Reports
Our meeting blogs or reports serve two purposes for Riverside. They give members who couldn’t attend a way to learn how the meeting went and they give potential guests a flavour of the Toastmasters’ experience.
The word blog dates back to 1953. Dr Seuss (the pen name of Theodore Geisel, a famous children’s book author) wrote a story entitled, “Scrambled Eggs Super!” in which he mentioned Blogs, which are frogs, sweet ones, because they only eat bees. The modern blog -- a short internet/Newspaper diary or report - derives from two words, 'web' and 'log', squashed together like frogs in a pond.
If you’re a member already, why not blog for the next regular meeting? All you have to do is sign up in ClubPlan just under the General Evaluator slot. Your finished blog should be between 400 and 500 words and should be sent within 48 hours of the meeting to gray.standen@btopenworld.com, who will put it on the website. Thanks in advance!
05 May 2010
When our President, John Craddock, introduced the meeting, he was speaking to an enthusiastic packed house. He told us how volcanic-ash flight restrictions had caused him to acquire a new skill - presenting via video link. John said his Toastmasters training helped him to master this art.
Next up was Jenny Betts, our cheerful Toastmaster, who pointed out what the pre-election debates shared with Toastmasters: coaching, training and a peer group of professionals.
Dennis Clarke, our Timekeeper, explained his role with good humour and lively language.
The next functionary was our Grammarian, Gray Standen, who explained her duties and defined the word of the evening, 'hopeful', which unfortunately expired when the election results were announced.
Then came three speeches.
First-time speaker Cate Trotter, a very new member, trialed a summary of a speech entitled 'Green Trends for 2015 - an Overview' which she will be giving at the British Library. This was followed by Anne Feeney's research-based No. 3 speech entitled 'Becoming an Excellent Leader'.
Next came a Riverside first, a 'television' interview between two former Club Presidents. The interviewer, Dorothea Stuart, and the interviewee, Sonia Aste, perched on the table at the front. The interview was amusing, full of wisdom and, into the bargain, proved a powerful recruiting tool!
After a brief pause, the Evaluators did their stuff. Jai Jayarama evaluated Cate; Geetha Mazarelo spoke about Anne; Sue Kennedy reviewed Sonia's performance; and Robert Yuen evaluated Dorothea.
The break gave members a chance to catch up with one another and talk to new members and guests.
When the meeting recommenced, our Topicsmaster, Richard Holland, introduced his topical subject: how a new Treasurer (read 'Chancellor') would change things in 2010/11. Impromptu speakers (1 minute, 30 seconds max) were: Alison Shuttle; Trevor Stokes; new members Andreas Voniatis and Lucia Perry; Pilar Sibbick; guest Jean Michel Chapon; Andrew Klimaytys; and guest Kim Adams.
First-time Topics Evaluator Laura Shimili evaluated all the speakers, giving very observant commendations and recommendations.
Timekeeper Dennis and Grammarian Gray made their final reports.
Next up was our General Evaluator, Hilary Briggs, Division B Governor and winner of the UK/Ireland Evaluation prize in 2007/8. Her evaluations were, as expected, spot on. Mentioning several people who had large notes to grapple with, she encouraged us to make our notes on small cards that we could hold in the palm of one hand. These would give us not only more freedom to gesture, but also more time to look at our audience.
John handed out the ribbons at the end of the meeting: best Speaker went to Sonia, best Evaluator to Laura and a first-speech ribbon to Cate.
After the meeting, some of us went to the Eel Pie pub, where recruiting for the 2010/11 Committee continued!
Wednesday 30th September 2009
By Andrea Blackie
VPE Rob Yuen, standing in for president John Craddock, opened the meeting with his customary enthusiasm and reminded us that this was an evening of firsts, not only because it was his first time as acting president, but also because two of our new members were giving their icebreaker speeches. To inspire and motivate speakers and audience alike, he reminded us of the quote by Toastmasters founder Ralph Smedley that ‘we learn best in moments of enjoyment’. With that, we were off on another enjoyable Riverside evening.
Toastmaster for the evening Dorothea Stuart started with some thoughts on Gordon Brown’s speech at the recent Labour conference, which had been rather less than enjoyable, and suggested that the PM could perhaps benefit from some of our members’ expertise! She then introduced the functionaries for the evening. New member Laura Shimili did a fine job in her debut performance as timekeeper, and grammarian Franco Vaccaro gave us ‘shambolic’ as the word of the day.
Our first icebreaker speech came from Sunaina Shori. Entitled “All Change”, it was a fascinating glimpse into her passion for teaching and her ongoing quest to find her perfect career. Sunaina looked enthusiastic and confident as she told us about the new direction her life is taking, and we look forward to hearing more from her soon.
Next up, also giving his icebreaker speech, was retired professional photographer Dennis Clarke, with a speech entitled “Melting Ice”. Dennis kept us gripped with stories of his youth working on cruise ships out of New York and the tragic tale of how he missed the photograph of a lifetime for the sake of a plate of bacon and eggs.
Our third speaker was Glen Savage, who, although he has only been a member of Toastmasters for a few months, has already won the club’s Humorous Speech contest and is on his way to next week’s Area contest. With his riotous speech on the pitfalls facing an unwary Aussie in the land of the Poms, Riverside is quietly confident (in a restrained British way).
Evaluators Andrew Dias, Bek Singh and Sonia Aste gave exemplary displays of how to provide both encouragement and constructive feedback, one of the most important aspects of Toastmasters. Membership VP Errol Williamson then welcomed returning visitor Brigit and our two new guests Tony and Mojgan
After the break, Topicsmaster Sue Kennedy led a lively table topics session, during which Gray Standen declared her disdain for the cherry pitter, the cocktail shaker and the post office, Jeremy Dowsett recommended YouTube for anyone wishing to see the history of the Ukraine in sand art, and Pamela Smith extolled the virtues of the Edwardian figure. Special commendations to guests Tony and Mojgan for taking part!
Best Table Topic award went to Pilar Sibbick for her speech championing all things Andalusian. Sonia Aste was voted Best Evaluator.
Finally, General Evaluator Kim Crosby from London Corinthians summed up the evening with her comment that she had been both educated and entertained!
