Which Disney Character are you?

Wednesday evening. I was attending a very interesting conference but nothing can make me miss my TS session. I arrived late, but just in time for the entrance of our brand-new sergeant of arms, Beatriz, who gracefully introduced our magnificent president, Sandra.

Sandra, as usual, welcomed our guest and members and asked them... Have you ever visit our website?  Sandra was announcing there is a new project in our club. The whole website and social networks will be improved. The website committee, coordinated by Montse and Isabel, is open for collaborations, are you interested? They are planning to provide the web with new content and improve lots of new features such as recording some of the sessions (TM members, if you have any problem with appearing in these videos, please let it know to the committee asap), create a youtube channel and much more! We are coming into the age of new media!

Sandra introduced the Toastmaster of the evening: Sean. Every session has a theme, a motto. Sean came up with this one: Which Disney Character are you? Sean likes getting to know who his fellow members are and to do so, he sent us - all participants of the session- by email a personality test, the Meyers-Briggs test, and then we found out which character we are according our results and gender, either male or female, prince or princess, hero or heroine.

According to the test Sean is an ENFP - his archetype is campaigner/activist- and his Disney character is Aladdin. It is his favorite Disney Movie and character too, Sean would love flying around the world on Aladdin’s magic carpet and we accepted to step in his magic carpet to the unknown territories of Toastmasters Land. Time for presenting the role of the royal technical team. Bella from the Beauty and the Beast was the timer who keeps the session on time; Prince Eric from The little mermaid, the grammarian -who cares about the use of language and proposed a delightful word to use in our speeches-; and Pocahontas, the Ah Counter -who notes down all crutch and pause fillers that make ugly our discourses. And, the blogger is… Ursula the witch of the sea! In every fairy tale there must be a witch, who tells the story from a different point of view.

Culture, Crocodiles and Caipirinhas is the title of our first adventure, taken place in the new world, namely Brazil, starring (another) Pocahontas. Maria Luisa goes on stage to talk about a wise and charming woman, her own Grandmother Willow who was Brazilian, and the fabulous and inspirational stories she told her about her homeland when she was a child. As Toastmasters, we have to overcome task and trials, just like the protagonist of legends, tales, myths... The goals of the 7th task of TM are to collect information from numerous sources, carefully support the points and opinions with specific facts, examples, and illustrations gathered through research. This is how María took us to Brazil, firstly we were touched by the tender view of her grandma and the little Brazilian paradise stayed still on her childhood memories, and secondly, we were engaged by the research done of her own. She spoke about Amazonian Forest and their exotic animals her grandma used to talk about: tarantulas, crocodiles, jaguars... 60% of amazonian forest is located in Brazil. It is the most biodiverse location in the world. Only 3000 thousands especies live near the Amazon river and their surroundings. Since the Portuguese explorer Pedro Alves Cabral -the Portuguese version of John Smith- discovered this land, Brazil has been a land or adventurers, Maria told us the unforgettable odyssey of the Brazilian Olympic Team to take part in the L.A. Games in 1932. The melting pot of cultures and its warm weather makes Brazil a place for artist, musicians, food: the famous Girl from Ipanema, the modern architecture of Oscar Niemeyer, the feijoada and, of course, the caipirinha, are part of the cultural identity of Brazil. Violence of police, and great gap between rich and poor people reveals the dark side of paradise. In spite of all these lights and shadows, Brazil will always be a land for legend and adventure.

Sean, gliding on his Carpet, introduces the next speaker. Pluto was Manolo’s favorite Disney character. Pluto doesn’t speak, -so it could not be a toastmaster-, instead it is able to express his emotions through body gestures, no words are needed. Manolo uses body language to express himself. According to the test, he is a very spontaneous, and enthusiastic person, such as this charismatic Disney character. Two for One was the title of this speech on the Successful Club Series nº 11, framed in our educational program about toastmasters and leadership.

TOASTMASTERS INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION AND LEADERSHIP TRACKS

The Toastmasters educational program consists of two tracks: a communication track and a leadership track. This diagram shows the award progression in each track.  Source.

Two for one refers to the two paths of the Toastmasters adventure. Manolo focused his speech on the leadership and the ten task the toastmaster must do to become a (better) leader. Listening, Critical thinking, Giving Feedback, Time Management, Planning and Implementation, Organization and Delegation, Facilitation, Mentoring and Team building are the ten projects of the Competent Leadership Manual. This talk was really useful for those who have just started our toastmaster journey.

The next stage of the session is starred by the evaluators. Sean, now back to stage, introduced Rayanne, Princess Elsa from Frozen, to evaluate Maria’s discourse. Rayane highlighted Maria’s presence on stage, the connection to the audience and the structure of the story. Mariyana, who chose Disney classic cartoon Mickey Mouse, evaluated Manolo’s speech. She pointed out his enthusiasm, the use of visuals and the structure.  Pluto and Mickey, what a great duo!

Pluto and Mickey, what a great duo!

Sean continued the session giving the floor to Bill Clinton! Yes, Sandra, our president, was the Table Topic Master and Disney films and characters were the theme of improvised discourses of the evening. The first volunteer was Maria, who put herself in the glass shoes of Cinderella: the Tinder date with the prince “charming” was so awful that she had to leave the party at 10. Leaving at 12 was too rude! Miguel was full of wit when his love kiss didn’t woke up the Sleeping Beauty. Beatriz had to split up with the Hunchback of Nôtredam, she was afraid of heights, and jumping from tower to tower wasn’t her idea of a romantic date. And then Lluis had to give some advice to Shrek who was meeting his parents in law…

Before saying good bye and his magic carpet disappeared towards the distant horizon, Sean introduced his last speaker: Emilie Jaquetton, the general evaluator, whose role consist of giving feedback of the whole session. Emilie’s favorite Disney character is Cinderella, but the results gave her Pocahontas (III), a natural born leader full of passion and charisma. Firstly Emilie asked for the report of the technical team and then she made some remarks on evaluators’ contributions. She encouraged Rayanne to try to go out of her comfort zone and Mariyana to improve her eye contact. Emilie complimented the toastmaster on the funny and original leitmotiv of the session that helped to get to know each other.

At the end of the session our beloved president congratulated Manolo, he has achieved the Advanced Leader Bronze Award. Happy ending for a bewitched session.

THE END

Cast:

Aladdin as Sean Palit, Toastmaster

Belle as Isabel Montero, Timekeeper

Prince Eric as Marc Majoral Grammarian

Pocahontas as Montserrat Beltran, Ah-Counter

Úrsula, the Witch of the Sea as Carmen Platero, blogger

Brazilian Pocahontas, Maria Luisa Gomes, first Speaker

Pluto, as Manolo López, second speaker

Princess Elsa as Rayane Bachammar, 1st Evaluator

Mickey Mouse as Mariyana Tasheva. 2nd Evaluator

President Clinton as Sandra Almeida, Table Topic Master

Pocahontas III, Emilie Jaquetton, General Evaluator