Meeting #162 was held with the theme “Truth or dare”, doo dee doo doo, doo dee doo doo. We had a special guest all the way from Canada, the 2016-2018 Region 4 International Director of Toastmasters, Monique Levesque-Pharoah DTM. Caitlin Manoharan opened the meeting with gusto while David Fisher was our Chairman for the evening. Ramesh Shanmugam was kept busy, reading the Club Mission and listening to the speakers as Grammarian. Ricardo De Oliveira was our timer, and boy was he onto it, ready to pounce on the buzzer!
Carlos Garcia saluted our theme and led the introductions where members and guests had to reveal a truth about themselves or complete a dare. Only two brave souls completed a dare, the rest told the truth, or did they…? Our toast was led by George Pajmakoski, a tremendous effort for a first timer. Another first time as a member was Mario Salas who provided very detailed information on the role of listening post/big ears. Damien Lake was our ums and ahs counter.
Donald Zhang led a beautiful Table Topics, all on the theme. There were some fantastic answers from our members and Caitlin Manoharan delivered her response under test conditions with a 2 minute answer to get her ready to represent Sydney Speakers at the Area Contest. Speaking of the Area Contest, Area 24 Director Phillip Agripanidis was present and invited all members to the Contest to support Caitlin Manoharan. Phillip Agripanidis was also our general evaluator for the second half
Sussana Chan was seemingly up and down like a yo-yo, delivering a general evaluation for the first half, Club Business and a speech on the past, present and future of Youtube, all in the space of about 20 minutes. Phew! Well done Sussana Chan. Rati Jain delivered a speech on her leadership style which was well received, thought provoking and revealing.
Our Toastmaster was Monique Levesque-Pharoah filling in for Victor Hou, who was unfortunately unwell. Aaron Ross evaluated Sussana Chan‘s speech and led a Humorous Speech coaching session to help prepare Caitlin Manoharan for the Area Contest. Donald Zhang was also busy evaluating Rati Jain‘s speech. Margrit Fisher was a late arrival, having completed her Speechcraft course graduation ceremony. Margrit Fisher presented certificates of thanks to both Damien Lake and Caitlin Manoharan for their support running the Speechcraft course.
All in all it was a great night with lots of laughter throughout and some excellent deliveries by our members.
Good luck to Caitlin Manoharan, representing Sydney Speakers at the Area Contest. If members would like to attend the contest and support Caitlin Manoharan, they need to RSVP to Phillip Agripanidis ASAP. See the brochure below for details
