Ready, steady.. talk! It was time for quick fire speaking in the Central Hotel last Wednesday as topicsmaster Christine introduced Voxers to a different kind of topics session. Timer Jill recorded 57 individual speeches of around 30 seconds each as the entire room were invited to participate and talk about either an achievement or a childhood fear. This lead to guests speaking for the first time and all kinds of phobic revelations, from fears of birds (Madeline), falling (Rosie), escalators (Fergal), moths (Colette), chewing gum (Maria), numbers (Jason), turning into Kermit the Frog (Florence) and the usual range of Australian housepets – sharks and spiders.
The Vox Populi crowd turned out to have a load of achievements between them, from college degrees (completed or in progress), giving up cigarettes and alcohol, various sporting achievements including founding a GAA club in Europe, mountain climbing and hiking the Great Wall of China for charity. Subjects ranged from the entertaining (overcoming a fear of scratching your arse in public) to the highly personal – terror of public speaking and the power of self discovery.
Creativity was encouraged, so from Florence standing completely silent to confront every toastmaster’s fear of silence, to Rosie’s weightlifting and your own blogger’s speed walking, members had an opportunity to try and do something to challenge themselves while conforming to the 30 second time limit (firmly enforced by the top table!) and hopefully entertaining the audience at the same time. Whew!
The main victim of this approach was grammarian Fiona’s word of the day – heigh – as nobody had the time to fit in a nice Disney song (heigh ho, heigh ho, it’s off to speak we go!) into the extra pressurised timeframe.
A quality speech session followed in the second half. Ahmed delivered a high standard ice breaker on very short notice with plenty of laughs. I particularly liked his structural device of using an imaginary online dating profile to introduce himself to the group. Although I don’t agree that reading alone (rather than research) is a waste of time – bookworms unite! – he was clearly enjoying entertaining the group and we’re all looking forward his next speeches.
Paul followed up the abbreviated tales of mountain climbing during the topics session to give us the story of his ascent of Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador. Reader, your humble blogger has also visited this particular mountain and can assure anyone who has never attempted climbing at altitude that even the lower stretches are very difficult. Paul nearly made it to the top, held back only by a group member without the required fitness level. This has left him with a nagging sense of unfinished business – how high could he have gone? Let’s hope he can find out on his next attempt at bagging a foreign peak seeing as the Irish ones don’t quite reach the same heights.
As evaluator Maria summed up, Colette’s speech was an ‘introvert revolution’. Contrasting the values of society with the skills of introverted personalities, she flew the flag for quieter types who value privacy to be creative and often prefer to observe rather than speak. It’s testament to the skills gained in toastmasters than many club members after the meeting identified themselves as introverts, pushing themselves to improve their public speaking despite the inherent difficulties. Colette certainly demonstrated that quieter speakers can be compelling, with a subject that fuelled many discussions afterwards and a confident style all her own.
Congratulations to the multiple topics winners and John for best evaluation. Rosie delivered a terrific poem by Arthur Hugh Clough in Olde Englishe and toastmaster Nora ran the show with style and good humour as always. Vox Populi as a club goes from strength to strength – the sum of its parts being members with a complex array of fears and achievements – all meeting the challenge of standing up and saying something, confronting the silence, every week.
Merrilyn Campbell, VPPR