Adam was Best Table Topics Speaker - Hull Speakers

Cold Outside But Warm Inside

Toastmaster’s Report

Tonight’s Winners!

Clare and Murali were Best Speakers - Hull Speakers
Joint Best Speakers: Clare and Murali
Adam was Best Table Topics Speaker - Hull Speakers
Best Table Topics: Adam
Clare was Best Evaluator Hull Speakers
Best Evaluator: Clare

Paul was Toastmaster: Theme, Cold Winter Nights

Paul was Toastmaster and Grammarian this evening. On 27th February 2018, most of the UK woke up to one of the coldest days for several years and thick snow.

The theme was cold evenings. Paul opened the meeting with his recollections as a young teenager playing for the school chess team when matches were often on dark nights like these – but it was a great experience.

Other members recalled why dark, cold nights were actually lovely evenings and recalled their best experiences.  On this positive note the meeting moved on to the formal speeches.

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…..) Jessie 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.’ Paul  was the Grammarian 

The Timekeeper will monitor the speaker’s time and indicate when the time limit is being reached.  Bayo was the Timekeeper

The Speech Evaluators: They evaluate formal speeches. One person is assigned to introduce a speaker and then to give feedback. Lincoln and Irina were the speech evaluators.

Table Topics Evaluator: is the same as the Speech Evaluator only that this person evaluates all impromptu speakers. Clare was the Table Topics

Speakers: We had two formal speakers this evening, Clare and Murali.

Well Done Clare Crowther.

Double Winner: Best Speaker and Best Evaluator

Clare is an experienced member of the club and has awards at international speaking level.

Clare gave an Educational session on the Competent Leadership Manual. Most people come to Toastmasters to develop public speaking skills. Clare reminded them that Toastmasters also develops leadership and management skills including critical thinking, giving feedback, mentoring, motivating, team building and facilitation. These can also involve speaking. This is what the manual covers.

Clare then went on to evaluate the Table Topics and gave members some helpful examples and reminders including the effective use of pauses in a speech and to retain eye contact whilst speaking to the audience.

Clare Crowther Presenting
Clare Crowther Presentation
Toastmasters Competent Leadership

Best Speaker
Joint Winners: Murali and Clare

Clare and Murali were Best Speakers - Hull Speakers
Best Speakers: Clare and Murali
Murali presentation on the Humber Bridge
Murali presented in the design and construction of the Humber Bridge

Best Table Topics Speaker

Adam was Best Table Topics Speaker, Hull Speakers
Table Topics Winner: Adam.
Steve talking at Hull Speakers
Steve was Table Topics Mater

Steve gave us a wintry set of topics ranging from transport problems to winter sports. Great fun. Well done Adam (left) who won with an excellent story of winter sports and braving out into the cold.

Educational Slot with Andrew Hodge

Andrew Hodge, (pictured below, grey pullover) led the group in another of his very interactive sessions to-day.  Outside of Hull Speakers, Andrew coaches people in delivery techniques and shares some of his methods with the group. In the past, Andrew has covered everything from an attention grabbing speech start to a memorable end; he’s talked about tonality, use of the floor to show different phases; and much more.

This evening, Andrew went through impromptu speaking in which members were on their feet talking until another member indicated they’d take over the story. Great fun, thank you Andrew.


Jessie hands over to Bayo Hull Speakers

Word of the Day

‘Selling Snake Oil’ and ‘Ratting on’

Paul Salvidge was Grammarian and chose two words to use as a pair which have been in the political news recently.

The words are informal/slang words – which is unusual for Hull Speakers. However, they added colour to the language and Paul decided to use them.

Both have several definitions and because they are slang they can be adapted to use in most situations.

The first was, “Selling Snake Oil,” which describes a solution which the author knows will not work or is not really 100% true; it just buys time.

The second was, “Ratting on [something,]” This is when a person makes a promise or commitment and then goes back on it – they “rat” on it.

We had a lot of fun slipping these into our speeches and most members managed to use at least one of them. However, Steve Dixon offered the best use in the view of the Grammarian when he said,

“I didn’t expect the weather to be as cold as this. The weatherman has been selling us snake oil and now the transport authorities are ratting on keeping the country moving.”

Steve was the best at using the Words of the Day

Looking forward to seeing you at the next meeting on
13th March

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

image sources

  • Toastmaster Paul Salvidge giving speech on Dada Art: Hull Speakers