h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thanks Z. Gnomon is a Dubliner, so the journey each week would be a tough one - about 170 miles! I might try get Xanatic involved though!

Ah, I knew Gnomon was from Dublin, but I don't know where you are, Woodpigeon. Where's Zantic from? Is there are Irish Researchers Club?

o/±

I live in Cork, near the south coast of Ireland, and Xanatic is living here too. We all met up 2 months ago here when Gnomon and Azara visited us for the first Cork meet. There is an Irish Researchers Club - lemesee - ah, here it is.. A709616. Quite small but there are a few active Irish researchers.

A bit naive of me to assume that you were within easy range, I suppose! That link led to a deleted entry! I'm just trying to find the instructions for how to introduce the Table Topics slot.

Ah , that was the old one. This is the "new" one -- A1002259. As you can see it's advertising a meet in 2003!

Are you doing Topics Master or Toast Master? Topics Master is a lot of fun. We're finished now for the summer.

I'm Topics Master. I've never done it before. I've chosen the theme of the planets and I'm struggling with some of them. I think I expected that question setting was going to be easy, and either I wasn't in an inspired mood, or it's not particularly easty.

Yes, the new link works!

Do you have to choose a theme? Sounds like a difficult thing to do. We tend to have very varied topics sessions, switching from serious subjects to humourous subjects to "out-there" type questions. The danger with a theme is that you start to bore people if, for instance, you kept the questions very similar. The looser you stick to the theme, the better, I think. Being Topics Master is great fun though. You can pose people dilemmas, get them to role play, get them to expound on the issues of the day, let them talk about something important to them. If you give them a hook around which they can talk, rather than letting the subject be too general, it seems to work better - ie "what book are you going to bring on your next holidays", rather than "what is your favourite book" etc.. Time to read those lateral thinking books!

Well, I have around 8 topics based on the planets at the moment. I'm going to give them a whirl and see how they go.

On the lines of Mars = War, Jupiter = Joviality etc? Or are they more literal than this?

Well, my Mars question is going to be about uses for a Mars bar and the Jupiter question is going to be about indulgence - so not quite as literal as you would think.

I'll let you know how it went - it's tonight!

Well, my table topics trip round the solar system went *really* well - funniest was 'How many uses can you think for a Mars bar' - I think I got 14 people up to talk - forgot Venus, but there was no-one in the club who didn't get to speak tonight - I didn't call up the ones who did the prepared speeches or the timekeeper (although if I'd realised that I'd forgotten Venus (what's the most foolish thing you've done to impress someone you fancy?), the timekeeper would have had it)! I'm well pleased.

Yaay!

It's fun, isn't it? It's one of the best jobs in Toastmasters. You get a great kick out of seeing your topic come to life.

Did you come up with the idea of using the planets as a theme yourself? Mind if I borrow it?

I'm going to take full credit for this one, Woodpigeon - it was *entirely* my idea - the previous time, the Topics Master used the theme of the London Underground and that worked well too. Here are my questions (not in order, as I started with Uranus and went to the Moon - I gave my 9 year old that as a topic and he did well, starting off 'