Discussing Table Topics on a Monday over lunch by Tony Green

In order to polish my speaking skills I recently joined my local Livermore, California Toastmaster chapter.  On most occasions at the beginning of the meeting the person acting as Toastmaster goes through the assignments of the roles the attendees will perform during the meeting.

Since there no formal speeches planned for this meeting the Toastmaster decided to go with Table Topics which are topics on which you speak 1 ½ to two minutes off the cuff. Today’s topics were current events and groundbreaking technologies which have the possibility to change the future.   

Ribbon cutting at Livermore Lunch Bunch Toastmasters 

The “current event” portion opened with the recent story of the “blade runner“, the Olympic athlete who had recently murdered his girlfriend. The next person talked about Michael Jordan’s comeback and the OSCARS while the next person spoke about Jimmy Carter in San Francisco and touched on the ARGO movie.  The next participant spoke about Gun Control and the killing of Charles Doerner Nick from Seattle. The next presenter continued with the current event theme talking a subscription fee which was being implemented or a web site that he had logged regularly for free in the past.  The topics changed to upcoming changes in technology which led to a discussion of space mining of rare metals and later nanotechnology. I piggy backed on the dialogue of nanotechnology by explaining about the relation nanotechnology and how the size of the particle related to the novel properties which could be created. The next speaker started her chat with the words, ”Imagine a world” and touched on quick transport ,using  cargo airplane and talked about the possible impact in our lives .  The last speaker was a new visitor chatted about finding a new passion. In summary, one of the more senior members stated of “practicing talking to people” is what Toastmasters was about.

We left 45 minutes after we arrived. The whole idea of Toastmasters is to use the opportunity to practice your speaking skills. The reasoning is any time you work to develop any skill on a regular basis over time improvement will occur.  Mission accomplished. Every town has a local Toastmaster section. Check it out if you get the chance. You’ll be glad you did.

Photo Courtesy of http://www.toastmastersclubs.org