Risk Taking was the theme of the meeting September 25th, and one
of the biggest risks taken was to postpone publishing the
Highlights of this meeting until the following week! Many
apologies for the delay. We had some complications with our
web-hosting that took a great deal of time – the time that would
have been spent putting this together for you. But that has been
resolved and we are back on track for another year.
The second Risk we took was with the General Evaluation. Instead
of having one of our more experienced members do this role, we
split the audience in half and had one half give the
participants positive feedback, and the other half give them
positively constructed suggestions. Chairman, Jill McCormick,
ably orchestrated this plan. In the end, though, we came to the
conclusion that most of us on the ‘suggestion side’ were not
comfortable only giving suggestions without also having the
balance of being able to tell people what we had really liked.
This proved to be a Risk worth taking and we learned from it,
which is why it was voted as one of this week’s Highlights!
We asked everyone to give feedback about the Highlights that
meant the most to them – here are the responses we received:
One member noted a Highlight for her was the great turnout of
regular members
Another member appreciated the fact that “everyone on the agenda
made a concerted effort to work within the framework of the
theme”. He said “I find that having a theme gives direction to
the meeting and a focus that might not be there otherwise.”
Picking up on this observation, another member wrote: “In her
Inspiration, Parvaneh Bahrami, was well prepared with
constructive suggestions to motivate us to muster up the courage
to take a Risk; to change ourselves for the better.”
Yet another member Highlighted Kate Elliott’s first role as
Wordsmith: “Her love of words was obvious. Just remember her
enthusiastic insistence that we repeat the Word – ‘vertiginous’
- knowing that once we had said it out loud it would be much
easier the next time.” Vertiginous, for those not yet in the
know, is an adjective meaning unpleasant giddy or dizzy
sensation … a feeling not uncommon to Risk Takers.
Dave Stewart’s Table Topics session was up for accolades, too
(and yes, the topics followed the theme):
“Loved the variety of Table Topics and animated responses to
them, including Don’s winning speech and Antoinette’s amusing,
and all-too-familiar tales of her risk-taking teenage son.”
“The Toastmaster, Don Ekroth, encouraged us to take a
constructive risk and enjoy our ‘speaking evolution’ by speaking
out of our comfort zones.” His words – “If you are not falling,
you are not learning. Always push yourselves. Expect to fall
down more than to take the easy way down the hill. Step out of
your comfort zone and take this risk.”
Everyone who responded Highlighted Elma’s #2 speech about her
Risk Taking experiences while investing in real estate. One keen
listener “learned a lot from Elma’s speech and in fact, it put
some ideas in my mind for investing. She clarified terms that
normally turn to glop in my mind when I read them; her
explanations were excellent and easy to understand for a
non-financial, non-real estate person.” And another listener
“knew Elma was nervous about giving her speech and she did an
excellent job; very clear points. It was inspirational for me
because I am doing my second speech in a couple of weeks!”
This was a night of learning through fun experiences. That about
sums it up for all of us. Many thanks to all of you who took the
time to respond
.
Club 1085
