What are the elements on this earth? Earth, Wind, Fire, etc. Our toastmaster extraordinaire, Steven, used the Frozen 2 theme to facilitate a fun packed meeting. Our agenda handouts had images of Frozen the movie all over it. In print, in voice, and visually, Steven was able to masterfully weave and transition the theme and elements variations throughout the meeting. Steven’s energy was contagious causing the other roles to carry the theme into a smoothly run meeting.
The first speaker Oleg provided a show-and-tell speech about Pathway Base Camp on the Toastmaster.org website and how to navigate. It was small bite size education, pertinent, and very helpful speech for the members of the Club. Our most improved speaker of the year might just be Isabella. As the second speaker, she gave us a retrospective on her journey in Toastmaster, in Pathways, and how it improved her communication and confidence at work and personally. Designer by trade, Isabella definitely designed a wonderful speech for us to experience. It was speech of culmination and retrospective, sharing with vulnerability, self deprecating humor, and relevant details, of how her journey at Toastmaster had dramatically help her. Traci evaluating Isabella commented on her “pausing” and “slowing” down in her delivery, asking her to do more of this and to connect more with the audience, while celebrating the improvements and the messages she presented in her speech. With poise and composure, Jimmy described how train travel put the world on the same clock. Using simple power point visual aid and the power of his words, Jimmy took us on a journey of how the railroads create the first time zones. In Scott’s evaluation of Jimmy’s speech, he mentioned that the narrative arch was enjoyable. Connecting the Toastmaster early meeting time to the thesis of the presentation, Jimmy was able to hook us to the topic. Both speaker and evaluator were polished in their delivery, and it was fantastic for the audience to have Jimmy and Scott finished each of their respective section. Scott won the Best Evaluator award. Our returning guest, Jason, won the best Impromptu Speech for the Table Topics.
At the end of the meeting, visitors voluntarily gave some feedback. We even had time for toastmaster moments from Paula and Bill. There were a few new comers interested in Club membership and our VPM and Treasurer took time after the meeting to answer their questions. Jovica and Petar, our sergeant-at-arms officers, repacked our gear and coordinated breakdown of our setup to the original room orientation. We’re really thankful for Merrill Gardens for allowing us to use their Event Room every week. It’s warm, welcoming, and perfect for our Club.
