It was a busy week for this temporary ex-pat Toastmaster in Dublin Ireland.
I had a great visit with Area Governor Niamh Gourlay’s home club on Thursday – Tara Toastmasters in Stillorgan Park. Stillorgan Park is a suburb about 6 miles south of Dublin.
President Robert Dunne and his club members made me feel very welcome.
It was a lively evening with a great opening by the Poetmaster Bill
Sadler who retold a part of JFK’s speech to the Irish Dial (Parliament) given on June 28, 1963.
There were three speakers. Neil D’Souza gave his seventh speech on The
Miracle Drink. Not Guinness, but green tea – it has live-extending properties, and Neil’s speech was enhanced by his effective use of a cup of tea as a prop.
Evangeline Leonard taught us about Social Entrepeneurship (Speaking to Inform #5) and Niamh Gourlay gave us An Overview of Coaching (Specialty Speeches #4) which was enhanced by a lively role-play by her and Jacqui Gilbourne who both played their roles to the hilt.
Pat Cowley as General Evaluator both introduced the evaluators, let them
provide their evaluation, and then gave her own review of the evaluation. I really liked this as an evaluator, because the feedback was immediate and useful. Our club doesn’t have the general evaluator specifically critique the speech evaluators, but we might consider it to improve our own evaluations.
Toastmaster Niall O’Shea emphasized the evolution of the club’s motto
to “I Can and I Will Succeed”, and spoke of how he and others have personally benefited from their commitment to Toastmasters.
I wholeheartedly agree that the Tara Toastmasters exemplify their
tagline – “Where Friends Help You Succeed”.
I like that Tara Toastmasters meetings are in a hotel. Right after the
meeting we walked a few feet to the lounge where we shared an adult
beverage, along with a pleasant conversation on all things Irish, American and Toastmasters.
If I can, I will try to visit the club November 3rd, their next meeting.
Next post – I will recount my impressions of the District 71/Division C Humorous Speech and Table Topics contest!