Wednesday 16th September 2009
By Gray Standen
At last the Humorous Speech and Table Topics contests were about to begin. President John Craddock and his hard-working crew had been busy behind the scenes preparing all the rules and regulations. Dorothea Stuart was Chief Judge; Timekeepers were Richard Holland and Andrea Blackie; Counters were new members Laura Shimili and Louise Lebentz; Maria Hemming was Sergeant at Arms. At the last minute, more contestants came forward. There was a real buzz in the room.
The first Contest Chair, Geetha Mazarelo, welcomed the Humorous Speech contestants, they drew lots for their placement and the first of the 6 speeches began.
Andrew Klimaytys, in his 'Keeping Romance Alive', suggested ways in which men could decrease their investment in romance, e.g., buying Valentines roses before the price went up. John Craddock's subject 'EQ, it's size that matters' took the mickey out of self-help books. EQ, by the way, stands for 'emotional intelligence.' Tom Biswas, in his 'Good Friends & Good Times', showed us that that the '&' should be changed to 'but Not Necessarily'. Jim McCluskey, in 'Banksy & Beyond' gave us a surreal trip in a gallery, which reflected that artist's vision. 'For Better, for Worse, Until Death Do Us Part', Franco Vaccaro's speech seemed to be about how men could keep the peace at home. Last, but not least came Glen Savage and his long title: 'A True Story: It Shouldn't Happen to a Naïve Aussie Lad Visiting Old Blighty.' The quality of the competitors' speeches was very high and the audience had fun listening to them.
After the break, the second contest chair, Jenny Betts, welcomed all of us to the Table Topics contest. Then the 10 (!) contestants were taken outside the contest room by Sergeant at Arms Maria, and were brought back in, one at a time, to answer the following question:
Do you agree or disagree with President Eisenhower, who said, 'a sense of humour is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done'.
It is always amazing how many answers people can give to the same question. Franco Vaccaro and Gray Standen said that having a sense of humour had indeed helped them at work; Dennis Clarke answered historically, saying that a sense of humour was not the strong point of Hitler and Stalin, leaders both; Caine Free opined that respect was more important than humour; Tom Biswas suggested that Hitler's moustache was the only sign of his sense of humour; Andrew Dias said that our Prime Minister had to be careful with humour; Heidi Ashley-Hacker argued strongly that a sense of humour got in the way of leadership; Lee Maben believed that we could use humour everywhere; Andrew Klimaytys warned us that humour is a minefield; finally, John Craddock contrasted two people at work: a dour ex-colonel and some laid-back (humorous?) IT persons. It was an excellent session, particularly as all the contestants got an extra 30 seconds for their answers.
While the Judges were away deliberating, Robert Yuen gave us some table topics, prepared by Maria Hemming. Sue Kennedy said her oddest fashion item had been a beehive hairdo. Paul Carroll (Athenians) told us that, in retrospect, rats did not make a nice unusual food to have eaten. Trevor Stokes said that if he replaced Terry Wogan, the first guest he would invite to the programme would be Paul Carroll. Pilar decided that the food which most represented the UK was tea. Jascyntha (Athenians) chose the colour orange to wear for one year. Andrea said that if she were to represent her country in a sport, it would be, hands up, chocolate-eating. A good session indeed.
At last Dorothea and Maria took the stage to award certificates to all the participants and announce the winners, starting with third place in each contest.
Humorous Speech
1. Glen Savage
2. Jim McCluskey
3. Franco Vaccaro
Table Topics
1. Gray Standen
2. Caine Free
3. John Craddock
It was a great night, full of laughter, team spirit and surprises.
The winners will compete on Thu 8th Oct - 6.45 for 7pm - at:
The Area 29 Contest
Hop Poles pub, upstairs meeting room
17-19 King Street
W6 9HR
The Hop Poles is very close to Hammersmith tube station. You enter the left side of the pub, walk straight to the back and out the door, past all the guys smoking roll-ups and drinking pints, and up the metal stairs, beyond the tables and umbrellas. Riverside will be competing with Trojans, Athenians and West London Speakers.
Wednesday 19th August 2009
By Gray Standen
It was a delightful evening, still warm and sunny, when President John Craddock called the meeting to order. The balmy weather prompted Toastmaster Maria Hemming to warm up the audience by asking for their holiday destinations, which ranged from A for Albania to all over the world.
Kirsten Gronning, in her first appearance as Timekeeper, offered as previous form her timing of children's swimming matches. Pilar Sibbick, our Grammarian, underlined the importance of good grammar, and revealed her soon-to-be successful Word of the Day: STUPENDOUS.
PREPARED SPEECHES
Alison Shuttle spoke on the perils of picnicking: the weather, the food (especially wine bottles, which break or lack a corkscrew), and wildlife.
Next up was Brendan Bensley, who advised us to take life seriously by taking responsibility, deciding what we wanted to do and making a plan. He left us with this Japanese proverb: 'Vision without action is a daydream; action without vision is a nightmare.'
Sharath Jeevan recommended tennis as the best of games: it's easy to organise, anyone can play, it provides scope for expressing one's personality, and is good to watch. Game, set and match!
Last but not least was Dorothea Stuart, an advanced member, who told the story of Bill LeMesurier, a structural engineer, who - years later - solved a serious problem in New York's Citicorp Building, a building his firm had constructed.
EVALUATIONS
Andrea Blackie spoke eloquently about Alison's good use of structure. Franco Vaccaro commented on Brendan's solid outline and gave him some good recommendations. Jenny Betts started off by listing the speech objectives, which she felt Sharath had achieved, and saved her best commendation for last [the GE said later that this was a model evaluation!]. Geetha Mazarelo praised Dorothea for the useful changes she had made to this speech, which Geetha had first heard at Excalibur, the central-London advanced speaking club.
GUESTS
Membership VP Errol Williamson introduced guests Jacqui Connor, Dennis Clarke, Lee Maben and Felicity Lee, two of whom said they would join Riverside!
