ESC Meeting 3rd June 2019
Dear Epsom Speakers
We had another energetic and fun-filled meeting yesterday – great to see so many of you back from your holiday weekend or half term break and ready to take part!
Sergeant at Arms, John welcomed our guests and got the meeting started in enthusiastic style. Matt Tuff (for the first time at ESC) was Toastmaster for the evening and did a grand job, assisted by Timekeeper Julia, ballot counter Kathy and videographer Mark.
Elizabeth Bennett, as Wordmaster, discussed poetry and prose, with an interesting explanation of Burn’s poem ‘Tam O’Shanter’ – new to most of us, probably, and now I know where the Cutty Sark got her name and her figure-head.
Philip Smale’s Warm-up theme was ‘Guilty Pleasures’ – especially of the musical sort. Who would have thought that the club had so much to hide? We all enjoyed confessing.
First speaker was Paul van der Hagen, with his C8, encouraging us all to become entrepreneurs and investors, rather than wage slaves, for our daily bread.
Next, Willorna gave a very professional presentation (just her third with the club, I believe) on ‘Social Media – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ – an exploration of the development of social media and an encouragement to focus on real life rather than the false glitter of online content.
Dan Magill followed with an advanced speech, ‘The Butterfly Effect’ – no, not meteorology but Ralph Smedley and the beginnings of the Toastmaster movement, brought to life in our imaginations as a fascinating story.
Finally, Dave Goodman showed us how to ‘Negotiate’ – clear and practical guidelines that I know Dave puts to good use in his day-to-day life.
Evaluators were Costa, Patrick, Doris and Gary, an elite group giving advice that we all can benefit from.
After the break, Paul Dowdeswell led the Table Topics session, encouraging participants to explain and illustrate a series of English proverbs. Julia, Kim, Amy and guests Andreas and Lauren valiantly met this challenge, showing interesting highlights of their own lives.
Penny and Phoebus followed, with a slick dual evaluation of the session and speakers, and finally Rick Balfour rounded off the evening with a biscuit-themed general evaluation (you had to be there to understand).
Winners were:
Dan Magill – Best Speech
Gary Argent – Best Evaluation and
Lauren (guest) – Best Table Topic
Next Monday will be the Presidents Evening; I would appreciate responses to my invitation, please. It is an excellent evening, a chance to socialise with your friends at the club and not to be missed. Please let me know, if you haven’t already.
The following Monday, 17th June will be our last meeting with the current committee, and will be led by Toastmaster Amy Liu. I look forward very much to seeing you all there!
Kind regards
Gillian Prior
President