Table Topics Question Comes to Life!
Regina Litman
1992, meeting. My all-time favorite singer was coming to Philadelphia
the following week for three concerts, and I had tickets to two of them.
My excitement level was high. I came up with the following question:
You have the change to meet a long-time favorite celebrity, living or
dead. What will you say to this person?
So, someone talked about John Wayne, and I think I asked it multiple
times, and someone else talked about Billy Joel (another great singer,
but not the one I was going to see).
Well, the singer came to town, and I saw him perform, and I had a great
time, but I didn't get to meet him. I had no idea back then how to go
about doing this.
For the Area Contest earlier this month, I needed a Table Topics
question. With this singer due to hit Philadelphia again on October 17
and 18, I decided that the question I used back in August 1992 would be
a good one, so out it came. I got a good variety of answers, and it got
a good reaction from audience members, too.
He came to town this week as scheduled on Wednesday and Thursday. For
security reasons, I don't want to go into full details of how I knew
where he was going to be at a certain time on Wednesday afternoon, but I
happened to be in the right place at this time, and he came towards me,
too much in a hurry to stop and talk, but I knew it was he. Here was my
Table Topics question, as big as life!
I didn't have the full minute to make my impromptu speech - more like
five seconds - but I wished him luck that night at the concert, and he
turned to me and said something like he hoped I would have a good time,
too. And of course I did.
However, on Wednesday night, I found myself carrying over the Grammarian
role (which includes Ah Counter) that I had performed at my current
club's meeting the previous night. The singer delivered a monologue
describing how he had come to write a particular song that's on his most
recent album. And it was full of um's and ah's. On Thursday, though,
these had disappeared! Perhaps he has his own Ah Counter in his
entourage. But instead, he hurried through this monologue, and I shifted
into Evaluator mode and wanted to tell him that he was speaking too
fast. Maybe that was his way of dealing with the problem of too many
um's and ah's in his speech.
If a singer named Neil Diamond passes through your town, I highly
recommend that you go to see him. I have been following his career for
almost 35 years, and despite the criticisms I had from a Toastmasters
evaluation perspective of his speaking this past week, he has come a
long way in his stage presence in this time.
Gene Wirchenko
[snip]
>However, on Wednesday night, I found myself carrying over the Grammarian
>role (which includes Ah Counter) that I had performed at my current
>club's meeting the previous night. The singer delivered a monologue
>describing how he had come to write a particular song that's on his most
>recent album. And it was full of um's and ah's. On Thursday, though,
>these had disappeared! Perhaps he has his own Ah Counter in his
>entourage. But instead, he hurried through this monologue, and I shifted
>into Evaluator mode and wanted to tell him that he was speaking too
>fast. Maybe that was his way of dealing with the problem of too many
>um's and ah's in his speech.
I suspect that it is the other way around, that he speaks faster
than he can put the words together. He stalls, and that's when the
ums and ahs strike.
I heard a financial advisor on the radio who was like this. His
content was excellent, but he spoke so fast. Most of his sentences
were in three or four parts separates by ums and ahs.
Speaking too fast is much more common than speaking too slowly.
[snip]
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko, ATM-S, CL
Member, Salmon Arm Toastmasters (2861-21)
Computerese Irregular Verb Conjugation:
I have preferences.
You have biases.
He/She has prejudices.
Moira de Swardt
Regina Litman <rsli...@infi.net> wrote in message
> If a singer named Neil Diamond passes through your town, I highly
> recommend that you go to see him. I have been following his career
for
> almost 35 years, and despite the criticisms I had from a
Toastmasters
> evaluation perspective of his speaking this past week, he has come
a
> long way in his stage presence in this time.
And his music is great.
Moira de Swardt, DTM
Richard Bennett
<recommend that you go to see him. I have been following his career for
<almost 35 years, and despite the criticisms I had from a Toastmasters
<evaluation perspective of his speaking this past week, he has come a
<long way in his stage presence in this time
I saw Neil too many years ago, after driving 15 hours non-stop one way,
but was very impressed at the time, and still enjoy many of his songs.
Due to unforseen circumstances I missed seeing him again recently.
Richard Bennett, DTM
Division C Governor 2002 - 2002
Club 872 President, 2001 - 2002
District 21, British COlumbia, Canada
"Moira de Swardt" <moira.d...@africaonline.co.sz> wrote in message news:<9qu9uc$6n$1...@ctb-nnrp1.saix.net>...
Regina Litman
Richard Bennett? He is now a record producer in Nashville. He wrote
Neil's hit song "Forever In Blue Jeans" with him.
Oh, no, we have gotten way off topic! But last night I went to a meeting
of one of the clubs in my area (not my own club, but I'm the Area
Governor), and Neil's name came up in the humorous moment that one of
the members did.