15 members and 1 guest attended the Casemates Club meeting on January 28, 2014. Diane Ries, Club President, welcomed us all and introduced Toastmasters of the Evening, Cécile. Cécile introduced the word of the day which was “unconditional” and explained how she found meaning in the phrase “unconditional love for oneself” and followed her introduction with an excellent quote and impromptu dance! Dermot, as General Evaluator, explained the importance of feedback as well as the importance of giving positive feedback and of using our evaluations to motivate and inspire fellow members. Deyan introduced the Table Topics theme on “Difficult Questions in Job Interviews” by making humorous references to the need for unconditional love for oneself in the face of slipups during job interviews. John was the first speaker and gave a humorous talk about being deliberately rude so he wouldn’t get the job – a tactic that was apparently successful! Diane, as TT speaker 2, spoke about the most interesting questions she has ever heard and gave us an entertaining example of one of the worst answers she has ever heard. Dermot, TT speaker 3, also spoke entertainingly of a job interview featuring “the most stupid interview question” which led to him not getting the job of his dreams but which has sparked a lifelong pursuit of aeronautical websites. The first prepared speech of the evening was presented by Martin who was completing Project 2 from the CC Manual. The topic of Martin’s speech was “People versus Countries” and featured an examination of stereotypes and of the need to debunk myths through travel, networks and a change in the way we define ourselves. The second speaker was Margarida who presented her project “Back to School” under the High Performance Leadership Program. Margarida spoke of the need to give students hope for future careers, the importance of passion along with process and pointed out how it was possible through the HPL to be a leader without ever leaving your community. Balint, as last speaker, presented the epic poem “The Bards of Wales” to fulfill requirements of the Interpretive Poetry project. Balint’s goal was to convey the meaning and emotions of poetry effectively which he accomplished through an animated and dramatic reading of the Welsh poem. Dermot introduced the appointed evaluators who were Fadi for Martin; Marie for Martin as an impromptu evaluator, Sophie for Margarida as well as Tarék; Marina and Steve evaluated Balint. The appointed evaluators followed the “sandwich approach” with largely positive comments as well as ideas and suggestions for improvement. John, as the Grammarian and Ah Counter gave very specific and useful feedback and commented on the quality of the presentations. Tarék, as Timer, reported that everyone was in the time range for table topics and the prepared speeches were all within the 6 minute range. The award for Best Table Topic was presented to Dermot for his entertaining talk on “the worst” interview question. Dermot in his General Evaluator Report thanked Cécile for her excellent organisation, thanked our guest for coming and noted that it had been a very good meeting. Dermot also announced that he has agreed to take on the role of VP Education in the committee. Diane closed the meeting by mentioning the Saturday Evaluation Training taking place and the club speeches and evaluation contest on the 25 March. She also mentioned the Area Contest in Luxembourg on 12 April, the Division Contest in Paris on the 26 April and the District 59 Spring Conference in May 2014 in Krakow.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 13:09:30 +0000
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