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Dear Zuriberg Toastmasters and dear friends of Zuriberg

Last night, outside fall made its mark with heavy rain and fresh temperatures, a seizable crowd gathered for an intimate and familial meeting of Zuriberg Toastmasters in the wonderful, well lit and warm Guild Hall at the Blue Monkey in Zürich’s Niederdorf. Once more it is my pleasure and honor to note that the quality of the speeches was outstanding – regardless of the level of proficiency of the respective orator! Santhiago humorously referred to his speech as an attempt to explain the attentive listening audience the science of a good speech – what he delivered was a stunning performance of a speech with the purpose to inform! Joanna presented deep thoughts in a light and truly enjoyable way – spicing her statements and reflections up with an occasional cheeky remark about general human behavior. And last but indeed not least – as Thomas Mühlegger the well prepared and increasingly eloquent Toastmaster of the evening duly noted – Samira Studer presented an amazing ‘Icebreaker ’ sharing some highlights of her amazing life-journey up to date with a very personal focus on storytelling. Finally, Monica Vlad surprised us all with quirky and hilarious prompts during the Table Topics session – provoking some ‘interesting’ and insightful impromptu speeches!

Habiba as a competent GE steered her team successfully through the evening and the fact that two supportive roles (Timer and Ah Counter) were taken by members who have just joined the club during the past few weeks is encouraging and deserves special mentioning. Finally – as at numerous meetings in the past few month – I had the pleasure and honor to induct yet another new member to the club. 

Please come and join us next week on the evening of Tuesday October 4th, 18:45h as usual in the Guild Hall at the Blue Monkey. The theme of the evening is probably as conspicuous as it is intriguing: RUMORS! It will be the first evening of several to follow – the committee has decided to fit in four speeches and the line-up we have in store is nothing shy of ‘stellar’! Sign up for roles (there are still several to be taken), come, participate and get this very special Zuriberg TM buzzzzzz…

Cheers and best wishes for a productive rest of the week
Please click here for details of our next club meeting

Roland Straub

Harry Loots, Spiritus Rector, served a whole dinner-plate of informative and heuristic dishes in form of an excellent, educational and – so my strong conviction – enticing workshop about mentorship and mentoring last night! Well structured with a strong interactive part (heuristics) and a feedback session that was probably a tad ‘too open’ the evening not only served the purpose the learn more about mentorship as a concept, the roles of mentor and mentee and – probably even more important – about the supportive ‘traits’ (characteristics) of mentees and mentors but it also inspired!

As one written feedback for the interactive part of the workshop mentioned: “Very helpful exchange on long/short goals , helps rethink why I joined the club years ago, helpful to revisit the goals”!

The workshop was a reminder and a clarification of what mentorship means in the context of Toastmasters Club Zuriberg; its generally applicable duration throughout the performance of the first 4 roles (Icebreaker, Time-taker, Ah-counter and Evaluator) and that other aspects like decisions on communication channels // meeting frequency // timing // setting achievable goals for the mentee // benefits // are all based on a mutual exchange between mentor and mentee.

A great thank-you goes to Michelle for rounding up the evening by giving excellent feedback on the workshop and to everybody present to have participated in a spirited way with enthusiasm and a positive, nurturing attitude.

The next meeting of Toastmasters Zuriberg will be held at the usual venue (Guildhall at the Blue Monkey) coming Tuesday September 27th. The Theme of the evening is: Scientific! All speaking slots are taken and all roles are filled! Come and join us for yet another evening filled with insights and learning!

Roland Straub