By Melvyn K
Introduction
Melvyn K opened our meeting as our Sergeant at Arms by giving a brief intro into facilities at the club and handed over to our President Ann M at Ascot Speakers who welcomed several guests to our second meeting of 2018. Ann announced we would have a social get together on the 5th Wednesday of any applicable month in future, she also re-iterated that Mentors would be available for new members and commended David B for volunteering so soon after joining for the role of Toastmaster for the evening.
David B gave us his theme for the evening ‘Be Yourself’ , went through our club protocol of HATS and introduced Liam K, who ably explained his role as Timer for the evening. Liam was then followed by Damian C, who explained his role as Grammarian for the evening by reminding us how it helps expand our listening skills. He also mentioned how he would monitor the number of ums and ahs used, language and grammar usage together with giving us the word of the day ‘Authentic’. David then mentioned the agenda for the evening and how it would be slightly different from normal.
Prepared Speeches
First up was Nour S giving us a comprehensive educational speech on ‘Easyspeak; speaking the easy way’. Easyspeak being our Automation tool for organizing Toastmaster events.
Nicola M was our second speaker with her excellent speech entitled ‘Having an attitude of Gratitude’
Table Topics
Julie H was our very capable Table Topics Master for the night and give us some great questions. First up was Sheila answering the question ‘Tell me about yourself?’ and how she doesn’t need to be interviewed anymore as she does the interviewing. James H then concisely answered the question ‘What is unique about you?’ Liam K in turn gave us an insight into his favourite hobby, playing guitar. Daisy then answered the question ‘name a skill you would like to improve and who you would like to emulate?’
Evaluations
Evaluations teach us how to deliver constructive feedback well and we had some good ones tonight.
James H commended Nicola M for the enthusiastic start to her speech.
Awards
- Best Table Topic – James H
- Best Use of the Word of the Day –
- Most Expressive Use of English –
- Least “Ahh”‘s and “Umm”‘s –
Next meeting
Our next meeting will take place on 14th February 2018.
