North Shore Toastmasters Club Meeting
November 29th, 2004
“Freedom Fifty-Five” was the
Theme for the evening, and it was used in a variety of
connotations throughout the meeting.
Dave Stewart chaired us with his usual ease, genially guiding us
on track when our timing threatened to be derailed. He obviously
enjoyed his theme in general, and enjoyed introducing members by
telling us their views on it.
Wilma Atchison’s Inspiration not only fell right in with the
theme, but also inspired us on how to focus our thoughts in our
even later years.
In the Language Department: Kathryn Kennedy’s ‘word’ (actually
an expression of exasperation), Oy Vey, was very popular with
almost everyone, even though most of them weren’t truly
exasperated! Meanwhile Gerhard counted our numerous! ‘ahs and
ums’ with relish.
Gil Hardman told an excellent anecdote which had one of those
most appreciated unanticipated twists! In Toastmasters, when
telling a joke, of course the art of pausing at the right
moment, not laughing while telling it, and … Remembering it
all!!! … are key qualities of a good Jokemaster. Telling an
anecdote rather than giving a one liner afforded Gil much more
opportunity to shine in all of the above.
Ruth Sol successfully gave one of her more animated speeches
this evening – the first project in the advanced manual “The
Entertaining Speaker”. Venturing a little further out of a
comfort zone always reaps rewards in comfort and confidence when
later giving ‘outside speeches’ (which Ruth often does in
business settings). Jill McCormick’s evaluation reflected the
audience’s thorough enjoyment of this entertaining speech.
The ballot counter noted that the count was very close for both
awards this time, only one point winning over three person ties
for second place in Table Topics, and a tie for second place in
the Evaluation category!!! Most unusual, but shows the high
caliber of our participants. Winners were: Table Topics – Gil
Hardman, and Evaluator - Wilma Atchison.
Note: Last ‘regular meeting’ Dec.6. Christmas Dinner Meeting
Dec.13.
Club 1085
