Our meeting was opened by our President Pat who entertained
us with various definitions of toast. We all hoped we would not be toast during
the meeting!
Pat passed control of the
meeting to our Toastmaster of the evening Mike who with his usual aplomb
conducted the first half of the meeting.
After greeting members and guests he got the various officers of the
evening to explain their roles. The word
of the night was frivolous and we
were encouraged to use it during the night. Mike then passed over to Martin for the TableTopics session.
We were treated to a lively Topics session with topics
ranging from Easter eggs to running for public office. We were entertained by Pat imitating his
disgruntled son grunting when repeatedly being asked to change channels. We
found that Margaret hates weddings the only hope being to sit beside someone
who could converse. Someone else went on
a binge with her mother eating Easter eggs with the younger kids locked
out. Another member was resorting to
hiding in the car to escape his kids until he discovered painting with them.
We then were treated to four prepared speeches. With her Stage 2 speech titled Look at That Trisha treated
us to the concept of noticing the amassing beauty lose at hand. We travelled from beautiful spiders webs to
swans sleeping away from the crowds and activity of the Volvo Ocean Race
Village. This later would have been
missed if it had not been pointed out. Then the thought if people on the other side of the world were seeing
the same stars. A lovely thought
provoking speech.
With his stage2 speech Five tips to avoid getting ripped
off by taxi drivers in a foreign country Brian made use worldly wise when
travelling. Tips such as technology to get information and resisting being
badgered into making a quick decision. Well thought out and presented.
With her stage 10 speech Life Time and Money Matters
Sarah explained why with the loss of a person, an angel, she has re-evaluated her life
and refuses to spend forty years working to retire broke. With the aid of the book Rich Dad Poor Dad
and more she has been educating herself financially and is on a determined path
to financial freedom. She also issued an invitation to join her for a game of
Cash Flow. Great food for though. With
that speech Sarah is now a Competent Communicator. Very well done Sarah!
Our fourth speech was an advanced manual project The
Abstract Concept. With a speech titled Crispen Pat took us into the world of Emanuella Charpantier and Jennifer
Duodna who have been developing the science of gene manipulation. With excellent slides and explanation Pat
gave us an over view of the concept which holds the possibility of cures for
cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anemia.
A fascinating presentation. There
is a TED talk of J Doudna explaining the concept.
We then had a very welcome break for tea, coffee, biscuits
and a chat.
Our general evaluator Declan then took over the second half
of the meeting. He first called on the
evaluators to evaluate the speeches. The
speakers were given very helpful feedback and suggestions for improvement. We then the reports of the officers. The word frivolous was used 10 times and PJ
also commented on phrases he liked. The Ah-counter said there were more alternatives to ahs than just ahs and the score was
quite high.
We then had a very nice Creative Corner from Ann. The theme was purple and we discovered that
there are various wave lengths of purple.
After reading a slightly altered verse of the poem Soothing Purple by
Carolyn Brunelle
We were then led on a beautiful meditation on purple.
Declan then gave feedback on the evaluators which was
positive and encouraging. He commented
on the room being well set up and made the excellent suggestion that guests be given name
tags. Sarah then filled roles for the
next meeting. Pat took over and
awarded Sarah with her Competent Communicator pin. A very
enjoyable meeting closed.
Hope you can come along to our next meeting on April 11th. all welcome.
No comments:
Post a Comment