Once again a lovely warm welcome from the team at Reeds. We enjoyed a delightful meal where I was able to chat with Adam Shaffer, the chairman of the evening, and Sally Briggs, one of the maths teachers. Mr Ha had done a great job on organising the event.
As guest Toastmaster I was asked to give an educational speech on impromptu speaking. I provided the team with some top tips. I reminded the team that the Table Topics are designed to give people a starting point to talk from and not simply to make it as difficult as possible to answer! They were also reminded of the Toastmaster way of providing feedback in the form of commendation recommendation.
After the meal we split up into three separate rooms. There are now 57 members in the club and this is the only way we can ensure that most people get a chance to speak.
The prepared speeches were to a very high quality. I’m always impressed with students confidence and eloquence. Most of the speeches were delivered calmly with great vocal variety and appropriate pauses. We were treated to a wide variety of talks on subjects as diverse as why you should go to the gym by Antoine Thomas, should we legalise cannabis by Jamie Baker, the history and personal experiences of Zimbabwe by Serena Fleming and experiences of a border at Reeds by James Watson.
Evaluators were all well observed and were much gentler than previous evaluations we have heard. I was delighted to see suggestions on how to improve on the recommendations rather than just pointing out items for improvement.
I’m really glad that I wasn’t asked to take part in the impromptu speaking. I think that the topics had already been thought of and they were very tough! How would you answer topics such as ‘what is your favourite item of cutlery?’, ‘Canned bread’, ‘why did Cinderella’s shoe fall off?’ and ‘What’s it like to be a Penguin?’
In answer to your question, Thomas Hancock answered the question about canned bread by telling us how we ended up with a huge bruise on his lip after a great game of basketball earlier in the day. Well done Thomas!
For the prizes, we had a draw for best speaker in Antoine Thomas and James Watson. Luke Basi was the best evaluator and Sam Hunt the best topic on how to get away with murder!
If you haven’t already attended Reeds than I would highly recommend that you speak to Patrick Ebbs and get yourself booked in for the next event.
Best wishes,
Dave Goodman