Society Toastmasters

REAL VALUE AT SOCIETY

It was an unusual meeting -- a 40 minute panel discussion followed by a 15 minute speech including interruptions. Every bit as good as anything you might get at an Advanced Toastmasters club. Club President Evelyn Khan-Panni lingered just long enough to ensure that all with roles on the agenda were present, before handing over to the Toastmaster, John Burns, who briskly announced the running order.

First out of the blocks was Phillip Khan-Panni, with his final project in the Presentation Mastery Path. He was to lead a 40-minute panel discussion on the theme, “Why do you make a speech?” His hand-picked panellists were Division J Governor, Alan Tracey DTM, newcomer Tiarnan O’Dwyer (online communications expert) and Club President, Evelyn Khan-Panni DTM.

Unsurprisingly, there was some overlap in the ideas of all three and the consensus was:
• Aim to make change in thinking, attitude or behaviour
• Lead people to want the change
• Leave them feeling good
• Keep your own ego out of the way

Dermot Carey heroically packed his evaluation of this extended project into three minutes!

Next up was Emer O’Neill with Managing a Difficult Audience from the Presentation Mastery Path. Her theme was “Something to say”, during which she had to cope with numerous interruptions. She very effectively embraced the hecklers and fitted them in to the points she was making, as remarked her speech evaluator, Fiona Joyce.

Evan Ryan took over as Table Topics Master and set a rapid pace. High energy was the hallmark of the day. Aileen Tighe revealed that her hidden talent was singing (inside her own head); James Watters spoke of a childhood wish to have the freedom of grown-ups; Maree Farrell had to choose between a huge lottery win kept quiet, or a more modest one that she could talk about; Alan Tracey said nostalgia isn’t what it used to be; Dermot Carey declared a passion for the Golden Arches, even on holiday; and Evelyn Khan-Panni told the harrowing tale of being mugged on holiday in Nice.

Double-jobbing as Grammarian, Alan Tracey referenced a family gathering in which his American brother-in-law was silenced by the eloquence of everyone else. A parallel, he said, with the quality of the contributions at this meeting.

The masterful General Evaluation was conducted by visiting Massimo Guadagnino who was struck by the buzz and welcome he senses on arrival at Society Toastmasters. He was made comfortable, learned something useful and had lots of fun. In closing he recommended a mug labelled, “You’re on mute”.

Visiting Area Director, Aileen Tighe, said she was impressed by the panel discussion, which she had never seen before at a Toastmasters meeting. She found it very instructive.

Finally, Club President Evelyn complimented Toastmaster John Burns on leading such a fantastic meeting, and thanked the visiting Toastmasters, including Aileen Tighe, Maree Farrell, Dermot Carey, Mary Burnham, James Watters and Massimo Guadagnino. She said plans were afoot to return to in-person meetings, and called for volunteers to fill the next year’s committee.

The next meeting of Society Toastmasters will be on Thursday 26th May at 7:15 p.m. On Zoom.

WHY DO YOU MAKE A SPEECH?

It’s a question that is often asked but not as often answered. Is it a question you feel you want to ask when you hear some of the speeches at Toastmasters meetings?

This Thursday, May 12th, I shall be chairing a panel discussion on that very subject, at Society Toastmasters on Zoom.

Three clever people will tell us what they think – Division J Director, Alan Tracey DTM, newcomer Tiarnan O’Dwyer and Club President Evelyn Khan-Panni DTM, and challenge one another’s views.

There’ll be time for contributions from the floor. Will you have something to add? Save this link and join us on Thursday 12th from 7:15 p.m. Dublin time.

https://zoom.us/j/99115904593?pwd=V21yNm4rS2pLdWp3SU9Jb1dUS3dFdz09

HISTORIC DAY, A CLUB WITH CHARACTER

April 28 is a notable day, marking the anniversaries of the notorious Mutiny on The Bounty and the escape from prison of the gunfighter, Billy the Kid. In Dublin, Society Toastmasters showed character to counter the techno glitches that threatened to disrupt their latest meeting.

