What would Spring be without flowers? Well, we didn’t have to
wonder because our chairman, Jill McCormick, arrived with a
bundle of daffodils to help set the mood and theme of the
evening. Opening with a look at how Spring, Easter, Norouz, and
various New Years celebrations are celebrated at this time of
year, she smoothly and efficiently led us through what ended up
as a warm and friendly meeting. That she performed her role
seemingly without effort and entirely without notes did not go
unnoticed.
Parvaneh Bahrami’s keen listening skills as Wizard of Ahs
reminded us we all need to avoid those ums and ahs that distract
from our presentations. It may have been the fear of feeding the
ever-ravenous Ookpig that many speakers stretched themselves to
use the word of the evening “savour”. As Wordsmith, Karen
Arnold’s excellent summary of picturesque words and phrases
indicated, she, too, paid very careful attention to our speakers
every word.
After Mahmoud Moazami’s inspiring reminder that Love is the key
to success, wealth and happiness, we were treated to Jessica
Li’s inaugural role in the club, as Jokemaster. Jessica might
have been just “monkeying” around but she impressed our General
Evaluator enough for him to comment that her punch line and
timing were impeccable.
Thanks to Anne Marie DeLuise, as keeper of the lights (and the
ultimate weapon, the bell), our meeting finished on time and
under budget. Timing in meetings is an important function whose
importance is often underestimated.
Tabletopics Master, Neville Cohen carefully explained the theme
of his topics then launched into the extemporaneous speaking
part of our meeting. The purpose of this session is to challenge
everyone to try and speak on a “surprise” topic for at least a
minute and a half. That everyone was able to “run out the clock”
was testimony to the thought that went into Neville’s questions.
Winner of the fray was Gerhard Rentch, proving once and for all
that the rites of Spring do include soccer.
Balancing out the final role of the first half of the meeting
was our Tabletopics Evaluator, Joanne Renfer, whose sandwich
technique provided all the contestants with something to “chew
on”. Her obvious listening skills and organization were more
than up to the challenge of evaluating a number of speakers in a
short space of time and was good enough to win her the best
evaluation ribbon. Well done!
The MC of the formal part of the meeting, Stuart Manning,
toasted Spring’s aspirations before introducing our main
speakers for the evening. Veronica Marshall kept her audience
spellbound as she argued the legal question of what constitutes
art. Her speech, “Art or Utensils” was riveting and well
researched. Her evaluator, Don Ekroth, praised her ability to
“bring history to life” and described it as a wonderful gift.
In the second speech, Jim Sinclair took us back into the history
of sport and then on to more recent events, leaving us with a
provocative question. What kind of model do we want our sports
heroes to be – one who wins, but cheats, or one that may not do
as well, but plays by the rules. Evaluator, Gerhard Rentsch
provided a good balance of kudos and suggestions that
undoubtedly will help Jim in his speaking evolution.
In his own enigmatic style, Dave Stewart, our General Evaluator,
gave a very thorough recap of the evening. He moved through our
garden of blossoming speakers, praising when appropriate and
picking out a few weeds needing attention. As one of our club’s
finest evaluators, Dave has the knack of accurately reporting on
the good aspects of our speeches while also possessing the
temerity to speak up when he has a valid suggestion for
improvement. The latter is something we really need if we are to
grow as speakers.
All in all, a great spring festival evening.
Reminder:
This coming meeting (April 10th) unfortunately coincides with
the Division speech contest. In addition to the usual “bugs” and
exams which have cut our attendance, lately, we will also be
without the pleasure of some key people. Neville Cohen and
Li-Ying Kao will be competing in that contest and Stuart Manning
will be part of the judging contingent. Please make every effort
to come out and swell our ranks.
Club 1085
