It was an overcast Saturday morning and a small group of six toastmasters gathered for our weekly meeting. Marshall Lehr served as our toastmaster of the day with the theme of Story. But what does that mean? It means that in this day and age of instant information and information overload, the art of the story, in many ways, has been lost. But if we hear the story, by allowing yourself to hear the story, you create an emotional connection. Marshall cited how during the recent Winter Olympics, he felt invested in the athlete’s success once he learned that athlete’s story. Marshall found himself rooting for an athlete he had never heard of because he had learned that person’s personal story, learned about what the athlete had gone through to get to compete in the Olympics.
Next, we learned from Regina Clay about making the perfect lunch, specifically th
e perfect peanut butter and jelly sandwich. As part of her Demonstration project speech, Regina had a number of props that she used to demonstrate the art of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and she made many recommendations on creating the perfect sandwich. One important takeaway: refrigerate your bread prior to making the sandwich, thereby preventing the bread from falling apart when you spread the peanut butter!
While we only had one formal speech, everyone had a chance to participate in Table Topics, which John East facilitated. John prepared a number of questions around the theme of story, and each person had the chance to practice extemporaneous speaking.
Even though our meeting was light in attendance, we had a great meeting, and we each had the opportunity to practice our flexibility by doubling our meeting roles. Because like in show business, the Toastmasters meeting must go on!
Ana Ortega, ACB, ALB
Photo Credit: sullen_snowflakes via Compfight cc
I missed you guys!
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