“Of course I struggle, I just don’t quit.”
Poorana, our presiding officer welcomed Joana, our guest from Sweden who volunteered to evaluate Craig’s special project of this evening, a panel discussion. The toastmaster of the evening JP informed about the recognition medals which can be achieved for various programs (finishing a path, leadership program). With various quotations he referred to the theme of the evening: “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that is why we recommend it daily.” – Zig Ziglar, American author, salesman and motivational speaker.
The word of the evening is “tenacity” – stick to something even when it is difficult. The word was used several times in the evening. Jeff referred to Ralf Smedley, the founder of Toastmasters, for the thought of the evening. He focused on the importance of evaluation to foster enthusiasm in TM clubs. Florian gave us a nice joke with a surprising twist in the punch line.
Poorana led through the table topics session:
1. Tell us why Schnitzel is your most favourite dish. Kevin told a nice story about his childhood.
2. Which of the two cities is a cool city – Mannheim or Ludwigshafen. Uli reported about the negative things in Ludwigshafen pretending she loves them. This irony made the story exceptional and enjoyable.
3. Tell us why afternoon naps should be made compulsory at work. Joana referred to the many advantages power naps have and gave Spain as example. Naps are needed there as a protection from the heat.
4. What is the one thing you really hate in Germany. For Florian this is carnival. In Bayrisch Baden this festival is extensively celebrated and he does not like it.
Another motivational quote: Steve Jobbs – “Time is limited. Don’t waste it to live someone else’s life”.
This evening Craig led through a panel discussion with the title “Social Media Addiction & Mental Health – the 21th century stressor.
This project is part of this path presentation mastery level 5-4 – Moderate a Panel Discussion. His panelists are JP from generation Y, Ksenia from generation X, Kevin from generation C and Florian from the millennium generation. Jeff represented the (pre) baby-boomers.
Craig asked the panelists various questions, included everyone and stuck to the time limit of 45 minutes. Examples of questions:
– What is your No. 1 goal of using social media?
– Which activities on social media foster good mental health?
– How can social media have a negative impact?
– How hard would it be for you to face a hiatus of social media for several months?
The panel discussion was evaluated by Joana. She praised the choice of panelist and the way Craig involved everyone. She missed a predefined goal of the discussion and a summary of the findings in the end.
The general evaluator Sybille, asked for the reports of grammarian Oliver and Ah-counter Uli. She gave feedback to the TT speakers who all did a good job delivering well structured speeches. In the table topics session she missed the link to the theme. Joana’s evaluation was excellent covering all the points the GM has found. All in all an exceptional meeting, very demanding and entertaining thanks to Craig’s project.
In the awards session the best Table topic award was given to Uli.
Final motivational quote: Confucius – “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”
(Thanks to Sybille for this great re-cap!)
Join us for our next meeting on May 24th. Till then, best Toastmaster greetings from me,
Jeff
——————————————and here is a picture of the group:
