Flummoxed? Perplexed? Not on your life! Actually, a meeting with
no Theme brought out only the best in the participants this
night. As our Chairman, Pam Elliott, explained: Not having a
specific theme gives us an opportunity to try out or to talk
about things that we previously have not had a chance to do
because they did not fit into the theme for the evening. Did you
know that in the almost fifty-five years this club has been
running, it is only eight years ago that themes were introduced?
So now, every once in a while, we give everyone a chance to ‘do
their own thing’.
For instance, Jim Sinclair was itching to experiment with a
Murder Mystery during a Table Topics session, but thought he
would have to wait a long time to do this because we just had
Mystery as a theme two weeks ago. Imagine his delight to
discover that during this meeting he could do anything he
wished! And what a huge success it was! A businessman had just
been feted downtown at a dinner in his honour, when his body was
discovered in the snow behind the restaurant. Six of us were
suspects compelled to prove our innocence, and the seventh was
to then determine ‘who done it’. The mastermind – Jim Sinclair –
set us all up for success: The performers were superb, the
detective’s deducing abilities were right on target, and the
audience immensely enjoyed it. Ruth Sol, the General Evaluator,
was very impressed with Jim’s session: “Jim gave a very strong
performance. He gave everyone good strong subjects that were
well articulated, and he used excellent bridging.”
Jill McCormick , like the detective, was right on target, too.
Her Table Topic Evaluations showed a good understanding of each
individual performer’s natural strengths, while also giving them
‘strengthening exercises’ they will be able to work on for
another time. Ruth praised Jill for her ability to remember
previous evaluations of some of the Speakers, which she compared
with her own evaluations of them this night.
Omar Hung was another participant who appreciated not having a
theme, because the Grey Cup had inspired him to speak about our
tendency as fans to only stick to one or two sports. His
inspiration for us came from an old Chinese proverb: “The bamboo
that bends is stronger than the oak that resists.” His
suggestion is for us to be more flexible when it comes to
sports; open our minds to see if we cannot enjoy another equally
well. He took a poll to find out which sport was the most
popular with our audience and soccer won hands down!
We would like to thank Omar also for stepping in at the last
minute to do an excellent job as the Timer for us. Ruth has
always been impressed with Omar’s use of protocol in every role
he takes on.
Speaking of Ruth, she won the Evaluation Award for her General
Evaluation of the meeting and in particular of how we
individually performed. Ruth knows us well. She has the
knowledge and insight of the roles and of us as individuals, to
be able to give us the boost we need to do our jobs even better,
while at the same time making us feel very good about our
accomplishments.
Oh … by the way … be sure to ask her about Hazel Nut Dacquries,
and those ‘hickory, dacquirie, docs!!!
Andrea Clarke, ‘back by popular demand’, once again did an
excellent job of catching our ums, ahs, and all things
extraneous that detract from the messages we are trying to
convey. Half the time we aren’t even aware we do and say these
things, so Andrea is doing us a favour – at five cents a pop!
Meanwhile, to save us from Andrea’s fines, Gerhard Rentsch gave
us ‘get out of jail free’ cards. Every time we used his Word of
the Week – ‘Significant’ – we saved a nickel! He did not miss a
soul who used it. As Ruth said “Gerhard’s enthusiasm for this
role significantly filled our pig.”
An inspiration by Anne Marie inspired Li Ying’s Toast of “Gifts
from the heart.” They mean so much more to us than any other
gifts we may receive.
When Li Ying exclaimed in her introduction for Neville, “I just
can’t wait to hear his story!” … she had everyone in the room
anxious to hear it, too. And what a story it was – A story that
had us laughing, even crying, but definitely touching our
hearts. A lovely story about “The Old Phone” that brought two
unlikely people together. Neville began by sitting comfortably
in a chair as though he were sharing
his story with us in his living room. Even when he eventually
stood, that homey feeling prevailed and lent itself to this well
told tale.
Stuart Manning evaluated Neville’s performance in a methodical
manner from the project manual, backing up his comments with
examples taken from the story and the manner in which it was
told.
To end it all, we heard enthusiastic comments from our Guests,
which even included a request to apply for membership
Our first meeting in December will be Dec. 5th. Come join us for
the induction of a new member, and another evening of fun and
interesting events. Members and anyone else who would like to
come will be happily welcomed.
Club 1085