TABLE TOPICS
First-time Topicsmaster Richard Holland asked for our advice in planning the sponsored walk he and his wife will be taking in France. Robert Yuen dealt with whether Richard should come clean about the mountainous terrain. Gray Standen advised him re taking a donkey. Anne Feeney speculated on what luxury items would be useful. Laura Shimili told us how Richard could defend himself against bears. Sunaina Shori suggested what they (Richard and his wife, not the bears) could do in the evenings. John Craddock wove the previous answers into a story. Lee Maben, asked to suggest an additional tool for a Swiss Army Knife, told us instead that choosing the right donkey would solve all of the pair's problems.
Sue Kennedy, the Topics Evaluator, produced a very amusing evaluation, which was followed by Pilar's enthusiastic Grammarian's report.
General Evaluator Amanda Warwick (London Athenians) gave us her judgement of the meeting, and said she would be happy to come back. Hurrah!
AWARDS
Best Prepared Speech: Brendan Bensley
Best Evaluator: Sue Kennedy
Best Topics Speaker: Gray Standen
Wednesday 15th July 2009
An enthusiastic meeting but no blogger alas!
Wednesday 1st July 2009
by Kirsten Gronning
On a sizzling evening President John Craddock reminded us that it was an evening of firsts: the 1st July; the first meeting of the new committee and the first time he got the chance to show off the Chairman’s bling! John is keen to get more people involved in the club and is looking for New Member buddies to support new members for that first month where it can take ages to master the basics.
Dorothea Stuart seamlessly led as the evening’s Toastmaster by first acknowledging the scorcher of a day. Our timekeeper Ian Harrison admitted that despite being a long standing member, he had never fulfilled this role before. Grammarian Tom Biswas introduced the word of the day ‘invigorate’ as in ‘invigorated by good weather’ and new Membership VP Errol Williamson introduced the guests - ‘our lifeblood’ - to ‘The Best Club in the World’.
We were in ‘Geneva’ for Sharath Jeevan’s #2 speech with Sharath appealing for support from social entrepreneurs working with his retraining teachers programme to raise outcomes of children in schools. Sharath cleverly alluded to a partnership – a marriage – between organisations and how it could achieve so much, for so long - ‘Til Death do us part’. Anil Ramchandani also took us on a journey – a family holiday to Orlando - with his #5 speech. Anil’s ‘Tom Tomology’ almost caused them to miss the flight home. Faced with a long queue and the prospect of having to re-purchase airline seats, it was lucky that there was a ‘diabetic’ in their group in need of insulin and a fast check-in. He won’t be ‘flying by the seat of his pants’ again!
After the break, award-winning Table Topics Master Andrew Klimaytys asked why people were afraid of impromptu speaking? After all, we won’t die or go to prison. Table topics presented were skilfully matched to the speaker and had a pre-dominantly summer flavour – from ‘Real ale or chilled lager on a sunny afternoon?’ to ‘Managing bugs at picnic time’ and with guest Jennifer suggesting sending a husband to the spare room in order to keep cool at night! But the Best Table Topics award went to Glen who ‘teetered on the fence like all good politicians’ when confronted by parents angry at paying more for summer holidays and demanding a more plausible response than ‘that’s supply and demand.’
Sue Kennedy’s neat summing up of a long but blistering table topics session earned her the award for Best Evaluator. Holborn Speaker’s Dominique Fourniol neatly summed up an invigorating and fun evening and Sue Kennedy reminded us of the garden party at Jenny’s in Hampton on Sunday 12nd July. John reminded us of two dates: 2nd September for the Table Topics workshop and 16th September for the Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest.
Wednesday 17th June 2009
by Sharath Jeevan
A balmy June 17th evening provided the backdrop for an evening of transition - both for the two speakers concerned and the club’s broader Leadership team.
Gray Standen, donning a captain's cap, acted as President for the final time, ending her reign gracefully. Franco Vaccaro acted as Toastmaster with some wonderful injections of deadpan humour, including some gentle teasing of those weren't able to make the evening. Sunaina Shori also acted capably as timekeeper for the very first time.
We were treated to two wonderful speeches by Maria Hemming and Pamela Smith, both around inspiring your audience and both signifying their full status as Competent Communicators. Maria spoke movingly about 'Dolce Far Niente', on the benefits of staying still and not doing anything, with some lovely use of pauses for dramatic effect. Pamela's speech, entitled 'We live and learn', included a notable reference to the dwindling value of sex - both frequency and enjoyment - over time.
Franco then visually demonstrated the transition of the leadership team by lining up old and new players of each role, in both a fun and efficient way. The ceremony even inspired one member, Tom Biswas, to join the leadership team on the spot. Indeed, Tom ran the table topics session around the theme of 'change', where he skilfully varied the difficulty of the topics based on the experience of the speakers concerned.
The quality of evaluation throughout the evening was very high, with Paul Carroll and Dorothea Stuart evaluating the first two speeches, and Richard Holland playing evaluator for the first time for table topics. Highly regarded Kerry-Ann Smith from London Trojans was general evaluator and provided a thorough and fair analysis of the evening.
The evening rounded off on an emotional note with some flowers for Gray for her leadership - a nice end to a very special evening.
Wednesday 3rd June 2009
by Tom Biswas
So we have had an excellent few days of weather and it was clear that summer was here to stay; but not on the way to this Riverside Wednesday, as this blogger forgot his coat! Even so it was a terrific warm evening in the confines of York House with excellent speeches and considerate evaluations and storming applause.
We started with an urging from our president to get more people into evaluating – Gray pointed out that a lot of the most popular TV programmes are those where the evaluation takes centre stage. Time for Riversiders to do the same! Then Sue Kennedy spoke about the Riverside Garden Party which will take place in Jenny Betts’ garden on 12th July – sounds like great fun.
Richard Holland introduced his timekeeping role, and this was his first instance of speaking at Riverside and it was very well done, in a role that has technical aspects as well speaking to tight time schedules.
