It was a wee, yet vigorously enthusiastic meeting tonight, with quite a lot of last-minute role taking, and changes to the agenda.
We were delighted to be led by Anas as our Toastmaster again tonight, on short notice, and from the first moment he created the fun, informative and upbeat atmosphere that Dunfermline Toasties prides ourselves on.
With our newest founding-members bravely stepping up to take roles (all upon varying degrees of last minute request!), Duncan, Sheena and James were crucial to the success of the meeting as our three fabulous “fun-ctionaries”. And Sam provided a brief education session on Powerful Openings (totally borrowed from Sheila at Linlithgow!) and the importance of capturing your audience’s attention. [If you missed it, ask Sam for the smilely icon handout 
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As visiting Toastmaster, Lauren Leeman, commented during her speech evaluation – we were then intrigued, shocked and edu-tained (education + entertainment) by a CC 3rd project speech, that demonstrated a lot of advanced skills like vocal variety, powerful opening and a great call to action (persuasion). Wynn’s dramatic discource on something that affects all our lives (even if we don’t know it yet…) – The Internet of Things, took quite a technical topic and made it really understandable, relevant and evocative for us all.
After inducting our 2 newest members (James & Amanda), to effusive applause, our President updated the club on our chartering progress — just *1* member away from the crucial 20!
Lauren bolstered the upbeat atmosphere with a fantastic array of Table Topics, that had most of the room reflecting on the best (& worst) experiences we’ve had in different contexts, and we learnt lots of intriguing things about our members which is a foundation for great conversation. Amanda courageously took up the 1st challenge, sharing the best thing that had happened to her this week! Peter’s worst job ever, Duncan’s best perks, Sheena’s favourite part of her daily routine, and hardest things James has had to do were all fascinating to discover.
The word of the day was utilised with vigour, with Anas taking the crown for the most (correct) uses of the word. His segues between sections of the Agenda flowed with finesse too, as he demonstrated not just great listening skills, but a real ability to weave anecdotes into his address.
Another entertaining and enlightening meeting, with a superb group of people!