What an interesting meeting! Controversy (the theme) even became
a little controversial, adding an extra bit of spice
Dave Stewart challenged us with a ‘mystery word’, antediluvian,
to controversially test the knowledge of those who truly knew
the meaning against those brave souls who improvised. Anne
dubbed Dave “Mr. Tongue in Cheek”!
We were delighted to once again welcome Anne Kramer (Past
District Governor). She won the Best Evaluator ribbon for her
excellent comments and recommendations as the General Evaluator.
Many of the quotation marks you will see as you read this
newsletter will be Anne’s humour and thoughtful wording – a few
examples of an experienced evaluator.
Newcomer Parvaneh Bahrami set the tone for the meeting with her
“dignified presence” at the lectern when she warmly introduced
the Chairman, Andrea Clarke.
There was no controversy over the way this First Time Chairman
carried the meeting. Anne was “impressed with the thought and
work Andrea had put into this role”.
An article that discussed the differences between lateral and
vertical thinking inspired Omar Hung to share this controversy
with us. He concluded by encouraging us to develop our lateral
thinking abilities (over our vertical thinking) because:
‘Lateral thinking generates more alternatives. It helps us to be
more exploring and infinite. That is the core of innovation.’
Ruth Morse (with her “lovely voice and smile”) did one of the
things we love best in a joke: She told us a humorous personal
story. Did you know that whether or not it really is ‘true’, a
good Jokemaster can also personalize almost any generic joke to
make it even more effective?
The Timer was unavoidably a hair late! But how could we possibly
hold that against someone who keeps the meeting light “with her
wonderful sense of humour”?
Like many of us, Anne “thinks humour when she thinks of Li Ying
Kao. Now, add smart and clever to that” and you have the
ingredients for one of the more stimulating, challenging Table
Topics sessions we have had in a long time. Li Ying’s challenge
to us was to create controversy with English phrases. Two
examples from her extensive list are: How can a slim chance and
a fat chance be the same thing? and If you eat your hat and
swallow your pride, why do you still end up with egg on your
face? As you can imagine, these were far from easy for our
impromptu Speakers, but they got everyone in the room laughing
and thinking!
Jill promises the topics will be easier on Monday – let’s hope
they are also as much fun …
Neville Cohen’s ‘great general plan’ for Table Topics evaluation
flew out the window when faced with these presentations. Instead
he ‘dealt with each one individually’. His humour and
encouragement were motivation for us all, and especially
welcomed by then newest members.
We actually had three brand-new-this-meeting members who were
Inducted by Don. Every one of them rose bravely to the Table
Topics challenges, and next week will be performing their first
roles on the Agenda as members
Don Ekroth always has a way with Inductions that allows for the
solemnity of the occasion, while also making sure the new
members are comfortable and at ease.
Anne’s nickname for him is “Mr. Smoothie”. Additionally, she
felt that “he hosted us as Toastmaster with great aplomb”. His
Toast, referring to ‘a world that is fraught with strife’, was
appropriately: “To Diplomacy”.
Then we were treated to a whirlwind recounting of an adventure
story by Jill McCormick. Born and raised in New Zealand, she
vividly described the beauty of the mountains, the golden
beaches, and sparkling water of a place she loves. As her
evaluator, Pam Elliott, said: ‘Hiking with Jill and her friends,
vicariously sharing their experiences, could not help but whet
our appetites to do this trip ourselves (without the
mishaps!!).’
This time we will end with wise suggestions from Anne Kramer:
“When introducing someone, whether it is for an agenda role or a
speech, be sure to focus the attention of the audience on that
person. Establish their credibility – who is this speaker, tell
us a little about him/her (what expertise does he/she have to do
this role / or to speak about this subject) and what he/she is
going to do or tell us about.” The formula for a good
introduction is to always include:
Why this person (why is this particular person qualified to
speak to us about this)
To this audience (is this the appropriate audience for this
particular role or subject)
At this time (why speak to us about this now?)
“Even if we need notes, we should be sure we know the script
well enough that we can always be a line ahead of ourselves.
That means we can look up and out at the audience when we speak.
Keeping a finger in place on the script can help us glance
immediately at the next line we will need.”
“I think of an Inspiration as something that gets us to feel. It
is a story or anecdote that gets us in the heart.”
Thank you all for an entertaining evening of fun and
controversy.
Optimistically we are hoping you will all join us on Monday the
23rd for another January meeting that will renew optimism and
lift our spirits even higher.
Guests are always treasured members of our audience, so please
feel free to come.
Club 1085