For the main speeches, Mark Brown’s icebreaker took us through what it really means to him to be home in Britain and why Australia isn’t quite so cool. Errol Williamson’s #8 reminded us with a dryly ironic speech that even if you win the rat race, you’re still a rat, and made his points very effectively indeed. Dorothea Stuart’s advanced poetry reading was a unique and complicated speech combining poetry and prose – will I ever look at eating my porridge in the same way again? And Franco Vaccaro did an educational speech that separated the peas from the pods. We learnt that in competitions we should realise that judges placed 50% of the criteria in the pea (the content), 30% is the pod (the delivery) and 20% is its pop pea- like enough (the language).
After the break when we got to speak to some of the many guests, the Topics Master for the evening was Geetha Mazarelo with a range of thought provoking topics based on talent. All who took part, myself included, enjoyed this thoroughly.
Robert Yuen did a magnificent role as Grammarian that I will try to emulate in a few weeks, introducing himself and clearly setting down criteria in the beginning of the session and then beautifully summarising many different strands including good phrases, sentence fragments and his excellent word of the day (sizzling).
True leadership comes from handling the difficult situations well. And in toastmasters, this is no different – when it was found that we lacked a table topics evaluator, Gray Standen delivered an impromptu evaluation without notes that looked like it must have been scripted! Brava!
Our General Evaluator was from Chris Boden of Holborn Speakers (and also St Paul’s) and excellently covered all aspects of what had been an enjoyable and varied Riverside meeting. We also learned of the single-sheet-shake, a scientific problem with holding a single sheet of paper steady – it’s impossible, so we should use cards or something hard behind.
We also received a little extra information at the end with the timetable for the meeting with news of a special workshop on 16 June for better choosing speech topics (see thelondonspeaker.com) and about a tall tales competition at Marlow Orators, an Advanced speaking club.
Awards went to Franco for best speaker putting his best pod forward, Heidi won best table topic for putting herself first and Jenny won best evaluator for Mark Brown’s icebreaker. This ended the 3rd of June at the Riverside, and it was as usual an excellent and thoroughly enjoyable meeting.
Wednesday 20th May 2009
by Sharath Jeevan
A picturesque evening beckoned the start of the 20th May Riverside Communicators meeting. The effusive John Craddock was acting President in Gray Standen's absence, and Jenny Betts played the role of Toastmaster to a tee.
Geetha Mazarelo played the Timekeeper role earnestly and strictly (both essential qualities in any good timekeeper) and Grammarian Heidi Ashley-Hacker focused on 'spectacular' as the word of the evening.
The audience was treated to three outstanding speeches, including Sue Kennedy's moving story of a mother knowing best - even though it took years, in the example she used, to prove it. Bek Singh's icebreaker allowed him to cleverly cover the many aspects of his life - everything from resisting parental pressures for an arranged marriage to the joys of fatherhood. Robert Yuen then followed with a wry entreaty to allow children to watch more, rather than less, TV - listing all of the reasons why it can actually be good for early development, in a funny yet well-argued way. Robert duly won the best speaker award.
Evaluators Andrew Klimaytys, Pilar Sibbick and Sunaina Shori performed their roles with gusto, including a moving outline of what storytelling was all about, and Sunaina was applauded for her first evaluator role.
Topicsmaster Dorothea Stuart then moved onto the topical theme of MPs' expenses and a series of ethical questions about what reasonableness would really mean in this area, and asking us what each of us would do in a similar situation. Tom Biswas played his first role as Topics Evaluator, managing to find constructive points and encouraging feedback about each speaker.
The evening finished off with General Evaluator Jo Holmes (London Cardinals), who had very positive comments about the club as well as some useful recommendations related to her experience of observing other clubs in the area.
Wednesday 15th April 2009
by Robert Yuen
Spring sprung at ‘the best club in the world’ when Club President Gray Standen opened the meeting and gave a sunny welcome to three new members: Errol Williamson, Richard Holland, and Sharath Jeevan.
Like chocolate Easter eggs, Gray gave the audience a piece of advice –watch “The Speaker” on BBC television. Why? Because the programme contains many features of Toastmasters such as improving body language and learning to speak persuasively. Fascinating fact: the senior adviser on ‘The Speaker’ is a London-based Toastmaster member.
The egg-emplary John Craddock, Toastmaster for the evening, cracked open his section with the words of a certain Ralph C. Smedley (founder of Toastmasters International) “The unprepared speaker is allowed to be afraid”, and pointed out the importance of the club’s mission. He then spent a very valuable few moments running through the format of the evening’s programme for the benefit of guests and regular members.
Timekeeper for the evening was the judicious Brendan Bensley.
Grammarian was Andrew Klimaytys who proposed Explicit (or was that egg-plicit) as the word of the evening.
The first bud-ding speaker was new member Sharath Jeevan with his Icebreaker speech entitled “Keeping Windows Open”. He delivered a personal and poignant talk on his life living in India, Saudi Arabia and UK, and the charity work that he was involved in.
The second speaker was the already-in-bloom Errol Williamson delivering his first speech at Riverside Communicators with the title of “Peeping Tom”. He enchanted the audience with a lively and passionate speech on his love of cars, interior design and food.
Like a sunflower in high summer, advanced speaker Dorothea Stuart performed a magnificent monodrama by the poet Robert Browning entitled “My Last Duchess” that lasted for 7 minutes without any reference to notes. She was poised, elegant and in-character throughout her piece.
Evaluators for the speakers respectively were Zahid Bashir, Bek Singh and the glamorous Sonia Aste.
Topics Master for the evening was the engaging Sue Kennedy and she used Easter and ‘new beginnings’ as the core theme for her questions. In total, nine people (four of which were the guests) delivered their one minute responses with humour and warmth.
Jenny Betts tackled the tough job of Topics Evaluation terrifically, and Riverside’s Geetha Mazarelo rounded off the evening with a detailed and insightful general evaluation.
Awards went to: Andrew Klimaytys – Best Evaluator; Tom Biswas - Best Table Topics ; Best Speaker – Errol Williamson.
Contest blog for 1st April 2009 coming soon.
Wednesday 18th March 2009
by Emma Thomas
Gray Standen, President of the Riverside Communicators, opened the meeting promptly at 7.30pm. She told us that Stories are really important and the more relevance they have to listeners, the more they remember the message. Stories are a way of teaching people and way of getting to know the speaker.
