‘Love in the air’ for Toastmasters meeting
‘Love is in the air’ was the theme of the Toastmasters meeting on the eve of St Valentine’s Day. Club president, Brian McLoughlin, opened the meeting with a variety of references to the saint of all things romantic, and Toastmaster of the night, Pat Cavanagh, followed with loving introductions to fáilte officer, Jacqui Wiley, grammarian, Philip Howlin and timer, Derek Walsh, all of whom explained their roles.
First, with ‘That Nelson Mandela was a wise old chap’, Deirdre Bigley took the audience through the five languages of love. And in case you were wondering how Mandela comes into it, that wise old man knew the importance of finding the right language to win over friends and foes.
Next, Hijesh Lohidhakshan, with ‘A day in the life of a data engineer’ explained that every time we use an app, we rely on engineers like him to make sense of the information we send. Eat your heart out Tinder!
John Coyne followed with ‘A hill stick’. Holding the stick aloft, he showed how even inanimate objects tell a story – and in the case of the relationship between sticks and sheepdogs, it’s a true story of love.
Alma Manny then presented attendees with a masterful masterclass on effective evaluation, pointing out that evaluators should always be positive. Yes, show the love!
Evaluators of the night, Tom Byrne, Linda Gavagan and Alma, stuck to that principle, praising speakers for clarity and props, while making the ‘tinciest’ of recommendations. As part of her active listening project, Niamh Tubridy captured the essential elements of each speech, earning a huge ‘well done’ from her own evaluator, John Waldron.
After a break for tea and chat, Niamh continued the theme with a speed-dating approach to table topics, and there was a quick-fire question and answer session in which respondents fired back their views on the value of gratitude, guilty pleasures and aliens. All managed to smuggle in the word of the night, ‘rendezvous’.
General evaluator, Anke Von Bunau, praised all speakers for the progress they had made, and everyone who helped behind the scenes.
Rounding off the meeting, Brian thanked all, recommending we each buy a fridge magnet saying ‘I love evaluators’.
With attendees adorned with paper hearts, it was an evening when they wore their hearts on their sleeves.
The next meeting of Toastmasters is at the Greville Arms Hotel on Thursday February 22 at 8pm, and all are welcome.
– Anthony Viney public relations officer