Wind and Rain? No problem to Speak Easy Toastmasters

Over thirty members and guests made there way to the Hibernian Hotel in Mallow last Thursday night for the first meeting of Speak Easy Toastmasters.

Did the bad weather or the threat of further rain and wind bother us? Not at all such is the commitment of club members.

Our Vice President Education, Ray Ryan Jnr had a great program laid out on the night and joining President, Anne Buckley at the top table were Lorretto Barry who was Toastmaster (MC) for the evening and Gerry O’Callaghan as Topicsmaster.

Anne welcomed members and guests and announced the Club Outing to the Everyman Theatre so see Tom Crean - Antarctic Explorer which we are all looking forward to.

Lorretto Barry started the off evening in her own individual style, by introducing all the officers and their roles for the evening and then introduced and welcomed the speakers.

First to the lectern was Club PRO Sean Corcoran, with a speech entitled, “A Good Fishing Spot” which was a humorous look at a fishing trip on a recent holiday. Marie Fitzpatrick evaluated.

Following Sean was Joe Hassett with a speech entitled, “The Third Sector”. Joe told us, with the aid of a well created Power Point Presentation, about the sector of the economy who were neither in the public nor private sectors and included striking statistics to bring home his message. Pat Sexton evaluated.

Next to the lectern was Noel O’Connor with a project from the Interpretive Reading Manual. Noel choose to read to us a story called “Off The Scrapheap” from the book, “On Land and Water” by local Author, Marie Welford. Jerry Mulcahy evaluated.

Finally, it was the turn of Club VPE, Ray Ryan Jnr, with a speech entitled “Mobile Health Hazard” which he told up, with the aid of overheads, of the health issues involved in the excessive use of mobile phones, Michael Cronin evaluated.

After the tea break is was the turn of Gerry O’Callaghan to keep us on our toes with the Table Topics session, This is where the members are asked to speak for two minutes, completely unprepared, on any subject of Gerry’s choice. Gerry had a range of topics from, the spring sales to water charges to schools.

The final part of the meeting was the Evaluation Session which was conducted by Pat Duggan. This is the part of every Toastmasters meeting were valuable feedback is given to the speakers by their evaluator.

Giving evaluations is a skill learned by all Toastmasters and requires the individual to listen carefully to the speech and to be able to tell the speaker where he or she excelled and where improvements may be made for future projects.

Pat also gave his comments on how the officers of the meeting performed and his impression of the meeting in general.

The next meeting of Speak Easy Toastmasters takes place on Thursday, January 24^th. Why not come along and join us for the evening. Guests and of course, past members are very welcome to come along. Don’t worry, as a guest, you will not be asked to speak and you can come along as often as you like.

The purpose of a Toastmasters Club is to get people to be comfortable speaking before and audience so, the more the merrier.

So remember the date, Thursday, January 24^th at 7.50pm for an 8.00pm start in the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow.

Looking forward to meeting you.

For further information, visit our website www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or contact Sean on 086 6054784