From special places to hairpieces it’s all helps if you want to Speakeasy

‘ONCE the mind is stretched by a new idea, it can never return to it’s original state,’ said Albert Einstein. The minds of the audience at the recent Toastmasters meeting were well and truly stretched by the quantity and diversity of ideas expressed that they will never again return to their previous condition.

Five speakers covered a broad range of topics and styles from informative to creative to the reflective. As a guest remarked: ‘ This is both educational and fun’. And all at the same time.’

The meeting commenced with Theresa O’Reilly presenting a sales presentation called Superchoice. This is not to be confused with a brand of cattle ration from Dairygold, but rather a selection of food supplements that Theresa wished to market. In a relaxed style, Theresa articulated the ‘unique selling point’ of her product. She also demonstrated her sales technique with the willing assistance of fellow member Kieran Butler. If only all sales reps could be as non-aggressive in their approach to customers.

Marie Connolly gave a beautifully reflective speech - ‘A special place’. She spoke about being a reluctant visitor to Medjegoria but finding herself totally entranced by the peace and tranquility of the place. She spoke movingly on the beauty to be found in the solitude and simplicity permeating her visit and how it helped her make important life decisions.

Don McSweeny delivered his talk called GYO or Grow Your Own. With great amusement, he described how he read a lot of books on this and concluded that you could not grow anything in Ireland. But he took on board a sound piece of advice to put away the books and start planting. Soon he was learning to distinguish between potato stalks and weeds, and how to compost. This was a wonderful ‘down to earth’ talk, appreciated by his many green fingered listeners.

‘Donita Daval’ was the title of Claire O’Connell’s presentation. This was the bizarre and surreal story from the first three chapters of Donita’s diaries. This creative and imaginative story had the audience in tears - of laughter. Her comment on hairy women brought the house down.

Continuing with the theme of hair, Ray Ryan spoke on ‘Wigs’. With tongue in cheek, Ray brought those present on a very enjoyable historical journey from Tutankhamen’s hairpiece to King Louis XIIV, from the Renaissance to the French Revolution. Did you know that women once shaved their heads and wore wigs? This was just one of the many wonderful trinkets of information that we learned from Ray’s speech.

They say that it is a very poor day,indeed, when you do not learn something new. A Toastmasters meeting can be a very rich night out with the ideas, information and inspiration that is on offer. Each speaker was comprehensively evaluated. Mary Buckley, John Brennan, Anne Buckley, Michael Cronin and Noel O’Connor gave both commendations and recommendations as they deemed appropriate to the speakers. This is the section of the meeting where members can refine their communication skills and improve beyond recognition.

Liam Flynn from Millstreet was Topicsmaster. He ably conducted the impromptu section of the meeting. His topics ranged from the ploughing championship, to the Ryanair crisis, from a favourite smell to hitch-hiking.

One outstanding contribution came from Marie Lynes who spoke about the distinctive hardware smell in Buckley Brothers in Mallow evoking childhood memories of her parents’ hardware shop in Newmarket.

At the meeting’s conclusion, Bobby Buckley, General Evaluator, lauded the contributions from all members and guests who cooked up a tasty Speakeasy Toastmasters stew. He reminded guests that he was once in their shoes and was delighted that he jumped on board the Toastmasters train for a very enjoyable and rewarding journey. He awarded ribbons to Marie Lynes for Best Topic; Noel O’Connor for Best Evaluator; and Don McSweeny for Best Speech.

After two very successful meetings, Speakeasy returns on Thursday, October 5 with their annual Humorous Speech Content with lots of fun assured. As always the group welcome guests to come along and experience Speakeasy. Like magic mushrooms, it might become addictive and remember, you will not be compelled to speak unless you really want to and Toastmasters would welcome your presence in The Hibernian Hotel at 8.00pm.

For further details visit www.speakeasytoastmasters.com or contact Helsa at 083-8858848.