A toast to Toastmasters!

Notes from Galway Toastmasters' meeting 15/04/2015

As a newbie, I have to admit that attending Toastmasters is starting to become one of my favourite pastimes. If you are reading this and contemplating joining the club. Believe me, you will find that it is a most enjoyable, inspiring and supportive means to achieve public speaking skills.

On Wednesday last, Margaret (President of the club) gave a warm welcome to Toastmasters and guests and shortly handed over to Pat, the Toastmaster for the night. Pat introduced the officers and explained how the meeting would be handled.

Our Madam Topicsmaster for the evening, Emer Garvey, presented the audience with a wide range of topics which set the tone - thought provoking and equally entertaining. Majella gracefully gave us her view on what makes summer beautiful: school holidays (lucky for her), road trips across France, and the Galway races. Other hot topics covered: if plastic surgery is rising to a level that exceeds good sense, with many agreeing in terms of cosmetic surgery; are we using google too much to diagnose our sicknesses; also, what social norms of the past would be frowned upon today. This topic caused a short heated discussion on gender roles highlighted by Pat.

There were four expressive speeches given. Trevor gave a very visual presentation titled ‘The Irish’, helping us to understand just how Irish we feel we are. He gave many examples of how we interact with other natives. One thing we have to admit is how we say one thing and mean another, ‘ah sure I’ll just have the one drink’. Mary followed with an engaging speech titled, ‘What did you say’. We learned that active listening can make us more understanding and connected. On top of this, she explained that when you fully listen you are giving another the gift of being heard. She noted many benefits of listening and reinforced this by reminding us that we are given two ears and one mouth, that we should listen twice as much as speaking. Moving swiftly up the ladder in his speech levels, Donal gave a persuasive speech on ‘The power of focus’ and captured the audience with his analogy of golfing with his own personal experiences of using focus. The overall message was to focus on one thing at a time. Gary gave the final speech on his admiration of Handel, one of the greatest composers of the day. We learnt of his restless determination in creating his most famous piece of work, the Messiah.

After a quick cup of tea and some socialising between Toastmasters and guests, the evaluations were presented by Pat, Ann, Ruairi and Frank. Trevor was commended on his presence and well told stories. Ann congratulated Mary on an excellent speech which made clear her passion for the subject of listening. Donal received both a professional and personal evaluation by Ruairi who gave appraisal on his journey in Toastmasters and that today he now holds all the attributes of a great speaker. The final evaluation by Frank who confirmed what we all felt, that it was overall a perfect speech. The only recommendation given was for Gary to use the speech to showcase his own musical talent.

Our creative corner was fulfilled by Astrid. She gave a brief run through of monumental events that occurred on this day in years past and a heart warming piece of poetry related to the Titantic. With the meeting soon to close an overall evaluation was given by Paul. A recommendation was given to address the Toastmaster and room only, as a reminder for those who step up to speak. He also left us with a note to remember - that in a way we are all bilingual, we should consider our body language as a second language when we interact with others. Finally, the President made some closing remarks and the meeting was adjourned. 

Until next time Toastmasters, Sarah J