{"id":959,"date":"2016-02-14T11:11:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-14T11:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.bcntoastmasters.com\/better-late-than-never\/"},"modified":"2016-02-14T11:11:00","modified_gmt":"2016-02-14T11:11:00","slug":"better-late-than-never","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.bcntoastmasters.com\/en\/better-late-than-never\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBetter Late than Never\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
What another extraordinary session of talent, humor, and charisma from our distinguished and fellow toastmasters. Tonight, we were a full house with 13 guests! <\/span>

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As always, our President <\/span>Jelena<\/span> welcomed us by inciting another inspirational question \u201c<\/span>How do you make your time meaningful?\u201d<\/span>

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Her advice? First, improve your time management skills over 3 important aspects of your life. These are your career, relationships and yourself. Second, always have goals to achieve. Third, use your mornings for yourself.<\/span><\/div>\n


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Our Toastmaster <\/span>Marc<\/span> then briefly explained the topic of the session which was \u201cbetter late than never\u201d. This phrase were used several times between toastmasters which created some funny moments during the session.<\/span>

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The technical team consisted of <\/span>Beatriz<\/span> as our Timekeeper, <\/span>Enrique<\/span> as the Ah-Counter, and <\/span>Olga<\/span> as the Grammarian. For every crutch and fillers used, our Ah-Counter will collect \u20ac1. At the end of the session, he will hand out an imaginary bill for how much money each speaker need to give to him, theoretically. The word of the day is <\/span>procrastination<\/span>.<\/span><\/div>\n


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Our first speaker was <\/span>Isabel<\/span> who mesmerized the audience by holding out in the air a mysterious looking talisman in her hand. It was her lucky charm and she takes it with her everywhere she goes. She even counted that she\u2019s passed by the streets of Passeig de Gracia 181 times with it. She explained that many people in the world believe in superstitions. In fact, 10 million people in the US don\u2019t go out on Friday the 13th because it was considered \u201cbad luck\u201d. What\u2019s her recommendation? Don\u2019t let superstition control your life!<\/span>

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Next came our 2nd speaker <\/span>Maria Luisa<\/span> with a big bang! Entering through the room and all the way to the stage, Maria Luisa held up her mobile high while playing a song from the late David Bowie. The room was pumped up with good vibes and energy as she paid tribute to her hero David Bowie. He\u2019s her hero because of his continuous reinvention of style and music. He was a trendsetter who embraced change and collaborated with different important artists such as Freddie Mercury and John Lennon. Maria Luisa reminded us that we are the average of the 5 people whom we spend with most of our time.<\/span><\/div>\n


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Finally, our third speaker <\/span>Rayane<\/span> came on stage and asked some thought provoking questions, \u201cdo you know or remember how you were born?\u201d and \u201chow do women feel and know when to give birth?\u201d. With a powerpoint slide and 2 boxes on the table, she demonstrated the process of birth in a simplistic term. During her speech, she gave a very expert view of how it is done based on research and secondhand experience that she\u2019s gotten from her father who\u2019s a gynecologist. She made the learning process for the audience fun and lively as if we were back in school again. Rayane concluded: if you can master the challenge of birth, you can master any challenge!<\/span><\/div>\n


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The 3 speakers were evaluated, starting with Isabel by <\/span>Mariyana<\/span>. Isabel has outdone herself again by showing a \u201cprecious artifact\u201d as a visual aid, her calmness and great use of voice. <\/span>Paul<\/span>, evaluating Maria Louisa\u2019s speech, said that she has achieved her goal to communicate her ideas clearly and accurately while avoiding irrelevant words. She made a great entrance in which no one has done before, but could have taken it slower so that the audience and herself could have enjoyed it more. Lastly, <\/span>M.A. <\/span>congratulated Rayane for delivering her speech on something that\u2019s very complex with a clear and delight manner. She spoke with authority even though she had no direct experience. But thank goodness that we didn\u2019t have an actual pregnant woman on stage, as M.A. joked.<\/span>

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Up next our President Jelena led the table topics about Valentine\u2019s Day gifts for your significant other. But before she picked out 3 lucky (or not so lucky) volunteers, she gave out 3 useful tips to prepare for table topics. These are: don’t forget to breath, have structure for your speech, and finish with a good delivery.<\/span><\/div>\n


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The first person to go was <\/span>Jorge<\/span> who talked about giving a boyfriend arm pillow to his girlfriend as a gift. Everyone in the room burst with laughter by some of his comments. Our second volunteer was a guest named <\/span>Marc<\/b><\/span> who had to explain to his girlfriend (or soon to be ex-girlfriend) why he\u2019s giving her a portrait of Bruce Willis. It turns out that his girlfriend cheated on him with good old Bruce. Last but not least, our brave <\/span>Cristina<\/b><\/span> came as the third volunteer and had to explain why she\u2019s giving a book called \u201c Beard\u201d (the book cover was a long black beard of a man) to her significant other. She reminded us that actually in Catalunya, \u201cValentine\u2019s Day\u201d is celebrated on April 23rd known as Saint Jordi\u2019s Day where we exchange books and roses instead!<\/span><\/div>\n


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Our Technical team came with their reports on timing, the use of fillers, grammar and word of the day. Overall, we had a very good session with timing. Enrique collected a total of 51\u20ac from using fillers and crutches! Olga congratulated everyone for not having lots of grammatical mistakes and for using the word of the day.<\/span><\/div>\n


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Our General Evaluator <\/span>Nacho<\/span> specified three things that can be improved:<\/span><\/div>\n


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