Saturday, April 6, 2019

Apr 6, 2019 Toastmasters Meeting

Today's meeting was a bit extraordinary in that we had the Division H champions who came to practice at our club. They will be representing the division in the forthcoming District Contest in Cebu on April 27, 2019.

Attending today's regular meeting were (L-R): Standing: Porsh Maliksi, Annette Tayao, Jude Ola, me, Ed Ramirez, Pam Patacsil, Tzarina Saldana, Rea Muncada, Alvin Panghulan, Chloe de Guzman, Nona Hermogenes, Ida Sih, Raul dela Vega, Ellen de Guzman and Cristina Yung. Seated: Dolly delos Reyes, Ching Bognot and Leah Catapia.


(photo credits: Porsh Maliksi)


Mentoring Session

I was at Cassalu earlier than usual to meet with Glendy and discuss mentoring matters. Already at Cassalu were Dolly, Raul, Ida and Nona. They all came from the Vivere Speechcraft cluminating activity. I had a chance to lecture in the second session in Vivere's Speechcraft for Table Topics.

Unfortunately, Glendy did not make it in time for the mentoring session. So I proceeded to the function room to set up the club paraphernalia as I always do. Glendy came later and was in time for the club meeting.


Meeting Program Adjustments

It was a bit chaotic at first because some of those who had meeting roles have not yet arrived (what else is new, right?). And there were a couple of major insertions in the program as well. So we had to make adjustments.

We even stopped the meeting briefly for around 5 minutes just to clear things up with the TOD. It was good that our TOD, Jude Ola, remained calm and cool while changes were made on the fly. Kudos, Jude!




Table Topics Free Tickets

Yup, Topicsmaster Ching gave out free tickets to "The Avengers: Endgame" movie for the first five table topic respondents to volunteer. And yes, all 5 tickets were quickly gobbled up!

The regular Table Topics portion was reversed with Prepared Speeches as part of the adjustments.


Prepared Speeches and Table Topics Extension

We had the five Prepared Speeches today with no back outs! Three of the prepared speeches were evaluated by Evaluation Division Champ Annette Tayao from Aboitiz TMC. One prepared speech (Leah's) was evaluated by Ida Sih, and the other (Ellen's), by me.

An extended Table Topics was conducted for Table Topics Division Champ Tzarina Saldan from Metro South Alabang TMC.


Lunch Break

After the Educational portion was a well-deserved break. We had free lunch of Beef Salpicao and Crispy Chicken ala King. A Cassalu lunch won't be complete though without its famed cheesecake desserts. Am not too fond of desserts though and so I didn't have any.

Shown below is Ed taking a photo of the group during the break. That's Leah across me at the other side of the long table. Then there's Lita who just stood up, Cristina, Raul, Loise, Nona, Ida, Alvin and Rea. At my side of the table were Ching, Glendy and Annette. Jomarc Baquiran and Nelcy Marcillana were there too.


(photo credits: Ed Ramirez)


Fund-Raising Auction

After the sleep-inducing heavy lunch, we had an auction! This auction was an activity to help raise funds for the club in the next term (2019-2020). Cristina was a natural for an Auction Manager. That's her holding a Michael Kors watch set.

The auction was a welcome activity for me. That's me near the lectern looking problematic and trying to make sense of what I wrote in my evaluation of Ellen's speech. Haha.

In the photo below (L-R): Chloe de Guzman, Dolly delos Reyes, Annette Tayao, Glendy Artes, Ed Ramirez, me, Cristina Yung, Pam Patacsil, Lita Hidalgo and Tzarina Saldana.



Club Auction Winning Bidders

Three items were auctioned (L-R): A pair of Hello Kitty car neck pillows won by Nona, a regular watch won by Pam and the Michael Kors watch set won by Glendy. For the Michael Kors watch, it was a fierce contention between Glendy and Ellen.



More Photo-Ops

It was truly a productive yet super enjoyable meeting. At the end of the meeting, on my way out, Ellen invited me for a photo-op with Ed. I think she really liked my evaluation for her speech.

In fairness, I gave it much thought and was as thorough as I could possibly be. Heck, I even went overtime in my evaluation (groan).


(photo credits: Ellen de Guzman)

Hmmm. It's my first time to wear a floral shirt with the navy blue blazer and denim pants. Looking at the photos, I think the match-up looks cool. But then, I'm not known as someone with great fashion sense. Haha!

Not too visible in the above hoto is the shoulder bag/briefcase for carrying my suit jacket. This Toastmasters document briefcase was given by Director Benz. I had customized the Toastmasters bag/briefcase a bit to put in some velcro straps.

Finally, BF Community TMC's send-off to the contestants who will be representing Division H to the District Contest in Cebu: Raul dela Vega for International Prepared Speech, Tzarina Saldana for Table Topics and Annette Tayao for Evaluation and Humorous Speech.

Break a leg, guys!


Here's a scanned copy of today's meeting program.


And that's... a wrap!