The Matrix, Evaluators reloaded & Table Topic Revolution!

09/Jul/2014

The session started with a long pause, sighs and some special delays , the agendas were not there... Maybe that was part of this TMT  Matrix, matrix reloaded and Matrix revolutions session ....

Even the order of the agenda change suddenly while the voluntary SAA Daniel Ramirez and Nacho Tellez Toastmaster were solving the agenda's delays, Catalina Maldonado opened the session giving the word to our president Mariyana Tasheva.

Mariyana introduce the guests, we had some frequent guest Hernan, Cristina, Enrique, some new guests Tommy, a Georgian visitor and Ibtisem a fellow member from Pride French club! To all of you Thanks for visiting us you are welcome to come whenever you want!!

Our president also gave some feedback from the committee meeting occurred last Monday and she explained that there are some vacant places for the trekking/kayaking plan and invited members and guest to attend, if you are interested please contact to Judith Permanyer, who will be happy to provide all details.

After some minutes the agenda came back to the reality, and Morpheus Nacho Tellez our Toastmaster started the journey he stated "Unfortunately, no one can be told what the toastmaster matrix  is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back" and he offered the members and the guests to choose between the blue pill and the toast master's red pill, both pills were located in each desk together with the evaluation sheets! Well done Nacho!

" You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe or You take the red pill and you stay in the barcelona toastmasters club session and He showed us how deep the rabbit-hole goes." the audience took the red pill and joined this adventure that was divided in three parts, the prepared speeches, the evaluations and the table topics or impromptu speeches.

Nacho introduced his technical team conformed by Marc Cypher Majoral timekeeper, who explained the importance of Time management, Joseph Apoc Beale Grammarian who explained his role using the world cup fever Brazil vs Germany style and introduce the word of the day SUBLIME. After that the turn was to Daniel Ramirez Who was the Ah-counter of the session and he literally made some matrix body language movements that did not have anything to envy to Neo and Smith's performance in the original Matrix movie.

Henry Obegi completed his second speech, triggers of happiness, Henry performed a great speech, he shared with the audience some ideas on how to increase your triggers of happiness .. Like starting your daily routine without any rush, he invited to set the alarm clock and instead of going back to bed or postpone your alarm clock, he suggested to try something different, E.G. drink a glass of water instead, small actions will change your daily routine, he proposed different examples of what's good or bad using some researches on what people think about who is going to heaven?

The results showed that most of the people was replying that they were ... He invited smokers to quit and gave some tips, his  message was clearly explained with supporting materials, he knows how to trigger at a time, who is not interested in improving your quality of life?... Small actions will create new habits and he encouraged to explore and improve our own triggers of happiness.

Gerard Vidal completed his third speech he took us in a personal journey that changed his way of thinking as a traveller, he lived a tragical comedy running from one place to another in a foreign country with a foreign language ... Serbian, but there in the most untypical situations love crashed on him, Gerard reminded us the importance to review the schedule and enjoy the life as it comes, full of surprises, As a good taking home message Gerard stated the journey not the arrival matters.

Rayane Bachammar performed an informative speech "just a normal woman" explaining the different controversial issues caused in EU due to usage of Headscarves by Muslim woman, she explained the traditions, that this accessory is a symbol of protection, she explained the main causes which make these accessory so popular nowadays and she invited the audience to quit the prejudices against woman that uses it.

Excellent visual aids as she used the headscarf herself and explained which are the main stereotypes and invited the audience to instead of criticizing the usage of it, next time maybe try to find some common interest between you and that person, to conclude she said you will find that they are "just a normal woman".

Catalina Maldonado, Judith Permanyer and Madalina Burghelea  were The three evaluators, one for each speech, the toasties completed the sandwich evaluators type in words of our General Evaluator Jelena Vetockina.

 The three evaluators gave positive feedback, mentioning the best points completed by the speaker, some improvement suggestions and a motivational phrase to continue in the communication career at toastmasters.
The table topics master was Iñaki, our Mexican fellow toastmasters from Agora Almeda and Sagrada Familia, lucky us that we have such talented visitors in our club! Thank you so much Iñaki for entertaining with some movies table topic.

Ambros was the first volunteer, he did it amazing he needed to describe how to conquered the heart of the lady in red! He used his imagination as he confessed that he didn't watch the film, the good thing is that our dear Ambros successfully completed this impromptu speech and when beyond the expectations! we are waiting to hear your future speeches.

I'm surprised by the active participation from our guests, Hernan our Argentinian, Tomy from Hungary and Enrique from Madrid, all of them were amazing, are you guests? Or members? I really doubt it not only because they are frequent guests in our club but also because of the way that they controlled their nervousness, the smile that characterized their performance and the natural fresh air that was perceived in the audience while they were performing! Good job Dear Guests!!

Finally was the turn of our oracle General Evaluator Jelena The Oracle Vetockina she gave positive feedback with the smile that always characterizes her, she mentioned some improvement suggestions and she liked the way that the session was switched in order to solve the last minute issues, she remembered the importance of wearing the badges and she introduced her technical team.

The reports were presented by our technical or technological team, in the toastmaster matrix they did it their best it was a SUBLIME team (Joseph Apoc Beale, Marc Cypher Majoraland, Daniel Dozer Ramirez! you are amazing) and each one of them gave the report, with the toastmaster spirit in a very enthusiastic manner they also provided some constructive feedback, mentioning the good and some improving tips.

Well that's all in this fantastic Matrix session and I'll conclude with the original last quote from the Matrix Trilogy... "Is this real?" Yes it was and you can come to enjoy our next meetings ... There are still some roles available, are you ready to improve your communication and leadership skills?

Catalina Maldonado