Roscrea Speakers Club return

Our last meeting was on Thursday 14th of September 2023 and was conducted solely on line through zoom. We had a great turnout of members , new members and guests and thankfully our new season has got off to a great and energetic start .

Our Toastmaster ( or Chairperson ) on the night was Siobhan Burke who tuned in all the way from Scotland. Our Topicsmaster was Julie Murphy online all the way from Waterford , our Grammarian was our newest member Anna Rubin who was with us all the way from Dublin and General Evaluator Alan Coffey and Grammarian Edel Carey from our own Tipperary .

What a pleasure it is to have members from different parts of the country and indeed the world and what an energy and different perspectives they bring to our meetings .

Topicsmaster Julie gave us a range of great and interesting topics for discussion and in this section we are challenged to speak on a given topic for two minutes ,  if possible , with no chance to prepare your answer. This helps us practice what we call “ off the cuff “ speaking , important in social interactions and work meetings .. In her roll as Grammarian , Anna Rubin helps us to practice illiminating what we call “ crutch words “ such as “ ah “ and “ am “ leading to , in time and with practice ,   more fluent and professional speaking . Our speeches on the night were from Una Mooney and Una,s speech was from level 5 on her journey and was entitled “ Painting the dream “ .

Fellow member Matt Bourke evaluated Una,s speech with great encouragement and making one simple recommendation for Una for her next project. In this way we learn from one another in a relaxed and comfortable environment . Our second speech on the night was from larry Lyons and was an educational speech for all of us on the importance of evaluating speeches correctly , honestly and positively ..

At the end of our meeting each member who performed a roll delivered his or her end of meeting report and in this way everyone is given the opportunity to speak and deliver a simple and short report. Our next meeting is on Thursday 28th of September , but this meeting will be operated both on line through zoom , but also in person in our meeting room in Racket Hall Hotel , Roscrea at 8 pm and ending at 9.30 pm sharp .

As always, we extend an open invitation to anyone and all of you who may find speaking to groups either socially or in work situations challenging , to come along and join in and see for yourself , if what we practice and learn at our club could help you or be what you are looking for .

We are always trying to grow our members as the more members we have the stronger our club will be and consequently the more we learn together and educate ourselves . Please contact Larry on 086 8125427 or email roscreaspeakers21@gmail.com for more information or meeting link.