Last night, I went back to Greensburg Toastmasters after having missed the prior meeting. This was due to doctor’s appointments and the need to rest up for work. We had two guests in attendance, one who’s been part of Toastmasters in the past. The second guest was new to Toastmasters.
We had an amazing agenda lined up with two spectacular speakers. One gave part of a keynote address that he’s going to be presenting in front of a group. The other speaker taught us how to de-stress from politics. Our Table Topics master asked some of us what we would do in certain everyday situations.
In total, 11 people attended the meeting (nine members and two guests). We made the necessary adjustments and I was pleased with the new workspace. Extra lighting helped too.
Four of us who were at the meeting, consisting of three members and one guests, had a connection to one of the former clubs in District 13. Out of the three members and one guest, we were part of the old McKeesport Club. This club ran from 1951 until 2024. I served as a club coach and member of the McKeesport Toastmasters club from March 2016 until January 2020.
When I was in the club, they held their meetings at Faith Lutheran Church in White Oak. The church hosted the Division A Contest two years in a row (in 2023 and 2024). That March 2024 divisional contest would be the last event that the club was part of. On the 31st of the month (the next day), the club suspended operations after nearly three quarters of a century. Low membership was likely one of the key factors, as the club had only six members around that time.
Still, it was a fitting sendoff for the longtime club. McKeesport was also the home club for one of the past District 13 Directors.
I’ll close it off by talking about Anna Lisa’s speech. She presented a speech on political de-stressing and it was a good one. She taught us two things we can do that will help us not to go crazy when having a political discussion with someone.
I learned that we cannot change their mind no matter how hard we try. Instagram has a social media platform called Threads and there is a lot of political posts on there. It’s very easy to get overwhelmed on that or any other social media platform if you’re not careful.
Two tools she mentioned in her speech were a mantra and a physical activity. The mantra is to say this: Thank goodness we agree to disagree agreeably. The physical activity: breathe in for about four seconds. Following that, breathe out using your mouth. As you’re breathing out, make sure that the tongue on the roof of your mouth.
When the discussion is over and you go your separate ways, just remember this:
I know I’m right!
We wrapped up the meeting at 7:50 and some of us enjoyed the rest of the evening. Our next three meetings take us into March and the beginning of Spring. Thursday night, I’ll be attending the Allegheny Mountains meeting.
Stylish 🍒 