The Panda bear, dogs, a chameleon, butterflies, a cheetah, worms – just to mention a few, all kind of animals are the favorites of Mannheim’s Toastmasters. They were the answers to MartinS warm up question what animals fascniated the audience. He handed over to Guenter as Toastmaster of the evening who chaired the evening successfully. Explainations of the main structure, smooth transistions between different parts and roles and a precise meeting process made it easy to follow. „Lunacy“ was Steven’s choice for the word of the 
day which means a stupid behaviour that will have bad results or (old fashioned) mental illness. Then Lorna told the funny story of Bill who started a new job as painter. He delivered an outstandig performance in painting yellow lines on his first day. But from day to day his efficiency declined as the way to the paint bucket became longer and longer. „Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.“ (Robert Louis Stevenson) was the thought of the day presented by Jeff.
Being the Table-Topic Master Jazzmin encouraged the members of our club to take on different roles and to present dialogues off the cuff. So Perrine and MartinS acted as a couple. Returning home she had to communicate carefully that she crashed his Porsche. Rudy played the role of a little boy who had to convince his father Rolf that aliens were in their garden. As a police officer Steve wanted to fine Lorna on her 
black and white painted horse for speeding. But instead of paying a penalty she offered him a ride into the sunset at the Neckar beach. Than the audience witnessed a historical argument. Napoleon (Jeff) and the Emporer of China (Artur) argued who would be the greatest man in the world. Finally the little Frenchman wanted to know the way to China to conquer Asia and offered some fine French wine as a good and valuable consideration.
Continuing the meeting after the break Steve presented his Icebreaker. He said that relationships play a fundamental role to us – some they kill, others they bring back to live. An important relationship to himself began when he 
was in Spain and met his girlfriend for the first time. Because of her he came to Manheim and now he learns German and discovers the culture and the people of the country. In her evaluation Sophia emphasized the flow and the clear structure and suggested to work on vocal variety and pauses between the different parts. Steve delivered his first speech in a serene and confident manner.
Vivian explained the differences of „nature and nurture“ that influences children when growing up. By using profound facts and examples she illustrated the main impacts on personality – heredity, shared environment and unshared environment. Being her evaluator Rudy noticed the good organisation and the awesome composition of the speech. In his opinion a little story related to each statement would make it even more memorable. By using a sharp contrast in her opening Vivian immediately draw the audience into her
presentation.
Being on the verge of despair Rolf shared his experience with his new tablet computer. Whether it was an e-mail account screwed up, a film dubbed in the wrong language or unwanted facebook buddies, Rolf gave a lively report about boon and bane of modern technology. Now he wonders if his airline would accept tickets that are printed into „the cloud“ instead onto a sheet of paper. Reviewing the speech Jeff was happy about the great choice of the topic. He pointed out the strong and lively voice that makes it easy to listen. Jeff recommended to use a joke or a funny story in the beginning to fullfill the objectives better. After all Rolf’s entertaining speech convinced with subtle irony.
Taking over again MartinS talked about the „beat the clock“ membership contest. If the club gains at least 5 new members in May and June the person who brings in the most guests and new members will win a one-year membership of our club! At the end of this evening it became clear that active members, entertaining Table Topics and profound presentations certainly are part of the Toastmaster’s genome sequence.
pictures: foto-planet.com/pixelio.de, C. Falk / pixelio.de, Gerd Altmann / pixelio.de, Matt Buchanan (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en)