Our Word (or should I say, ‘words’) of the evening came thanks to TM MB and were a pair of options looking towards the year ahead – Anticipation &/OR Anxiety
Duties were then pass over to our Table Topics Master for the evening, TM YS, who posed a variety of questions around the theme of hypotheticals which both tested the non-native English speakers’ grammatical knowledge, along with all the participants’ creativity and originality. Questions included:
- Suppose you were able to become a different person just for one day, who would you like to be?
- Suppose you were able to become an animal just for one day, what would you like to be?
- Suppose you were invisible just for one day, what would you like to do?
A wonderful challenge indeed. Thank you TM YS!
As the busy workdays of our members came to a close, the number of participants steadily increased until we were at our usual level, which was the perfect time to start the prepared-speech section.
Today, there were three prepared speeches, as follows:
1. TM SA – Inclusive Leadership (Presentation Mastery Level 2)
TM SA introduced his communication style following on from completing a diagnostic questionnaire. One key result was that he has a cooperative style and is always calm and patient. He explained his style of working with others and that it has great advantages for diversity and inclusion within an organisation. That’s why he wants to work internationally and with people from varied backgrounds.
Evaluation: TM NW gave a warm evaluation with lots of kind words and compliments, along with clearly crafted feedback.
2. TM YU – Time will Tell (Dynamic Leadership Level 3)
TM YU talked about the impossible questions that children often ask such as ‘why is the sky blue?’ or ‘why is the sea salty?’. He shared the difficulty in answering these questions with 4 examples of strategies for adults when answering curious questions;
- scientific questions that adults can’t explain or don’t know well
- simplified answers for unnecessary questions
- ‘fake’ answers for questions which are too early for children to understand
- answer to avoid leading to more difficult questions.
Evaluation: TM NS gave well-structured feedback based on experience and a deep knowledge of the TM matrix. This was then backed up by specific reasons and examples, making it easy to apply.
3. TM AB – Being part of a majority group (Researching & Presenting Level 1)
TM AB gave her first English speech in our TM group. She introduced her perspective related to being part of a company in which the majority of managers are women. By being in a mostly female team/organisation, she mentioned some great advantages for communication including comfort, better collaboration, and quicker resolutions due to a more relaxed, informal atmosphere.
Evaluation: TM YH gave some great overall feedback including that as a first English speech this was excellent.
Our general evaluator, TM KO was smooth and enthusiastic as ever. TM KO handled the general evaluation with his usual deft touch and confident, humorous delivery.
Our evening was then wrapped up with the presentation of the awards as follows:
Best Table Topic – TM MU
Best Evaluator – TM NS
Best Speaker – TM YU
A wonderful effort on all parts. Looking forward to the