Steve Dixon Hull Speakers

A Wide Range of Expertise at Hull Speakers

Toastmaster’s Report

Tonight’s Winners!

Lincoln Smith Wins Table Topics at Hull Speakers
Best Table Topics:Lincoln
Lincoln and Sireesha - Best Evaluators
Best Evaluator: Joint Winners, Lincoln and Sireesha
First Speaker: Charlottee

Steve Dixon was Toastmaster.

Absolutely Outstanding! 

Steve took on the role of Toastmaster for the first time this evening, 14 February 2018. The Toastmaster facilitates the meeting and keeps it on schedule.

Do you like pancakes savoury or sweet? Steve got the group to stand up and declare their preference. You’d never believe there could be such a division of views! It was great for recipe ideas, too.

Steve kept the meeting moving and used his exceptional sense of humour to keep everyone chuckling and engaged throughout.

We’ll be looking forward to seeing you do this role more often, Steve. Well done.

Members are encouraged to take the lead roles of Toastmaster and of General Evaluator after they settle down into the club. The Toastmaster’s role is ideal to practice directing meetings and the General Evaluator’s role provides experience in giving constructive feedback on what was done well and what could have been done differently.

Hull Speakers Steve Dixon was Toastmaster

A Great Night for Lincoln

Lincoln walked away with all the prizes this evening; both for speaking and for evaluating.  Great work Lincoln.

Lincoln’s impromptu speech was on wind turbine design – which he won (see below.)

Lincoln also won Best Evaluator (jointly with Sireesha) as the Ah Counter.

Educational Slot: Mentoring

Earlier in the meeting Lincoln gave an Educational slot on the club’s mentoring scheme. Toastmaster’s International encourages mentoring with more experienced speakers and evaluators helping new members. Hull Speakers has, as part of its membership, some professional trainers and some experienced speakers.  They are keen to volunteer to help other members of the club.  Lincoln was very keen, in his role as VP Education, to pair up new members with mentors.

Members who are interested in mentoring, either being a mentor or a mentoree, should let Lincoln know. You can use the Contact Us section of this site if you wish. Lincoln has a member interest survey to be able to help match members with the most suitable mentor for them.

Best Table Topics Speaker….
Impromptu Speeches

Lincoln Smith Wins Table Topics at Hull Speakers

Lincoln won Best Table Topics. 

Did you know that Lincoln is involved in the production of turbine blades? Lincoln explained how the designers took inspiration from nature and the owl: smooth, silent, frictionless.

What the designers couldn’t plan for was nature itself. Gulls settled on the turbines and…ahem, made their ‘deposits.’ Lets just say that mankind couldn’t quite copy nature …. because of nature.

Lincoln: surely that wasn’t really true!

Lincoln used his knowledge of turbines….but we discovered some amazing expertise within the group…..read on….

A Great Evening for Speaking

Ethos…..Your Credibility and Why the Audience Should Listen

Paul Salvidge was the Table Topics Master. Paul gave members and visitors a speaking slot on a topic they had not prepared for. This evening, Paul picked topics based on their experience or knowledge.  The challenge was to apply the device of Ethos which is a rhetorical tool for demonstrating to the audience you can be trusted on the subject because of your knowledge or because you have the same interests as the audience. The aim here was to demonstrate the ethos in a subtle way. All speakers did this exceptionally well.

Adam gave a fascinating impromptu talk on graphic design. Adam explained an incredible amount in two minutes: from road signs to corporate logos, why colours and text size and style make the difference. The members look forward to Adam giving a more detailed talk on this subject.

Tina talked about her passion for learning then teaching. Tina showed how she started teaching in Zimbabwe and then started helping children with particular educational challenges which she still does to-day​

Clare has taken part in speaking competitions at international level and has been given awards for this. Clare shared her experiences of international speaking with the members.

Steve talking at Hull Speakers

Steve gave an amazing description of sales techniques. Steve described how his mum pushed him into a career in a bakery as a buyer but he moved into sales and was very effective. In short, Steve advocated integrity as the key sales technique.

Murali talking at Hull Speakers

Murali talked about leading a club.  Hull Speakers has always been a strong and successful club but Murali has moved it on to new heights. Murali admitted that the responsibility made him a little nervous – but he explained that the club has some exceptional officers and making them an effective team is the best thing a club president can do.​

Jessie talking at Hull Speakers

Jessie gave another outstanding performance. She spoke about the difficulties of people with stammers and how she had this difficulty herself. She joined the McGuire Programme and learned to manage her stammer. The audience was amazed because Jessie spoke so eloquently with no sign of a stammer. Jessie went on to describe how she now coaches other people on the programme.

Charlotte speaking at Hull Speakers

Charlotte amazed everyone by talking of the beauty of the Arabic language and why she liked it. Charlotte speaks several languages and went on to describe the uses of Arabic and how it is the primary language of more than 20 countries. She gave the audience a sample of spoken Arabic….with a translation, of course.  Well done Charlotte. Amazing.

Sireesha talking at Hull Speakers

Sireesha  drew on her background in ecology to describe what could be done to preserve and enhance the green environment which is being lost. Her message was that there are millions of people. If we all took time to think about what we consume and how we consume it then this in itself would have a major impact throughout the world.

Bayo Speaking at Hull Speakers

Bayo gave an enjoyable speech on Nigeria, his home country. Bayo described the size of the country, one of the biggest in Africa, its resources and its diversity. He admitted that Nigeria has some challenges and the people are facing these. But the country is beautiful and he urged the audience to go and see the country for themselves. Tourism is what he saw as Nigeria’s future because the people are so friendly.  Excellent, Bayo, well done.

Meeting Roles

Hull Speakers follows the Toastmasters method of evaluating everyone who speaks at the meeting. There are a number of evaluators in the room. 

The ‘Ah Counter’ listens out just for speakers who use filler words (um, er, ah, you know – or repeating words so, so…..) Lincoln was the Ah Counter.
The Grammarian will listen out for good and poor grammar, vivid expressions and encourage members to use the, ‘Word of the Day.’ Murali  was the Grammarian 
The Timekeeper will monitor the speaker’s time and indicate when the time limit is being reached. The aim is to speak until you see the red card and then wind down within 30 seconds from that point. Bayo was the Timekeeper
The Speech Evaluator is used for formal speeches. One person is assigned to introduce a speaker and then to give a detailed evaluation of the speech.
Table Topics Evaluator is the same as the Speech Evaluator only that this person evaluates all impromptu speakers. The speakers have  between 1 and 2 minutes. Sireesha was the Table Topics Evaluator
Educational Evaluator evaluates members who deliver Educational presentations. Tina was the Educational Evaluator reviewing Lincoln’s presentation on Mentoring.
The General Evaluator evaluates the evaluators! They also are free to pick up on any matter they wish from the meeting to help the club maintain its high standards. Clare was the General Evaluator.

Bayo Speaking at Hull Speakers
Bayo was the Timekeeper
Murali Grammarian
Murali was Grammarian
Tina: Educational Evaluator
Clare: General Evaluator

Best Evaluator: Joint Winners!

Siresha was the Table Topics Evaluator
Lincoln was the Ah Counter

Looking forward to seeing you at the next meeting on
23 February

Slo-mo Firework Image Credit:
Beachfront B-Roll: Free HD Stock Footage

image sources

  • Murali: Hull Speakers