The Jotter – 20 February 2022

Meeting – 15 February 2022 – written by Karen

Theme of the evening…. I Love You, I Love You NOT

Glenn, called the meeting to order and enthusiastically set the LOVE scene. Elaine welcomed everyone with the lyrics from a beautiful song encouraging everyone to learn to love themselves as it is “The Greatest Love of All.” Mark called for a volunteer, and Glenn took on his third role for the evening. Thank you, Glenn – you personify team spirit and the ability to multi-task!

David welcomed our brave and wonderful guests for the evening – Joyce, Nathan, Rachel, Gerry, Evans, and Dean. Each guest is interested in developing their speaking skills, with motivations varying from enhancing one-on-one conversations, to giving a speech at a wedding, to addressing a conference audience of 2500 people. We look forward to seeing each guest achieve their goals – in a manner above and beyond anything they can currently imagine!

Karen commenced the warm-up with a call to action – let’s see if we can shower those we love with kindness! Members and guests each described what love means to them, taking us on a magical journey involving parenting, relationships, pets, sounds, places, games, words, and memories. Wordmaster/Grammarian Andrew revealed the word of the night – it was truly sumptuous.  

Mark’s entertaining speech really got us thinking about an individual’s reactions to the Covid19 vaccinations – before, during, and after the needle! Fran took us back to the ’60s describing her ‘Weird Wedding’ when she got married, (but not sure if it was to the minister or to Theo), a marriage which is now in its 61st year. Funny and entertaining…. from descriptions of the proposal to the planning, invitations (word of mouth), and outfits, she had us rolling in the aisles.

David’s table topics continued the love theme, initiating six open-hearted speeches, each one based on a saying: ‘Opposites attract’ (thanks Gerry); ‘Strangers are just friends waiting to happen’ (thanks Glenn); ‘There is no cure for love, other than marriage’ (thanks Karen); ‘A dog is a mans best friend’ (thanks Nathan); ‘Love makes the world go round’ (thanks Elaine); and ‘Blood is thicker than water’ (thanks Andrew).

A new item was added to the agenda tonight – “Two truths and a lie”. Joyce enthralled us all with her descriptions of three stages of her life: as a champion runner at school, walking El Camino de Santiago, and as a parent. Which two were true, and which one was a lie? Well, she completely bamboozled me, and most of the others. Well done Joyce – such a masterful presentation at only your second meeting – I think that must be a record!

Barbara’s evaluation of the two speeches was thorough, helpful, and encouraging. Glenn’s general evaluation provided his overview of the meeting, a most successful one by all accounts. Nevertheless, he reminded us that timeliness is a focus of Toastmasters, and we must try to stick to the allotted times – this is both a skill and a sign of respect. Elaine was a first-rate Timekeeper and Glenn a top-notch Toastmaster.

Thank you again to our fabulous guests, you really made the night a memorable one. A special mention to Joyce for supplying the delicious sandwiches.