Ready, Fire, Aim!!

July 11, 2023, is our 45th regular meeting. It was done via Zoom and no amount of technology glitches can remove our excitement for our first ever meeting with "Learning Circle" as the third part of the program.

But before we get to that, our Club President, Jeng Jopson, cheerfully called everything into order and smoothly transitioned to be our Toastmaster of the day, accurately describing our theme of 'Ready, Fire, Aim.' The theme is an ode to his style of taking action in his own life and business.

The message is clear: to not be stuck in the analysis paralysis stage that many can relate to, in order to move forward. Adjustments are needed, and calculated risks are present, but creating an atmosphere of movement first is part of his mantra.

An ESP Toastmaster meeting does the Table Topics Session first to keep everyone up their feet and Mikel Roateche, our Treasurer did just that.  It was braved by four individuals, TM Triple Crowne Reginald Yu, TM JP Adena, our guest from Cebu Midtown TMC Marini Fernandez, and our Area M2 Director YEAR 2023-2024 Tom Tolentino.

Prepared Speeches done by JP Adena entitled "Why Should I Listen To You" and our Ice Breaker of our newly minted member Elmar Recablanca deserved an ovation with his speech entitled "Be Grateful of  What You Have".

Now the Evaluation Session which is also the education part of all Toastmasters Club where gifts in the form of feedback helps every individual in every meeting.

Jeng Jopson wore another hat in this meeting to cover the Table Topics Evaluation which brought his infectious smile and energy to the the Prepared Speech Evaluator Team  Director Jaime Siybauco and Reginald Yu, which immensely helped with their constructive criticisms, words of encouragement and specific call-to-actions. It was followed by the TAG Team (Timer-AH Counter-Grammarian) VP for Membership Emeliza Laurenciana as Timer, VP for Education Manny Gacayan as Ah-Counter and IPP Gil Bangalan as our Grammarian.

To conclude the evaluation session, lead by our Immediate Past President Gil Bangalan, DTM, constructive feedback is given to each speaker as well as to the overall meeting conduct so that members can benefit from the experience of evaluators and become better speakers.   

via Zoom | July 11, 2023. Learning Circle Debut

This meeting, our VP for Education, Manny Gacayan debuted Learning Circle with a moving  call to action to make safety a priority, not only physically but more importantly your "Psychological Safety" which is the title of his speech. Coming from the book by Simon Sinek that he read entitled "Leaders Eat Last", he shared a personal story of struggle in his family that ultimately proved that change can be contagious, inspiration is influential and that man is not defined by their mistakes.

The message is especially relatable at work, in your neighborhood and even in clubs you join that shared expectation held by members of a team that teammates will not embarrass, reject, or punish them for sharing ideas, taking risks, or soliciting feedback.  It is of utmost importance to highlight this "Psychological Safety" as part of the mission of any Toastmasters Club, i.e. provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which members are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills, resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth.

The "Learning Circle" is something unique within ESP Toastmasters Club that may be facilitated by any member of the club. He/she will be presenting his/her learnings from a book, podcast, news article, or a movie/film he/she read/viewed. To make the learning more powerful, the Toastmasters may relate an experience he/she "lived out" based from the article/film being shared. The Toastmasters taking this role will still be evaluated by the General Evaluator (GE), and so the Toastmasters should deliver his/her topic bearing in mind that this is a speech.

The Learning Circle will be held once a month.

If you want to join ESP Toastmasters Club or catch the next meeting please click JOIN NOW