“𝐈𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒂 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝….”

Perhaps we shouldn’t disclose who has an extra girlfriend in reserve, although this was talking about this person’s youth (and may have been tongue-in-cheek). I can disclose that we had three prepared (or not, in one case) speeches, table topics and evaluations.

New member Paul gave his Ice-Breaker speech – “The Boy In Holland”, telling us about a trip to the beach in Holland and how it nearly ended in disaster if not for a mysterious intervention.

Anita is a new-ish member. She’s been with Toastmasters for a long time but took a break recently. She’s back, and we forgive her break – especially with her speech about rebuilding her life.

Then there was my speech – my prepared speech needed props. However, frozen points on the train line meant I didn’t have time to go and get them after work (and was a wee bit late to the meeting, sorry – blame the weather). Instead, I improvised a speech I had been thinking about delivering – how to write a speech when you have that dreaded blank page and no ideas.

Table topics were delivered by Hollie using a Christmas party game she never got to play. We drew out a card which described a historical event, and we had to create a two-minute speech around this subject – it could be a made-up story, something it reminded you of, the historical event acted out in a combination of speeches, interpretive dance and mime (okay, maybe not this last one). Either way, it was fun.

We started with three guests this meeting but ended up with two – Nisar joined in the break, so welcome to Nisar – our newest member. Chris and Nick were our other guests.

Ribbon Winners:

-          Lejla, Muhammad and Nisar: New Members (Muhammad joined a few meetings back, but the ribbons were still on backorder)

-          Lejla: First Timer

-          Natalie: Best Evaluator

-          Nick (guest): Best Table Topic (joint winner)

-          Paul: Best Speaker and Best Table Topic (joint winner)

Next meeting 1st Feb – drop me a message if you want to come as a guest

-          Geoff

#publicspeaking #toastmasters #confidence #leadership #didsbury #manchester