The Missing Link

Speak Easy Toastmasters meeting on September 26th was another in which guests and members both learned from, and enjoyed and enjoyed themselves.

President, Ray Ryan welcomed everyone to the meeting and promised something that we would all enjoy, How right he was.

Joining Ray at the top table was Sean Corcoran as Toastmaster for the evening and Mary Moynahan as Topicsmaster.

First to the Lectern was Jean Sayers with a speech entitled, “Time and Tide waits for no Man” in which she told us the importance of planning in our daily lives. Jean had many examples of the benefits of this and her argument was such, that we were all more than convinced.

Following Jean was Mary Moynahan with her speech, “The missing link” in which she with much humour informed us of the power of advertising in all forms of the media and how much we are affected by it. Most eye opening indeed.

Next it was the turn of Bridie O’Connell with her speech, “I spy with my little eye”. This was a most informative speech on the benefits of caring for you own eyes with rest and exercise. Bridie backed up her talk by both demonstration and audience participation.

“The Stages of change” was the title of Anne Buckley’s speech in which she, with the aid of diagrams and examples showed us how we can change any habits that we may want to. Anne concentrated on smoking cessation on the night but explained that the model can be used for any habit.

Finally it was the turn of Tony O’Regan with his speech, “So you have been asked to judge”. This speech was not about jury duty but was a humorous look on the correct way to judge a toastmasters speech contest as most members will be asked to do this at some stage.
More about contests later.

Mary Moynahan kept us on our toes with her topics session in which she has us talking about flying, praying for fine weather, flying over cities and many more, which caused great amusement.

Jerry Kelleher was General Evaluator and conducted the part of the meeting in which the speakers received feedback from their assigned evaluators who were, Ray Ryan, Noel O’Connor, Pat Sexton, Michael Cronin and Angela Sheehan.

Margaret O’Regan was Ah Counter and gave feedback at the end of the meeting on how we performed regarding the use of “crutch words” and “fillers”. I.e. um’s and ah’s and so’s.

Cáit Murray, Liam Flynn and Jean Sayers as usual did a brilliant job as Sgt of Arms.

Our next meeting is on October 2nd and is the clubs Humorous Speech Contest night. This is a night not to be missed and is one of the highlights of the year. To see what Toastmasters can do for its members come along to the Hibernian Hotel at 7.50pm on October 2nd.

Further details of Speak Easy Toastmasters can be had on our website at www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or contact club PRO Sean on 086 6054784