If your friend wanted to leave their steady job as a dentist to join the circus, how would you try to stop them? Topicsmaster Paul gave this role play to Jeremy and Dan last Wednesday night and the crowd much appreciated the ensuing queries from Dan, as the friend, to Jeremy as he tried to convince him not to give up on teeth pulling. The fact that Jeremy didn’t yet know how to feed an elephant or walk the tightrope didn’t dissuade at all from his dream, and in turn he had a go at convincing Dan to give dentistry a try, while suggesting that anchoring yourself with a knee to the chest wasn’t perhaps the best way to perform extractions.
It wasn’t all whimsy and clowning around, in the week that Big Maggie was buried the angry Irish were not in evidence as speakers argued against the tastelessness of disparaging the dead and debated her ‘mixed legacy’. The range of views expressed in the tsunami of media coverage had your blogger enthralled while Maria won best topic following a passionate stand against bad taste and populism gone mad.
Tony decided he could easily survive a week without his phone (or computer or TV) while Jacinta argued that time away from her phone in Nepal made her feel far healthier – was it the mountains or the phone I ask, as someone who finds phone separation of more than a few minutes brings on acute gadget anxiety.
Fergal wasn’t sure what the loan extension was all about but Jason came down firmly in favour of excess charges for overweight passengers on airlines, and with a bit of lateral talking managed to link the topic to cats stuck up trees. Dave’s mime skills were under the microscope as he accepted an award from the National Association of Mime Artists, while Nora gave us another example of living the dream as an unemployed student with no fear to limit her.
Tonight’s speech session saw both ends of the CC manual covered. We started with Jason C in his icebreaker describing the hub of his social life growing up beyond the pale – the ‘green box’ was the place to be on a Friday night! Football with Bubbles (friend, not monkey) and a spot of window breaking completed his introduction to the group. Well done Jason on breaking the ice!
Mark reminded us all that we should be reading our Toastmasters magazine as his speech tonight was inspired by an article on verbal and non-verbal communication. He motivated this bookworm blogger to do better as he described reading a book a week (although reading Professor Brian Cox’s words surely can’t compete with watching his lovely floppy hair and beige polo necks stride across the world’s most scenic locations!) Mark gave us the pros and cons of the power of words, Barack O’Bama and Neil Armstrong both given as examples of inspiring wordology.
Dave’s ‘Sales Tips for Dummies’ included references to cheese, one of my favourite foods, however he wasn’t talking about dairy products. His persuasive Stage 9 was all about how to sell, and perhaps more importantly, how not to. Be honest and listen, while avoiding cheese. As long as he’s not talking about the kind with mould in it he persuaded me!
Our evening finished with a fantastic achievement – Deirdre’s stage 10 which completed her CC manual. She described her lifelong battle with a stammer, and how the challenge of toastmasters has helped her speak up in every aspect of her life. Deirdre inspired the room, as the non-stammerers among us tried to image how much more difficult the act of standing up and talking with all eyes on you must be when the words themselves are obstacles to be overcome. She gave us a lovely quote – ‘a turtle only moves by sticking its neck out’ and got a rousing cheer from the room followed by some celebratory pints in the bar.
Our Area Governer Tomas summed up the meeting and gave Vox a positive review, membership and participation is up and the Vox presence at events has been noticed by the powers that be in the organisation.
As toastmaster for the evening it was a pleasure to participate (not to mention bang the gavel a few times) in such a funny, inspiring and motivational meeting. As we wait to see if our ‘extended family’ status in Larry’s will be lost with the sale of the pub, it’s something to know that the Vox spirit will travel with us if we need a new venue in the months to come.
Merrilyn Campbell, VPPR