Another vibrant session, with live music, we had at sagrada Familia TM

Scarlet Vázquez as acting president gave a warm welcome to our only guest  Stefania Dago.

We started the session with Amy  as Toastmasters of the Day and choosing the rhetorical figure of the day:  Tautology

And the rhythm of the session came with the hand of Juan Carlos playing the guitar!

Tautology is the use of two words or phrases that express the same meaning, in a way that is unnecessary and usually unintentional

Examples:

-Last but no least.

– It is what it is.

Theme of the day: CHANGES

Amy opened up remaining us that We need to adapt to change, the pandemic forced us to change to  Online sessions, lively and stimulating.

Amy asked every one who participated:

What Public Speaking  skills have you changed since you joined club?

Marcel Muntaner our General evaluator was surrounded by a vibrant and professional technical team:

Desideri – Timekeeper- “Nothing changes if you change nothing, and here we are all changing the way we communicate to become better speakers”.  Said him.

Scarlet – Ah counter. “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until is faced”  is Scarlet philosophy.

Juan Escobar – Grammarian – choose the  Word of the day: VIBRANT.

We started with the 1st and only speaker of the night:

VICTOR PIQUE!. – Victor thinks that he has improve his Public speaking skills form 1 to 6 during his year as TM member.

Today he delighted us with his speech:   – “I´m not bragging” from the Innovative Planning path.  Victor explained to us how his mentors in life and in toastmasters have helped him to change. Staring in 2004 with his first mentor in a real estate business he worked for, and in 2012 when he joined TM and started performing different roles at the committee, Cristine Twarog boosted his confidence when being Sergeant at arms, then Iñaki Eguiarte guided him to be VPE  and take his speaking to a next level. Also explained how in his actual working life his friends and current boss have helped him to make important decisions.

Victor used beautiful rhetorical figures when saying how His mentors have influenced him,  being his lighthouse map, his Secure harbor. 

Closing with: “I´m not bragging that my mentors have helped me to make the best version of myself”.  

After listening to his stories, I´m sure he was not!.

Then came Juan Carlos Durán evaluating Victor´s speech.

To Juan Carlos, according to Amy, his biggest change has been in his self-confidence and attitude. To any Public speaking challenges now, he has the confidence to take any opportunity.

Juan Carlos praised Victor speech: “Good strategy with title and messages, and storytelling technique” – On the improvement side he encouraged Victor to Convey emotions using more pauses that can help him to add drama and meaning to his words.

After the speech section came the improvisation part

Our Table Topic Master Carl came every well prepared with 24 questions that made all the attendants vibrate while participating.   Here you have our participation for your amusement!

-What you biggest fear? Alba, losing her teeth!

-Freedom in your won words.   Juan Carlos: freedom vs slavery.

– If you have 100.000€ have to spend it today. What would you buy?  Juan Escobar: he didn´t know, he will spoil himself. Finally, he decided to buy a Yacht, a house, a car, and donate.  – he manages money very well! 😊

-When was the last time you tried something new. ? Marcel:   when joining TM

-If you could teach something what would it be?.   Encarna: To be happy.  Her experience taught her that the most important thing is to be happy.  Sharing time with other people. Good people, family, colleagues. 

-what are your favorite simple pleasures? Estefania:  Food she eats every day, taking care of herself.  Spending time with her family and friends.

– What gets you excited about life?  Desideri:  Spending time with loved ones. Doing adventures and sports.

– If you could eliminate everything with exception of one thing that she can carry in her backpack, what would be?  Amy:  Her hearing aid. When she hears nothing of the world, not know if something can harm her, and she will make sure to pack lots of batteries for the hearing aid.

– When have you work hard and love every minute of it?  Victor:  difficult to know. The last time he did it he was burnout. His current job. Specialist in a programming language to transform messages. Hard but rewarding.

– What makes someone a hero?  Scarlet:  She loves Superheroes.  Because they are a role model for her. They can choose to do wrong or right with their power.

Carl, closed his section remarking the importance of asking questions as it is very interesting to see what people do or think about different things.

Closing the session came back the general evaluator and his team:

To sum up, we are improving in time management and in the use of rhetorical figures, but most of us are abusing the filler word “eehh”. Scarlet encouraged us to make an extra effort to use pauses instead.

Finally, Amy closed the session by inviting us to Cherish the people in our life because we don´t know when it will be the last one.  Make every moment with each other memorable!

Juan Carlos accompany Amy by playing the guitar the song of David Bowie –  CHANGES. 

Acting president Scarlet. Remark the importance of leadership in TM and the commitment

And made a useful call to reflection: How can you improve a little bit in your leadership life?

Definitely a very vibrant and motivating session!.

Hope to see you all in the next one!

Alba Lucia Hincapié

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