We were in for a treat on Tuesday's meeting.Un-perfunctory indeed! An abundance of speech titles: from Keith's impressive ice breaker, to Naomi's attention-grabbing stage 9 , to Darren's halfway stage 5, to .....( drum roll 🥁🥁) Mark's stage 10!

Nice meeting theme last Tuesday - "Giving Back" - and everyone gave novel and sometimes quirky takes on it. Good to welcome six guests so we must be doing something right in D18 Toastmasters. And one brave enough to take the floor during the Topics session - well done, Cat! As you rightly put it, sometimes you just push yourself out of your comfort zone. That's how most of us started out . . . Great speeches on everything from endangered planets to ghosts to personality types and McIver alter egos. And really insightful evaluations. Well done everyone! Next meeting Tuesday 27th June, 8pm, in Clayton Hotel, Leopardstown. Guests very welcome.

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Every good toastmaster learns the art of persuasion and we certainly saw it at the recent meeting. Niamh, Armel and Mark sold us the joys of electric cars, battered mars bars, mental models ......and even bacon ice cream! Our stomachs were rumbling (or churning). Congrats to William for the Best Topic award with his dramatic take on James Bond villains. Great to see new members already taking on roles and getting stuck in. Next D18 Toastmasters meeting is Tuesday 13th June, 8pm in Clayton Hotel, Leopardstown. Guests very welcome (€5).

Great show last night by Gareth and William at the Area final of the Tall Tales contest ...... they did our club proud in a very tight contest of particularly strong speeches. We had crazy yarns about lottery wins, terrorists at toastmasters, formula one racing, gorilla enclosures and dubious confessions. A truly entertaining night and congrats to Conor Daly of Tara Toastmasters who took first place.

Of course, missing from committee photo were Gavin, Claire and Darren. Welcome on board the committee all of you, from July 1!

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Of course, behind every good club there's always a strong team working away behind the scenes. Great work, everyone, this past year and best of luck to the new committee taking over in July when Gareth passes on the Presidency to William Cotter. The club will be in very safe hands.

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Visitor, Keith, and new member, Marese, survive our last meeting pretty intact and Keith even gets a Best Topic Award for taking the floor in style. Who knows who will turn up at this week's D18 Toastmasters meeting? Find out on Tuesday night, 8pm at the Clayton Hotel, Leopardstown.

You never know what you'll find out when you walk into D18 toastmasters! Our last meeting was full of life lessons to mark Gavin's milestone birthday. Isn't it telling, though, how many advised him to throw out the TV and read a book? A lot of wasted lives, obviously! But we had an interesting mix of speeches: a love song that wasn't a love song, a CSI situation that had nothing to do with CSI, a Captain who wouldn't take his hat off and a toast to lessons learnt. Welcome to another new member, Marese Damery, and hats off to Keith Bradley who visited us again, had the guts to speak during the Topics session and the nerve to speak so well! Next meeting Tuesday 23rd May, 8pm in the Clayton Hotel, Leopardstown. Guests welcome.

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Our last meeting? I'd say we were entertained, enthused and informed "irrefutably", as Declan put it. Great speeches and some good belly laughs, especially when people were put on the spot in the Topics session. Gavin certainly won't live down the Dolly Parton reference. The rest of us will be scared to scratch our noses in case we're suspected of dishonesty, thanks to Conor's insights. Congrats to Gavin for best topic and to Conor for best contribution. No mean achievement to write a 7 minute speech in one night - and to carry it off so well! See you all at the next meeting this Tuesday 9th May, 8pm in the Clayton Hotel Leopardstown. Guests as always very welcome : just turn up and sample a D18 Toastmasters meeting (€5 on the door). Apologies for the slightly eerie photo, Conor! Never spotted the overhead light.

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Thanks to everyone who turned up on Tuesday for the Area competition Finals and congrats to our D18 competitors for some great speeches and evaluations! Mark, Grainne and Gavin did the club proud and we came second in the International Speech Competition. After this spate of contests, it's back to normal club night on Tuesday 25th ..... less tension, more fun! See you at the Clayton Hotel, 8pm start.

Competition night this Tuesday at the Clayton Hotel! D18 Toastmasters are hosting the Area Finals so see you all for 8pm prompt start. The best of luck to everyone competing and looking forward to terrific speeches and evaluations. It takes a lot of guts to put yourself out there and compete ......so hats off to you all!

Photos from Dublin 18 Toastmasters's post

Ok this is your chance! You can meet up with members of other Toastmaster clubs ... hear some great speakers...... and be rightly entertained!!!!! Don't miss the Area Finals of the International Speech and Evaluation Contest next Tuesday 11th April! Very conveniently (for you) we are hosting it on our own premises in the Clayton Hotel, Leopardstown at 8pm. See you there!