A very interesting and varied hour

Members were nearly out-numbered by guests last week — what a wonderful position to be in!

All guests took part in Table Topics, tackling the tricky questions thrown at us by Ann. For instance, Robyn tried to get her head around unconditional love, Ianon had to think about suicidal flute players, Peter L (Peter the Third) talked of urban infill (and he cut back to single numbers in the Um-Ah count — woohoo!). Yuyu and Nicky talked of supermarkets and choice, Niki (Niki the First) talked of public transport, Tom spoke about speed limits and finally Claudia grappled with the necessity of Sudokos.

Our newest guests showed great spirit in getting up and giving Table Topics a go, and they did brilliantly. I want to specially mention Niki the First who, having been at a couple of previous meetings, now has much more confidence. We got to hear her deep voice, see her (surely) award-winning smile, and listen to a well-crafted impromptu speech lasting 1.32 minutes. I think she must have been secretly planning this during those weeks where she said she wasn’t quite ready to have a go. A great start!

Julio gave an incredibly confident Ice-breaker speech (the first in the Toastmaster’s manual) taking us from his hometown in Chile, through failed health and psychological exams (hard to believe given how fit and smart he seems to be!), all the way to taking up his doctoral studies in Canberra.
Ianon evaluated Julio’s speech and said what we all had felt — Julio is a confident and highly competent public speaker already!

Peter the First (Peter H) gave us the ‘Project 10’ speech from the manual, the fifth time he has done this project, titled 'Hobbies'. Despite Peter’s admission that he was a private man but as deep as the deep blue sea, we heard that Peter is an avid cyclist, having done very very well in his earlier years. He suggested he is a bit more conservative these days with his bike choice and terrain. This Distinguished Toastmaster entertained us and reminded us of the value of a hobby — for our bodies, our souls and our overall health. Yuyu later gave a warm and thoughtful evaluation of Peter’s speech.

Claudia played the Toastmaster role with her usual style and aplomb. One of our newest guests took up the Um-Ah counting role with good grace, and it was just as well given the appalling job done by someone (who I wonder?) last week. Counts of Ums and Ahs are very valuable to speakers.

All in all, a great meeting and we hope to see all our guests back next time.

Welcome too, to our newest member Dat, who though unable to be at Friday’s meeting arrived later and joined the club.

Robyn

22 April 2012