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Mar. 27th, 2009 10:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pedantherToastmasters meeting yesterday.
The usual practice is to have three or four people prepare and present speeches (of between 5 and 7 minutes) on topics of their own choice. The wise scheduler will ask at least six people to prepare speeches, against the inevitability that some will drop out or be unable to attend or whatever. About a month ago, nobody dropped out, and we had an unusual number of speeches in a single meeting; but they were all good, and nobody minded.
This week was different - every scheduled speaker was unable to make it. Fortunately, one of the people who was due to give a speech next month had already started preparing it, and volunteered to give it this week. Also, there happened to be a chap elsewhere in the building where we were holding the meeting who knew a lot about the building's history (it's over a hundred years old), and he was invited to come and talk to us about that for a bit. Since he wasn't a member, he wasn't held to a time limit, and his talk was three timed speeches long all by itself.
In addition to the longer prepared speeches, there's a section of the meeting where people are called on to improvise short (one to two minute) speeches on topics they are given. This time out, it was my job to provide the topics. This is the scenario I presented:
It's loading day on Noah's Ark. The animals have been going in two by two all day. The green alligators, the long-necked geese, the humpty-backed camels and the chimpanzees are all safely stowed. Now there are only a few pairs of animals in the waiting room - and they've just had some bad news: somebody miscounted, and there's only one pair of seats left!
To forestall an acrid debate, one animal from each pair will now give a short speech about why they and their partner should get the last two seats...
I had a bag of little plastic animals, borrowed from a relative who teaches primary school, and I drew them out one by one and assigned them to the speakers. There was a horse, a scorpion, a cat, a blowfly, and a toad. (And some others, but we ran out of eligible speakers.)
My favourite moment was when the cat tried to persuade us that the horses should be disqualified on the grounds of their immorality - after all, it is well known that they have long had close ties with the gambling industry!
(And who got the seats? Well, there was some good news: at the last minute, there was suddenly enough extra room for everybody. It seems Mr and Mrs Brontosaurus refused to come in from the shuffleboard deck when the rain started, and were subsequently rendered extinct from pneumonia...)
The usual practice is to have three or four people prepare and present speeches (of between 5 and 7 minutes) on topics of their own choice. The wise scheduler will ask at least six people to prepare speeches, against the inevitability that some will drop out or be unable to attend or whatever. About a month ago, nobody dropped out, and we had an unusual number of speeches in a single meeting; but they were all good, and nobody minded.
This week was different - every scheduled speaker was unable to make it. Fortunately, one of the people who was due to give a speech next month had already started preparing it, and volunteered to give it this week. Also, there happened to be a chap elsewhere in the building where we were holding the meeting who knew a lot about the building's history (it's over a hundred years old), and he was invited to come and talk to us about that for a bit. Since he wasn't a member, he wasn't held to a time limit, and his talk was three timed speeches long all by itself.
In addition to the longer prepared speeches, there's a section of the meeting where people are called on to improvise short (one to two minute) speeches on topics they are given. This time out, it was my job to provide the topics. This is the scenario I presented:
It's loading day on Noah's Ark. The animals have been going in two by two all day. The green alligators, the long-necked geese, the humpty-backed camels and the chimpanzees are all safely stowed. Now there are only a few pairs of animals in the waiting room - and they've just had some bad news: somebody miscounted, and there's only one pair of seats left!
To forestall an acrid debate, one animal from each pair will now give a short speech about why they and their partner should get the last two seats...
I had a bag of little plastic animals, borrowed from a relative who teaches primary school, and I drew them out one by one and assigned them to the speakers. There was a horse, a scorpion, a cat, a blowfly, and a toad. (And some others, but we ran out of eligible speakers.)
My favourite moment was when the cat tried to persuade us that the horses should be disqualified on the grounds of their immorality - after all, it is well known that they have long had close ties with the gambling industry!
(And who got the seats? Well, there was some good news: at the last minute, there was suddenly enough extra room for everybody. It seems Mr and Mrs Brontosaurus refused to come in from the shuffleboard deck when the rain started, and were subsequently rendered extinct from pneumonia...)
