Thank You

Dear Toastmasters and Friends,

What a fantastic party!

When I arrived yesterday to help arrange the Polterkeller for our party, Kristina Koch, Angela Saxby, Laura Beyer, and Mateusz Bukowski were already there, hard at work. This team of organizers has labored diligently behind the scenes for months to prepare a smashing holiday party for Zurich, Mosquito Hill and Zuriberg Toastmasters, for our fellow Toastmasters from Zug, Bern, and St. Gallen, and for our welcome friends. There isn’t enough room to record everything each one has contributed, so I’ll simply point out that without the magnanimous investment of time, talent, and even property, from each of them, our party would have been impossible.

Special kudos to one of our younger Toastmasters, Laura Beyer, whose raffle and dessert buffet last night displayed tremendous creativity, not to mention industry, as she baked and bustled the entire week to dress our tables with irresistible treats and gorgeous raffle bundles.

Big thanks to Frances Turley and William Horan, who shared their stories and a walloping serving of hilarity, and to Kamran Derakhshan, who conducted a feisty and stimulating Table Topics tournament.

Thanks also to Toastmasters who donated raffle prizes: Kristina Koch, Jack Vincent, John Styffe, and Selina Man Karlsson.

Finally, thanks to all of you who simply showed up with your smiles, your social elixirs,  and your dancing shoes, and helped to make it a warm and wonderful evening none of us will ever forget.

Douglas Hope, the Toe for Toe dance leader, told me that 200 years ago, when villagers congregated regularly for Céilidhs, quarrels between friends and neighbors would be forgotten as they danced together. That historical sketch epitomizes the spirit which we hoped to foster between Toastmasters and friends in our three clubs and beyond, when we selected a Céilidh as our holiday party activity for 2012.

So as we conclude a remarkable year and contemplate 2013, I trust we will carry this sense of camaraderie and collaboration between Toastmasters and friends into the new year.

We hope to see all of you again soon,
Olivia Coker
President
Zuriberg Toastmasters

Meeting 13. November 2012, Report by Christina Ehlers

Olivia Coker, Zuriberg Toastmasters’ president, warmly welcomed the members and the guests of the club. She went on reminding everyone about the upcoming deadline of buying tickets for the highly promising Celtic Dance Party of December 1st!

Stefano Basurto (evaluated by William Horan) got the prepared speeches off to an interesting start by describing with vivid colors the challenges of running an inline skating race in London. Illustrating the “rise and fall” in his herculean efforts to stay in the loop and cross the finish line, he suggested that a meaningful challenge is not the one that brings necessarily glory; it suffices to bring enough personal satisfaction. The use of “I” in Stefano’s speech added warmth and sensitivity managing to gain the sympathy of the entire audience in each and every kilometer of his race.

Continuing with another odyssey, Adrian Engler (evaluated by Thomas Koetzsch) described how he quit smoking. Although the vocal variety was the major objective of this 6th speech of Adrian, his witty way of presenting the hyperbole surrounding the behavior of addicted smokers turned his narrative to a first-class humorous speech. However, given so many positive examples as side effects of smoking (boost of productivity, increased concentration following nicotine intake), Adrian left the house amicably wondering whether he has quit smoking by accident.

Henrik Karlssson (evaluated by Olivia Coker) delivered an advanced speech attracting feedback on his story-telling competences. “Now or Later?” was a delicate motivation touch prompting the listener to make the small steps (now or later) which can drive to a great adventure; in this case, a trip around the world. The moral was impeccable, but the climax might have been improved by painting a picture of the trip itself and drawing the audience into it.

The first half of the session was concluded by Christian Funke, whose elegant jokes nicely entertained the audience prior to dinner being served.

Nicholas Allan’s table topics were distinctly easygoing as they reminded me of the sweet kinder garden question “What’s your favorite XYZ?”. Nicholas wanted particularly to know what our favorite film, color, holiday, food, drink, and season were.

Winners of the evening were Kevin Boomsma (Best Evaluator), Paul (?) (Best Table Topic Speaker and guest), and Adrian Engler (Best Speaker).

Meeting 30. October 2012, Report by Martin Hahn

“We, the Oviri”, Olivia Coker

Nicola von Lutterotti (evaluated by Adrian Engler) got the evening off to an interesting start by thinking about the nature of communication. Citing research on primates, she suggested that only humans have the capacity to cooperate and, correspondingly, communicate. While I would have liked to debate Nicola with some rivalling research that clearly shows animals exhibiting altruism and cooperative behaviour, I applaud her efforts to make us feel good about communication and to think more deeply about it.

