A small room without a view - and we made it!

The meeting was opened by our President Declan whom warmly welcomed all members and guest! He further explained the benefits of Toastmasters, and wished everyone a fun evening!

The meeting was then taken over by our Toastmaster Christoffer who ably chaired the first half of the meeting. He outlined the speeches and then got the officers who were to help run the meeting to explain their roles. Margaret, our Grammarian, gave the word of the night “Empathize” which she encouraged us to use.

We then had a lively Topics session hosted by Martin, with topics ranging from "Your Favorite Transport" to BBC TV; it was lively with plenty of add-ons, with lot of quests speaking up. Well done all!

Then came the prepared speeches. Marie gave an inspirational speech about not allowing our excuses to hold us back. She introduced us to an inspiring friend Tracey McCann and her book “Recommenced”.

Frances then gave a history of learning to sail with Glenans on Bere Island, Co. Cork and later on Loch Corrib and with Galway Bay SailingClub.

Pat 1 gave a more uplifting view of climate in his speech “Are you worried about a Black Swan?” The point being that climate change has happened before. The young perceive the world as black and white, and don’t know there are things we cannot know.

Pat 2 gave as speech from the interpretive Reading Advanced Manual The Oratorical Speech, a TED talk on the need to change the educational system from preparing youth for the past or present to develop the ability to think and maintain creativity as the future is unknown.

We then had a break for refreshments with tea, coffee and cakes! 

The second half of the meeting was chaired by Jennifer.  She introduced the speech evaluators. Margaret for Marie, Eugene for Frances, Jenny for Pat 1 and Declan for Pat 2.  All gave positive feedback and useful recommendations for improvement!

Jennifer then gave an evaluation of the evaluators and showed insight into it. Then she gave an overview of a very positive meeting and praised guests for speaking during topics. The officers then gave their reports.

Jamie’s creative corner gave facts about Lorenzo - not about Storm Lorenzo but Lorenzo the Magnificent whom it seems was not that magnificent.

Eugene then filled roles for the next meeting on October 16^th which is competition night! All are welcome! Finally, Jennifer handed back to Declan to close the meeting. 

And lo and behold, we managed well in a smaller room with no lectern or podium to hide behind, which just shows that we can do it!