With a sang froid that matched the historic anniversaries, Club President Evelyn Khan-Panni shouldered her way through the faulty link that was keeping her out and opened the meeting with a call for volunteers to join the new committee. Describing the all-important role of Sergeant-at-Arms, (who keeps order in meetings), she singled out Sean Browne as the exemplar in that role.

Accepting the virtual gavel as the meeting’s Toastmaster, Vincent MacNally briskly outlined the agenda and welcomed the guests, Tiarnan and Lenin. As well-prepared as ever, Vincent shared some interesting background on each of the officials – Evelyn as Timer and Sean as Grammarian.

When the scheduled first speaker struggled with her internet connection, John Burns opened the batting with a very personal speech, revealingly titled, “Becoming the new John.” It was a frank account of his move from cloud computing consultant to host and now National Director of The Gyft Show. The outcome has been exponential improvement in his self-assurance.

His Speech Evaluator, Alan Tracey, complimented his transition from “diffident” to “different” and urged him to speak from bullet points rather than a script.

Next up was Fiona Joyce with her speech, “Can you hear me?” It was another personal speech, describing her struggle with a too-quiet voice – a battle she is clearly winning. Sadly, her poor internet connection interfered with her demonstration of breathing from the diaphragm.

Her Speech Evaluator, Michael Dolan, commended her improved vocal variety and urged her to repeat the speech, with its body language, at an in-person meeting.

The Table Topics were presented by Phillip Khan-Panni who, as required by the Active Listening Pathways project, evaluated each speaker in turn.

Michael Dolan said he had never actually met Elvis, but told a parallel tale about Muhammad Ali. Pat Caslin revealed his response to the shock of a MS diagnosis. Alan Tracey spoke of unexpectedly encountering a hero of his, but declined to reveal his identity. Sean Browne said the decision he most regretted was to have a curry that attacked all his senses.

Asked about the most sensible thing he had heard anyone say, first-timer Tiarnan revealed that his wife knew best about undercoats when painting the house. Lenin, another first-timer, said that certain kinds of music and its riffs always made him smile. Vincent MacNally took the final topic and disclosed that he would be aged 21 if he didn’t know how old he actually was.

The General Evaluator was Pat Caslin, visiting Club President from Dun Laoghaire, who acknowledged the techno glitches that had interrupted but not marred the meeting. He thought all tasks were carried out to a very high standard and complimented the Table Topics Master for his feedback. “Take what you hear and find meaning” he quoted from the manual. “This club (Society),” he added, “has character.”

Here's the link for this week's meeting of Society Toastmasters. Just turn up between 7:00 and 7:15 pm.

Society Toastmasters is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

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MAUNDY THURSDAY AT SOCIETY

Easter week and our ranks were thin, with members organising their egg hunts and preparing for a surfeit of chocolate. In England the Queen was dishing out the Maundy money, but in Dublin the queen of Society Toastmasters, Evelyn Khan-Panni, was presiding over one of the season’s more enjoyable meetings.

Toastmaster of the day was Phillip Khan-Panni, who foresaw the day when Zoom suits were out. He got proceedings under way with a warm up that broke the ice and revealed each person’s preferred means of transport.

Timer was Michael Dolan, Grammarian was Emer O’Neill and the General Evaluator was the visiting James Watters, a long-standing Toastmaster who once took a break that lasted only three months before he was back.

The first speech was delivered by John Burns (currently VPE) whose speech, The GYFT Show, was about his own life-changing event, following two years of self-development. And what progress he has made since he became a professional speaker!

With a typically incisive evaluation, Alan Tracey described him as an under-rated speaker who could (and should) reveal more about the GYFT project and his own role in its development.

The second speech, by Vincent MacNally was an intriguing account of his time as the protégé of someone whose initials were GOD. What he learned, he declared, was that we should all become better listeners and more “agile”.

His speech evaluator was Club President, Evelyn Khan-Panni, who praised his gravitas and the value of the business advice in his speech.