Inspired by a TED talk, David Ermen (evaluated by Celine Horan) continued the scientific agenda by asking if our body language can actually have an effect on ourselves (not just on our audience). Using his own body as an example on stage, David explained how different poses affect people’s confidence and even their hormone levels. His speech was as interesting as it was practical for everyday life, not least for the topic of public speaking without fear.

Olivia Coker (evaluated by Nicholas Allan) delivered a colourful speech on the colourless prints by Paul Gauguin. Setting the scene – and drawing the audience into it – at the Kunsthaus Zurich, Olivia painted a vivid picture of the artist who at the end of his life described himself as a savage. “We, the Oviri” was a tour de force of art, civilization, and psychology – passionately delivered and sparingly supported by visuals, to mark yet another highlight in Olivia’s outstanding collection of speeches she delivered over the past years.

Table Topics Magic Duster, Seun Oyetan

Fiona Wallace-Mason’s table topics were distinctly amusing and reminded me of “Whose Line is it Anyway?”, as she asked a number of people to pick obscure items from a bag and talk about them spontaneously. Objects included a chocolate bar, a broom stick, a pack of (magical?) mushrooms, and cinnamon sticks.

Winners of the evening were Nicholas Allan (Best Evaluator), Robert MacKenzie (Best Table Topic Speaker and guest), and Olivia Coker (Best Speaker).

The session was concluded by Marcel Cattin, who almost brought the house to tears with two rather sassy jokes.

Table Topics and Humorous Speech Contests

Table Topics Winners: 1st, Marc Suter; 3rd, Fiona Wallace-Mason; 2nd, William Horan
Humorous Speech Winners: 2nd, Nicholas Allan; 1st, Marc Suter

We started with Table Topic hosted by Ilka Gehlhar. Each contestant was asked to promote his/her own new book titled “Our Iceberg is Melting”. Henrik Karlsson started off by bringing up the seriousness of environmental issues we had on our planet. Marcel Cattin diverted the topic from “iceberg melting” to “ice breaker” as in an opening for a speech introduction. Fiona Wallace-Mason gave an energetic “I love iceberg!” start and connect icebergs to childhood memory. Adrian Engler gave a “matter of fact” stand and urgency about the topic of climate change. William Horan made a hilarious presentation on showing us a run-down of “don’t believe anything-anyone says” chapters on the book. Cameron Roy took the “two PhD doctors searching for answer” proof on global warming. Nicholas Allan expanded on “luggage-carrying” pinguins on the cover of the book. Finally, Marc Suter opened with some serious questions, continued with some fuel facts, and ended with sense of urgency to promote people to act.On Oct 2, we had our club’s Table Topic and Humorous Speech Contests. Tonight’s format is a bit different from our usual meetings. First, the speech order is drawn by lot on the day. Second, we have no evaluation, only ranking and results for the speeches. Not to mention our first two winners for both categories will be representing our club at the Area Contest on Oct 13! Talk about pressure!

On our second half of the meeting, after an introduction from our club president Olivia, we started with humorous speech contest. Nicholas Allan kept us entertained in “Sleepless in Transit”, with tales of his own traveling experience on long-haul flights and stories of his friend sleeping through stops and managed to keep missing his stop in one drunken evening. Marc Suter showed us some powerful techniques on how to stop losing things with “Count & Bundle”. Unfortunately, Fiona Wallace-Mason was disqualified due to timing.

Congratulations to all the winners! Wish you best of luck and success in the Area Contest!

Debating workshop at the District 59 Conference in Bonn

We congratulate our club member Nicholas Allan for having his workshop on debating included in the program for the District 59 Fall Conference in Bonn. As we know from trying the format in our club meetings, it is not only educational, but also a lot of fun for the participants and the audience.

Nicholas Allan will lead the debating workshop at the District 59 Fall Conference in Bonn

Continue reading “Debating workshop at the District 59 Conference in Bonn”

No Meeting August 21st, CONTESTS October 2nd!

The club will meet on August 7th, and then take a break to enjoy the last weeks of summer. We will meet again on September 4th, according to our regular schedule.

Don’t forget that the Humorous Speech and Table Topics contests are just around the corner on October 2nd. If you didn’t make it to the Olympics, this is your chance to cheer and rave!

Lakeside Meeting Review

All that we had envisioned for our summer gathering was realized on Tuesday.

