Thursday 31st January 2013

A six pack speech bonanza, a fully packed venue, an abundance of energy and some new faces - YOU'RE ALL WELCOME at last Thursdays 31st January event, where else? Croydon Communicators!

All attendees were greeted with a warm smile at door as Rhamat welcomed everyone in.

Sergeant at Arms, Anne promptly settled an enthusiastic audience with a huge WELCOME.

Full of energy & with a warm welcoming smile President Hanna introduced the evening's event along with a brief account of the history of Toastmasters. So what will it be, Eastenders on TV at home on a Thursday night or right here at Croydon Communicators? No contest, I'd rather be right here being inspired, educated and building Leadership and Public Speaking skills.

To keep order for the evening welcome the cool, calm and collected John, holding the reigns in his first time role (CONGRATULATIONS) as Toastmaster.

Time is of essence and without a timekeeper we'd get carried away with the fun and excitement, so to keep order with time for the evening, Kaushik took centre stage and described the role. Speakers, I'm not afraid to use the 'bell of shame', but a brown envelope under the table is always welcome... Haha.

Word of the day, gap fillers, erms, arr's and good grammar; welcome grammarian Shawn who will be taking note and not 'Procrastinating' as the word of the day.

Audience, let's warm up your vocals, who better to tune the vocal chords with a question, other than Arish. And in his first time role (CONGRATULATIONS!) as Warm Up Leader; "In one word tell us what inspires you?" There was a keen sense of inspiration from the word 'Happiness' from the audience.

With six speeches lined up on the starting grid, off we go... and first off the grid was Anjali with her ICEBREAKER (CONGRATULATIONS) called 'Life is a Gift'. And what a gifted speech this was. So blessed with Life's Gift, her brother, the Chess master took away all the attention in the early days! That's life Anjali! And how nice to know you're married to the Timekeeper :-) Audience, remember that date, 8th March. Don't worry about the year! Fantastic speech and don't worry ALL the attention is on you.

Second off the grid was Raj with an ICEBREAKER (CONGRATULATIONS) called 'The Unforgettable Days'. What an inspiring speech for your Icebreaker. Defining those unforgettable days as BS & AS (Before School & After School). This world needs people like you Raj! Don't be afraid of Maths & Chemistry, you are an engineer! This is going to be an 'unforgettable' Toastmaster journey.

Moving swiftly into the third speech for the evening, and quickly off the grid was KJ with a speech titled, 'A question of Choice'. And what a powerful speech this was. For those theorists & scientists in the audience... just sit back and digest! Neurons, atoms, physical law, free will and decisions of the unconscious mind! You certainly got us thinking... unconsciously?

We've set off to a great start with the first three speeches and with three more to go we could do with some valuable feedback in the evaluations.

Toastmaster John, introduced the evaluators Neelam, Sheena and Wumi to provide some encouraging comments, commendations and recommendations on the speeches.

First to evaluate was Neelam, evaluating Anjali's speech 'Life is a Gift'; taking centre stage well, great pitch, humour and a very entertaining speech for your ICEBREAKER.

Second up in the evaluation process was Sneha, evaluating Raj's speech 'The Unforgettable Days'. And the evaluation began with a song! "Those where the days..." X-Factor here we come, never knew you could sing so well. Sneha evaluating Raj's ICEBREAKER as a rollercoaster ride in life's learning giving the audience goosebumps as they listened intensely. How about a well deserved standing ovation :-)

Before the break, the third speech evaluation by Wumi evaluating KJ's with a speech 'A question of Choice'. Wumi delivered an account in speech evaluation and listening skills, calm and collective with CCRRC evaluation technique explaining the speech as setting the audience mindset, engaging, more voice variation, good engaging questions, great speech.

A prompt call for the latest timings by Kaushik (and no brown envelopes under the table as yet), then into the pit stop for a re-fuelling break.

Sergeant at Arms Anne, reconvened the meeting and no sooner Cheryn, our fourth speaker took the stage with her speech called 'The Roman Coliseum'. So much development and this was a prime example of what can be achieved at Croydon Communicators. "Excellence Together". Did you know the Roman Coliseum could hold more people than the O2 Arena? Now you do!

At full speed now with the fifth speech of the evening and 'Here Comes the Sun', delivered by Joe. A convincing speech about the power of the sun's energy, and how we can harness it. Full of facts and figures, powering the world off the back of the sun! It's possible and its the way forward!

Now on the final straight and to complete the sixth of six speeches, Aarthi presented her speech entitled 'Giraffe'. Evolution for real, theories, facts and science says "I am tall". Well if science is anything to go by Aarthi, you are on top of this world! Another well delivered speech by Aarthi.

Evaluators... Samir, Oscar & Hanna to the stage.

First up was Samir on 'The Roman Coliseum' by Cheryn. A clever evaluation, describing the tactical use of movement on stage to focus the audiences eyes on the flip chart; like playing ping pong with the audience!

Second was Oscar, to evaluate Joe's speech 'Here Comes the Sun'. A diligently delivered evaluation describing the technicalities of a difficult subject topic, however well explained to the audience to grasp the facts. Were you a diplomat Oscar?

With passion & energy the third evaluation was presented by Hanna, evaluating Aarthi's speech - 'Giraffe'. There's so much to gain from good listening and presentation skills, and there's no better place to learn other than right here at Croydon Communicators on a Thursday evening... EXCELLENCE TOGETHER.

With the event drawing to an end - how about a report on the evening's grammar? Welcome back our Grammarian Shawn. There were definitely effective speeches, no waffle and yes, the word of the day was used effectively ELEVEN times! So there's no need for any more procrastination!

There was just enough time for Kaushik to present the latest timings. Still no under the table envelopes but there was the sound of that bell a couple of times! All in all we were well on track for good timings.

To wrap up another eventful meeting area governor and standing General Evaluator, David L summarized proceedings. To start, Croydon Communicators meet and greeter's are an asset to the beginning of any event, a well prepared stage sets the mood for the event and Oh! Point to note; remember the 'B' button on the projector between speeches. This was another great successful event overall.

To cross the finish line Hanna thanked the new and returning guests (YOU ARE ALL VERY WELCOME - FEEL FREE & COME AGAIN) and asked the guests to provide their feedback on the evening's event. Here's your chance guests, say it as it is.

Don't procrastinate! Jump in, you can only improve, build your Public Speaking, Confidence and Leadership skills, come down and get involved.

Croydon Communicators certainly demonstrated another evening of "EXCELLENCE TOGETHER"

Can't wait until the next meeting - Thurs 14th February 18:45 prompt! Everyone is welcome. Bring your date!

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