317th Meeting: Learning By Doing

 

 

Just like every other meeting, Filcom’s 317th was a success! Jan, the stand-in Sergeant at Arms and a first time for the role welcomed the members and guest reminding them of the meeting protocols as he called the meeting to order by 7pm, on the dot!

 

The indefatigable VP-Education cum Toastmaster of the Day, Leo started the session introducing the theme through a challenging hands-on activity which was learning the art of paper folding (origami). Members learned to make a fox and a puppy out of the square papers. They were able to follow through the idea as he continued to give learning techniques (experiential and kinesthetic) and examples and applications of the theme in Toastmasters.

 

An educational session about Writing Speeches was delivered by no less than the Club President himself, Kit, which gave pointers on how to effectively write stupendous speeches giving emphasis to the structure and content that proved beneficial to the members especially to the new joiners.

 

During the prepared speeches session, Dennis delivered a stupendous Project No. 8 introducing his new concept De-Mu theory on wealth which is pending patent registration. After that, Joseph did a press-conference regarding the 2018 District 20 Toastmasters Annual Conference (D20TAC). His fourth project under the Advanced Manual-Communicating on Video.
 

Table Topics Session was moderated by DTM Luis who effortlessly unraveled “Today in History” with reference to the Spanish and Portuguese colonization. Kit, Jessie and Tag battled it out and gave in their insights about committing mistakes leading to new realizations, challenges leading to either failure or success and making decisions that will immortalize or destroy a leader, respectively. A short break followed suit with a selection of healthy snacks and drinks shared by everyone while catching up.
 

In the Evaluation Session, Tag and Shyam evaluated Dennis’ and Joseph’s speeches, respectively highlighting the strengths and gave insights on how to better improve in the next speeches. More like using the sandwich technique which was very encouraging and at the same time eye-opening. The role players gave outstanding reports at the end further evaluating all the speakers on how well they did with the usage of English language, timeliness and minimizing if not obliterating crutch and filler words with Viji as the Grammarian, Mazhar/Anil as Timer and Dale as Ah Counter. The word of the day was used by almost everyone. What a stupendous kind of meeting! Kit, who wore another hat as the General Evaluator assessed the performance of all the role players and the overall conduct of the meeting highlighting the best practices and some things to grow on.
 

Finally, Leo wrapped up the meeting reiterating that in toastmasters, we always learn by doing. It was reinforced with a quotation from Benjamin Franklin that says: “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn”