Speakeasy Toastmasters meeting

Speakeasy Toastmasters met on the 10th November and the Club celebrated the
achievements of Pat Sexton and Michael Cronin, both of whom were placed second in
the district 71 Topics and Humorous Speech contests respectively, which were held
recently in England. Another honour was bestowed upon the club at the district
conference, when Jeremiah Roynane was selected to give the keynote address after t
the conference banquet. Michael Cronin also featured at the club meeting, being the
presiding Toastmaster. Breaking with tradition, the topics session was held before the
speeches, with Margaret O’ Regan delivering an intriguing selection of topics.

The first speaker was Ann Lyons, a member of the Galtees Toastmaster Club in
Mitchlestown. Ann’s speech, “Party Animal”, which was a stage 3 project from the
Basic Manual, was a humorous account of an unsuccessful attempt to entertain an old
college friend. Following Ann was Dermot Meaney, who was completing the
interpretative reading project from the Speciality Speeches Manual. In “Up and
away”, Dermot read an extract from Richard Branson’s autobiography, which
describes Branson’s early experiences of long-distance travel in a hot-air balloon.

The next speaker was another visitor from a fellow Toastmaster club, Noreen
McSweeney, who is the President of Muskerry Toastmasters. Noreen delivered
her speech, “My First Communion”, as a Stage 5 speech from the Basic
Manual. In her characteristic hilarious and colourful style, Noreen described the
calamity of being late for the First Communion service of her school pupils.
Finally, Sean Lynch delivered a project from the Professional Speaker Manual.
Sean’s presentation was a sales force training seminar, with the audience assuming
the role of a sales team. Sean made extensive use of charts, posters, audience
participation and a host of props in his speech. Following the speeches, the meeting was reviewed by the General Evaluator, Ray Ryan Jnr. Speakeasy Toastmasters will
hold their next meeting on November 24th at the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow for
8:00PM. Non-members are welcome as always to attend our meetings, and will not be
asked to speak. Further details about the Club are available from our website,
www.speakeasytoastmasters.com .