Introducing a Guest 09 03 2010

Our guest blogger is John Anderson.  John is the Sargeant at Arms for the Seaway Toastmasters Club of Cornwall.  This was John's first time as Toastmaster for the evening and from all accounts he did a great job.  Bravo John!

Our meeting theme was an educational on introducing a guest to a meeting. 

The word of the night was: im·bro·glio /ɪmˈbroʊlyoʊ/ Show Spelled[im-brohl-yoh] Visit dictionary.com to hear the pronunciation of this word
 
1.a misunderstanding, disagreement, etc., of a complicated or bitter nature, as between persons or nations.

2.an intricate and perplexing state of affairs; a complicated or difficult situation.

3.a confused heap.

Also, embroglio.

Origin:

1740–50; < It, deriv. of imbrogliare to embroil

I was not able to go the meeting, but John's summary helped me to feel like I was part of it. 

Thanks John.

Your VPPR


The meeting last Tuesday March 9 2010 turned out to be really good. It started at 3.30 in the afternoon when I went to the Armories to do my setup as is my wont on a Toastmasters meeting night. I have struck up a really good relationship with the Security Commissioner and he opens all the doors for me upstairs. Therefore, imagine my surprise to find the room where we normally have our meeting to be full of tables and chairs from the Sgts’ mess next door; they had been removed from there so that the floors could be refinished. Well there was no way we could have our meeting there and I made an "executive decision" to setup in the officers lounge next door. It turned out that this was a great idea as it created quite an intimate atmosphere for the twelve members and two guests who showed up.


This was to be my first time as toastmaster. Earlier, I had sent out a pleading email for help in pulling a good meeting together. Chris was first in as Grammarian and in the next couple of days Carole Anne had come aboard as table topics master. When she called and agreed to do this, I had that gut feeling that a really good meeting was shaping up and trust me it really did.


Harry, our President, was slated in to give an outline of how the upcoming meeting for March 23rd was going to be really special because we were on a mission to get the word out about Seaway Toastmasters as the place to become a member if public speaking was one of a person’s life objectives. Each member of Seaway Toastmasters has been asked to bring a guest to this upcoming meeting. I am really looking forward to this one.


Denise came in as an evaluator. She asked to be the ballot counter, but I did something incorrectly on TurboBase and she came out as an evaluator. It really is amazing where mistakes can sometimes take you. That was all pre meeting. From my point of view things were hopping right from the get go.


Vincent who was scheduled to give his #10 CC Speech was forced to withdraw as work commitments connected to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver had imposed on his preparation time. This was where the members of Seaway Toastmasters rallied. Mac Robertson stepped up to the plate and gave a brilliant speech about a very sweet tiny lady he had met in Africa. This lady had started from a very poor and humbled background but ended up being revered within and out of her community for her unflinching service to her people. But I am ahead of myself. I must tell you that Carole Anne is an outstanding table topics Master, and used an improv style to conduct the session by using clues from the audience to dictate the questions; this and Mac's speech really pulled the meeting together. Vince was not left out in the cold as we asked him to give us an insider’s view of the Olympics from a security view point. This could have been a speech in its own right because he left us with a feeling of pride that we were Canadians and that we had shown the world not only our unity as a people, but that we could pull off a feat like the winter Olympics flawlessly regardless of some media sniping from the sidelines.


Harry put us all on notice that our next meeting was vital and if each member were able to do their bit by bringing a guest this may well prove to be the tonic that our club needs at this time in her life cycle.


Our delightful Terri Kingston wrapped it all up beautifully as our General Evaluator for the evening. Terri is a master with the velvet glove when she is fulfilling her role as an evaluator. She always leaves the recipient of her comments feeling inspired and motivated to do well. Young Isaiah was great in the role of Ah Counter and Brigitte as timekeeper did not miss a beat. Chris as Grammarian came up with a word of the day that was a real tongue twister and Ian as ballot counter showed that he would probably make a very good judge! Denise of course was not to be left out of this fast paced enjoyable meeting. She did an excellent evaluation on Mac's speech, and I know that in years to come she will be glad I made the "mistake" I did. all in all a great meeting that enlightened me as a toastmaster and I look forward to the next one.


Regards,


John


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