Last evening I was at the Friendship Toastmasters meeting. I had commited to evaluate Grace Tan's advanced speech and I kept my promise – even though I knew it was going to be challenging to give feedback to an eloquent speaker. Still, I thought I did rather well.
I marvelled that five AFC Toastmasters came to listen to Tan – after all, this was her tenth Advanced speech that will now qualify her for the Advanced Communicator Bronze award! Finally! I am happy for her that she is continuing her speeches because her Club members and others deserve to learn from good speakers like her.
Believe me, these days, it is not often that we can be enthralled, enraptured and enchanted by good speeches because good speakers are a rarity.
This meeting heard two speeches. One was from Tan who entertained the audience with a light-hearted after-dinner speech that was filled with anecdotes and humor. The other was the exact opposite – he presented a speech that was like a flickering fire that labored and sputtered and died before being rekindled, only to labor and sputter and die again. And again. And again. An oral prattle that was slumberous as it was tiresome.
And my vexation was made complete when the meeting finally concluded, thirty-five minutes beyond the planned time. I will have to give this meeting a score of a 4 out of a 10.
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