Meeting summary for Vancore, May 16, 2012

Last Wed’s Vancore Toastmasters meeting was led by Chair and VP of Education, Connie Hubbs, and held at the Bread Garden at Hornby and West Pender Street which went amazingly well despite the somewhat noisy conditions.  Also, we had the odd customer drifting in and out of the restaurant trying not to pay attention to us but seemingly curious about what we were doing.  Maybe we will have another new guest this week!

Vancore members enjoyed the experience of meeting in a totally different atmosphere: no TM banner, no lectern and gavel, no name plates or green/yellow/red flags for participants in Table Topics to watch out for.  Some people spoke for almost two full minutes, and others even went further.    We are definitely gaining great experience and improving our impromptu speaking.

Mary Lou provided a lovely inspiration on practical gifts to give to people who are going through difficult times.  Flowers and cards are very nice, but what is really appreciated is prepared food for meals when one is too busy or tired to cook.  Good tip to remember when wanting to support a friend or family member in need.

Angela bravely took on the role as Joke Master and spoke about the billionaire who borrowed money from the bank in order to get free parking.  No wonder he was wealthy!

We were all much saddened and inspired by the two speeches given that day.

Mary Lou practiced her most touching and eloquent eulogy in tribute to her beloved brother Gordy, who passed away recently.  He lived with a developmental disability, loved to smile and laugh, and had an amazing way of teaching “able” bodied people the true meaning of living.

In life, challenging events happen to us all.  Toastmaster’s is a safe and supportive place to practice honoring the people we care about in a public venue.   We sincerely thank Mary Lou for sharing the light of her brother’s life with us and are so inspired by her courage and willingness to do so with such poise and grace.

Connie’s AT Bronze Speech was on the great accomplishments of heavy metalist, Jason Becker who suffers with ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig Syndrome.  Conducted in a TV broadcast style, Connie provided a 7-minute review of the inspiring documentary on the life of Jason Becker called, “Not Dead Yet”.  She presented us with a fantastic overview of what was compelling about the movie and had us asking about it after the review.   A successful TV broadcast indeed.

Debra provided the evaluation for Mary Lou’s eulogy calling it a moving narrative and a beautiful speech on what her brother Gordy was like as a person.  Debra felt Mary Lou was calm and articulate on her delivery of such an emotionally challenging speech and painted an amazing picture of her brother.

Angela conducted Connie’s evaluation giving her high marks for a clearly expressed opinion of the documentary, excellent tone and pace of her review, great eye contact and a successful achievement of the talk’s objectives.

Table Topics was lead by Susan who provided Loa, Cory, Borzo, Cal, Angela, Mary Lou and Debra with opportunities to speak for 2 min each on an impromptu topic of she chose.  Everyone provided an enthusiastic account of their thoughts on a particular subject area.   Hats off to guest Cal who even stepped up and spoke for the first time!

Cory was the General Evaluator and gave us kudos for holding a successful meeting in an unusual location.  We also were provided with a challenge of holding more eye contact with our audience given the distractions around us.  Overall, a fantastic meeting!

Our Chair, Connie adjourned the Meeting at 4:30 PM, sharp.