Monday, January 28, 2008

Ghosts, Fairies and Toastmaster Contests

Last Thursday night in the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow saw another fantastic meeting of Speak Easy Toastmasters in which President, Anne Buckley began by welcoming the usual great attendance of over thirty members and guests.

She also welcomed, especially, the three visiting toastmasters who were on the program, Mark Twomey from the “Nice and Easy Club”, Maire Corbett, from “The Galtees” and Michael Buckley from “Crusaders” in Cork City.

Angela Sheehan was our Toastmaster for the night and guided us through the meeting with her usual humour and efficiency.

First to the lectern was Mark Twomey with a speech entitled “Going Through Life” in which he told us about himself and the area in which he lives with such skill that we were there with him all the way. We hope it will not be too long until we welcome Mark back again with another speech. Mark’s speech was evaluated by Tony O’Regan.

Following Mark was Maire Corbett with a speech entitled “We manage fine without them” in which she humorously told us of her experiences with mobile phones, both as a user and unintentional listener. Lorretto Barry evaluated Maire’s speech.

Then it was the turn of Michael Buckley with an interpretive reading project. Michael entertained us by reciting, is his own distinctive style and humour, two songs from the seventies, Ape Man and Free Electric Band. Michael Walsh evaluated.

Following Michael was Tim Casey with a cleverly constructed speech in which he performed a dialogue between father and son on ghosts and fairies. Sean Corcoran evaluated.

Pat Sexton gave us what is known in Toastmasters as, an educational session, in which he told us how speech contests were organized as there are five of these contests annually. Ray Ryan was Pat’s evaluator.

After the tea break it was of Topicsmaster of the evening Jerry Kelleher who both entertained and educated with his well researched list of topics. This is the part of every toastmasters meeting in which the members are asked to speak for two minutes on a particular topic. The Topicsmaster of the evening is the only one who knows what the topics are so members must speak “off the cuff”.

A daunting task for even the most experienced toastmasters but that is how we improve, by doing.

Yes, the answers can be hilarious and that is why it is known as the “fun” part of the meeting.

Finally General Evaluator for the evening, Michael Cronin, who conducted the “Evaluation Session”. In this part of the meeting, members who have been designated as evaluators give feedback to those who made speeches. A most important aspect of Toastmasters, as speakers are told how they performed and what improvements they could make in the future to make them become even better speakers.

Michael also called for reports from the Sgt at Arms, Joe Hassett and Mary Moynihan, Timekeeper, Margaret O’Regan and “Ah Counter”, Maire Fitzpatrick.

The next meeting of Speak Easy Toastmasters will be on Thursday night, February 7th at 7.50pm.

Once again, Speak Easy Toastmasters invite “you” to come along as our guest.

You will be made most welcome and please note that guests are never asked to speak at a Toastmasters meeting.

Further information on Speak Easy Toastmasters can be had by visiting our website at www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or by contacting our PRO, Sean on 086 6054784

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