But... Which Was Which?

There was a rumour in the air, which turned out to be true: a large box of chocolates, gifted by Anne Dooley from Ireland after her guest speech the week before. Paul Conde did the passing-around honours, thus starting the session on a sweet note.

After a brief and to-the-point opening by sergeant-in-arms Soledad Castellano, our president Sean Palit asked that modern-day question: Are you happy with your job? Happily, most of us are. For the benefit of those who aren’t sure, he explained that (according to the author Dan Pink), our job happiness depends on the degree of Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose we experience in our daily work. Hmm… Never heard of Dan Pink – mental note to check out what he has to say.

Our Toastmaster of the evening, Sebastian Ortega promised us the evening would flow. And move it did, from the past to the present and over again, as he flashed the participants’ childhood photos onto the screen. But not before showing us his own in the form of a mini-challenge: which of the two little boys shown in the image was Sebastian, and which was his brother? We would learn at the end of the session, he promised.

As custom, the role-players of the evening gave succinct explanations of their roles: Maria-Luisa Gomes (Ah-Counter), Soledad Castellano (Timekeeper), Mona Tellier (Blogger), and Roberto Dei Giudici (Grammarian), who in this role also introduced the Word of the Day: Didactic.

Miren Alli AIcua took the stage for her third ever speech, taking on the task of defending astrology as a science in her speech entitled: “It’s Not Rubbish”. Very convincing were her arguments – who knew that spies, politics and war are all accompanied by the science of astrology! Truth to tell, she (almost) convinced me to visit a reader soon.

Mariyana Tasheva was our Entertaining Speaker of the evening and, with a speech called “The Art of Lying”, she proceeded to outline the dexterity necessary to hone your lying skills, based on her friend Tony’s expertise. Who knew there was a philosophy behind this art, and that to do so ethically is to your greatest advantage!

It was Sean Palit’s task to lead us into the realm of salesmanship, with his very entertaining (and challenging) talk on “The Six Principles of Persuasion”. We are all salesman, we learned, since our lives depend on us convincing someone of something most of the time. With the help of Beatriz Garcia, we were led through the Buyer’s Journey, on route to the sale of an appealing steam diffusor. It was win-win all around.

Our evaluators then took the stage: Miguel Escobar (Miren), Paul Conde (Mariyana) and Manolo Lopez (Sean) gave the speakers the benefit of their experience with discerning observations.

Yanina Macia prepared an enjoyable Table Topics theme for the evening. After advising them to take the time to PREP, she had the volunteers Mark, Adrian and Alex attempt to talk themselves out of a compromising position. They came up with surprisingly convincing arguments.

Ambrós Abellana, as General Evaluator, provided us with a very un-didactic, inspiring summation of the evening’s proceedings.

Sean Palit brought Miren Alli Aicua and Miguel Escobar to the stage, since both have now completed their third speech. This honour has three advantages: their mentors are now freed from their duties, they themselves may be Evaluators, and they transition from the role of Mentee to that of Mentor themselves.
Topping things off, Sean Palit had our four guests of the evening provide us with their impressions (very favourable) and Soledad Castellano hit the hammer to end another great TMC session.
BUT…. Did we ever learn which of the two little boys in the photo was Sebastian himself? If so, please let me know!