Double-jobbing Michael Dolan ran a lively Table Topics session. Both Evelyn and Emer O’Neill spoke about the significance of Easter, Alan Tracey chose Tina Turner’s song, Simply the Best, as his preferred theme, and Jim Watters came down in favour of the new legislation on the sale of turf. Emer liked the revival of Derry Girls and Phillip thought he’d be a Boxer if he had to become a dog.

Vincent picked Jack Reacher as Most Under-rated Film and both John Burns and Jim Watters offered their choices of songs to hear in Hell, including Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell and Heaven Can Wait.

Emer’s Grammarian Report included some detailed comments on the speeches, and Jim Watters gave a perceptive and encouraging General Evaluation. In particular he liked the Warm Up, the Timer’s recommendation that Topics should last more than one minute, and the fact that Table Topics were allotted a full 20 minutes. In conclusion, he hoped we would soon be meeting in person again, saying that Toastmastering was all about the Club, and what we do at that level.

The meeting concluded with members opting to take on roles for the next meeting, which will be on Thursday 28th April, still on Zoom, from 7:15 pm.

Society Toastmasters' next meeting is Thursday 14h April, 7:15 pm, Dublin time. featuring speeches by two veteran Toastmasters, John Burns and Vincent MacNally.

Here's the link:

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AREA 2 (DIVISION J) CONTESTS
FOR THE SECOND TIME OF ASKING

Area 2’s postponed Speech and Evaluation Contests are re-set for Monday evening. If you are free, it will be worth your while to attend. Link below.

The Evaluation Contest will feature Leo Bollins, Larry Power and Phillip Khan-Panni.
The International Speech Contest will be between Dermot Carey, Malachy Brazil and Phillip Khan-Panni.

The Contest starts at 7:30 p.m. Please don’t be late!
Here’s the link:

Topic: Area 2 Contest
Time: Monday Apr 4, 2022 07:30 PM Dublin

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APPROACHING SUMMER TIME

Society’s final meeting before the clocks go forward was most enjoyable and, in the words of the General Evaluator, “of a consistently high standard.”

Club President, Evelyn Khan-Panni, opened with a reminder that were in Contest season, and that Society Toastmasters would be hosting the Area 2 Contests (International Speech and Evaluation) next Thursday, 31st March. Phillip Khan-Panni will represent the club in both contests.

Fiona Joyce took over as Toastmaster of the Day, in only her second time in the role. Very much in charge of her brief, she had two veterans in support, with Michael Dolan as Timer and Vincent MacNally as Grammarian. His word of the day, “convivial”, was well applied during the meeting and, in his report at the end, he remarked on how easy it was to be Grammarian in this club because of the high standard of language used by its members.

Speaker No.1 was Emer O’Neill who, we learned, grew up in Galway but had travelled widely in places such as Germany and Luxembourg. Her speech, “Laughter is the best medicine”, included some childhood revelations including being smacked by a teacher for laughing to cope with a serious moment.

Her speech evaluator, Patricia O’Reilly, confessed to laughing out loud, even when alone, and commiserated with Emer over her experiences with educators who didn’t get it.

Speaker No.2 was Sean Browne, who addressed the question of “Coach, Mentor or Both”, and lamented the difficulty in finding a good mentor. His own best mentor was his elder brother, Shay, whose guidance enabled him to become Ireland’s first gold medal winner in swimming at Coventry.

His speech evaluator, John Burns, complimented his story-telling skill and especially his ability to evoke a visceral feeling in his listeners.

Launching a convivial Table Topics session, Phillip Khan-Panni offered a succession of aphorisms for comment.

Michael Dolan agreed we should “measure twice, cut once” and remarked that it was worth re-visiting any matter several times before making a final decision.
Alan Tracey commented that “he who hesitates is lost”, especially when cycling on a narrow path, as he had to when a callow youth.
Evelyn Khan-Panni considered “the difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones”, especially when they formed the means of crossing a stream or river.
Fiona Joyce continued the river crossing theme, agreeing that “the one who knows the water best is the one who has waded in it.”
Vincent MacNally thought that although “tiny raindrops never dry when they mix with the sea”, yet they have little chance of changing the nature of the sea.
Patricia O’Reilly tackled the age-old question of whether genius is inspiration or perspiration and considered whether a genius like Mozart is born or made. The jury is still out, she said.