Jenny Betts, the Toastmaster, welcomed everyone to the meeting. She reminded us that Spring is a time to kick start projects and think about personal goals for the year. She encouraged us not to be part of the background but to be yourself and step forward with ideas and enthusiasm.
Next up was Corinne Berset who gave us an explanation of her role as Timekeeper. She encouraged us to apply time management but also to smile and breathe. She was followed by the Grammarian, Bek Singh. He explained how he would listen to all the members then comment on the use of good English during the course of the meeting.
Prepared Speech – Alison Shuttle (No.1 speech – The Ice Breaker)- “What’s in a name?”
Alison gave an amusing speech about how her surname has been a help and a hindrance in her life.
Hindrance -“Space Shuttle, Shuttle Service, Spinning Shuttle” .
Help –Everyone always remembers her because she has such a memorable surname.
Prepared speech – Bertie Ekperigin (No.6 speech – Vocal Variety)-“Dieting is not a piece of cake”
Bertie gave us examples of three female characters who had tried various diets. Her voices ranged from Martha’s explanation of the Cabbage Soup Diet; Audrey’s Cambridge Diet and finally Susan’s Atkins Diet. Conclusion - Quick fix diets only work for the time you are on them. Weight maintenance is the answer.
Prepared speech – Jim McCluskey (AC Speaking to Inform)-“Intolerable and Avoidable”
Jim informed us that there are 8 nuclear states in the world. 26,000 nuclear warheads and at least 2,600 of these weapons are on high alert. He gave us a brief summary of the arguments for and against the existence of nuclear weapons.
After the Timekeeper’s report all three prepared speeches were evaluated by Franco Vaccaro/Sonia Aste/Robert Yuen respectively.
Table Topics Session - led by Heidi Ashley-Hacker. This was an opportunity for any of the members to get up and give an impromptu speech for up to 1 and a half minutes. This week’s theme was about the joys and downfalls of Spring. One at a time eleven of the members and one guest got up to speak. Claudia Cronjaeger then gave her evaluation on each of the speakers.
Bek, our Grammarian for the evening, commented on all the members’ use of lively and interesting words. And finally, the General Evaluator, Atul Patel (Holborn Speakers), gave his evaluation on other speakers throughout the evening.
Awards:
Ice Breaker Speech – Alison Shuttle
Best Speaker – Bertie Ekperigin
Joint Best Topic Speakers – Pillar Sibbick/Robert Yuen
Best Evaluator – Robert Yuen
Wednesday 4th March 2009 Blogless, alas.
Wednesday 18th February 2009
by Jenny Betts
“What a great turn-out”, our President Gray Standen commented at the start of the evening when she saw we had a full house which included eight guests.
Andrew Klimaytys our Toastmaster for the evening kept things moving with his usual enthusiasm and energy, reminding us how important leadership is and that it’s something we must work on and continue to improve. He described how being able to speak effectively and communicate well enables us to go anywhere, do anything
The meeting welcomed our new VPE John Craddock who introduced his new concept of a Communicator’s Toy Box – to help us think outside the box and to encourage team-building exercises. He had the opportunity to show how it works later in the evening when he produced an imaginary hot air balloon which Zahid, Geetha, Swan and Trevor bravely volunteered to go in. As the Balloon was too heavy they each had to say why they should not be the one to be thrown out!
Bek Singh was our Timekeeper in his first Riverside role. He took control and kept the evening on time which meant bravely ringing the bell on two occasions.
Our Grammarian for the evening Alison Shuttle gave us “rapturous” as the word for the day which proved to be an excellent choice as it was used by many during the evening.
Emma Thomas spoke on “A Woman Scorned”. A speech based on an incident which happened – where she warned us to be careful what we say, especially to a writer as we may find our flippant remarks turned into a film.
Heidi Ashley-Hacker showed us in her speech “Begin with the End in Mind” that it is the quality and effectiveness of our communications that makes the difference. We should think about what we want to achieve before we speak. Heidi made a real impact with her descriptive language and won the best speech ribbon for the evening.
Pamela Smith enthralled us with her story of Peter The Great of Russia. She described the cataclysmic change to the people of Russia introduced by Peter in 1701 and encouraged us to visit the exhibition at the V&A where we could see the clothes she described.
Our speech evaluators for the evening were Claudia Cronjaeger, Neil Mason and Sonia Aste who gave encouraging and helpful feedback in the Toastmaster way (commend/recommend/commend).
There followed a fun-packed session of Table Topics led by Maria Hemmings who encouraged the speakers to justify their excuses in a variety of situations. Corinne Berset evaluated the speakers and praised their creativity.
Our General Evaluator was Errol Williamson, a friend of Riverside from Trojan Speakers. His comprehensive and amusing evaluation rounded off yet another great evening at Riverside.
The meeting on February 4th was snowed out.
21st January 2009
by Emma Thomas
Gray Standen, President of the Riverside Communicators opened the meeting promptly at 7.30pm. She told us there are only 38 days to the Riverside International Speech & Evaluation Contest. Any and all the members could help run the contest as there were lots of different roles to be filled on Wednesday 1st April. Gray concluded her introduction by welcoming a brand new member Bak who had joined the club that evening.
Duncan Hyde, Toastmaster for the evening welcomed everyone to the meeting especially the 6 guests. He then read out a short excerpt from Gray’s guide to being a toastmaster which involved him whipping up the members to a frenzy. Duncan informed us he doesn’t do ‘frenzy’ so he looked for inspiration elsewhere. and produced the famous poster of Lord Kitchener but with the Toastmaster seal. Normally the first part of the meeting would consist of up to 4 prepared speeches by the members. However this was an evening with a difference. Riverside Plus gave us a special presentation.
Next up was Heidi Ashley-Hacker who gave us an explanation of her role as Timekeeper followed by Jim McCluskey the Grammarian. Jim’s main role was to listen to all the members then comment on the use of good English during the course of the meeting.
Prepared Speech – Maria Hemming (No.9 speech) “Who is your best doctor”. In essence she gave us three pieces of advice. Eat Well. Exercise. Make time for Rest and Relaxation. Conclusion You are your best doctor.