Through Angela Saxby’s beneficence and the exceptionally good mood of the Zurich weather gods, Mosquito Hill and Zuriberg Toastmasters ascended the stairs of the Zurich Rowing Club to arrive at a spectacular, sweeping view of white sailboats adrift on glittering cerulean waves, rare inspiration for a relaxed, vibrant and buoyant Toastmaster evening!

We had hoped to enjoy a fantastic event on the lake, to give every member the opportunity of becoming part of a larger circle of aspirants on this challenging rhetorical journey, and to expand and deepen our understanding of how we can accomplish our goals as leaders and orators.

With speakers, evaluators, and Table Topics Masters from both clubs, we witnessed a variety of topics, performance styles, and analytical approaches which must have given all of us fresh ideas to bring to our regular meetings. Congratulations again to Christian Langenegger as Best Speaker, Merin Chacko as Best Table Topics Speaker, and Angela Saxby, Florian Hehlen, and Piotr Skoczylas, who tied as Best Evaluators.

Add to the educational program copious contributions of wine, dinner, and laughter, and we accomplished a rewarding synergy of mood and meaning which none of us will ever forget. We trust that this event only marks the beginning of a tradition of successful collaboration between the three English-speaking Zurich Toastmasters clubs.

Thanks again to everyone for a great time!

The Speech Marathon

Our first speech marathon, a mini-marathon really, on June 26th was a fun and fitting conclusion to the 2011-2012 Toastmasters term!

As always, the meeting was a team effort from start to finish, with almost every member performing at least one role, some more than one.

Special thanks to Christian Funke, who spent two weeks working behind the scenes to advertise, find the perfect gift for our prize winner, and investigate the special beamer logistics in the big hall. He also arrived early Tuesday, saving the day by sprinting out to print more evaluation forms at the last minute—since I had forgotten we would need 7 per person!

Lesley Stephenson, our club’s founder, not only offered expert tips in her evaluation to Lip-Hong, but jumped in on two-hours notice to deliver a professional, innovative, and inspiring Pecha Kucha presentation on her High Performance Leadership project, which has evolved into a permanent foundation: Ethiopian Enterprises. Thank you, Lesley! Look for more from Lesley in autumn, when she returns from Ethiopia and extensive professional speaking engagements.

It might have seemed as though every time you blinked, there was Nick Allan, crouching under tables and chairs, perched at the edge of the stage, emitting a subtle, steady stream of clicks as he materialized first in one spot, then another! That’s because Nick, a much-in-demand photographer, was on an action photo shoot—check out the results in the gallery!

Ilka Gehlhar exhorted us all to make Toastmasters our babies, because we get more when we invest more—sing it, sister!—and Nicola Von Lutterotti delivered a much-needed kick in our derrieres with her speech, “Let’s Move!” I described how Toastmasters helps us satisfy the universal human need to be understood, Christian Funke delivered an incisive and amusing critique of the Schengen visa system, and David Ermen had us laughing and gripping our chairs during his anecdotal dramedy, “The Taxi Ride to Chill”.

Piotr Skoczylas was a witty and upbeat TME, and William Horan payed a warm tribute to the club as he expounded on the joys of his experience this year as VPE. Lip-Hong Teo delivered his final CC manual speech, also a farewell address to mark the end of his four-year Toastmaster journey—we wish you well, and you are always welcome back, Lip-Hong! Christina Ehlers and Martin Hahn regaled us with joke interludes, one of which, in conformance with statistical probability, involved a mother-in-law. Evaluators, timer, Vice SAAs, everybody contributed, thank you all for making it a wonderful evening!

Congratulations to Nick Allan on the Best Evaluation. Congratulations to Lesley and me, Best Speakers. Finally, grunts of respect to Nick Ahmann, winner of the “Bring the Most Guests” prize, who sprang up to the stage like Rocky to collect his Logitech PC remote control.

A warm welcome to our two newest members: Alice and Stefano. Look out for their Icebreaker speeches!

Save the Date: Zuriberg & Mosquito Hill Toastmasters Lakeside Event

 

Many thanks to Angela, of the Mosquito Hill club, who has made it possible for our two clubs to convene for one sparkling summer evening on lake at the Zurich Rowing Club.

Two speakers from each club will be evaluated by members of the other club; one Table Topics Master from each club will lead us in a round of impromptu invention; and the rest of the roles can be performed by any member from either club.

This is also a great opportunity to share your favorite culinary fare or beverage in a buffet, details in Easyspeak.

Looking forward to expanding our perspectives and enjoying the lakeside together on July 24th!