Andy Howell as Toastmaster gave us an engaging theme of the evening, inspired in part by Doncaster hosting national Pride on Saturday: ‘The Beauty of Being Different.’ The theme carried throughout the meeting thanks to Andrew Miller’s choice of ‘diverge(nt)’ as the word of the day, which members were challenged to include, and Lianna Williamson’s thought-provoking table topics questions on the theme of diversity.
With several absences due to holidays and last-minute dropouts due to illness, attendance was marked by quality rather than quantity, with just one prepared speech: Mark Kelly talking about the power of direct communication in a work environment. His best speaker ribbon, despite being awarded by default, was well deserved for a well put together speech, clearly and confidently delivered, with some lovely turns of phrase including powers of three. Mark was evaluated by Roy Rungay, who focused on the flow of the talk and the clear delivery as positives, while suggesting poise and stage presence as the next area of development for the speaker.
Stephanie Bisby delivered a brief education slot on giving feedback in meetings, encouraging all members to offer their thoughts concisely via the Slido system, summing up a positive and a pointer for improvement in a few words each, while remembering that more detailed personal feedback can be given in conversation during the break, or via easyspeak or the club WhatsApp after the event.
Having fewer speeches than usual gave space for an extended table topic session, with every attendee taking part including several visitors. The table topic master gave an excellent explanation of the ‘improv’ part of the evening before challenging each person to answer a question such as ‘What does cultural diversity mean to you?’ and ‘Tell us about a celebration or festival you remember from childhood.’ Mark added a second award to his collection as best table topic speaker of the night, while Steven Bisby won best evaluator for his feedback to the table topics participants, having offered each person both a commendation and a recommendation in his usual engaging and humorous style.
Next meeting will not take place on the usual fourth Monday of the month, due to the bank holiday. Instead we meet again next week, on 19th August. Guests are welcome, as always! In September meetings will be back to their normal pattern, and in October we have club contests to look forward to.
Doncaster Speakers 