To be experienced live at the Prostmasters – by our blogger Stephanie
Dear fellow Toastmasters, “Life’s like a box o’ chocolate, you never know what you get”
To be experienced live at the last Prostmaster’s meeting on August 18th.
Only few members had signed up for the meeting, quite a few roles had not been filled in Easyspeak, suggesting a calm and cuddly little session during the summer slump.
But you just can’t tell with the Prostmasters. Ever.
When I arrived the big room was packed. I could hardly get through the door and just managed to squeeze into the last possible space. I counted 32 participants, 14 being guests. And what an incredible fun-packed and fast-paced meeting it would be – you just have no idea!
First there was our VP Membership Stefan, who graciously switched from one role to the next and back : he stepped in for our President, our VP Education and also had the role of Toastmaster of the evening. Who could possibly insist on men not being multi-tasking! He definitely seemed to enjoy himself, and, to our entertainment, and in order to demonstrate the standard procedure of a Toastmaster’s session for our guests, he even introduced himself in his various roles. Boy, he was in good shape!
Our table topics master Martin interviewed as many as 6 (!) participants, covering topics such as Wies’n (under-)fashion, the conviction of the whistle blower Manning versus confidentiality, the British being potentially un-European, Alien life forms, German elections and could the Northern Irish peace process be a role model for other countries with civil disturbances ? What a warm-up!
Only to be followed by a sequence of great prepared speeches : Simon revealed to us how we all can find our own personal “Holy Grail” and Alexander convinced us of the “Dark Matter Around Us” being nothing to worry about as long as we can continue to happily explore.
The third speech was a project from the hand book “Folk Tales” delivered by Gerhard: “The Armadillo Who Wanted To Sing”, originated in Columbia. And what a heart breaking tale it was!
Although I have to make a confession here: not being an English native speaker I just could not imagine what on earth an armadillo possibly could be. Apparently I was not alone: when I tried to find out during the break I did not find one German who knew what it was. And of course, the English native speakers knew, but I could not find one who knew the German word for armadillo. Well maybe there was, and I just did not find one.
So in case you have not checked yet I’d like to reveal the secret: it is “Gürteltier”, not a seashell or a snail 😉
The second part of the evening produced very precise and valuable considerations presented by our appreciated evaluators Mel, Anne-Kathrin, and Christopher.
It should not remain un-mentioned that the grammarian was very happy with the high standard of grammar of the non-native speakers!
The session closed with a very pleasant surprise : the President of a neighboring club will join the Prostmasters because he likes the atmosphere so much.
Welcome, Carlo, we are awaiting your icebreaker!
Stephanie Hobert, August 30th, 2013