Power Ballads and Pet Peeves

Another Thursday Night and another wonderful Topics Session in Speakeasy. We traversed a road less travelled. In keeping with the time of the year,  Halloween raised its "ugly" head.  The modern day Americanised Halloween found little favour. However, one contribution was the annual nod to a famous Warren Zevon song - "Werewolves of London" which receives a huge surge in radio plays and Spotify Streams at this time. 

On the question of songs, differing suggestions on the Best Power Ballad were aired. Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was an interesting choice.  A long song from the early Eighties, it was a popular "clinger" during the slow set at various discoes. Kate Bush and her anthemic "Running on that Hill" was the "empowering ballad" for a member's Running exercises. Literally, the most humorous nomination was for AC/DC and "Thunderstruck". That's power!

Pet Peeves provoked a list of unmentionables but pride of place went to quiz nights where participants roll up to the Quizmaster and ask "do you have a spare biro?" And then we have hapless participants in Radio quizzes and one wonders - "Why are they on the radio? They haven't a clue!" 

Favourite fast food and takeout Restaurants evoked much discussion as did a question on favourite Irish expressions.  "Tóg go bog é" was a popular choice. But Speakeasy Toastmasters have no intention in "taking it easy".  We host our Halloween Meeting on this Thursday night,  29th October in The Hibernian Hotel, Mallow at 7.45pm. 

As always,  everyone is welcome to attend. Guests are under no obligation to speak unless they wish to do so. For more information about this Club,  please check out our website speakeasytoastmasters.com , Instagram, on Facebook. 

Bobby Buckley receives an Appreciation Certificate  from Area Director  Philip O'Brien, for completing a level in Toastmasters Pathways Programme. 

Michael Cronin receives an Appreciation Certificate from Area Director, Philip O'Brien, for his completion of a Level in the Toastmasters Pathways Programme. 

Variety - the spice of Life!

If variety is the spice of life, then last week's Speakeasy Toastmasters Meeting was a flavoursome dish. We were treated to a menu of Autumnal Odes, flying cats,  triumph over adversity and Shakespearean drama. And that was only the speech programme. 

Don McSweeney began proceedings on a seasonal note with his recitation of John Clare's poem Autumn. John Clare was a "working class" poet who wrote about the changes in English rural life in the 1800s. His language was simple yet highly descriptive as his poem Autumn suggests. 

Juan Miguel Camarasa speech "Flying with the Cat" was a hilarious tale of transporting his mother's cat from Spain to Ireland.  Everything is going according to plan until he arrives at Airport Security and all hell and a cat breaks loose! And things escalated from there!

Michael Cronin presented "A Journey". This was the extraordinary story of Arthur MacMurrough Kavanagh, Member of Parliament for Counties Carlow and Wexford in the 1860s. Born with  serious birth defects, he had no arms and feet. However,  his mother insisted that he enjoy the same opportunities as her other children. By the age of three he could master riding a pony and learned how to hunt, fish and paint! As a young man, he had several notorious affairs with servant girls in his house. As a result, his mother sent him off to travel Scandinavia and Russia down into India, encountering desert storms, forest fires, snow blizzards. But, he survived all this still found time to spend a month in a harem! Arthur's life was an extraordinary tale of triumph over adversity. 

Bobby Buckley's lengthy presentation "Silence"  was an entertaining look at his life as a teacher and the perennial nightmare of losing control of a class. Imagine then the chaos of bringing a bunch of pupils "the good,  the bad and the morons" to Shakespeare plays at The Abbey Theatre! It all culminated in a production of Hamlet when the students, having learned Hamlet's famous soliloquy, decided to recite it aloud at the appropriate time and applaud themselves for efforts for hijacking the lead performer! All in all it was a very satisfying conclusion to a hugely entertaining evening of speeches. 

Speakeasy will host it's next Meeting on Thursday, 29th October in The Hibernian Hotel, Mallow at 7.45pm.   If you require assistance with that"Special Occasion" speech  or need to deliver reports at work, Speakeasy can assist you.  We ca help you overcome your anxieties. Halloween is in the air but no one will be frightened at our Meetings. Guests are always welcome to attend  and are never obliged to speak unless they wish to do so.For more information, please check out our website speakeasytoastmasters.com or Facebook.

Officers at last week's Speakeasy Meeting  - James McConville, Topicsmaster; Rachel Liston, President and Steven Day, Toastmaster. 

Juan Miguel Camarasa regales his audience at last week's Speakeasy Meeting 

Don  McSweeney delivers at last week's Speakeasy Meeting 

Topics of mystery and imagination!

Impromptu speaking - we all do it and quite often,  we dread it. All interpersonal communications require the ability to think quickly and with flexibility, to be able to read the situation and respond accordingly. It can be complicated!

Toastmasters can help. Our Table Topics Session puts Members on the spot in a non threatening way. And! It can be hugely entertaining. At the last Speakeasy Meeting,  the Topicsmaster, Claire O'Connell treated her audience to a highly imaginative and quirky selection of challenges that brought out  the best in every response.

We cringed when we recalled "chat-up lines" we may have used. Yes, there is a plethora of corny conversations from meet up situations.  But nothing beats the story of the member (who will remain nameless) who complimented a woman for "looking radiant in white" and then, completely by accident,  tumbled a full pint of Murphy's stout over her!

