The Joys of Spring was the lighthearted theme kicked off
eloquently by our “dressed for success” Chairman, Stuart
Manning. Those of us who have known Stuart well, completely
agree with Don Ekroth’s assessment that Stuart has really
‘blossomed’ over his years in our club, culminating in this
evening’s performance. He strode to the lectern with
confidence; personably gave each participant personal
introductions. It was apparent through his bridging that he
listened to them closely and with genuine interest. The General
Evaluation of his performance was that “It was obvious that he
had prepared well for this role in every way.”
In her first official role as a member, Don felt that Jessica Li
is already blossoming as a speaker. She warmly welcomed us all,
and in her Introduction of the Chairman, she marveled at the
fact that he travels all the way from Burnaby to attend our
meetings!
Andrea Clarke
enjoying the Spring theme, chose ‘blossom’ and its
variable meanings as the Word of the Week. It was a good word!
Where Andrea really shone was in the variety of words and
phrases that caught her attention throughout the meeting. There
was an exceptionally wide range of colourful language and she
caught it all!
Following the
Wordsmith was the “catcher of extraneous words and unnecessary
utterances” that plague us all from time to time. In her first
experience as Wizard of Ah’s, Karen Arnold gave us a clear
explanation of the expectations of a role from which she has
already benefited. “I was really inspired with everyone’s lack
of “ah’s” tonight
Since coming to these meetings I am now even more aware of my
own Ah’s, even when speaking with my friends!”
Omar Hung was
once again in his element, impressing us with yet another
profound Inspiration. “If every weekday is Sunday, there is no
true weekend. If every season is Spring, we won’t be able to
understand what Spring really means.” Life, like nature, is
ever-changing; “…full of endless surprises. Because of these
surprises, our lives are as coloured as a rainbow curled in the
sky.” Ever-changing. He quoted George Baker, who said “The
world is round, and the place which may seem like the end may
also be the beginning.” This inspired Omar’s conclusion which
encouraged us to enjoy every Spring moment, knowing that this
season is a new beginning …………. Or is it an end………..?
Mahmoud
Moazami brings his wonderful sense of humour into many aspects
of the roles he plays in our meetings. This night, as
Jokemaster, he not only had a great joke…….he placed in West
Vancouver and Whistler to make it even more
relevant to his audience.
Parvaneh
Bahrami has returned from an extended visit with her family and
we are happy to have her back. She was comfortable in her role
as Timer, adapting to spur of the moment changes with ease. We
especially liked her description of “When your time is up I will
politely ring the bell.” She actually did have to do that to
some overtime speakers, and the sound actually was a ‘polite’
tinkle, rather than a loud Bong!
Congratulations to Jill McCormick! Her Table Topic Session was
exceptional. We had the gift of time, so the speakers were
given longer times than usual to speak. We credit Jill’s
thoughtfulness in matching the topics to well suited speakers so
that they had no trouble using their time well. The speakers
were so good that we even had a tie for the Best Table Topic
Winners: Andrea Clarke and Jessica Li (one of our newest
members!). Don particularly “appreciated Jill’s well thought
out bridging between the speakers”.
Dave Stewart
had the honour of giving the Toast and introducing our Speaker
this evening. His Toast was right in tune with the theme, and
reflective of Omar’s Inspiration when he, also, spoke about “the
rhythms of life”. We were all impressed with what Don called
“Dave’s very novel instruction on why Spring occurs”. He
modeled it rotating a globe and using Don-with-a=flashlight as
the sun!! Very effective and definitely memorable. Then Dave
gave us a well prepared introduction to Neville Cohen, who is
working towards his Club Leader award. In his comments later,
Don gave well-earned praise to Dave for the way he prepared us
all to give feedback to Neville with a general audience
evaluation. Last week Veronica Marshall had moderated a similar
speech evaluation, but Dave’s approach differed still and had to
be clearly explained.
Neville gave
his first-of-two presentations from the Successful Club Series.
This one was titled “Evaluate to Motivate”. Neville’s approach
was so personable, practical, and easy to understand that the
extended time for this presentation went by very quickly.
Reviews like this are helpful to all of us – a bit of a shot in
the arm (kick in the pants?) refresher for those of us who have
been evaluating for a while, and a good lesson for those in the
club who are on the verge of giving their first evaluations.
Don Ekroth,
our General Evaluator, used his usual positive, motivating
comments to instruct us with wisdom and humour. Don never
‘whitewashes’ us, but always sends us on our way knowing how we
can do even better, while at the same time boosting our spirits
and our confidence.
That is how we left this meeting – with boosted spirits and
confidence. Need a boost? Come to our meeting next Monday!
Guests are always most welcome.
Club 1085
Since coming to these meetings I am now even more aware of my
own Ah’s, even when speaking with my friends!”
