My Table Topics On Wisdom and Proverbs

I was Table Topics Master at Tampines West Toastmasters Club on Sunday April 14th 2019, appointed at the last moment and I had no topics planned. I should have had a page of table topics written on a blank page at the back of my diary for just such an occasion.

The President should - let's say could - have had a set of topics ready, written on card index cards, for a last minute replacement for the girl who was  supposed to be Table Topics Master but was unable to attend. She should - let's say could - have sent in her table topics for somebody else to read. That's assuming she had prepared.

Fortunately, I always carry the old Competent Leader manual which evaluates as a table topics master. One of the things it suggests is that table topics should be related to the theme of the meeting. So, even if I had prepared, I would have needed to adapt my topics to the theme of the meeting.

I knew already that our meeting's guests included two non-Toastmasters who had come through Meetup. So I first described the meaning of the title Table Topics and the purpose of table topics:

Table Topics are impromptu speeches giving an opportunity to speak unprepared to those who are not speaking in a prepared, scheduled speech.

Picking Numbers
Singaporeans like gambling and luck and lucky numbers and Table Topics Masters often give them the choice of numbers to pick. This delays everybody whilst they decide to pick a number. Only the speaker bothers to wonder what to say.

Announce Topic Before Speaker
Instead I shall follow the principle of the clubs I have attended in the UK, in London, where I announce the topic and everybody is obliged to think up an answer, just in case they get picked on.

Volunteers
I shall ask for a volunteer. Somebody might have an urgent desire to speak and tell some personal story or experience. However, after a short, few seconds, if nobody volunteers, to avoid further delay, I shall pick somebody.

Quotation
The theme of the day was a quotation:
Wisdom is what you achieve after making a stupid mistake.

The word of the day was wisdom, or the root word wise. Somebody in the audience suggested adding the adverb wisely.

I wrote down ten topics but was only allowed time for seven:
1 What wisdom or wise words did you hear from a teacher when you were in primary or secondary school?
2 What wisdom did you learn from parents, grandparents or family?
3 What wisdom did you learn not from words but from watching how somebody else used their skill or experience or creativity?
4 What wisdom have you learned from the Internet's videos or YouTube. ...
5 What words of wisdom did you hear in a proverb which you found memorable?
6 Do you follow the advice of words of wisdom attributed to Benjamin Franklin: A place for everything and Everything in its place.
7 What wisdom would you impart to children, your children, grandchildren, nephews and nieces, or children you teach?

The topics evoked the following responses:
4 From YouTube I learned from a football coach that you must be patient. Other clubs spent a lot of money poaching the top players from other clubs. Instead, he picked schoolboys who already showed talent and spend years training them. Eventually they became top players loyal to his team.
2 From my mother I learned to cook. At first I let her cook. Then I realized I would be working overseas and would have to cook for myself, so I started learning from her.
6 No. If you visited my house, you would see that it is a mess. There is no place for anything and nothing is in its place. I wish the cutlery was all in the kitchen instead of the bathroom. I would love to be organized. But that just is not me. If I were organized in all aspects of my life, it would make my life much easier. I was late today because I spent ten minutes hunting for an umbrella. So, no, I do not follow this advice. But I wish that I did.

Angela Lansbury, ALB, ACG, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Timely lessons on being a contest timer

A few months ago, in Spring 2016, at the last round of serious speech contests, I was timer twice. The first occasion, three of us were timers. The chief timer said we should all keep time, so that in the event of a dispute about the time, the two who agreed would carry the vote.

