by Ineke Vermeulen (Immediate Past President)
Blistering heat, summer in the city with perfect pool weather, barbecue invitations galore AND a one-off Robbie Williams concert in the Olympia stadium – nothing, and I mean nothing, was deferring Munich Prostmasters from having another great meeting.
What on earth – an innocent bystander might think – is with these people? They stay indoors in a non-air-conditioned room to listen to others speak? After a full day at the office? Honestly!
Well – I’ll let you in on the secret. It’s not difficult to understand, it just takes a little explaining, so bear with me…
At Prostmasters our members and guests can count on an infusion of fun, inspiration and learning. Still not convinced – well, let’s zoom in on last Wednesday!
We welcomed no fewer than 7 guests from almost 7 different nationalities! 2 returning guests even announced their imminent sign-up and so we got started with high expectations.
We opened up evening with not 1, but 2 jokes of the day followed by the Table Topics session. This was exceptionally preceded by an educational on how to best prepare for exactly such impromptu mini-talks. So we had a Table Topics double feature: first the test, and then the real stuff! The topic turned out to be a real winner: members and guests were invited to stand up and ask the 2 questions about their countries or nations that they wished people would ask them rather than the cliché questions. A great idea for such an international club as Prostmasters! The resulting answers were funny and at times very deep.
After this great warm-up it was time for the prepared speeches. The first speaker treated us to serious insights into the advantages of human versus electronic house-hold help. I must say, I’ll never be able to look at an automatic vacuum-cleaner again without thinking of Gustav and sniggering. But this wasn’t just a funny speech; it also showed that actual human beings (especially of the female variety) are still better at cleaning and adding warmth and safety to the home.
This uplifting and informative product evaluation was followed by yet another educational: on how to open your speeches in style! Valuable information interlaced with hands-on examples and ideas for our next projects. Educational are usually lengthy and tend to be a bit dull, yet this one was never boring thanks to the real-life and sometimes fun examples as well as the clear and well-handled visual support.
I was also on stage – with a project of a different category: interpretive reading. I chose a Roald Dahl story, to make it scary, entertaining and joyful. Mission accomplished – from my spot in center stage, I could see the audience frowning, smiling and dreading with The Twits.
The cherry on the pie of any meeting are the evaluations – our General Evaluator brought in his troops and they all delivered quality and valuable feedback for each of the prepared speeches. The general evaluation and the feedback from the guests came to a unanimous verdict: a high quality and fun meeting – an evening well spent, independent of the weather, concerts or the holiday season.
Come join us next time and be part of the show!