Kathy Brown, one of our newest members, reports on our third meeting which was held on Monday 12th July:
Club President Nicola Coutts
One of the things that has struck me straight away about Farnham Speakers Club is the warmth expressed by everyone there. This is evident as soon as you enter the room and are greeted by the smiles and welcomes of the members. Everyone talks to everyone else and it’s very reassuring to know that each person there has either made a first speech, or still has it yet to come and that most have worked their way to one extent or another through the communication manuals provided by Toastmasters. This week it was my turn for my first ‘icebreaker’ speech, and although I had done a fair amount of preparation and rehearsal in the privacy of my home, it’s difficult to approach public speaking for the first time without some nerves. These soon calmed down as the meeting got under way. I think this is one of the advantages of having a well-structured process and agenda – there’s something soothing about routine – and something interesting to listen to from the moment the first committee member stands to address us.
This week, the third coming together of Farnham Speakers Club, it was the turn of Sarah Jane Groome to be Toastmaster. This was indeed her second ‘hat’ of the evening as Sarah also acts as the group’s Sergeant at Arms, setting the room and opening the meeting with general housekeeping. After an introduction and welcome from President, Nicola Coutts, who told us that she intends for FSC to become “a shining star in the firmament of District 14″, Sarah, as Toastmaster, moved to introduce the roleplayers for the evening. Our time keeper was Amina Vierk; the videographer Martin Berry.
Timekeepers primed and ready...
Jessica Hayward took on the task of being Grammarian this week – a very demanding role as it requires utmost concentration on her part. She gave us a word of the evening – ‘Exotic’ – to spin into our speeches – prepared or otherwise – and promised to count up our ‘Ums’, ‘Ers’, and to note good use of interesting language. By the end of the evening we were impressed with the thorough job she did of this, just as Jessica was impressed, I think, in turn, by our widespread threading of exoticness through our various speeches and tales.
The warm-up is always fun. Hazel Donegan was inspired in the theme she gave us by her visit to the Hampton Court Flower Show; we were each invited to tell the rest in 10 seconds or less about our favourite bloom, and give our reason. The Table Topics later on are another very inclusive element of the evening. Nicky Kriel was responsible for this section and tasked us all with pulling objects, some familiar and some unusual, from a bag and speaking for up to 2 minutes about them. This was very entertaining, with Tristan stealing the show with his bizarre and humorous expose of a wireframe ostrich. I was also tickled that Jessica was unfamiliar with lime jelly – and that my speech evaluator for the evening, Rosemary, confessed to never having used a screwdriver!
This week’s speakers were myself, Tristan Greaves and Nicola Coutts. I kicked off by fooling my audience with a teaser opening to my speech entitled ‘The 43-year-old Virgin’ before continuing to reveal that I was in fact referring to my first, belated visit to Glastonbury Festival this year. I enjoyed my effort and it would seem the audience did too, as I had some lovely compliments afterwards on this inaugural attempt. Being video’d is very useful – as I am probably my own worst critic so I can see things that I did and said (yes, including two ‘Erms’ which Jessica keenly picked up!) that I’d like to improve on in future.
Amina picked out these fetching glasses for her Topic...
Tristan was giving his second speech, ‘Breaking through Walls’, an inspirational and colourful retelling of his recent London to Brighton bike ride and why the sponsoring charity, British Heart Foundation, was important to him. The purpose of a number 2 speech is to demonstrate organization with a beginning, middle and end to the story, and Tristan’s physical journey was a great way to do this. His movement and descriptions were wonderful, bringing the whole thing to life.
Nicola then went on to entertain us immensely with her Advanced speech ‘The Naked Truth’. In this, she told us about her first ever holiday to a nudist camp in the South of France, with her boyfriend of the time. I never did ask her if she’s been back since… But Nicola demonstrated amply how to use description, exaggeration and wordplay to make an experience hilarious in the retelling. And I concur with her puzzled question to us all, just what IS the point of curtained changing rooms in a nudist’s boutique?
After the speeches, the evaluations – and it’s clear that feedback is a skill to be developed in its own right. I am grateful to Rosemary for her excellent and objective appraisal of my maiden speech, and I learned that the evaluation should always be addressed to the floor and in the third person, rather than to the subject of the evaluation themself. Maria James-Mills, and Michael Hummel visiting us from Camberley Speakers Club, took on the other two evaluation tasks and were constructive in their recommendations and warm in their praise. In Toastmasters, everyone gets evaluated – the table topics were appraised (this time by David Henderson, whose observational skills and dry wit I am already coming to appreciate) and an award made, the Grammarian gave their summation for the evening and then all the role-players including the evaluators were critiqued by Bob Nisbet in the General Evaluation. Even he has to stay within time though – it doesn’t take long to realise that the strict timekeeping throughout is the only way we get to cram so much learning and entertainment into the evening!
Relaxing in the bar after the meeting
After the formal meeting closes, the informal denouement in the bar – lovely – and a chance to get to know the others a bit better. Farnham Speakers Club has much to commend it. I’m going to enjoy my time here.
Photographs kindly provided by Martin Berry.