Alan Tracey was the General Evaluator, and was full of praise for all who took part, in particular for the preparation undertaken by all who took on a role. His compliments included such terms as elegant, proficient, sets the bar high, and well prepared. Looking ahead, he urged every member to bring one other person to the next meeting.

Concluding the meeting, Evelyn Khan-Panni thanked the General Evaluator for helping to maintain high standards.

Society Toastmasters will host the Area 2 Contests on Thursday 31st March onlne.
The link is here:
Society Toastmasters is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

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The next regular club meeting will be on Thursday 14th April, also online. The link will follow nearer the date,

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SOCIETY MEETING THURSDAY 24TH AT 7:00 P.M.

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Breaking news.
The latest recruit to the extended Toastmasters family is a young lady named USTINYA ZAIN.
Born in the early hours of Thursday 10th March 2022.
Congratulations Sofia and M Zain Ul Abidin of Society Toastmasters in Dublin.

Just won the International Speech and Evaluation Contests at Dublin's Society Toastmasters. Next round (Area 2) will be on 31st March, hosted by our club. Watch this space.

MELLOW THOUGH IT SNOWED

It had snowed earlier, so a low attendance was expected. Cosy by the fire, would be the preference of some. That said, it was a guest, Area Director Maree Farrell, who was the first to enter Society’s Zoom waiting room.

Club President Evelyn Khan-Panni, opened the proceedings with a reminder of Founder Ralph Smedley’s birthday and the purpose of Toastmasters. She warmly welcomed the guests, Maree Farrell, Hitesh Pratapati and Arati Yadav. She proudly displayed the recently updated Chain of Office, now bearing the names of all Past Presidents.

Keeping it in the family, Evelyn passed the virtual gavel to husband Phillip Khan-Panni, who was to be the meeting’s Toastmaster. With a brief opening address, he introduced the officials who would assist in running the meeting, deliberately avoiding the faintly pejorative term, “functionaries”.

The key role of TIMER would be carried out by Emer O’Neill, the GRAMMARIAN would be Immediate Past President Zain Ul Abidin and the GENERAL EVALUATOR would be another Past President, Vincent MacNally.

There was a WARM UP! Running swiftly round the room, PKP got everyone to say their name and declare their favourite treat. It broke the ice, and made the audience more receptive to the speeches.

As appointed Evaluator for the first speech, Vernon D’Souza explained that there would be a number of interruptions, as required by the project that VPE Evan Ryan would deliver. Evan’s speech was “Searching for the Sugar Man”, the singer-songwriter Rodriguez. It was the incredible tale of a performer who was barely known in his native America, but who outsold Elvis in South Africa.

Evan coped brilliantly with the flood of interruptions!

Next up was Evaluator John Burns, who set the scene for President Evelyn Khan-Panni and her Pathways speech, “The Making of a Toastmaster” which traced her own eventful passage through the several layers of Toastmasters both in Ireland and the UK. Along the way she faced a disconcerting, unplanned interruption on her Zoom screen.

Table Topics were in the hands of VPMembership, Michael Dolan, who brought clarity and humour to the session, and lowered the level of the challenge for the guests. Wordle baffled Vernon, while Evan admitted he cheats at the game. John Burns spoke knowledgably about Football, Maree about the effect of mask-wearing and Alan Tracey was profound about the influence of TV choices.

The guest, Hitech Prajapati spoke about the attraction of trying something new, and another guest, Donna Reddy realised that winter had not yet passed us by. Finally, Vincent MacNally spoke of learning from mistakes.

In his role as General Evaluator, Vincent applauded Vernon’s analysis of Evan’s speech and the way he handled the planned interruptions. John B was thorough and positive about Evelyn’s Toastmaster journey. As usual, it was a masterful review of the proceedings and a pleasure to receive Vincent’s appraisal.

