Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Club-Hopping at JPhil TMC as Guest Evaluator

It was my first time to visit the JPhil Toastmasters Club today at the Madrigal Business Park in Alabang. Finally!

Upon Pres. Abelle's invitation way back when we first met at Metro South Alabang in 2018, I've been wanting to visit the club. But with Area Director duties for my 5 area clubs and a club I was mentoring, I didn't find the time.

Attending in today's lunch meeting were: (L-R) Genesis Isidro, Leslie Ann Moreno-Marcelino, Abelle Cruz, Ken, Eds Castillo and me.


(photo credits: Genesis Isidro)


My 5 area clubs are:
  1. Alabang Community Toastmasters Club
  2. BF Community Toastmasters Club,
  3. Continental Manila Toastmasters Club
  4. Omega Toastmasters Club
  5. QSI TMC
And then I also mentored the UPS Alabang Toastmasters Club.


Heavy Traffic from a Freak Accident

Seeing how the SLEX heavy traffic has backed-up all the way to the Susana Toll gate, I was having second thoughts whether to proceed or not to the meeting.

I heard from the Tollway guard that the traffic along SLEX has reached all the way to Sta. Rosa! And this was due to a sand-hauling truck accident near Sucat. The truck turned to its side and spilled sand all over the expressway and East Service road.

Fortunately, after Alabang towards the Madrigal Business Center, traffic was normal. I'm not very familiar with the place of JPhil (JGC Philppines) and was worried parking would be a problem.

The guard was willing to let me park beside the building when I said I'll only be there for a lunch meeting that will last an hour. So, in spite of the bad traffic, I was late for only 10 minutes.



Short Toastmasters Meeting

We had two Prepared Speakers for today, Eds (Icebreaker) and Genesis (Inspire Your Audience, Level 3). Pres. Abelle deemed it better to start with Prepared Speeches and so Table Topics could follow and may be shortened in the interest of time.

Time was indeed a premium as they only had an hour for the meeting. They originally had meetings in the afternoon, starting at 5 pm, that can be extended up to two hours. Nonetheless, I commend them for pushing for meetings no matter how short.

Apart from being General Evaluator, I also evaluated the two Prepared Speakers.


Social Speeches for Table Topics

The Table Topics with Abelle as Topicsmaster was rather innovative. I've not seen it before. Respondents were asked to give short social speeches. These were the choices:
  • A Toast for a Wedding
  • A Birthday Greeting
  • Wishes for a Retiring Superior

These type of mini-speeches usually have two main parts: relating with the person being greeted (stories of reminiscing, memories, etc.) and then a message or wishes to the person.

Ken was the first respondent and delivered a birthday greeting for a daughter. I was the second called and so I gave a Toast for a Wedding (Abelle's). Leslie Ann gave an excellent evaluation for Table Topics.


A Quick Evaluation

Since we were pressed for time, I asked for 5-minute break to finish my notes and fill-out the evaluation forms. The club members took the time to have their lunch as I rushed to complete the forms and compose my evaluation speeches.

I didn't have time to eat anymore so I took home the Kenny Rogers lunch the club provided. As I summarized later on, the meeting was "short and sweet".


If there would be a next time, I promised to come earlier. I really enjoyed the meeting with JPhil.

Thank you for having me as a guest evaluator, JPhil Toastmasters Club!




And that's... a wrap!