We learned of members' pet peeves regarding Hotels,  especially Gyms that contravene such descriptions - gyms that are installed for Star Rating purposes that lack the basic essentials of a gym.

Imagine that you could be a household appliance? Which one? The response was a C⁰lothes Iron, steaming clothes and pressing them to perfection while blowing hot air, just like the speaker.

We had an ode to the importance of trees to our existence and a guide to matching and mismatching various colours while dressing for that night out but, most interesting of all, would you marry your arch enemy for a Billion? There was a time when we spoke about Millions but inflation has changed all that. One member spoke about a certain marriage arrangement in rural Ireland  - "40 acres and Madge thrown in". But, one response summed it up in practical terms, when marrying for a Billion,  make sure to have a good pre-nuptial. It was a modern day take on the infamous Zsa Zsa Gabor line - "I'm a great housekeeper,  when I divorce, I keep the house".

The next Speakeasy Meeting takes place on this Thursday night, 15th October in The Hibernian Hotel, Mallow at 7.45pm.  As always,  guests are welcome to attend our Meetings and are never obliged to speak unless they wish to do so. For more information about this Club,  please check out our website speakeasytoastmasters.com or on Facebook. 

The Drunken Toastmaster and other stories

We are all familiar with the Drunken Sailor and his travails. At  the last Speakeasy Meeting,  we were treated to the tale of The Drunken Toastmaster from the pen of Helsa Giles. And thankfully, the speaking skills he had acquired in Toastmasters helped him navigate his speaking assignment unscathed.

Paul Corcoran 

Steven Day presented his Icebreaker Speech  - "The Scenic Route". Among his many interests is a fascination with dancing, especially the Argentinian Tango. In Toastmasters, we are given the opportunity to appreciate so many different ideas and hobbies that nembers share, some quite mundane and some like Steven's - quite fascinating. 

We also travel a mile in speakers' shoes. In Trevor O'Sullivan's Speech - "Lightning Strikes Twice" we got to experience the frustrations of the house hunter - experiencing the magic of the photography that can "transform a gargoyle into Prince Charming" by making the dingiest of property into a "big, bright,  warm and welcoming home". We got to feel the burn of the Auctioneer's trick of advertising a shared viewing with five other clients as "a private viewing"!

And then we had "An Appointment with Mr. Yeats". Pat Sexton spoke about the continued relevance of the poetry of Ireland's first Nobel Laureate William Butler Yeats. His poetry continues to shine,  be it "When  you are old" or his other doomed love poems for his muse Maud Gonne or his sharper political poems like "No Second Coming". The time is about right,  so this speaker suggests to host an afternoon devoted to sharing his wonderful poetry with the local community. 

In Toastmasters,  we develop our skills of communication through expressing our experiences, our ideas and our stories. We can entertain, inform, inspire and sometimes, we provoke our audience. And we achieve that in front of an audience that is helpful and supportive. 

Our next Meeting will take place on Thursday 15th October in The Hibernian Hotel, Mallow at 7.45pm.  As always,  guests are welcome to attend our Meetings and are never obliged to speak unless they wish to do so. For more information about this Club,  please check out our website speakeasytoastmasters.com or on Facebook.   

Helsa Giles presents Best Speaker Award to Steven Day.

A well run Meeting

There are certain Meetings that we dread - they are overlong, chaotic and some people ramble on and on. Recently,  this writer was asked to chair a Meeting of an investment group. The request was simple  - encourage everyone to participate and ensure that a few people didn't dominate. My Toastmasters experience ensured that a reasonably constructive exchange of opinions took place. It was just another example of how the Toastmasters experience can be put to good use in "the real world".

In Speakeasy,  we don't just give Speeches. We learn who to conduct Meetings in an orderly and positive fashion. The Toastmaster of the Evening acts like a Chairperson,  introducing each Speaker and segment of the Meeting and aiming for a timely conclusion at 10.00PM.

The Topicsmaster is like a Discussion Leader who conducts the Topics Session or impromptu speaking.  At our last Meeting,  Bobby Buckley fulfilled this role with an abundance of flair and humour. A question on "Your least favourite day of the week" turned into a battle of the bands between The Boomtown Rats "I don't like Mondays" and The Cure "Friday, I'm in Love". The division of household chores in the tricky question  - "Does your partner share the burden?" brought much laughter and an interest in robot hoovers! Pre teenage ambitions elicited the revelation of wanting to be an Astronaut but ending up as a spacer. The curse of over engrossment in phones and body image brought contrasting views to the topic. And we learned that the accountancy term "Deprecating Assets" can have other meanings!

A Topics Session helps our Members to muti task  - to think on their feet and speak simultaneously. It can be entertaining,  informative and fun. In the capable hands of Bobby, it was all three.

Mastering roles like Chairing a Meeting and leading a discussion are important life skills. It is no coincidence then that so many voluntary Sporting and Charitable groups in our community have members who learned valuable leadership skills in Toastmasters. 

Speakeasy meet again on this Thursday night, October 1st at 7.45pm  in The Hibernian Hotel, Mallow. As always,  guests are welcome to attend. You will not be obliged to speak unless you wish to do so.For further information on Speakeasy Toastmasters,  please check out our website speakeasytoastmasters.com or on Facebook. 

The Officers at last week's Speakeasy Toastmasters Meeting - Topicsmaster,  Bobby Buckley; President, Rachel Liston and Topicsmaster of the Evening, Juan Camaraso.