Next up Riverside Plus Club members. Special presentation led by Andrew Klimaytys. He told us there’s a lot more to achieve after completing the Competent Communicators Manual. Members can go on to complete the Advanced Speech Manual; the Advanced Communicator Bronze, Silver and Gold achievements and the Leadership path to Distinguished Toastmasters.
Prepared speech - Sue Kennedy “Love makes the world go round” and asked the question ‘what would the world be like if we all loved everyone as if they were our neighbours’. She asked us all to perform one act of random kindness in our daily lives.
Jenny Betts told us how group evaluation can provide a thorough feedback for its advanced members (10 speeches or more). It’s a smaller group and the speaker has an opportunity to answer back.
Andrew/Jim/Trevor each gave their evaluation of Sue’s speech. In conclusion Franco then gave a summary of the Riverside Plus objectives.
Next the Table Topics Session. This was an opportunity for any of the members to get up and give an impromptu speech for up to 1 and a half minutes. This week’s theme was based around Barack Obama 44th President of the United States. One at a time eight of the members got up to speak. John Craddock then gave his evaluation on each of the speakers.
Jim, our Grammarian for the evening commented on all the members’ use of lively and interesting words.
And finally, the General Evaluator, Franco Vaccaro gave his evaluation on all the main speakers throughout the evening and welcomed again the new member Bak to Riverside Communicators ‘the best club in the world’.
Awards:
Best Topic Speaker – Gray Standen
Best Evaluator – John Craddock
07 January 2009
by Alison Shuttle
President Gray Standen opened the meeting by wishing everyone a happy new year and enthused about the really exciting year ahead for our club.
New member Alison Shuttle was welcomed, and Heidi Ashley Hacker was presented as new Mentoring Coordinator.
On a cold, shivery night Toastmaster Franco embarked on a warm-up about new year wishes. Franco, having returned from an exciting holiday in Switzerland, wished for more snow. Most of the other members were looking forward to more sunshine, as well as a general wish to get fit after the Christmas blow-out.
Timekeeper Robert Yuen gave a lively introduction to his task and Jenny Betts enthusiastically volunteered at the last moment to be Grammarian for the evening, introducing a most appropriate word for the evening: ‘resolve’.
Prepared Speech
An instructive and highly amusing account by Heidi Ashley-Hacker on the pros and cons of owning a leopard gecko. Her speech included much wry and black humour, including raising crickets as comestibles. Heidi concluded her speech by saying that geckos could potentially live for 30 years and that hers was only two!
Evaluation
Evaluator Corinne Berset gave her positive impressions of Heidi's well-structured speech.
Impromptu Speech
Alison gave an impromptu talk on her winter holiday in Lake Bled, Slovenia.
Table Topics
A wonderful and highly entertaining New Year-related double-act was performed by Topicsmasters Sue Kennedy and Neil Mason, with Sue demonstrating the positive sides and Neil playing a Scrooge-like character. Topics included the best and least favourite months of the year, how to have fun, committing to get fit, planning for a third child, a member’s Toastmaster goals. To conclude, Franco offered to be the Queen and give all members present a gong in the New Year’s honours list.
Topics Evaluation & Grammarian’s Report
Andrea Blackie gave an excellent evaluation of 13 topics and Grammarian Jenny Betts expounded on word variety, including the great 'detox-retox'.
General Evaluation
Past president Sonia Aste gave a dynamic general evaluation of the evening, concluding that the 'atmosphere in this club cannot be matched'; a wonderful compliment to us all!
Awards
Best Evaluator went to Grammarian Jenny, and best Table Topic to Pamela Smith on her highly amusing take on her worst holiday. Heidi won a special award for helping to put Riverside back on the Toastmasters International site.
RIVERSIDE CHRISTMAS CRACKER!
10th December 2008
By Gray Standen
The Riverside Committee and helpers converged on York House at 6.30, arms full of fabric, food, booze, wine glasses, programmes and catalogues. At the beginning it seemed like an ordinary night, but within an hour the Terrace Room and adjoining Parlour were festive with red and silver hangings and other Christmas decorations, and two giant Christmas crackers had been fixed to the walls, all organised by Sue Kennedy and her helpers. In the Parlour, the glasses and drinks were lined up by Bertie Ekperigin and Neil Mason, the food was displayed enticingly by Andrea Blackie, and we were at finally ready for a party which had been months in the planning.
Maria Hemming commanded the entry table, handing out drinks tickets, auction catalogues and paddles (don't ask!). Soon afterwards, almost all members and and their guests were celebrating in the Parlour (which served as the kitchen where party-goers usually congregate). At last we all had time to talk to one another. The buzz was delightful. It was just great to see everyone having fun.
At 8.30, we all moved into the Terrace Room for the entertainments, including a Sale of Promises, with Anil Ramchandani acting as our banker.
After an exuberant welcome by the President, John Craddock took us direct to Santa’s Flight Control Centre, answering our most pressing Christmas queston: How does Santa get his presents to us on time each year?
Then Andrew ‘Have Gavel will Travel’ Klimaytys took the stage, dressed nattily in his pin-striped suit, to do a fantastic job as the auctioneer for our Sale of Promises, which included members’ professional services, paintings, tango lessons and so forth. The auction was a huge success, thanks to the donors, the bidders and Andrew.
Next, Franco Vaccaro treated us to three different sorts of Table Topics. Caine B Free, in the blogger’s opinion, gave an outstanding topic, in the guise of a tired and emotional businessman, complete with glass of wine and glowing fake cigarette.
Finally, advanced member Trevor Stokes won the prize draw - a dinner for two at Julie’s Restaurant.
It was a terrific evening, an excellent group effort which allowed us all to get to know one another a little bit better.
After the Christmas break, we are all looking forward to another year at Riverside Communicators.
Blog for 3rd December 2008 “Christmas is coming”
by Jim Marshall-Andrew
An excellent opening by Gray, 120 days until the big Riverside competition, there is an international speech contest and a speech evaluation contest, evidently preparation is the key. You Tube can be a useful resource to listen to great speakers. There will also be an evaluation workshop on the 4th of March, which shouldn’t be missed.
