Last Tuesday night saw another very successful meeting of The Galtees Toastmasters with three new members joining - welcome to Mary, Hilary and John. We also had several guests, including our friends from Fermoy Kevin and David Walsh.

Dick Lyons’s speech was a beautiful one, where he told us all about his late dad. Dick is an advanced speaker, and his skill showed in the way he crafted his speech, taking us through key memories of his father. Neil McAuliffe also gave a wry, entertaining speech about puzzling things in life, well done Neil. We then had a masterclass in impromptu speaking. Our scheduled third speaker was delayed in arriving and Kevin Walsh gave a speech instead. It takes a truly gifted and experienced speaker to give a speech without notice. Kevin is such a speaker, he told us all about his recent trip to Dublin and the various sights he visited - Bord Failte should employ him!

We also had an interesting array of topics from Máire Corbett, ranging from beauty gadgets and their effectiveness to reality TV and baking. Kevin had been invited as general evaluator, so later in the meeting he invited the evaluator to give feedback on the speeches. This is a key part of how we learn and grow from the Toastmasters experience. By getting feedback on what aspect of a speech worked well and how we could develop it further, we hone our skills. This is all done in a supportive, fun way, so Toastmasters is an enjoyable learning experience.

At our next meeting we have one of the highlights of our year, and everyone is invited. The annual humorous speech contest and also the table topics contest take place on October 8th at the Firgrove Hotel. At this contest speakers will battle it out to win the prize for the best humorous speaker and also the best response to a topic. In the topics contest the contestant will all reply to the same topic, without hearing the other responses. It is fascinating to hear the different ‘takes’ people can have on the same topic!

The winners from the contests will represent the club at the area final in Fermoy on 15th October. So come along and see a great night of fun and repartee. Guests are always welcome and will never be asked to speak, unless they choose to! Check us out on Facebook or Twitter!

Neil Mc Auliffe, Dick Lyons, Mary Daly, David Walsh, Ann Lyons, and Kevin Walsh

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