Salty Swims and Simon Says

This fortnightly meeting brought its usual intriguing and thought provoking topics. In the absence of the President, the meeting was opened by Pat, our toastmaster, who captured our imagination from the outset with a reminder of what Toastmaster meetings involve.

After Pat outlined the various rules, he introduced the officers who in turn explained their roles.
The Topics master Maria, brought us on a challenging journey with ‘Winter’ being the central theme. Subthemes involved  ‘Our Favorite Book’, ‘Winter sports’ ‘Christmas experiences in different countries’ and ‘Nostalgic feelings from our childhood’. The success of this session, which challenged members to share their experiences and practice the skill of spontaneous presentations, was evident by the amount of ‘add-on’ presentations.

The first project titles this evening from Niamh was entitled ‘Simon Says’ We were introduced to the concept of Demonstrate Autocratic Leadership with examples from both history and today as evidence of how it can work.

The second presentation (from Frances) was an Ice-Breaker entitled ‘Take the Plunge’ and brought us through the experience of daily sea-swimming which offered more than the expected health benefits but was therapeutic while also bringing about a strong sense of fellowship.  The third project title (from Margaret), also an Ice-Breaker, focused on  ‘Time’ and relayed a personal family tale that went viral as a result of the speaker’s unique manner of remembering her family who had emigrated.

The last part of the session was introduced by the General Evaluator, Jenny, while Declan, Martin and Pat acting as evaluators. Each speaker was given positive feedback with constructive criticism embedded. Two evaluators evaluated the second Ice-Breaker which brought even greater depth to the feedback.
Our timekeeper  Bríd used a coloured background keeping all speakers well within the time restraints.
The Grammarian, Avril, selected the word ‘Trilogy’ which was used three times while the Ah Counter recorded approximately ‘nine crutch’ words this evening.

Marie S presented the creative corner with a personal passage brought about by a collaborate writing project that evolved among a group of her friends as they make their way through these challenging times. Sharing such a personal piece of writing encouraged us to review how we face our daily challenges in life.
Pat brought the meeting to a close having secured the various positions for the next meeting.

Looking forward to seeing you on 5^th  January 2021 - guests welcome!

Image Source: https://seabirdsdotblog.wordpress.com/2019/09/07/sharing-the-swim-love-the-salty-seabird-way/