Society’s next meeting will be on Thursday 10th March, when the club’s International Speech and Evaluation Contests will be held.

ANOTHER AMAZING SOCIETY MEETING

Small but beautifully formed – that’s how you could have described Society’s last meeting. There were technical glitches at the very start, but with great aplomb Club President *Evelyn Khan-Panni* plunged straight in. She opened with a digest of the letter she had tried to send to members, listing the current years achievements and telling them what needed still to be done to achieve distinction.

It was a powerful launch, drawing praise later from *Jeff Lentz*, a visiting Toastmaster from America, who was tempted to forsake his own club’s meeting and stay with Society. He was duly welcomed by the evening’s Toastmaster, Regional Advisor *Patricia O’Reilly*.

In the first of only two agenda speeches, *Sean Browne* spoke of Gerald Ratner who “democratised the jewellery business” but who “should have gone to Toastmasters” to avoid the fatal error in the keynote address that brought him down.

In the other speech, *Evan Ryan* told of his sporting disappointments because he was “as co-ordinated as a blind three-legged goat.” All I wanted, he told us, was a jersey, but he remained the one player who did not make the cut. He ended up in the gym, doing boxing and body-building, winning honours in both. As he concluded, “while life may not give you what you want, it can often give you what you need.”

The highly-paced Table Topics session was led by *Fiona Joyce* who invited *John Burns* to speak about an interview. *Sean Browne* revealed the person he most admired and *Michael Dolan* said his musical preference was “across a whole suite of genres”. *Vincent MacNally* wondered which person, alive or dead, he would most like to have dinner with and *Vernon DSousa* spoke about health matters. When *Evelyn Khan-Panni* was asked where in Ireland she would most like to visit, she spoke of the many miles she had covered on her bicycle.

The speech evaluations by *Vernon DSousa* and *Michael Dolan* were both comprehensive and encouraging and the Grammarian, *Phillip Khan-Panni* reported a list of distinctive turns of phrase and none that made him wince. Finally, the General Evaluator, *John Burns* found much value in the club he had recently re-joined.

Society Toastmasters meet next on Thursday 24th February at 7:15 pm.

SUCCESSFUL AREA 2 GROUP MEETING

It was an Area 2 Group meeting. Hosted by Dublin TM and including members from Eblana and Society, it was a clever initiative by Area Director Aileen Tighe. And it worked well. Of the 32 people who turned up (2 left early because of technical issues), eight were from Society.

There were only two speakers (and two Evaluators) on the Agenda, to allow plenty of time for an extended Table Topics session, giving everyone a chance to speak. Aileen kicked off as Presiding Officer and passed the gavel to Society’s Immediate Past President, Zain Ul Abidin, who welcomed the opportunity to interact with Toastmasters from different clubs. No doubt there would also be the chance to get fresh laughs for familiar jokes.

Speaker No.1 was Society’s Phillip Khan-Panni, a seasoned Toastmaster with a record of success in Speech Contests. His speech, “The Truth about Trust” was Level 3 from the Persuasive Influence Path – Connect with Storytelling.

In fact, it was a story. It told of the 16-year old schoolboy whose idyll of a pre-breakfast horse ride ended in arrest for equine speeding. Appealing to a family friend for assistance, his trust was betrayed. The moral of the story was, “Never trust a person who will betray his word to you just to gain favour with another person.”

His Speech Evaluator was Dublin’s May Connolly, who pleaded for a chance to see a recording of the speech, to take in the considerable volume of ideas delivered with verve and pace. That said, she loved the unexpected ending.

Speaker No.2 was Dublin’s Dermot Carey, a veteran of Humorous Speech Contests and a professional Toastmaster of the red-coated brigade. In relaxed and informal mode, Dermot explored the contributions made by Technology, both in promoting progress and in averting disaster.

His Speech Evaluator was Society’s Evan Ryan, whose own technical inclinations gave him an understanding of Dermot’s contention that technology (as he defined it) has been with us a lot longer than many people think.

