written by Dan magill

Club President Croydon Communicators

After our Sergeant-at-Arms, Gertrude Onichabor gave a stunning, note-free Table Topics Evaluation on Thursday October 24th, we caught up with her to get some quick tips on how it's done...

Do you enjoy evaluating Table Topics?
​
Yes! Table Topics is a good place to work on your evaluation skills. When I evaluate prepared speeches I struggle a little. It can be overwhelming because you have to listen to many elements whilst writing notes. But, with Topics, you can relax a little more and know you just have to come up with one key commendation and recommendation for each speaker. 

So, what tips can you give us for Table Topic evaluation?

Keep it simple and don't try to recreate the speech. The audience has already heard the speech so it's not necessary to recreate the content. That goes for prepared speech evaluations too.

Anything else?

Yes. Remember to structure your thoughts. You just need one single commendation and recommendation for each speaker.  If you remember your structure it makes it so much easier to go up there without notes. 


Which areas should we focus on when giving commendations and recommendations?

Just think about what you liked most and talk about that. Evaluations are very subjective, so if there's something that you liked about a speaker, that's a good thing to tell us about. 

You might also want to think about things like, the message, their stage presence, use of the stage, content, vocal variety and eye contact. Anything you notice really.


Any advice on how we should end each individual topic evaluation?

Yes. It always good to end on your top commendation. Even it's just a quick summing up of a commendation you've already given. It's better to end on something positive so the speaker can go away feeling positive too.


And finally, what about not using notes? How do you do that with Table Topics?

​Ah, that's easy!  Practice, practice, practice!

Read Getrude's article on mentoring

written by dan magill

Club President Croydon Communicators

Our second meeting of the month at Croydon Communicators was a little smaller than usual – yet, still perfectly formed.
 
The bad weather, and heavy traffic meant the evening started with fewer people in the room than we’d normally have, but as usual, for everyone who had made it, the outlook in Fairfield House was fine and the conversation was flowing freely. 

Marvellous Mustafa

​Mustafa was our Toastmaster for the evening and it was his first time in the role at our club. What fun he gave us. Mustafa’s inimitable style sets everyone at ease and his humour shines through every moment he’s on stage.
 
Bang On Time

Next, it was time to move through the gears and start to get some role players on stage.
 
Aseem was first up as our Timekeeper. When it came to giving a thorough explanation of the role and ensuring we all knew where we were at with our timings, Aseem did a superb job. He did seem to be having problem keeping the bell quiet though and we may need to find him a bigger desk next time. I think at one point the bell fell off the table even. I suppose you could say Aseem was bang on time.
 
It was great to have Marcia back and taking on the role of Grammarian. She gave us a fabulously serendipitous Word of the Day and gave a really thoughtful and engaging Grammarian’s report , which was jam-packed with language uses she’d picked up on during the evening.
 
Next, it was time to travel around the world with Matt’s warm-up question. Matt asked us about our favourite country. With the world literally at our feet, around half the room were remainers, opting for the UK as their favourite. And we discovered that Aseem doesn’t have a favourite country. Not yet. But, he’ll come back to us if that changes!
 
Veni, Vidi, Vici

​We moved into the prepared speeches with Roz getting things going in real Rock-n-Roll style. Her speech, Veni, Vidi, Vici was full of fun, music and messages. Roz told us how the past is pregnant with the present and It was a wonderful example of how PowerPoint can be used to bring a speech to life.
 
In the absence of Rob (get well soon Rob), I stepped in and gave a speech I’d prepared earlier, before our guest Laurence came up to practice her Humorous Contest speech, Probably the Weirdest One Ever.
 
It’s great to have members along from other clubs in the District. It’s a learning experience for all of us and I know Laurence took away some invaluable feedback which will hopefully help her go on to big things in her Area Contest. Two of the most important take aways from Laurence’s speech were actual takeaways – but no spoilers for anybody that hasn’t seen it yet. We all wish her the very best of luck at the Area Contest.
 
Fabulous Feedback 

Our evaluators were Gina, Roz and Afia.
 
Gina gave a very thorough, comprehensive review of Roz’ speech, which was bursting with tips and tricks for everyone in the room. Roz said lots of nice things about my speech (cheque’s in the post) and Afia stepped in at the last minute to evaluate Laurence. Afia gave Laurence some brilliant feedback, which is exactly what is needed when practicing a speech for a contest. It was so nice to see Afia still talking to Laurence and giving her even more tips in person at the end of the meeting.
 
Sensational Susan

After the break, it was time for Table Topics.
 
Alison ran a lively session with some fantastic questions which elicited a wide range of entertaining responses.
 
Roz returned for a third helping of stage-time and warned us not to go near the A3 on our way home. We had two first-time guests bravely come up to have a crack at a question, but it was our returning guest and hopefully soon-to-be member, Susan who stole the show with some expertly dispensed advice, not only for her 16-year-old self, but for everyone in the room.
 
Evaluation Extraordinaire
 
After the Topics session my thoughts turned to who I would choose to receive the President’s Award for the evening. I had a list of possible names running through my head, all of whom would have been worthy recipients.
 
Until, that is, Gertrude stepped forward to give us her evaluation of the Table Topics.
 
When I spotted Gertrude didn’t have any notes with her, my first thoughts were that she had forgotten to bring them with her and would have to go back to collect them.
 
But no. Fresh from Freddie Daniel’s workshop earlier this week, Gertrude took the insanely brave step of attempting a topics evaluation noteless!!
 
How anyone can remember the names of several people they’ve never met, remember what they spoke about, remember the order they spoke in and then deliver a series of wonderfully insightful commendations and recommendations for each, is beyond me. I’ve seen it done in General Evaluations – and that impresses me a lot – but to do it in Topics when the turnaround time is a matter of seconds…
 
Incredible!
 
Well done Gertrude. I’m sure you’ve inspired more of us to try ‘going commando’ in the future.

Florence Night in Regale 
 
The evening was rounded off in style with an excellent General Evaluation from Florence. Florence, through no fault of her own, had arrived late to the meeting, but she didn’t let that stop her giving a really comprehensive review of the evening and giving each of the role players something useful to take away and think about.
 
The big winner of the evening was Roz, who took Best Speaker and Best Evaluator rewards. I suppose you could say, she came, she saw, she conquered!
 
 
Finally – we have our Area Contest taking place on Saturday November 2nd at 12:30  in Croydon.
 
Come along and see the winners of the Humorous Speech and Table Topics contests from the 5 clubs in our Area, battling it out for a place in the Division Finals. It should be a hugely entertaining afternoon with lots to learn from some of the best speakers in our Area. And it’s free!
 
Sign up here
 

Looking forward to seeing everyone at our Halloween Speak-spook-tacular next Thursday.
 

 
The Awards 

Best Speaker                       Roz
Best Evaluator                   Roz
Best Table Topics              Susan
President’s Award           Gertrude

written by dan magill

Club President Croydon Communicators