‘Tis the season to be…. sad. Sad that our last Toastmasters meeting for the year has been and gone. Sad that I don’t get to practice public speaking or my leadership skills. Sad that I don’t get that sense o relief when a hard Table Topics question gets asked of another member. Sad that I don’t get to see your happy smiling faces for over a month!
However, ’tis also the season for… joy. Joy that we had a fantastic night last night. Joy that we had some yummy pizza. Joy that we got to hear some amazing icebreakers. Joy that we shared gifts. Joy that we got to see each other for one last time this year. Joy that we all had an opportunity to relax and unwind. Joy that we had one last moment to speak in public.
As you may guess, our theme was ’tis the season to be… and what an array of answers we got. The meeting was chaired by Aaron Ross and opened by Ramesh Shanmugam. Rati Jain stepped in to read the mission and did a fantastic job as Mrs Claus, running the Secret Santa session with pizzazz. MJ Velasco saluted the theme, whilst Margrit Fisher provided the toast. Phillip Agripanidis was our timer for the evening.
Damien Lake stepped up as a first time Toastmaster for the prepared speeches. Mario Salas and George Pajmakoski did their icebreaker speeches. Mario’s was a tale of the year of his birth and the grief he caused his mum, while George told us about the four things that make him who he is today. Both were presented with their icebreaker ribbons. Donald Zhang and MJ Velasco were the evaluators. Bella Wang then proceeded to inspire us with an inspirational speech
Heidi Heron filled in for a sick Sussana Chan and did the Presidents address and club business. Ricardo De Oliveira ran the Table Topics session with Christmas themed questions. David Fisher and Victor Siyu Hou were the evaluators. We then broke for yummy pizza, antipasto and fruit platters, had our Secret Santa session led by Rati Jain.
Ramesh Shanmugam got our second half going again and Heidi Heron led a video session on her educational tips. Margrit Fisher provided our general evaluation. Before we knew it, the meeting was over. Sadness and joyfulness all in the one meeting. It was a great night and I can’t wait to be back next year. Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all.