“The opposite of depression is expression”

As always, we were greeted with a smile by the Sergeant-at-Arms Frances, this time with with Frank helping out during the rush period. So many guests, great to see that! Sarah, our new President, opened the meeting with a warm welcome to all fellow Toastmasters and guests, and handed the meeting over to Michael, our Toastmaster for the evening. He well explained how the meeting structure is set up, and invited all the officers for the evening to explain their roles, and how they help make a successful meeting.

Snapshot from the evening!

The table topics of the evening were presented by our Topicsmaster Eamonn, who wanted to challenge and encourage speakers to go outside their comfort zones, both members and guests. This in order to progress and grow – without being scared, as we are in a safe environment! Some of our more senior members got questions like “what is the difference between confidence and arrogance?”, and “health is wealth, true or false?”. It was challenging, but humor and several good laughs were helping the speakers to explain their point of views. It was extra encouraging to see and hear so many guests doing add-ons, well done all!

There were four speeches this night – the first one from Jamie, his icebreaker speech – it was fun to hear him talk about his move from Dublin to Galway, falling in love with the place and to be able to do what he enjoys the most – playing music, especially gypsy jazz! Another habit he picked up living on the west coast is swimming in the Atlantic, and for a while being “fanatic” about it… Welcome to Toastmasters, Jamie!

Brian took us all on a “Mystery Tour”, where he took us on an imaginary tour to Donegal, walking through fields and using a kayak to get out on a big lake and just enjoy the scenery… all while still being in Menlo Park Hotel!

Frances talked to us about the brave work the Royal National Lifeboat Institute, the charity that saves life at sea. She highlighted some of the brave volunteers, how they risk their own lives to save others, and what they accomplished as “with courage nothing is impossible”. A call to action here – to support the charity if you can, and always – ALWAYS – wear a life jacket when at sea!

The last speech was from Pat, explaining the seasonal heritages and where and how the festivities of the year all come from. Celtic, Saxon, Roman – a lot of research condensed and explained in a creative and well explanatory way to us all.

Following the tea break, we had the evaluation part of the meeting, with an overall evaluation from Sarah and individual evaluations from fellow evaluators. Eamonn was also in charge of the Creative Corner this evening, where he reflected back to the earlier topics session and encouraged new members to join the club for personal development, to get out of your comfort zone and become a better you. Opportunities are always there, and he left us with a great quote – “the opposite of depression is expression” – express yourself!

Galway Toastmasters next meeting is on September 26th at 8:30pm in the Menlo Park Hotel. All are welcome and we hope to see you there!