15 May

At the Speakeasy Toastmasters Club meeting on the Thursday 1’st May “Them Bones, Them Bones” was the title of a speech delivered by Barry McCarthy. Barry was delivering a speech from the Advanced Manuals in which he had to, “Prepare a report on a situation event or problem of interest to the audience and answer questions from the audience” Barry brought along Dennis whom he proceeded to hand from the pillar. Dennis was of course a skeleton and Barry brought us through the body’s skeletal system. He explained the purpose of the different bones, their make up and injuries that bones may receive. When he had finished his presentation he conducted a very informative question and answer session.
Pat Sexton evaluated Barry’s speech.
The final speaker of the evening was Noel O’Connor with a project from the “Storytelling Manual”, “The Touching Story”, the objectives of which are “to understand the techniques available to arouse emotion and to become skilled in arousing emotion while telling a story”. The title of Noel’s speech was “ A Bundle of Joy” in which he told the story of the birth of his last foal. “Mare’s are the only animal in the world that can stop labour and start again when no one is watching” said Noel as he went on to tell us of short life of the foal.
Tony O’Regan evaluated Noel’s speech.
After the speeches Topicsmaster Ray Ryan kept us entertained with his topics. “Do you think that the property price boom will continue” he asked Tim Ahern who had to speak for two minutes without preparation.
“A charge €4 per bag of rubbish is being introduced, do you think it is fair?” was the topic that Mary Buckley answered. “If you were elected President of Toastmasters International what would your slogan be?” he asked of Jeremiah Roynane which brought some humorous interjections from other members.
After the topics session General Evaluator, Micheál McMahon conducted the evaluation session, which is the part of the meeting, where the speeches are evaluated. As there are no instructors etc in Toastmasters, it is the members themselves who tell the speakers what way they fulfilled the aims of their speeches and issue recommendations. Micheál also evaluated the meeting and expressed his opinion on the way it was run and how the officers performed. He also presented ribbons to, Noel O’Connor for best speaker, John Murphy for best topic answered and best evaluator to Tony O’Regan.
The next meeting of The Speakeasy Toastmasters Club is tonight, Thursday 15’th of May and will be the Club’s ATM night. As always, Guests/Members of the public are very welcome to attend Club meetings and will never be asked to speak. 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