From Chairman Li-Ying Kao’s upbeat opening comments to Don
Ekroth’s poignant reminder that the reason for our club’s
remarkable success is because of all the encouragement we
provide and receive, in return, tonight was exceptionally
Encouraging (theme of the evening).
It was obvious from the flood of comments that landed on my desk
after the meeting, that members were not only encouraged, but
emboldened (Hilary’s well-used word of the evening) to write
down a multitude of highlights as a result. I include a number
of them for your enjoyment:
Li-Ying (as chair) “has a down to earth, sincere, and natural
speaking voice that puts her audience at ease. She prepared for
her role diligently and thoroughly, her bridging comments were
effective and I really like her sense of humour”.
“Excellent chairing by Li-Ying – good bridging”
“I really liked Li-Ying’s introductions and in particular her
introduction of Jan Furst by saying that she was already
inspired just knowing how far he had traveled to be with us this
evening” (Jan comes from Bowen Island).
Jan’s inspiration “to put a stop to AIDS in Africa, calling it
Nature’s own type of genocide” and his call to “not merely pay
lip service to the problem”
Jill’s tabletopics were well obviously well received.
“Jill was in her element as Tabletopics Master. The topics were
chosen well and posed unique challenges to all the speakers.”
“Jill’s tabletopics were well matched to their recipients and to
the theme”
“Great tabletopics”
Regarding the Tabletopics contestants, the competition was
fierce. In Neville’s eyes (General Evaluator) all who
participated “made excellent responses”.
“Jan’s comparing of the virtues of intelligence and common sense
was not only compelling but humorous, too.”
“Hilary’s excellent tribute to fellow toastmaster, Jan Furst,
about an influential person in her life.”
“Hilary’s opportunity to honour her friend and mentor for his
encouragement”
But by far the most comments came regarding (our eventual ribbon
winner) Kate Elliott’s efforts.
“Kate’s defense of procrastination was funny and memorable”
“Kate’s tabletopics response was humorous as always”
“Super”
Stuart Manning’s evaluation of the Tabletopics session also
brought a flood of compliments.
“Really liked Stuart’s evaluation – he picked up on so many
details of each speech”
“very thorough”
“very positive and constructive”
“an excellent example of the sandwich technique and of listening
skills. Good suggestions”
“Stuart did an awesome job in his evaluation. On time, clear and
good suggestions for everybody”
It is not surprising, then, that Stuart was the near-unanimous
winner as Best Evaluator. He can be doubly proud as he was up
against some considerable competition from the other evaluators
(Dave Stewart, Jim Sinclair and Neville Cohen), all of which
performed their duties with remarkable flair, humour and sense
of purpose.
As for our speakers……….
“Christine’s Icebreaker (Bra’s, Babies and Bikes) was great –
lots of emotion, passion. It was a very touching, personal
story”.
“Delightful – the alliteration of the title really caught my
attention”
“A great introduction to our members – I learned so much about
Christine’s background and history – and also of (her husband)
Dave’s life”.
“Christina was calm, poised and fascinating”
“Elena’s second speech about recycling (The Return it Story) was
“very informative and both horrifying and encouraging in the
statistics presented”
“a topical issue delivered in a convincing manner”
“The attention to detail in the statistics Elena presented show
a great deal of preparation went into her speech”
All in all, another pretty good night for our club. Next meeting
at 7:15 sharp at the usual venue. Don’t forget our Valentine’s
meeting will be dinner at Cheers Restaurant on February 12th,
starting at 7pm. Social time starts at 6:30. See you next week.
The two guests would have been impressed by the meeting.
Club 1085
