What did you feel when you quit something in your live? Opening our meeting on February 26th René adressed this question to the audience. Different statements came up like heavy emotions when a relationship to someone you love comes to an end, coping with the reactions of people around you when
you give up something too challenging or your own expectations because every end also means a new beginning.
Continuing the warm up our Toastmaster of the evening Alexander asked MartinS for a joke. He told the story of a man entering a pub, ordering seven vodkas and drinking them quickly. Asked why he was in a hurry he answered everyone else also would be, having just 50 Cent in the wallet. MartinE had chosen a saying by Alfred Hitchcock for the thought of the day. Hitchcock commented on the casting methods of a colleague 
of his: „Disney has the best casting. If he doesn’t like an actor he just tears him up“.
A kind of moving pictures were also the main element of the Table Topic session. MartinE had prepared a set of power point slides changing in a 20 seconds increment for each speaker. René talked about his recent visit to India and how he said thank you to the guys who offered him transport on the back of an elephant. Unfortunatly they didn’t like his present of a potatoe because they were unaware how to prepare and eat it. Did you know that Lorna had in mind to become the mayor of London? For that reason she invented demanding studies in a creative process concerning drugs and ducks. As an experienced Toastmaster our guest Simon easily combined his past as the „white Ray Charles“ with the competences of Bob the Builder in plastic surgery. Katharina spoke about the difficulties when coming back from Jamaica to Germany. It was a hard time having no proper place to stay, being bounced around and without proper food. But finally a nice elderly Lady offered her a hearty meal – it was Her Majesty
The Queen who gave her a formidable Quarter Pounder. Spending his youth in the jungle of South America MartinS had a terrible time. Whether it were Angela Merkel, Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkoczy clattering around or an evil clown, Martin was so happy to meet a blond girl who encouraged him to leave the area and live with her together.
Working on the speech project „Get to the Point“ Diego analyzed the world’s drug problems and the specific aspects of this „market“. To solve the problems he suggested to change the international consensus of prohibition to a legalized and highly regulated market. 
His evaluator JP emphasized the clear purpose of the speech. Improvements could have been made by using concrete expamples instead of abstract figures. Diego impressed everyone with his confidence and natural appearance.
Ombretta summed up the 5.000 year old history of books. Asking „Dead as Doornail or Alive and Kicking?“ she had a critical look at tablets and e-readers. Still today she loves papery books and likes to share them with her friends. Being her evaluator Simon stressed out the positive and lively presentation and suggested to work on the body language. Finally Ombretta convinced with a passionate and personal speech.
As the crowd was a bit smaller than normally everyone could enjoy a private and face-to-face atmosphere full of rhetorical activity. Closing the evening René mentioned the contest season ahead and invited everyone to the events.³
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¹ Word of the day (presented by Julia).
² 4 club members are going to complete their CC manual until June.
³ Join our Club Contest on March 12th and visit the contests in April on Area and Division level too.
pictures: finlandia.com, Michael Rittmeier / pixelio.de, Arno Bachert / pixelio.de, Wilhelmine Wulff / pixelio.de
Wow, Martin! Thanks a lot for this gorgeous meeting report! I love your style of writing and the way you incorporate plenty of pictures and even reference material.