Sergeant-At-Arms George Folley welcomed the guests and encouraged them to “say a few words” about the meeting and their experience of Toastmasters so far. All seemed keen to sign up as members. In response, Toastmaster Zain congratulated them all on having just delivered a speech at Toastmasters.

In the second half, the exceptional Table Topics session was led by Eblana’s excellent Malachy Brazil whose eclectic range of topics was easy to address and drew out some fascinating revelations about superstition, pet cats, going back in time and more. Unsurprisingly, he was later given the award for the Best Contribution to the meeting.

Grammarian Teresa Dempsey heard her Word of the Day, Resilient, used 10 times, and the Timer, Gema Bagdonaite had fun waving her coloured boards to keep all within the prescribed limits. Finally, The General Evaluator, Eblana’s Leo Bollis, was full of praise for the way the meeting had been set up and run, although he twitched an eyebrow at the 5-minute limit indicated on the Agenda.

In conclusion, there was much support for a repeat of Aileen’s initiative, and it seems likely that it will be repeated before long.
Society's next meeting will be on Thursday 10th February 2022 at 19:15.

SMALL BUT PERFECTLY FORMED

The first of the new year, it was one of the better meetings of the Zoom period, despite the low numbers. More enjoyable than most, and perhaps because there was a lot of interaction.

Club President Evelyn Khan-Panni opened by welcoming visitor, Monica Vargas. Monica revealed she had visited Society a couple of years ago, and returned at the invitation of Kamelia Kantcheva.

Evelyn is a strong believer in warm-ups and on this occasion her theme was a circus. Her question was, “If you joined a circus which role would you want?” Her own preference would be the Ringmaster.

Going around the room, Vincent chose ‘High wire’, Sean preferred to man the ticket desk, Alan opted to be a Clown, Fiona chose either Trapeze Artiste or Dancer, Kamelia preferred to be majority shareholder, Phillip would be the Lion Tamer, Monica was amused by the circus theme, Michael would be a Juggler and Zain would be a Protester outside.

Warm-up concluded, Evelyn raised the subject of easySPEAK, one of the handiest tools for members to book themselves in for club meetings, and urged all to use it regularly, rather than depend on the VPE to allocate roles. She drew attention to some forthcoming events including:
• 27 January: Group Meeting of clubs in Area
• 5 February: COT (Club Officer Training)
• 3 March: Club Contests – Intl. Speech & Evaluation

Moving on, Kamelia Kantcheva described her role as Timer and Fiona Joyce hers as Grammarian, offering Capricious as the Word of the Day.

The ever-helpful Michael Dolan took time out from juggling in the circus to act as Toastmaster and ran through the Agenda in his characteristic up-beat manner. There would be only one speech, an extended one by Phillip Khan-Panni – a Pathways project called “Prepare to speak as a professional.

Phillip’s speech was titled, “Be the speaker people want to hear”. Using a flip chart he covered a speaker’s Purpose, Product and Persuasion, lacing his talk with stories and ending with his recommendation to focus on two things:
• An idea of value to others
• Making it accessible

Zain ul Abidin delivered a helpful and supportive evaluation, but recommended reducing the number of points being made.

The lively Table Topics session was led by Sean Browne and featured New Year Resolutions. Alan’s most successful one was the decision to get married; Zain had never had a failed NY Resolution because it was ever the practice in Pakistan; Monica wasn’t keen on Dry January preferring to decide day by day; Fiona was in favour of Veganuary; Vincent eschewed a ban on meat, prompting Michael to observe that Meat is murder, but fish is justifiable homicide.”

General Evaluator, Vincent MacNally, complimented Evelyn for her warm style and the unusual format that made the meeting enjoyable despite low attendance. He had praise also for Kamelia’s firm timekeeping, Michael’s description of the Agenda, Fiona’s eloquent Grammarian Report, Zain’s perceptive evaluation and Sean’s entertaining Table Topics.

The next meeting of Society Toastmasters will be a Group Meeting, together with other clubs in the Area, led y Aileen Tighe, Area Director, on Thursday 27th January.