Exciting news for our club – we have a new website and what a fabulous looking site it is. The challenge for this year’s committee is to inspire our members to not only use it but to contribute to it and help the site be as vibrant and packed with life as our meetings are!  We also have a new LinkedIn page. URLs to both are these are at the end of this summary.

Emma, the Toastmaster for the evening, kicked off an informative session with a theme of “Your Secret London Place”. Each of the speakers and role-holders provided answers in advance so that Emma was able to introduce them along with their “secret”. I’ve listed them below in case any of you want to explore them for yourselves. I’m going to Aga’s ruined, overgrown church this week and will be having a team lunch in Dishoom this Friday. I hope to visit the Parkland Walk and Marie’s Cafe before the end of September.

Debbie was our first speaker with her IceBreaker speech “C’est le roc”.  We learned that Beginners get to grips with 12 basic moves which the Intermediate class refine before the advanced “Free Stylers” do their own thing, all of whom are ably assisted by taxi dancers.

Next up, Nadya, visiting us from Berkeley Square Speakers club, delivered a speech from the Advanced Speakers series, practicing the delicate art of announcing bad news in a way which leaves the audience positive and hopeful.

Siobhán gave a speech from Level 2 Pathways (our educational program) which had the objective of identifying your own particular communication style and the impact this has on others. Using quotes from the likes of Warren Buffet (gained while she was trapped in a YouTube spiral), Siobhan identified the key communication styles and observed that the important factor is the communication style of the audience, not necessarily the sender.

The final prepared speech was from Veronica with “The Ugly Face of Beauty”. She provided a compelling argument for ditching make-up while briefly touching on three ugly areas which the “beauty” industry scars; the environment, our self-confidence and animal testing. With some haunting photos looped on the screen, she opened our minds to 4 possible ways to challenge the industry; only buy cruelty-free products, read the labels –  if there are ingredients we can’t pronounce…don’t buy it/don’t use it, make our own and finally … embrace our natural self.

The speeches were evaluated by CarrieJoEve and JT

It was then time for Table Topics, a round of impromptu 1-3 minute long speeches, led by Anastasia. In this session, we had to use our persuasive skills to pitch the benefits of Toastmasters memberships to (drawn from a hat), a drunk at a bar, an ex-boyfriend, the singer Adele, Teresa May and the Queen!!  These short speeches were evaluated by Aga.

–        Best Table Topic Speaker went to a guest from Berkeley Square Speakers, Aishleen

–        Best Evaluator to JT

–        Best Speaker to Nadya,

It was a full room with:

–        21 members

–        2 guests from other clubs

–        5 outside guests

https://www.linkedin.com/company/city-women-speakers

Our Secret Locations:

Esmé ‘s Parkland Walk follows an old railway line that ran between Finsbury Park and Alexandra Palace.
Jo Zhou’s Chew Fun, 3 Bell Lane, Spitalfields
Aga – St Dunstans in the East
Emma’s Holloway Road shops
Anju’s Dishoon
Debbie’s Union Theatre in Southwark
Veronica’s Marie’s Cafe, Lower Marsh
Eve – walk everywhere you can
Carrie – Wandle Meadow Nature ReserveCarrie Gow