10 April

Club President, Pat Sexton opened the Speakeasy Toastmasters Club meeting on April 3’rd in The Hibernian Hotel (Chapel Lane) and the welcomed the 40 members and guests promising a lively and entertaining night because as well as the normal programme it was the night of the Tall Tales Contest which was the first time that this was held in the Club.
Pat then introduced the Toastmaster for the night Tim Ahern who explained his function and introduced the other officers for the night. Topicsmaster, Kay Quirke. Timekeeper, Dermot Meany. General Evaluator, Jerry Mulcahy, and Sgt at Arms, Ann Buckley and Kay Quirke.
The first speaker was Toastmaster, John Holmes with a speech entitled “The Importance of Listening” in which he told us of the time he was in Hospital and the other patients that he met there. They each had a story to tell and needed someone to listen to them. John was completing his second speech from the Communication and Leadership Programme in which he had to “Convince the Audience of his earnestness, sincerity and conviction on a subject he thoroughly understood and to confront and control any nervousness he may have” in a time of Five to Seven minutes. William Healy evaluated John’s speech.
As there are no instructors etc in Toastmasters International other Club members provide feedback to the speakers on how they fulfilled the aims of their speech and any improvements that need to be made in the form of an Evaluation.
The next speaker of the evening was Ray Walsh with a speech entitled “The land of Dreams” in which Ray told us of the first attempts to interpret dreams, the theories of Freud and Jung and the research that has taken place since. Ray was completing his third speech in Toastmasters in which he had to “Organize his thoughts into a logical sequence that leads the audience to a clearly defined goal and to build a speech outline that includes an opening, body and conclusion” The time allowed for Ray’s speech was Five to seven minutes.
Pat Sexton evaluated Ray’s speech.
Mary Buckley was completing her ninth Toastmasters speech with the title of “Adults must lead the way”. The purpose of Mary’s speech was “To present a talk that persuades the audience to accept your proposal of viewpoint. To achieve this persuasive effect by appealing to the audience’s self-interest, building a logical foundation for agreement and arousing emotional commitment to your case “ Mary told us of the problems that excessive and binge drinking is causing in Ireland today. She presented facts from her research to us and declared that parents should not leave it to someone else to take action.
Tall Tales Contest.
This was the first time that Speakeasy Toastmasters held a Tall Tales Contest and there were entries from four members.
Deirdre Lenihan with a speech entitled “An Unlikely Love Story”. John Dillon’s speech was entitled “Balls”.
Sean Corcoran, “The Board” and Jerry Mulcahy with “Cobblers”.
Pat Duggan was Chief Judge and the judges were the audience. Pat Sexton explained the techniques of judging and the marking system. After a hilarious half an hour the Chief Judge and Counters, Pat Sexton and Angela Sheehan retired to count the score. While the count was in progress Topicsmaster, Kay O’Keeffe kept the audience entertained with her topics session. The winner of the Tall Tales Contest was Sean Corcoran and runner up was Jerry Mulcahy. Sean and Jerry will represent the Club in the Area Final in Fermoy on Tuesday 22’nd of April hosted by Fermoy Toastmasters.
Congratulations to Eileen Corkery who won the area final of the International Speech Contest and Pat Sexton who won the Area Final of the Evaluation Contest and both of which were held in The SMA Hall in Wilton on Friday 28’th of March hosted by Crusaders Toastmasters Club. Pat and Eileen are now through to the Division Final which will be held in the Southcourt Hotel in Raheen, Limerick on Saturday night 12’th April at 8PM
Best of luck to them both.
10’th Anniversary Celebration
Plans are well under way for a celebration night consisting of a meal, a short selection of memorable speeches from the last ten years and dance which will take place in The Hibernian Hotel on Saturday 26’th of April at 8.30pm sharp. Tickets are €25 and can be obtained from any Club member.
This will be an ideal opportunity for members past and present to meet, relax and have some fun.

The next meeting of The Speakeasy Toastmasters Club is on Wednesday 14'th April

For further information on the Club contact Sean on 086 6054784 or Pat 087 2364240 or visit the Club’s Website at www.clix.to/speakeasy. Email, speakeasymallow@eircom.net