Halloween
Chairman for the meeting , Jeffrey, chose HALLOWEEN as the theme for the meeting to ‘get us out of our comfort zones’, querying in his introduction whether those who had sent apologies were too scared to come.
To emphasise the theme the Grammarian, Jessica, chose “ haunt’ as the word for the night which we should try to weave into our speeches. In consequence the Timer, Jie, advised us that she would haunt those whose speeches were over-long. The roles of Ah Counter and Smile Story were combined by Ted with nonchalance.
At this point the evening’s Toastmaster, Ratul, stepped up to introduce firstly an informative Educational session from Kevin on the finer points of the various roles in every Toastmasters meeting. Then followed four prepared speeches the first three of which were taken from Pathways. Richard turned up in a convincing disguise as part of XR (Extinction Rebellion) – which he attempted to inspire the audience to join. Bao gave a personal and moving speech about his style of leadership with three guiding principles to remember. Emily took the floor to educate us with an engaging array of slides about the accumulating problems of plastic and to inspire us to consider what needs to happen.
A nutritious supper arrived which re-envigorated all who shared it.
Appropriately afterwards, Lakshman presented a wide-ranging Speaking after Dinner (Legacy) speech entitled “The Blind Man and the Elephant”. He began with quotes from multiple sources, moving via the five senses to conclude with a recommendation for seeking equanimity.
Ratul continued to provide encouraging remarks to each speaker as he introduced the evaluators namely Chris, Ivo, Liz, Steve and Sherry. The standard of the evaluations was high with the objectives of each speech restated, and with perceptive commendations and recommendations given by the evaluators.
Jeffrey returned to the podium to introduce the evening’s Table Topics Master, Theresa, who asked rhetorically if this would be the scariest part of the evening – attempting to speak for two minutes impromptu. Theresa persuaded Jessica, Chris, Emily and the evening’s two guests Denise and Ramesh to describe how they cope with Halloween with amusing results. Jie and Kevin provided succinct evaluations for the Table Topics speeches.
The business session was conducted by Club President, Kevin, who congratulated Steve for representing the club and winning the District Evaluation competition and Chris for his third placing in the Table Topics competition – both of which had been held the previous Saturday.
There followed a general discussion regarding reintroducing awards for Speaker, Evaluator and Table Topic Speaker of the evening at club meetings.
Reports reports from Grammarian, Ah Counter, Timer and General Evaluator, Yaona rounded off the evening. Special commendations should go to first time role-holders Jeffrey, Ratul and Yaona for their energy in making the evening so enjoyable.
