This evening Harrovians had the opportunity to improve their performance during table topics thanks to a highly entertaining and informative training session hosted by guest speakers from Athenians - Paul Carroll – assisted by Pam Bennett.
Through a series of special exercises Paul persuaded several hesitant table topics speakers – Amit, Kamlesh and Linda - to deliver a short table topics style speeches on topics such as their favourite film, book or holiday destination.
Paul gave us the following tips:-
Long Term:
- Keep up to date with the latest current affairs and challenge yourself to speak about a subject from a certain point of view.
- Treat all questions as table topics questions – so that you start to think in the order of introduction, body and conclusion.
- Watch the professionals in action by listening to/viewing Prime Minister’s questions, Question Time, Newsnight, Any Questions (Radio 4), Just a Minute (Radio 4).
Medium Term (on the day of a table topic session) Glance at the news of the day – a good source of information would be the Metro newspaper (handed out free at tube stations).
Short term (during the table topics session)
- Speak on the first subject which comes into your mind
- Don’t worry about the length of the pause before you begin speaking as this always seems longer to you than the audience.
- During the session formulate answers to all the table topics questions in your head.
After the break we heard two fantastic speeches from Angela Lansbury and Jo Hallas.
Angela’s speech entitled Restaurant Etiquette – Tips for Diners opened our eyes to the many differences and possible misunderstandings which can arise when dining around the world with people from different cultures. Angela used a wonderful array of props and great humour throughout.
She finished her speech with a quote from Abraham Lincoln “If this is coffee, please bring me some tea but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee”.
Jo’s speech entitled “On boarding Tarka” began with a quote “Dogs are not our whole life but they makes our lives whole”.
Her speech highlighted the many considerations and practicalities that need to be borne in mind before deciding on a dog as a pet and the life enhancing qualities that a dog can bring to your life. She also shared her own personal experiences of getting her first dog – Tarka a golden retriever.
Thanks to everyone who spoke this evening including Maneesha for her stunning premier performance as Toastmaster, Indra for evaluating the table topics training session, Warren for his Olympic themed general evaluation, Sanjay our Grammarian and Timekeeper – Kamlesh.
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