Fabulous debuts
We enjoyed this meeting with lots of members making their debuts in a new role. First, Anh made her debut as Toastmaster of the Day, or the master of ceremonies, and nailed it. It shows how attentive she has always been. She not only read the materials but also pays close attention to how other members are performing roles that she is taking some time in the future. She must be watching the recordings of our meetings, which are only available for members for their reviews, to learn what is expected of each role and how well she can serve in those roles.
Another member, C.J. Marks made his debut as a video feed operator, who switches the Zoom video feed between the Speaker View and Gallery View. In our hybrid meeting, we project the Zoom window to the screen. When a Zoom attendee is speaking, we want to spotlight them in the Speaker View. Otherwise, their faces will be too small on the screen. On the other hand, when a venue attendee is speaking, we want to switch to the Gallary View because with the Speaker View, the image on the screen will be bigger than the speaker themselves and that is a bit distracting. C.J.'s debut is a blessing because we've had only a limited number of members capable of seiving in that role and those members tend to be forced to take multiple roles.
Another member making her debut was Ayako, who served as the Timer. It is a demanding role. The Timer is expected to 1) Time every prepared speech, Table Topics speech, and evaluation speech, 2) help the meeting go according to schedule, and 3) keep a record of when each segment of the meeting started. She did just that in a timely and succinct manner. She typed in the chat the speech time every time a speaker is done speaking. She sent in the chat the starting time of each segment the minute it started. On top of that, she typed in reminders like "(3 minutes left)" and "(1 minute behind schedule)" so that we could keep on schedule or at least avoid going overly behind schedule. She was the first to send in the reminders in the history of our club. Kudos to Ayako!!
Finally, Mariko made her second (?) debut delivering her "Ice Breaker" speech, the speech every Toastmaster makes for the first time in their Toastmasters journey. Actually, she has been a Toastmaster for about seven years and she is working on a new path, or a course in Toastmasters' educational program Pathways. Though there are some people not happy about having to repeat the very basics of introducing themselves to a club, it is always good to revisit the basics and start anew. After some experience delivering speeches, the "Ice Breaker" project brings you new findings and new challenges. Congratulations, Mariko, for making your debut again!
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