It was a cold January afternoon, so we gathered at the main room at Anthony’s Place. The meeting started on time, and we were glad to welcome a lot of guests! Ana even came after having seen Toastmasters International Speech Contest winner “I see something in you…”

Thoughts of the day made us reflect, in different ways: Alex Hristov illustrated with a chain of examples how supporting something almost always has the potential of making somebody else uncomfortable; and Damián Alcolea had a simple, but heartfelt message for us about something we can all do more often: say thank you.

Anselmo Sainz Bengoechea did his first speech, his Icebreaker, and left us all open-mouthed with a delightful representation of his storytelling abilities. His use of gestures and body language reinforced his tale of a childhood dream that continued into adulthood.

Jaime Irastorza, our President, became Competent Communicator with an inspiring speech #10 that relied on emotions and memories most of us will have –key to success! He took us all to our childhood days, by showing toys most of us played with; and touched our “potato” reminding us that we should jump in a rain puddle once in a while. Congratulations Jaime!

Grammarian Teresa Ortega, and timer, Maria Marjevscaja were both “nicely bossy”, and our Toastmaster of the Day, Raquel García, was faultless!

An exhaustive and thorough evaluation by General evaluator Jane Kinnear closed the meeting, reviewing the job of evaluators and giving us all a tip: if you cannot think of something to criticize, quickly ask people sitting next to you!

This meeting was one of starting and closing a phase in a Toastmasters’ journey, one of encountering friends we haven’t seen in a while, one of welcoming lots of people with interest in joining our little family… in the end, a nice melting pot, and a common goal, develop communication and leadership skills, while having a good time!

Written by Luci