An audacious meeting with Ice-breaking, super dads, history records and mystery cats!

Galway Toastmasters meeting on 20th September was well attended and we had a whopping 14 guests! Our President, Pat, opened the meeting and explained the Toastmaster mission. Control of the meeting then went to our Toastmaster of the evening Sarah who got the various officers to explain their roles. We were introduced to the word of the night AUDACIOUS and invited to use it when speaking.  We then has a very enjoyable Tabletopics session - including such topics as embarrassing moments, time travel and happiness. It was a lively session with plenty of Add-ons. Lee, visiting from another club, got a landed his topic inadvertently due to a names mix-up as it was intended for Liam sitting behind him - it was all taken in good spirit.  We then moved on to the prepared speeches. First we had an interesting and inspiring Ice-breaker from David who showed how being very successful in one field still leaves room for improvement in communication skills. Martin gave a speech from the Special Occasions Speeches Manual Speaking in Praise project. The title A Life Well Lived gave us great insight into his father who has inspired him, and we felt inspired by the speech.  Then Margaret gave a speech from The Interpretive Reading Manual.  In a speech entitled The Immortal Cat Margaret entertained us with a very animated reading of Macavity, The Mystery Cat.  Pat then gave a speech from the Speaking to Inform Manual in which he an explanation of Griffith's Valuation and how to access the information which is valuable in the absence of many church and registration records in Ireland. 

After and enjoyable break the General Elevator Declan took over the meeting and called on the Evaluators to give feedback on the speeches, this was well done and Declan then evaluated the Evaluators....its all about getting feedback! He then called on the officers to give their reports. Darragh then gave a very thought provoking Creative Corner.  Declan then gave an overview of the meeting and handed back to our President.  The meeting closed with plans for the next meeting which is the Humorous speech and Evaluation Competition night on October 4th. All are welcome to attend.