Galway Toastmasters - 07 January 2026 - New year, new (and old) habits

 The meeting was opened by Warren, who welcomed members and guests and set the tone for an engaging and well-structured session.

Pat R followed by introducing the meeting roles, outlining their purpose and helping members understand how each role contributes to the smooth running of the meeting and the Topicsmaster then described their role and explained how the Table Topics session would be conducted.

The Table Topics session was lively and well-participated, encouraging members to speak spontaneously on a variety of engaging themes.

Topic: Skill of habit

· Spencer spoke about public speaking.

· Ali spoke about his interest in reading.

· Connie spoke about dinner parties and entertaining.

· Killian spoke about public speaking.

Topic: If you had to have dinner about someone, who would you pick

· Michael spoke about having dinner with his father.

· Warren spoke.

Topic: A good habit you bring with you into 2026

· Christofer and Paul spoke about their good habits carried over from 2025.

Topic: If i could travel anywhere, where and why

· Robert, Ian and Spencer spoke about travelling locally and to eastern European locations.

Topic: Ted talk topic

· Francis and Michael spoke of what would be their best Ted talks topics and why

Topic: Book, movie or TV show

· Pat spoke about his love of books.

Three prepared speeches were delivered:

· Killian presented “Landing a graduate role."

· Maud delivered “Lost in time.”

· Bea presented “Quiet strength - the way I communicate.”

 

A short tea break followed the prepared speeches, allowing members to socialise and recharge before the evaluation session.

The evaluation session was led by Francis, who acted as General Evaluator and provided an overview of the evaluations.

· Speech 1 Evaluator: Michael

· Speech 2 Evaluator: Connie

· Speech 3 Evaluator: Warren

· Ah Counter: Robert

· Grammarian: Ian

· Creative Corner was delivered by Ali, who ran an interactive and engaging “guess the year game,” where members from the room had to guess what year that famous comment delivered by Ali referred to.

· General Evaluator listened throughout the meeting and gave positive feedback and improvements going forward.

 

Closing and Additional Items

· Martin assigned roles for the next meeting and presented certificates of accomplishments to members.