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London Communicators - Meeting Report - Monday 24th January 2011
Best Table Topic: Fiona
Best Evaluator: Steve Maguire
Best Speaker: Nicole
The meeting took off on time with a poignant reminder of the 'Invictus' lessons delivered by Julie Holness inspiring all to achieving greatness on their journey of public speaking. London Communicators founder Phillip Fitzpatrick was the Toastmaster of the day.
The first part of the meeting was inspired with 'randomness' theme delivered expertly by Katherine Torrence as Table Topics master and creatively tackled by, 8 volunteer speakers including members and guests. Speech themes run from using fantasy to escape winter blues to alternatives to cosmetic surgery, coining up innovative names for American football and offering recession-led wardrobe and banquet advice to the royal couple on their big day! It was good fun and all managed to pull it off with a great deal of gusto. Toastmaster Fiona was voted Best TT speaker for convincing people to live in an alternative reality.
Simone Hauser was succinct in the Table Topic Evaluation and she managed to commend and recommend all the speakers with helpful tips highlighting their strengths while giving improvements on speech delivery.
The audience was exposed to three prepared speeches. Nicole Kollermann Communication Square speech unveiled how verbal communication took place on four levels: Objective, Relationship, Appeal and Self-revelation levels and made all the difference in the way messages were intepreted. Aliki educated the audience on the tricks and tips of Travel Photography in matters such as Subject, Composition and the When and Where to take pictures. The final prepared speech had the audience spell bound when professional speaker Paul Adams currently on Bronze advanced speakers programme taught the audience Negotiation skills with a focus on achieving a Win-Win outcome. Table topics master Katherine was at hand to role-play this scenario and gave Paul the opportunity to practice what he preached. They both gave a very convincing performance. Nicole was voted winner in this category.
Evaluations for the prepared speeches were made by David Lenon, Len Welson and Steve Maguire. They all lauded the achievements made by the speaker and pointed on areas for further development. Steve Maguire was voted best Evaluator.
Diana Del Toro from St Paul's speakers was the General Evaluator. Her evaluation of the entire meeting and all speakers was encompassing. She gave excellent advice regarding the use of "S" or "W" eye sweeping technique and Feet Open stance in order to engage better with audiences. She encouraged all speakers to learn to play with vocal variety and make better use of the stage. It was another wonderful night brimming with guests and an opportunity for everyone to learn and grow.
Meeting Report by Maggie Rarieya