Claudia opened nicely with her thoughts on the Club being the best place to practise speaking skills, I have to agree. As Toastmaster her enthusiasm throughout the evening was infectious.
Emma did a fantastic job with the timekeeping and gave an excellent overview of the lights/timings.
Heidi gave a quick grammar lesson which I found useful and provided us with the word for the evening “frivolous”. Heidi, if you are reading this, please go easy on my mistakes!
Franco introduced the certificate for being the most UM-less, which was a good idea whilst also looking out for frivolous fillers and repetition.
Robert's Ice-Breaker was delivered like a true pro, he opened with the phrase “ a journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step “ he then went on to describe and entertain us about his past, present and his future love of boxer shorts. Robert, you deserve a boy!
Andrew had a very powerful opening “I am going to kill something.” It certainly was a good attention grabber. He then discussed the merits of people interfering in the education system, instead of allowing teachers and students to make their own decisions. A powerful topic.
John delivered a momentous No 10 speech, about becoming a miserable old bastard, fortunately he managed to rise from the ashes and tell us about the 3 R’s (Responsibility, Risk and Reprogramming) it was descriptive, entertaining and educational.
I would like to back up Sue’s enthusiastic Christmas Party announcement; hopefully you can all make it, next week.
The Evaluators, Jenny, Corrine and Sue, offered excellent advice to the speakers based on their experience and the CRC formula.
Table Topics mistress Swan handed out some cracking topics all relating to the Best of, which produced some very entertaining responses. A few notable highlights:
Trevor for indirectly giving life as his best gift. Tony for advising the police about how best to purchase a Christmas tree. Franco for saying little whilst achieving so much. Alison Shuttle our new member for doing sell well, good luck with the date at the party. Sue for not telling us about her 1st choice of best stress release. Corinne for married life and single life and of course the Aussie. The list goes on, it was a brilliant session.
Maria stood in at the last minute to evaluate which was a very good effort.
Heidi as grammarian was brilliant; you gave constructive feedback which was useful. My writing skills are poor at best, I have never been so nervous writing a blog!
Franco as the AH counter picked up 125 against a goal of 70.
Gilly Cutts our General Evaluator said “This Club is Hot”, it is the “Best of the Best” I think enough said! She did mention Heidi was the best Grammarian she had ever heard, well done Heidi.
Awards:
Best Evaluator – Heidi
Best Table Topic Speaker -Franco
Ice-Breaker ribbon - Robert
No 10 speech and Best Speaker – John the “competent communicator” Craddock.
Blog for November 19th 2008
By Andrea Blackie
We had another fantastic turn-out at Riverside Communicators this week. In addition to our usual members, we welcomed new guest Alison Shuttle, returning guest Denis Lawson, and visitors from both Trojans and Holborn Toastmasters clubs.
President Gray Standen started the meeting off in style with a mini-masterclass in the art of 'chunking'; that is, breaking speeches up into small segments for more effective delivery. Gray was followed by Pamela Smith, doing a wonderful job in her first time as Toastmaster, who introduced the theme of the evening - 'Winners' - a particularly topical subject in the light of John Sergeant's momentous withdrawal from Strictly Come Dancing earlier in the day 'in case he won.' At Riverside we have no such inhibitions, and after a quick explanation of the timing rules from Timekeeper Robert Yuen and the word of the day (Enthral) introduced by Grammarian John Craddock, it was straight on to the speeches. Neil Mason, in his no.2 speech entitled 'Taking Issue With Mr Larkin', gave us a witty and erudite explanation of why history is most certainly not dead. Corinne Berset, (speech no.6) talked movingly about the effects of Alzheimer's on the families of those affected. Finally, Franco Vacarro, in a speech from the Advanced manual on Persuasive Speaking, inspired us all to go out and make Riverside Communicators into the Best Club In The World!
We made our General Evaluator, David Jones, sing for his supper by inveigling him into doubling as Topicsmaster. Being the 2008 UK and Ireland Topics champion, he took this in his stride and gave us a wide-ranging topics session which included subjects such as alien abduction, the art of running a travelling circus and the vital question of whether Blondes really do Have More Fun! A great session, much enjoyed by spectators and speakers alike.
Our evaluators for the evening were Elizabeth Poole, Geetha Mazarelo, Trevor Stokes, and Nazia Soon from Holborn Toastmasters.
Best Speaker ribbon went to Franco Vacarro, best Evaluator to John Craddock and best Topics Speaker to Heidi Ashley-Hacker.
Another entertaining evening, and we look forward to the next one!
Blog For November 5th 2008
By Robert Yuen
Bonfire Night at Riverside Communicators burst into life when Gray Standen, President, opened the meeting with a sparkling declaration of her excitement at having a new US President. She lit up the audience with the announcement of the Riverside Christmas Cracker Auction scheduled for the not-too-distant 10th December to raise funds for the Club. Members were asked to donate a service or an item for the auction, and were given a stern warning not to off-load the horrible vase from last Christmas!
The affable Sue Kennedy was Toastmaster for the evening and she predicted an enthralling session for every Guy and gal with the news that there were prepared speeches from 2 Advanced speakers. Timekeeper was Elizabeth Poole and Grammarian was Claudia Cronjaeger who proposed “intriguing” as the word of the day.
Prepared Speeches
Firing himself up first was Jim McCluskey who asked the question “Am I Being Watched?” The audience burned with excitement as he explained his experience with the Guy with the unusual T-shirt from Sainsburys (or was it MI5?), the old lady and the transport cop. Little did they know that Jim was the one that was armed and dangerous!
Dorothea Stuart rocketed to the audience’s attention by advising them to “Slow Down” .... when speaking. Words, she said in her highly informative speech, are elastic – some can be said quickly, others have to be said nice and slowly.
Evaluations
Andrew Klimaytys complimented Jim on the change of character in his story and his clear voice. Pamela Smith praised Dorothea on her open body language and her braveness in using volunteers from the audience. Topics Evaluator was Andrea Blackie.
