Another fun-packed and enjoyable learning experience tonight – this is what we are coming to expect from our Dunfermline Toasties meetings! Alex as Toastmaster kicked off the meeting with an introduction covering some of the history behind
Toastmasters, and outlining the vision for our club. She set the theme of the meeting which was “journeys”, and invited everyone to introduce themselves with some insight into a journey they want to complete. We heard some very heart warming and inspiring stories to get the meeting into full swing.
Raju, our newest member, then delivered his Ice Breaker speech entitled “Three Shades a King”. Raju enchanted the whole audience, beginning with a translation of his name in his native tongue (the King!) and continued to give a fabulous speech about his quest for continuous learning. He shared with us with an excellent piece of advice which he carries with him – “If you breathe, there is more good in you than bad” – and requested that when we think of the King, we think of Raju.
Stephen then delivered an educational speech from the Successful Club Series, entitled “Prepare, Observe, Deliver”. Stephen’s speech focused on the role of evaluation, and he provided useful guidance and pointers on what to watch and listen for, how to structure an evaluation, and then facilitated some audience participation so that we could all share ideas and advice on how to develop evaluation skills. A tremendously useful and interactive session – thank you Stephen.
Holly was then under no pressure whatsoever to deliver her evaluation of Raju’s speech! Holly gave a very nicely structured, warm and exuberant evaluation, referring back to the speech objectives and picking up all of the highlights – Raju’s rich language, excellent use of pace, body language and impressively for a first speech – no notes!
Club business was delivered by our President Sam – a rather impromptu speech which was gallantly delivered with no notes! Sam gave a summary of our recent Club Officer training in Perth, welcomed our new members, and daringly announced that we would be holding our very own Humorous speech contest this September – much fun ahead!
Moving on to Table Topics, hosted by Espen with the fantastic theme of “what makes a great leader”:
Alistair was asked about his morning routine and gave a comprehensive run-through of his morning – revolving around reading, researching and reviewing online news stories, all very relevant to his work;
Pauline reminded us how much there is to be grateful for in life, how unpleasant it feels to be ungrateful, and admitted that it was an important daily practice and that she was glad she had the opportunity to consider all that she is grateful for;
When asked what she would do if she had all the money in the world, Holly showed us her caring side and answered firmly that she would ensure that her family was looked after;
Wynn was asked to define what success meant for him, and answered honestly and sincerely that it meant looking after his loved ones and that this gave him ultimate satisfaction.
Eoin then evaluated the table topic speakers, reiterating what an enjoyable and interesting session it was this evening. Eoin also pointed out that despite being a young club, our speakers were relaxed and confident as well as humble and stressed that it is important to always remember where we started – this is something we should all be proud of. Eoin’s evaluation was full of helpful tips and reminders and he also managed to invent a new word off the cuff – vitalitic! I hope to see that in the dictionary soon.
Pauline as Grammarian had selected “exuberant” as word of the day – Pauline gave a lovely report on its use throughout the meeting, as well as other notable uses of language, and picking up on Eoin’s creative word invention.
Our Timer for the evening, Sam, did a marvellous job of keeping track of timings throughout the meeting, keeping us to speech slots as best as possible despite our slightly late start and tendency to overrun. However it was such a fascinating evening that we collectively agreed to continue past our meeting finish time – though hopefully this does not develop into a habit!
Our Ah Counter Wynn was keeping track of umms and ahs throughout the night. Wynn demonstrated superb listening skills and as ever his flamboyant use of language entertained us as he likened “ooh-arrs” (ahhs and umms) to the Picaroon’s mantra.
And finally, Alistair Young delivered the general evaluation for the evening – providing a thorough and confident summary of the evening, drawing attention to all the but reminding us of the importance of keeping to time!
We had two standing ovations tonight – for Raju’s Ice Breaker speech and also for Espen’s first Table Topic Master role. Congratulations to both speakers.
And with another fantastic meeting concluded, we look forward to the next meeting on the 18th August!