Monday, January 4, 2016

1/4/2016 meeting "New Year, New Beginning"

Hello Fellow Toastmasters, our first meeting of 2016 was energetic and filled with wise words for the new year. 

Dee filled in for Invocation and reminded us that the holidays are centered around family and love. This was notably true since Dee invited her sister Carolyn from Wisconsin to be our guest tonight

Our Joke Master Byron started off by warning us that he is not a great joke-teller, but his 'carnival' joke had us laughing out loud and blushing!

Michael was our Toastmaster for the night and facilitated the meeting, making sure we stayed on track and on time. 

Our General Evaluator for the night, Daniel, did a very nice job at the beginning of the meeting explaining the roles of the 'helpers,' our timer and grammarian, to our members and our guest. He also gave a great recap at the end of the meeting of the speech evaluators' pointers. 

The Table Topic portion of the meeting was soon underway as the Topic Master, myself, Daniela, eased us into the first meeting with questions about new year resolutions, memories and plans. All Table Topic speakers shared personal stories about what their plans for the new year are, or what they found memorable about the last year. 

Byron was also our Table Topic Evaluator (thanks for filling in) and gave our speakers very succinct but useful pointers. After two weeks off, he gave us advise to get us back on track. Some pointers included: don't forget to greet your audience, avoid negative talk when speaking, and relating your speech to your Toastmaster's experience is always a good way to go :) 

Refreshments provided by Ernestina and Martin were great, thank you. The spicy guacamole humus was a hit!

After the break we had two prepared speeches and one impromptu speech. George shared with us his "Recipe for Change" as he vibrantly explained how a pair of bunny slippers helped shape his career. Fabian gave us an impromptu but valuable speech about keeping the magic of kindness alive not only throughout the holidays, but always. Last but certainly not least, Brian shared an animated introduction to skiing on a 'piste' slope, and the meaning behind the different signage. If you are a beginner, and you see double black diamonds, go the other way!!

The speeches were followed by three great evaluations by Dee, Garvin and Migo. All three evaluators boasted on the great points of the speakers and also gave constructive criticism and tips to improve their speeches. No only do the speakers learn from this, but so does everyone else listening. 

Great job tonight everyone; we had a very productive & entertaining first meeting of the year. See you next week!  

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