Meeting 649 August 13, 2008
Welcome to Lee
Lee joined the club tonight. She attended the first time a fortnight ago and decided Victoria Quay was just what she needed to improve her speaking skills. Welcome Lee.
Michael was Toastmaster.
Michael was quite nervous as he took on the Toastmaster role for the first time. As the meeting proceeded he grew in confidence and overcame some early glitches. I will know what I’m doing next time, he said afterwards.
Claire inspired us with the story of her Uncle Bob whom she stayed with in New York recently. Bob is a Jewish lawyer who has resisted available corruption options and instead is happy to stay poor, working for a while in Mongolia and now teaching Russian in New York.
David’s speech followed at this time in a slight readjustment of the published Agenda. He spoke on Trust. So much of our lives are based on trust in others to follow rules and laws, such as driving behaviour. Recently David has had his trust in medical advice about diet on fats – saturated and unsaturated – severely challenged. The issue of cholesterol and its role in healthy living is another important issue. Some of our medical student members and visitors were challenged by the speech material. Cathy evaluated David.
Ben and Table Topics Ben went on a nostalgic trip back to Queensland and asked members to help him recreate earlier times – Tony reminisced about his Polish mother’s food, Alan spoke on his pet goldfish Fred – alas for ex-Fred, visitor Ryan narrated a lucky tennis error, Claire boasted of her integrity as she tipped an elderly friend out of her wheelchair, and Pascale confessed to a shocking ritual with his two teenage daughters.
Suvidh delivered the Tonic about an accountancy meeting.
Mark presented the Table Topics Evaluation.
More Project Speeches
Alan delivered an Icebreaker for his latest Competent Communicator award – My Life, My Dentist – early experiences with the school dentist in Pemberton and having his teeth straightened in Perth were painfully vivid. But years later in Lesmurdie he discovered the joys of effective anaesthetics and solicitous Dental Aides, culminating in a recent experience when he was told there was nothing to be done! This was a very funny speech. Pascale evaluated Alan.
Judith found The soup was good in her first speech from the Advanced Speaking to Inform Manual. She told of us the situation for the homeless in Fremantle, as seen through the experiences of Bill (not his real name). Bill was thrown on the streets after a marriage breakup and loss of his job. Judith was particularly angry about the people who say about the homeless that “They like to sleep rough.” She shared soup with Bill at the Soup Kitchen, and though it was good, it wasn’t good enough to make up for the total homeless experience. Alan evaluated Judith.
Pascale’s CC4 speech was titled Tales of the unexpected. It was an account of a traffic accident in Albany recently. He found that when the unexpected happens, good can sometimes come out of it. Margaret evaluated Pascale.
The final section
Glenis’s Highlights traced through the meeting with various highlights. She awarded Pascale the gong with his “crushing, catalytic coffin” description of the fate of his Mazda if he had been driving that instead of the hired 4WD.
Tony evaluated the evaluators, noting that the evaluator of the evaluators didn’t get evaluated.
Gail gave the Timing Report.
Craig evaluated the meeting. He congratulated Michael on his first time effort as Toastmaster. He commended Ben as Table Topics Master for giving visitor Ryan an opportunity to speak. He noted the way the whole meeting was energetic, and often very funny. He closed by giving Tony an evaluation.
President Gail closed the meeting. She presented badges to Cathy and Ben. She asked for feedback from our two visitors, Simon and Ryan. Both enjoyed the meeting very much, though they were intimidated by the high professional standard of all the members. Gail assured them that if they joined they would soon be exhibiting the same skill and competence. Club contests for Table Topics and Humorous speeches will be held on the last meeting in August and the first in September. Gail urged members to have a go and get the experience of contests.
Margaret prepared the supper.