Manners, Friezes and Leadership

(Notes from Galway Toastmasters meeting of the 11th November, 2014)

Our president Margaret called the meeting to order. During her introduction she reminded us on how far toastmasters has come. In the beginning toastmasters was a men’s only club.  Thankfully that policy eventually changed half a century later to admit women. It is obvious to all that this change in policy makes the organisation the success it is today. Aonghus took on the role of Toastmaster for the first time and did a great job at it. Eddie as Topicsmaster was full of surprises with is wide range of thought provoking topics. These included topics such as the most difficult person you had to work with, what are you asking for this christmas, if you had a million euro how would you spend it, the property bubble, and the best piece of advice someone has ever given you.

We had 3 speeches. The first, from project 6 of the competent communication manual, was about minding your matters by Donal. It was a very interesting speech that highlighted the universal importance of manners that is often lost in today’s society. The second, from project 7 of the competent communication manual, was about Parthenon Friezes by Jenny. An impressive amount of research went into the topic that led us on a journey that spanned over two and a half thousand years of history. The third was an educational speech from Frances. This speech was indeed educational in highlighting the current situation that the leadership manual should be receiving more attention and that it should be a habit to bring our leadership manuals with us. She interacted with the audience to get valuable feedback.  This feedback included suggestions that maybe the structure of the meeting should be tweaked to direct more focus towards the leadership manual.

The evaluations for the speeches were Pat O’ D and Pat C. Pat Cr gave us the general evaluation for the night. Taking up the officer roles for the first time was Mary for the Ah Counter and Thomas for the Grammarian. 

It was a very enjoyable evening for everybody. I am looking forward to the next meeting and hope to see everybody there.

- Thomas