It was a pleasure this night
to present an ATM-Bronze pin to Gil Hardman, and to Induct our
newest member, Dawne Goch
Aptly crowned “The Hostess with the Mostess”, Chairman Li Ying
Kao carried the meeting with her humour and her excellent
introductions. She literally did host both sections of this
meeting as Chairman and Toastmaster, her expressive personality
presiding throughout.
With ‘Anticipation’ as the theme, Veronica Marshall’s Word of
the Evening, ‘Yen’, was a popular choice. In this first time
role as Wordsmith, Veronica admitted to having been ‘swept away’
listening to the speeches, occasionally forgetting she was the
‘watch dog’ for grammar and interesting language. Little did she
realize that we have all been in that boat at one time or
another. A big plus for Veronica was that she actually did pick
up some interesting bits for us, and her Word was a definite
‘hit’!
In tandem with the Wordsmith was the Wizard of Ums and Ahs,
Kathryn Kennedy. Kathryn usually delights in dropping a marble
each time we stray, but her marbles temporarily disappeared in
the chaos of home renovations – a relief to those of us who hear
that sound too often
We would all agree with General Evaluator, Don Ekroth, that
Kathryn graciously “gave the best explanation and report of this
role that we have heard in a long time.” Her explanation even
included ways to help us recognize and eliminate our
transgressions. In other words, she gave us a head start to not
having to ‘pay the pig’, and even then many of us still were
caught in our old habits! Aloha, Kathryn, welcome back - you
certainly haven’t lost your touch.
How did it happen??? After many years of participating regularly
in roles at every meeting, Dave Stewart confessed that before
this night he had never (ever!) given an Inspiration. Personally
he has been an Inspiration to those of us who know him, with his
commitment to helping us: individually through his evaluations;
through his generous videos-for-feedback; and through his desire
to learn more about mastering our website. Now, using “Oscar the
Cat who always showed up” to break the ice, we’re looking
forward to hearing more Inspirations from this man.
Enthusiastic and keen Jim Sinclair prepares impeccably for every
role he performs. Having said that, he had some fun with us this
evening. He knew that this Agenda had a bit of extra time to
play with, and play with it he did! After giving a very accurate
explanation of the Timer’s role (which he was practicing for the
first time), he studiously refrained from using the bell,
instead choosing to leave the red light glaring an indelible
“overtime!!!” in the Speakers’ eyes. While this practice is
definitely not recommended, this particular night it certainly
added to the general levity of the meeting
Even more than the actual joke itself, Omar Hung delighted us
with his pretty good interpretation of a Texas drawl! Not
everyone can carry that off, Omar – good job.
The Table Topics Speakers rose well to the variety of topics
they received. The competition for winner may have been close,
but our newest member Dawne Goch took the prize
We always know that Joyce Soti speaks from her heart. This holds
true with her Table Topic Evaluations. Personally structured for
each Speaker, we know her evaluations reflect exactly what she
felt as she watched us perform.
Li Ying humorously and ‘humanely’ prepared us before plunging
into the mandatory marathon Introduction for Jill McCormick’s
educational presentation “Evaluate to Motivate”.
Jill, in her element in teaching mode, obviously enjoyed every
minute of it! Her lively pace and enthusiasm kept us with her as
she explained the importance of delivering good evaluations.
Then she demonstrated practical methods we can use to do this
well. Handouts on the GLOVE evaluation method, which Allan de la
Plante used in his winning evaluation at the Area Contest, were
given to everyone.
This presentation is the final qualification needed to achieve
her Club Leader Award from Toastmasters International.
Congratulations Jill
Gerhard Rentsch picked up good suggestions for Jill in his
Evaluation, concluding with his agreement that (re the wide
variety of evaluation methods) “It’s exciting in Toastmasters to
adventure and explore all of them!”
Don (“Is there anybody I haven’t offended yet?”) Ekroth ended
the meeting on an upbeat note, for the most part using the all
time favorite – Humour! – to teach. We couldn’t help but take
what he said to heart. It paid off, too … he walked away with
the ribbon for Best Evaluator!
REMEMBER: Monday, April 25th, is Rookie Night. You won’t want to
miss this opportunity to encourage and support our newest
members as they practice the major Agenda roles for the first
time. Guests are always most welcomed.
Club 1085
