When opportunity knocks do you sit and wait…or do you throw up your hand and shout “Yo! Me!”…
It wasn’t quite like that but low numbers created opportunities for those present. Multi-tasking came out on top.
Our theme was reflection chosen by Chris, our chairman for the evening, to mark the end of our Executive Committee’s term of office and in anticipation of electing the new committee later in the evening.
And so it began. Ted, speaker/Grammarian chose Greed as the word of the night.
Liz’s Smile Story was short and rather fabulous. I shall never look at intellectuals quite the same again. And as for wicker chairs, well……..If you missed it you must catch Liz in a quiet moment and ask for a personal re-telling of her fine tale.
Our Toastmaster was Faqir, his first time in this role. Congratulations to Faquir for running the prepared speeches with such ease and grace.
The first to speak was Kevin (P) Advanced Manual Project 1, offering the gardeners present a wealth of gardening tips in his speech Planting The Seed. Michael (ALB1) followed, inviting us to reflect upon our purpose in joining Toastmasters in Keeping The Commitment. In Cyber Crime Security Zainab (CC9) both reminded and warned us of some of the potential hazards of our high-tec age. And Ted (ADV) concluded this part of the evening with a calmly present personal account of an intense, life threatening moment at the point of a gun… in A Workday to Forget. Interesting titles, wouldn’t you agree? The speeches were pretty darn good too!
A buzz of conversation… light refreshment, then back to business.
The evaluators for the prepared speeches were Magda, Anji, Kevin (B) and Liz. Each followed the recommended CRC method, offering encouragement and tips for improvement for speakers and all who cared to hear their wisdom. Anji had wondered how Michael would grab her attention as he began his speech. Liz called forth the thespian in Ted. Back to Anji who reinforced the need preparation, preparation, preparation! A little emphasis added there…
The time allocated for the business session was significantly reduced which meant more opportunity, more time for Table Topics…..fun, eh?
As Table Topics Master Ivo added a visual twist to the proccedings. First, questions were put to the impromptu speakers, then repeated while showing the the same question overhead on power-point. An excellent idea….don’t you think?
The Table Topics questions followed the reflection theme and all participants, all ten participants embraced the challenge rather well. Table Topics speakers were: Kevin (B), Zainab, Ted, Magda, Anji, Michael, Liz, Tarun, Faqir and Richard.
