Dublin Toastmasters ... a Year in Review by Elaine Staveley

Submitted by toastmt on

It has been a great year for Dublin Toastmasters. We have just had our final meeting before the summer break – an opportune time to reflect on the highlights of the past year.

We had several Special Events this year...

  • Halloween meeting, Topics World Cup & Accelerated Meeting
  • Christmas party with singing late into the night
  • 55th Anniversary Meeting in April: 70 attended including 15 past members and we celebrated Joe’s 96th birthday!
  • Salsa & Mastermind night
  • Summer BBQ with over 50 attending

 

We had a Member Survey early in the year. Members mentioned the club’s strengths as:

  • the encouragement every single speaker gets
  • the diversity of members
  • the high standard of speakers and evaluations
  • the social aspect

In true Toastmasters fashion, there was also some constructive feedback! Below are some of the changes we implemented after the feedback:

  • the Topics session is now just one reply per topic.  This ensures that every member gets a chance to speak and also that members answer topics in a pure “off the cuff” manner
  • before the break, we now ask people to say hello to the person next to them… which starts a nice social atmosphere
  • we brought back the summer BBQ!

 

Many of our Members achieved Toastmasters awards this year:

  • Competent Communicators: John Harmon & Elaine Gallagher
  • Advanced Communicators: John Hennessey & Henry King
  • Competent Leaders: Francis McCabe, Gillian Davidson & Henry King
  • Advanced Leaders: Fiona Kearns
  • Because of these member achievements, paying club dues on time, the committee attending training & the number of new members, we are a President’s Distinguished Club
  • Winners of our contests: Andrew Lomax, Simon Scriver (Autumn); Eddie O’Hanlon and Simon Scriver (Spring)
  • John Hennessy also served as our Area Governor

 

Year-end Member Awards:

  • Best New Member: Kevin Reid
  • Toastmaster of the Year: Gillian Davidson
  • Most Memorable Speech of the Year, voted for by the members:
    • 1st Traoloch Mac An tSionnaigh - Body Speaks at Work (cc5)
    • 2nd Gillian Davison - The Roast of Simon Scriver
    • 3rd Virgil Hammond - Ice-breaker

 

New Website: We gave our old domain to the District and have worked hard on the new website www.dublintoastmasters.ie.

Thanks to the Committee for doing an excellent job!

  • Gillian organised 41 (!) club meetings
  • Henry worked behind scenes with club finances
  • Teresa set up the room and welcomed the guests each week
  • Andrew helped launch our new website & answered emails
  • John Harmon managed our Facebook page in the first term
  • Elaine Gallagher helped our guests become members
  • Simon ran the mentorship progamme & the member survey
  • Fiona as immediate past president & organising this year’s election

 

Being President of this Club has been an honour for me. Dublin Toastmasters is a great club which provides an excellent environment to learn and is also a lot of fun.

Thanks to all the members and guests who have made this year such a fantastic year!

Elaine Staveley

President Dublin Club 2013 -2014