Table Topics
Topicsmaster Andrew Dias celebrated the feeling of change and hope from the US elections by using it as the common theme for his catherine wheel of topics: father, son and man (guest Gary Jenkins), mother, wife and woman (Claudia Cronjaeger), Africa (Jim McCluskey, being French (Robert Yuen), being a black man (guest Julio Aguilar-Milan), Osama Bin Laden (guest Rosemary), Christmas (Sue Kennedy), 4 years time (Tony), Indian British Prime Minister (Dorothea Stuart), and Sarah Palin (Andrew Klimaytys).
Awards
Top of the pile was Gary Jenkins for best Table Topics answer and Fewest Ums and Ahs, while best Evaluator went to the fiery Andrea.
Remember to complete your Donation Form for the Riverside Christmas Cracker Auction and return to Gray Standen.
15th October 2008
Great meeting, but no Blogger!
1st October 2008
By Franco Vaccaro
Bertie Ekperigin, President pro tempore was in her smartest uniform to mind the ship while Gray was away. She told how she’d surprised herself on how far she’d come in two short years, to be now wearing the captain’s medallion around her neck.
From one president to (Immediately-Past) another, Sonia Aste took the helm of her beloved “Best Club in the World” (as voted by its members) and steered us through the high seas, and onto the Port, on time. Sue Kennedy was minding the clock, and reminded us that “time and tide wait for no man”. “Cute” (as voted by Sonia) Andrew Dias minded our “verbal non-words” and asked us to replace these with pauses.
Prepared Speeches show cased two cracking ice-breakers: one from Heidi Ashley-Hacker, who just joined last week and introduced us to the threes sides of her life; and Jim Marshall-Andrew who revealed the nut within his nutshell, which got cracked by a flying golf ball. OUCH! John Craddock re-presented his brilliantly acted toff-cum-cockney-cum-toff contest speech in its new Corinthians-winning format (besta-luk John for d’area!). Dorothea seduced us with her stats, before warning about their abuse in the shadow of truth.
Evaluations had Andrew Klimaytys ticking all of Heidi’s boxes, which struck him with fear at the thought of “H” being hot on his trail. Contest Champion, Jim McCluskey injected large doses of humour in his evaluation of (the other) Jim’s speech, proving why he was a winner with his club. Pamela Smith had the tough job of evaluating John’s contest rehearsal and gave him some kernels of sage advice. Pilar Sibbick described Dorothea’s presentation as efficient and academic, and took pleasure in Dorothea’s deft handling of Jim Mc’s cunning question, seeing it off with a brilliant text book answer.
Table Topics was chaired by that treasured, and most treasurable of treasures, Jenny Betts, who invited discussion and debate on the decrepit state of the economy. Eight quick-thinking speakers took it in turn to ponder and pontificate on: If I were Prime Minister (Franco); money-saving tips (new member Robert Yuen), throwing a redundancy party (Jim M-A), cashing-in investments (Tony), giving-up spending (Jeremy); saver or spender be (Rees), dealing with redundancy (Guy); credit crunch advice for a five-year old (Pilar).
Claudia Cronjaeger gave her usual observant, funny and friendly feedback to her subjects. Honourable New Yorker, Paulino Carroll, the man who never sleeps, did a terrific big-apple evaluation.
Awards to Jim for Evaluation, Jeremy for Topics and John for Speech.
Reminder to all to support Jim and Celia at Area 29 competition on Monday 6th at Trojan Speakers, Ealing; and John Craddock at Area 06 on Monday 13th October.
24th September 2008
Our 11th Autumn Contest in the frosty Hyde Room at York House began, necessarily, with a rousing warm-up!
Our genial Humorous Speech Chairman, Duncan Hyde, introduced the candidates one by one. First up was broadcaster Jeremy Nicholas, with a speech entitled “Words don’t come easy”, about how recovers from verbal gaffes. Swan Treasure astounded us, first with her milkmaid’s costume and second with her story about “The No-No Angel”, who wanted to get rid of her wings. Then came a voice out of Raymond Chandler, complete with a snappy hat and shades - it was Jim McCluskey, giving us “Mobile phones revisited”, a funny tale of strange encounters on a bus. This was followed by some first-rate acting, as posh John Craddock told us, “I wasn’t always a toff”, and proved it with a great cockney accent and lots of rhyming slang.
Andrew Klimaytys got stuck into “50, the scourge of the living”, a Saga about all the curious things which happen when you reach your half century. Next we were treated to Franco Vaccaro and “A short study of the anatomy of an investment bank and the menace of greed”. Whew! He’s decided not to become a trader after all. Sonia Aste presented her “Go to Tesco, feed the fishes, phone my mother, do the dishes” speech, about all of her to-do list tyrants, including her Medusa-haired sister!
Jim won first prize, Caine second and Sonia third.
Jenny Betts, with her elegant presence and wonderful voice, chaired the Table Topics [impromptu speaking] Contest, with 10 candidates (Gray Standen, Sonia Aste, John Craddock, Elizabeth Poole, Andrew Klimaytys, Franco Vaccaro, Celia Jones, Geetha Mazarelo,Caine B Free, Swan Treasure,) all answering the following question:
'Ghandi said, 'You must be the change you wish to see in the world. Do you agree?'
Gray took the question at face value and agreed with Ghandi. Sonia compared change by others to changes you make yourself, to which you have to commit. John advised people to think for themselves, be responsible for things rather than blaming others. Elizabeth advised people not to under-estimate their on influences on change. Andrew suggested making the changes you want to make. Franco talked about the trials and tribulations of changing himself, and how a guru might help.
Celia interpreted change as small change, and suggested that we give banknotes to charity, instead of coins. Geetha didn’t agree with Ghandi, saying that one could start a movement, but not finish it. Caine took an entirely different direction - straight into the pub for a night of changing drinks (beer > cocktails > etc.). Swan said that if your intentions were good, your heart would follow.
Celia won first prize, Caine won second and John won third.
The Contests were ably upported by Chief Judge Gilly Cutts and her panel of judges; by Timekeepers Andrew Dias and Neil Mason; by Counters Gail Joslin and Maria Hemming; and by Sue Kennedy, who ran an all-too-brief Table Topics session while ballots were being counted.
See the News page for photographs of the competitors, and the winners, who will go forward to the Area Contest at Trojans Speakers on Monday 6th October.
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