By sheer coincidence, on the same fateful evening of 25 May 2010, while Exact ADC VPPR Chee Yoong was visiting Rotterdam Toastmasters Club, I was visiting Austin Toastmasters Club in Texas, USA.
I had written to VPE Kimberly prior to the 25 May date requesting for a meeting role, and this was the response I received.
Hello, Angeline! So good to have you visit! :)
Guess what?! There's ONE spot open and it's for General Evaluator. Wouldn't that be perfect?? Shall I mark you down? Looking forward to seeing you. Best and more, Kimberly
Truth to tell, my heart skipped a beat when I read her reply. How does one prepare for a GE role for a Toastmasters club that I have not set foot upon, in a country that I will be visiting for the first time, and to a group of Toastmasters whom I have never met? The answer – Just do it! After all, I will be in the land that created the global Nike brand with its instantly recognizable logo and slogan.
Austin Toastmasters Club (www.austintoastmasters.org) of District 55 is a community club which meets every Tuesday at 6.15 PM. It is 60 members strong and on 25 May, there were about 40 members and guests attending this meeting. It is a certainly a larger number than what we are accustomed to in our Area W7 club meetings.
Timer Santos, President Chuck, Table Topic Speaker Kelly and guest
Although we are in the same Toastmasters family, we are not exactly alike. Here are some interesting differences
· There is no table topics evaluation
· The Grammarian and Ah-Counter role are combined into one. It certainly is not an easy task to juggle both these roles at the same time
· A Listener role which is something new to us. The Listener’s task is to ask a few questions towards the end of the meeting and members are to answer these questions. The questions are based on what was said during the meeting and if you have not been paying attention, you would not be able to answer these questions
· Any table topic speaker, project speaker or speech evaluator who exceeded their speaking time allocation is not eligible to be voted as best speaker or best evaluator. This helps everyone to be more mindful of the timing requirements
· The project speeches are recorded which is of great help to the speakers as they are able to review their presentation
· GE has the task to select the Most Enthusistic Member for the meeting
Videographer Addison
The meeting was superbly handled by TME Jeff. In the first session, Table Topics Master Tamara invited 5 table topics speakers to answer questions relating to the Memorial Day meeting theme.
TME Jeff and his wife Table Topics Master Tamara
Four project speeches were in stored for us this evening and we were not disappointed by the Teaching & Toastmasters, The Most Engaging Place, Sadiversary and The Hedonist in the Cellar speeches presented by Ian, Charlie, Ann and David.
For the Evaluation Session, I decided to make use of the Word of the Day by stating that speeches and evaluation are concomitant in a Toastmasters meeting. The evaluator team comprising of Tosin, Addison, Trey and Chuck provided precise and helpful evaluation for the four speakers.
All of Listener Ian’s questions were promptly answered by the members, proving that listening skills were not lacking at this meeting.
After a nationwide vote of 40 plus members and guests, here are the award winners. Everyone in the photo is drinking David’s wine, which was the visual aid for his Hedonist in the Cellar speech.
Best Evaluator Chuck, Best Table Topics Speaker Kelly, Most Enthusiastic Member Marc and Best Project Speaker David.
Thank you, Austin Toastmasters Club for having me to as your GE. It was a memorable and fun meeting and I hope to have another opportunity to revisit this Club. I have absolutely no regrets with my decision to Just Do It!
Contributed by Angeline Lee
I had written to VPE Kimberly prior to the 25 May date requesting for a meeting role, and this was the response I received.
Hello, Angeline! So good to have you visit! :)
Guess what?! There's ONE spot open and it's for General Evaluator. Wouldn't that be perfect?? Shall I mark you down? Looking forward to seeing you. Best and more, Kimberly
Truth to tell, my heart skipped a beat when I read her reply. How does one prepare for a GE role for a Toastmasters club that I have not set foot upon, in a country that I will be visiting for the first time, and to a group of Toastmasters whom I have never met? The answer – Just do it! After all, I will be in the land that created the global Nike brand with its instantly recognizable logo and slogan.
Austin Toastmasters Club (www.austintoastmasters.org) of District 55 is a community club which meets every Tuesday at 6.15 PM. It is 60 members strong and on 25 May, there were about 40 members and guests attending this meeting. It is a certainly a larger number than what we are accustomed to in our Area W7 club meetings.
Timer Santos, President Chuck, Table Topic Speaker Kelly and guest
Although we are in the same Toastmasters family, we are not exactly alike. Here are some interesting differences
· There is no table topics evaluation
· The Grammarian and Ah-Counter role are combined into one. It certainly is not an easy task to juggle both these roles at the same time
· A Listener role which is something new to us. The Listener’s task is to ask a few questions towards the end of the meeting and members are to answer these questions. The questions are based on what was said during the meeting and if you have not been paying attention, you would not be able to answer these questions
· Any table topic speaker, project speaker or speech evaluator who exceeded their speaking time allocation is not eligible to be voted as best speaker or best evaluator. This helps everyone to be more mindful of the timing requirements
· The project speeches are recorded which is of great help to the speakers as they are able to review their presentation
· GE has the task to select the Most Enthusistic Member for the meeting
Videographer Addison
The meeting was superbly handled by TME Jeff. In the first session, Table Topics Master Tamara invited 5 table topics speakers to answer questions relating to the Memorial Day meeting theme.
TME Jeff and his wife Table Topics Master Tamara
Four project speeches were in stored for us this evening and we were not disappointed by the Teaching & Toastmasters, The Most Engaging Place, Sadiversary and The Hedonist in the Cellar speeches presented by Ian, Charlie, Ann and David.
For the Evaluation Session, I decided to make use of the Word of the Day by stating that speeches and evaluation are concomitant in a Toastmasters meeting. The evaluator team comprising of Tosin, Addison, Trey and Chuck provided precise and helpful evaluation for the four speakers.
All of Listener Ian’s questions were promptly answered by the members, proving that listening skills were not lacking at this meeting.
After a nationwide vote of 40 plus members and guests, here are the award winners. Everyone in the photo is drinking David’s wine, which was the visual aid for his Hedonist in the Cellar speech.
Best Evaluator Chuck, Best Table Topics Speaker Kelly, Most Enthusiastic Member Marc and Best Project Speaker David.
Thank you, Austin Toastmasters Club for having me to as your GE. It was a memorable and fun meeting and I hope to have another opportunity to revisit this Club. I have absolutely no regrets with my decision to Just Do It!
Contributed by Angeline Lee