Meeting 1121 - "Back to School"

We might not all remember the warm milk or the slates and chalk (we do have some senior members it seems), but once upon a time we all went  to school. So when Marlene rang the bell for the lesson to start, we all sat up straight and listen to the teacher.

Before the lesson went on the way, we had our Sergeant at Arms Gokul call the meeting to order and our Acting President Gail open the meeting. Since Gail is also responsible for our program changes as our Vice President of Education, she went very efficiently through those varieties.

Then it was time for Toastmaster Marlene to share some school stories between the segments.

She called on Trevor to give us the toast. Since he will celebrate three new years within a couple of months (Australian, Chinese, Thai), he toasted us to "Happy, Healthy & Prosperous".

Sam as our Wordmaster had selected a challenging word with "Melange". He gave us an assortment of example sentences.

The Round Robin was led by Trish and asked us to share "one memory of our school days". The answers were a medley of funny memories and the finest anecdotes. Although it is questionable if the truth was recalled, especially which end of the paper the idiot was on...

 

Our prepared speeches were from a mixture of Pathways paths and projects:

1) Christiane's speech titled "If at first you don't succeed" (Persuasive Influence path, Level 3, elective project: Focus on the Positive) told us about the journey of humble beginnings of all the blessings in her journal.

2) Gokul's speech titled "Dear Evaluator" (Engaging Humour path, Level 2, project 1: Know your sense of Humour) gave us justifications (important!: not excuses) how a speech is crafted in a short time.

3) Tony's speech titled "Leadership in Action" (Effective Coaching path, Level 2, project 1: Understanding Your Leadership Style) gave us a glimpse into the works of an area director and the decisions which need to be made during the (planning of the) area conference.

Marlene kept up her recollection of school times during the evening (and showed us how she learnt letters).

Gail enticed us to buy raffle tickets for a chance to call a hodgepodge of goodies ours. She was kept busy during the break selling tickets.

Jonathon was our time keeper of the evening and kept us on time with his succinct timing reports.

The supper - or as Marlene called it: little lunch - was kindly provided by Gail and Trevor (without photos because we were enjoying the dips and crackers and sweets and strawberries too much).

In the second half of our lessons/ meeting, we were ready for those Table Topics. Jonathon had prepared a potpourri of topics relating to learning. He called on:

1) Tony - "Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education." (by Martin Luther King Jr) Is there anything about this quote that strikes a chord with you? => No, since Tony disagreed with the quote and said that true education is how to apply wisdom.

2) Marlene - Think back to your first day of kindergarten. What did you want to be when you grew up? => teacher

3) Gokul - What was your favourite subject at school and why? => history because of the stories and language courses because of the application

4) Hazel - Who was your favourite teacher at school and why? => Mrs Saunders due to her elegant outfits

5) Trevor - What important things should they teach kids at school, but don't? => financial education (and relationships)

6) Sam - What advise would you give your younger self when you had just finished school? => Consider an apprenticeship rather than study (since there wouldn't be a HECTS debt) plus to go out more

The speakers were evaluated by Carmy and Gail.

For her Show & Tell segment, Hazel brought along a nostalgic tin in which her dad had kept all the important documents of his life. She posed an interesting question with it: Did life get more complicated? 

Sam reported on the usage of "Melange" and it was a miscellany of being used in the right context and just repeated several times... The conclusion was that there was no real winner this time which was a dog's breakfast.

Our General Evaluator brought structure though by going through the segments which hadn't been evaluated yet. He congratulated our evaluators of demonstrating the improvement point to make it clearer.

Then it was time for our guest Ana to pick the winner of the raffle - it went to Trevor -, closing reminders of the Club Officer Training and speeches as well as the awards presentation.

Gail presented the awards to:

Best Speech - Gokul

Best Evaluation - Trish

Best Table Topic - Tony

Most Improved - Gokul

Our next meeting is on February 14 which is 3 weeks away.