops that my PIN number! An ant and a chicken!??*?!... Mmmm, I'm sure the audience was certainly warmed up :)
With the audience chuckled & warmed up, it was time to get down to some serious business with four prepared speeches, which included one ICE BREAKER!
First to shine on stage was Thandi, with her Ice Breaker speech entitled 'That Old Saying'. From the warm sunshine of Trinidad, to a high rise apartment in not so sunny Glasgow, mortgage broker, bank branch manager, people management, the audience was left gripped by the real Thandi. Just fantastic, you will go far! You surely broke the ICE and we cant wait to hear more! (CONGRATULATIONS).
Second to take the stage, and with her number two speech, was Ayo with a speech entitled 'The Maid of Honour'. Perfectly delivered with Ayo's natural style and humour blending in. The Bride & the Groom complementing each other in harmony. Anyone in the audience would think they were at that wedding listening to the Maid of Honour deliver her speech. Top marks Ayo, when is the next wedding and are we invited?
The speeches kept rolling and third in line to take the stage was Oscar presenting his speech entitled, 'The Billboard of the African Continent'. Again, the audience was gripped with interest. Media perceptions are not always what they appear to be! Don't be deceived, Africa is on the way up. Are you in line for a career in Politics Oscar?
And last but certainly not least came 'Le Tour d'Bike', by our very own VP of Mentoring, Gareth. That machine (sorry, mountain bike!), looks mean and very complicated to say the least. Gareth definitely gave the audience something to think about when contemplating purchasing a mountain bike. Air pocket suspension filled with oil, soft tyres, Derailleur shift gears, super strengthened forks, special locking pedals! Great captivating speech! One still wonders how Gareth managed to lift up that machine (sorry, mountain bike!) so effortlessly, so many times during his speech... was it really that light?
With so many facts and bundles of information from four great speeches it was time for Evaluations. Evaluators Cheryn, Gareth, Anne & Michael provided some positive comments, commendations and recommendations on the four speeches. Cheryn, clearly identifying the positive points of ‘That Old Saying’ and exercising CCRRC evaluation principles & techniques. Gareth highlighting good content and speech structure for ‘The Maid of Honour’. Anne expressing great use of props and visual aids for use in ‘The African Billboard’, whilst Michael evaluated by outlining the finer details of ‘Le Tour d'Bike - Maybe you could have rode in on that machine (I mean mountain bike!) All the evaluators clearly demonstrating the importance of having good listening skills. "EXCELLENCE TOGETHER".
A short break loomed and as time is of the essence, a prompt call for timings was made by toastmaster David T. Mohan delivered a precise time report and issued one ticket for exceeding the allotted time for one of the roles.
Some more fun and humour resumed after the break via impromptu speaking through the Table Topics session, as the second half of the meeting commenced.
Table Topics master for the evening Mobola, called upon some unsuspecting members and guests, asking them a variety of questions.
Questions such as, "Tell us one thing we do not know about you?", "I'm a slogan and it says...?", "Name a gift you would never forget?", "Would you prefer to be hairy or bald?", "At a friends dinner, you find an insect in your meal, what do you do?"...
Answers from the unsuspecting TT Contenders, Simon – Maybe one day I’ll put the audience to sleep in a hypnotherapy session, because that's what I do!; Elizabeth - Being herself as a slogan, how nice; Arish - doing whatever he wants to get whatever he wants, a very high achiever!; Raja - I am the perfect gift!; Kalpa - preferring to be bald than hairy! My hair will grow back!; Samir - Choosing not to upset the dinner hosts by eating the insect in the soup, who knows, it might actually taste nice!
TT evaluators Wumi & Rahmat, provided some useful feedback on the responses from the unsuspecting TT contenders. Again, demonstrating the power and skills of listening to evaluate.
Doesn't time fly when your having fun?! So time for a recap on timings from Mohan. Due to some clever logistics rescheduling we are back on time and no more tickets were issued.
Raquel, delivered a concise report of the evenings grammatical 'Collaboration' which lead to the General Evaluation for the evening's event.
Paul Carrol of London Athenians, The Hop Poles Pub, 17 King Street, Hammersmith Broadway, London W6, guest and General Evaluator gave an excellent account and round up of the evening’s performances by providing some very useful recommendations and commendations on roles, club and the evening’s event as a whole. One always appreciates the useful feedback and what they can learn from an experienced evaluator. THANK YOU PAUL.
And not forgetting our guests, what are your thoughts, did the evening fulfil your expectations? Email us, let us know your thoughts and come again.
Stand in President Joe, requested feedback and comments from our guests and new faces, six in total! YOU ARE ALWAYS WELCOME :) With this, another inspiring, motivating, fun filled, educating evening at Croydon Communicators came to closure.
One has to say, there is no better way to develop and improve Public Speaking, Confidence and Leadership skills other than to get involved.
Croydon Communicators certainly demonstrated another evening of "EXCELLENCE TOGETHER"
Can't wait until the next meeting - Thurs 8th November 18:45 prompt! Everyone welcome.
Don't miss out, be part of it Get Involved & Get Motivated, Be Inspired, Build Confidence, Educate, Have Fun, Smile.
Excellence Together at Croydon Communicators. Mind in Croydon, 10 Altyre Road, E. Croydon CR0 5LA
