New season for Nenagh Toastmasters
The first meeting of Nenagh Toastmasters club for the 2019-2020 season was held on Tuesday, September 3rd, in the Abbey Court Hotel and it was a lively affair with a great attendance, including two guests.
We were welcomed by our president for this year, Sean Butler, who set out his hopes for the members and by implication, the club, for the coming year. After he finished, control of the meeting was handed over to the Toastmaster for the night, Eibhlin Maher, who also welcomed everyone back after the summer. Eibhlin performed the role with her usual quiet efficiency ably assisted by a team of members that rotate for every meeting, so everyone gets an opportunity to learn and practice.
The first part of the meeting consisted of three prepared speeches, the first by Tony Spain, recounting some of his very interesting experiences on the Camino walks over the years. Tony was evaluated by Madeline Cleary, giving him some valuable feedback on how she thought his speech worked and where there might be room for improvement.
The second speech was given by Willie Grace, describing lessons that he learned from a fellow work colleague who was coming close to the end of his career as Willie was starting his and we even learned some valuable local history. And all delivered in an entertaining and thought-provoking manner. Willie was also the beneficiary of an evaluation from Paul Conroy, highlighting the benefit of the process of evaluation for both the speaker and the evaluator.
The final speech of a very busy night was delivered by Helen Spillane, a very experienced speaker, telling us about the new canine member of the Spillane family, and Helen was evaluated by Joe Ryan. Then the meeting took a break for tea and coffee, a period that frequently is the most valuable to the club as it allows members to informally welcome the guests and make them feel at home, obviously encouraging them to return for another meeting to get a real flavour of what the club is about.
The second half of the meeting was under the control of the Topicsmaster role, which was taken by Danny Doyle, who challenged the members (not the guests) with a variety of topics to help us think on our feet without any prior knowledge of the topic. At the end of the lively topics session, feedback was given by John Leinster, the General Evaluator, who let us know his opinion of the conduct of the meeting, what he liked, what he thought worked well and where things might be improved. And all delivered in a positive, non-judgemental and supportive manner.
If you don’t believe me, then come along to our next meeting of the Nenagh Toastmasters on Tuesday, September 17th, at 8.15pm in the Abbey Court Hotel and guests are welcome and free of charge. So, come along, see what we do, have fun and enjoy yourself!