TRAINING TIMERS The chief timer sat between the two novices she was training to be timers. I needed to be timer to complete my competent leader manual projects. The chief timer wanted me trained so that as Area Governor she could call on me for small clubs and starter clubs where the members all had roles giving speeches and a timer was needed. MOBILE PHONE TIMER She showed me that my mobile phone had a timer. You go onto your mobile phone home pages, set the icons in alphabetical order, look for the symbol and the word clock, click on it to open it, then look for the word timer or the icon or symbol of an egg timer. You set a time the way you set any digital clock. Two spinning numbers go up and down to show hours on the left, for minutes in the middle, and for seconds on the right. Also look for the buttons saying set and re-set, start and stop. Club Meeting TWO TIMER The second time I was timer, was not at a contest but at a club meeting. Having done it once before, and not being at a contest where so much is at stake for contestants, I was far more confident. CONTEST TIMING For a speech timer, you note in the agenda that the speech is 5-7 minutes and the green light is at five, yellow at 6, red at severn, overtime at 7.30. You simply set your stopwatch at 0, click start as the speaker begins to speak. Flipping Coloured Cards When you get to five minutes, the minimum requirement for a speech, you flip the green card, (or turn the switch to operate the green light. Keep watching for six minutes, then flick over the yellow. Finally, at 7 minutes, the limit, you turn over the red card. Keeping Alert You need to practise this. I decided that the more experienced timer should nudge my elbow when it was time to turn over the cards. On one occasion I was so engrossed in the speech that I forgot to flip the car, so this was necessary! Recently, at the autumn humorous speech contests in 2016, I have been a timer two nights in succession at different club contests. I discovered a way to keep a record of the fact that you are timer if you are not given a certificate, use the timer display label which is used at clubs with desks or tables in Singapore.

Another Timer For Mobiles At the first contest I said I'd been a timer before but would need help operating the stopwatch. The Contest chair decided that I would simply turn the cards and the more experienced timer would watch the time. Both of us timers raised our eyebrows at each other. We thought the purpose of having two timers was so that you could have two opinions. The briefing was done by the Contest Organiser who combined that role with Chief Judge. She was not the contest chair who did the introductions from the lectern. The Contest Organiser told us to throw away the sheet records and forget the results and tell nobody, not even our nearest and dearest, after the contest. If you have only three speakers and two run over time and only one prize is awarded it is obvious who has run over time. At least it is obvious to the audience of experienced toastmasters members. Or anybody who is alert and with a knowledge of numbers. (However, it might not be obvious to family members and other VIP guests who simply note if their own family or friend has come first. Nor does it matter to anybody who simply enjoys the speeches, without knowing the contestants nor caring which one wins first place or how many win prizes.) The form A form is filled in with the contestants in order of speaking, and their times. Only one form. The two or three timers discuss the timing and agree. At one contest I was a bit sleepy and slow and started my timer a second or two later than the other timer. A speaker went over time by one second on the first mobile. But it was touch and go as to whether he said his last word and whether one's finger pressed the stop button exactly on the time. The chief timer wrote down the time allowing the speaker to complete in time, by one second. I nodded agreement. At my previous contest, we discussed how long the timings were for each part of the contest and I wrote them on the agenda. The agenda allowed 20 minutes for the evaluations by three to five speakers, but no indication of the length of each evaluation. At first I thought the length was two minutes, like table topics, with the green yellow and red at one, one and a half and two, and disqualification at two and a half. No. Evaluations last 2 minutes minimum. The three cards are shown at 2, 2 and a half and 3. Disqualification at three and a half. The buzzer for over time does not go after the speeches nor the evaluations. The only occasion when the buzzer is rung is after the test speaker, if he or she goes more than thirty seconds beyond the 7 minute limit. That allows the evaluators to comment on the timeliness of the test speaker. The third time I was timer, one of the contestants stopped mid-speech and asked, "Where are the lights?" In the second half I insisted on demonstrating the lights to the audience and the contestants. By the fourth occasion that I was timer, having had the alarm with a contestant who failed to spot the lights, I interrupted the chair person to say, "May I demonstrate the lights!" She said, "Yes, I am coming to that shortly." At the most recent contest, the other timer had a larger screen mobile showing not just a tiny clock face (on the timer which came installed on my phone) but the numbers very large. I admired his phone and said I wished I had the same. He replied, "It's an ap - you can download it." He showed me how to download the ap from apple play. I had previously ignored the Apple play symbol, thinking it was just games. A free ap. In two seconds, and a thumb or finger on the sign INSTALL, I had a time counter. Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, speaker and author.