If I could pick a theme for last Wednesday night’s club meeting, it would be inspiration. From the topics to the speeches, to the energetic and enthusiastic manner in which everyone who had a role in the meeting on the night, played their part, it was inspirational from the word go!
Stuart gave us a stimulating (and challenging) topics session. First up was Stephen who told us of his love of the book ‘Flow’ by Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi which detailed Csikszentmihalyi’s famous investigations of “optimal experience” and how to achieve these peak experiences in our everyday lives. Maria McGrath revealed to us that her favourite book is the bestselling management book ‘ Who moved my cheese?’ With a warm and witty delivery (for which she won the award for Best Topic of the night – Well done Maria!), she told us the tale of the two mice, Hem and Haw who refused to abandon their pile of cheese to seek out new food until it was almost too late. The moral of the story (for all you lovers of Edam out there) was to keep an eye on the trends and move quickly to take advantage of them.
On the subject of outsourcing, Frank reminded us that outsourcing to the Developing world can often lead to exploitation and that very often, the only way we can pay for designer labels cheaply is if people are being exploited in sweat shops to produce them. James reinforced Frank’s point by sharing with us that he knows someone who works in China for 7 days a week, 15 hours a day – and that that person has a Masters qualification. Our work/life balance issues in the Western world seem to pale into insignificance in comparison to James’ example.
Moving on to other current affairs issues, Dan pointed out that change is inevitable, but the type of change that befell the McCann family was wrong and shouldn’t have happened to them. He posed the question: is it possible that the continuous message in the media in general could raise awareness around missing children? The story of Madeline McCann helps awareness of the plight of other missing children; Dan stated and declared that we should keep the message alive for this reason.
The topics then took on a distinctly upbeat note. Conor revealed that if he could have a meal with anyone alive or dead, he would pick Aussie, Hugh Jackman, because he plays the didgeridoo, maybe Winston Churchill, for his great stories and great one liners and First Lady, Michelle Obama for her superior intellect! That would certainly be a dinner party to remember :)
Turning to football, on the subject of David Moyes, Tony reminded us to be mindful of scapegoating where the real issue is left untouched. Frank predicted that it will be ten years before Manchester United win the Premier League again.
Siobhan has us guessing on the subject of the ‘most attractive celebrity she’d ever seen’. She asked us to identify him, stating that his name begins with ‘j’ ends with‘d’. The wise guys in the crowd called out Jedward! But they were wrong, she was thinking of Mr Pirates of the Caribbean himself – Johnny Depp :)
Next up was the Poetmaster for the night, Mark who gave us a moving and sensitive recitation of the poem ‘Digging’ by Seamus Heaney, in which Heaney created images of his father digging potatoes and his grandfather cutting turf before him.
Moving on to the speeches, Maria McGrath gave us her CC1 and told us the story of her life and what a story it was! She has lived all over the world including London, Ireland and New York as well as spending three months travelling in Central America. We are certainly looking forward to hearing more of her travels in future speeches!
Fiona Fahey gave us a stimulating and challenging CC10, querying the validity of the DSM list of psychiatric disorders. She posed the humorous question: is there a DSM label for Toastmasters? And suggested that it could be SAD, as it refers to’ a fear of standing up and talking in front of people’. She challenged us with the notion that the more mentally ill we believe ourselves to be, the more drugs we’re going to take and the more money we’re going to make for the drugs companies.
Jean Marie on evaluating Maria. McGrath gave an encouraging, supportive evaluation and commended the structure of the speech. Frank on evaluating Fiona, commended Fiona’s presence at the podium and praised her ingenuity in the points that she raised about us being slaves to the pharmaceutical industry. Congratulations to Frank on winning the award for the Best Evaluator of the night!
Garrett, as grammarian, gave a very thorough and comprehensive report; he noted good use of metaphors in the meeting, good use of pause and great use of rhetorical questions.
Conor, as Ah Counter, gave great advice re topics, recommending that we think ahead when doing topics as the crutch words generally appear in the second half of the topic when we run out of steam.
Jeremy also gave a great report as Timer and did a fantastic job during the meeting of keeping us all on our toes with the lights.
Dan gave a great report as General Evaluator. He commended Paul, ‘a true MC’ and a natural in the role of Toastmaster, as well as giving great praise to the other members of Vox who had roles on the night. He also praised Maria McMullan’s address as President at the beginning of the meeting.
In her closing remarks Maria commended the truth and passion with which Fiona delivered her speech and her ability to push the boundaries fearlessly. A truly inspirational meeting from start to finish. Hopefully by now you will have been inspired to attend the next Vox Populi Club meeting and have a go at some speeches/topics of your own :)
Gemma Shannon, Vice President PR