A truly international organisation

A truly international organisation. Knowing that there are Toastmasters clubs in many countries across the world and that a member would be welcome to visit any one of them, it has always been my intention to test this hospitality. The opportunity came on a visit to New Zealand in 2008. With a population of 4.4 million and almost 200 toastmasters clubs scattered throughout the country it is ranked number one in the world for number of clubs per 100,000 populations. Ireland is ranked number two. With this in mind we calculated that on any one night of our two week drive from the northern most corner of the North Island to the southernmost tip of the South Island we would surely be close to a club meeting at least once. This is where modern technology and the answer to all questions, the World Wide Web, came in handy. The Wavecrest Toastmasters club meets on Monday nights in St. Kilda’s Community Hall, Victoria Road, Dunedin and we were in that locality on Monday 5th April 2008 so we decided to give it a go. The plan was to find the location, be on time and slip in quietly to the back of the room where we may not be noticed. The first two parts of the plan worked well but as for not being noticed we may as well have had visitor written on our foreheads for everyone to see. In true Toastmasters fashion as soon as we arrived we were made feel welcome and important. It’s not often that they get visiting members from the other side of the world. The room was arranged in boardroom style so there was nowhere to hide. We were both given tasks to perform during the meeting and participated fully in the topics session. The format of the meeting was similar to any Toastmasters meeting at this side of the world. The speeches dealt with similar topics to what you would hear in Ireland and as for the humour and banter during the Topics session you may as well be in the HIB on any Thursday night at a Speakeasy meeting. The male versus female sparring match is as healthy there as it is here. Personal stories of human triumph over adversity, humorous stories of everyday incidents kept us hanging on every word. The tea break was friendly and talkative. The atmosphere and enthusiasm was infectious and we left the meeting that night with a more accurate impression of New Zealand people than you would find at any of the tourist spots or hotels. In the words of Paul McCartney “people are the same where ever you go” Speakeasy toastmasters next meeting at 8pm Hibernian Mallow on Thursday 4th October Contact Jerry 0873752895,or Noel 0872427485. "Follow us on Facebook "Speak Easy Toastmasters", on Twitter "@speakeasytm" and on our blog "http://speakeasytm.blogspot. www.speakeasytoastmasters.com

Banjos and Lost in Translation

Club President Jerry Mulcahy set the stage for this opening meeting of the 20th season of Speakeasy Toastmasters this week, with a warm welcoming. address. The Toastmaster for the meeting was Tony O’Regan who ably introduced the speakers and explained the running of the meeting and the duties of the officers of the meeting for the benefit of the many guests. There were 5 speakers all speaking from different manuals. Margaret O’Regan was first up, with a glorious exposition on miscommunication, aptly called Lost in Translation. Bill Martin using powerpoint with great effect gave a very useful speech on fuel efficiency. Mary Moynihan displayed the art of story telling with a story about facing challenges in life. We were then thoroughly entertained by Michael Buckley , a guest speaker from the Crusaders Toastmasters in Cork with his speech on the inequality between the sexes. Last but definitely not least, Sean Corcoran accompanied by his banjos, had the crowd in stitches with a speech about his relationship with them down the years,… you’d have had to be there. After a very sociable break for refreshments the topics master , Cait, Murray gave out topics.. The contributions by the audience are timed by the Timekeeper on this occasion,- Bridie O‘ Connell. Two minutes. is allowed and if another member wants to add on to what has been said,- usually to contradict it has to be said,!- they are allowed 1 minute. Guests are never asked to speak but very welcome to if they wish. The banter was entertaining Jean Sayers , our General Evaluator for the evening gave her opinion on the general running of the meeting and. carefully assessed the evaluations of the speeches, provided by Pat Duggan, Anne Buckley, Liam Flynn, Michael Cronin, and Noel O, Connor respectively. The grammarian on the night, Kieran Butler commented on the good phrases used in all the contributions. All were warmly welcomed to the meeting tonight by our guest greeters or Sergeant at Arms,- Mary Moynihan, Marie Lynes and Ronan Condon. Our next meeting will be at 8pm on 20th September at the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow. Guests are most welcome and will not be asked to speak. Website: www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or contact Jerry on 0873752895 or Noel on 0872427485.

President's Welcome

Speakeasy Toastmasters President Jerry Mulcahy offers you an invitation to join us, every other Thursday night, 8pm in the Hibernian Hotel from Sept 6th. Autumn is upon us at least that’s what it feels like. I know you will ask where did the summer go, -that is the question on everybodys lips. School holidays spoilt, no picnics on the beach, no country walks, and that suntan you were looking forward to, well it just didn’t happen, unless you were one of the lucky ones that hopped on a plane and went abroad. If that’s what you did, good luck to you. For those of us who stayed at home, all is not lost, - we will have toastmasters to brighten up our evenings. Every other Thursday night at 8pm in the Hi Bi, -at least four speeches all from different manuals, plus a topic session, where everybody chips in. It’s the fun part of the evening. The night finishes up with four evaluations, that’s the part you don’t want to miss. Don’t let the chance go. Drop in- you will be most welcome.