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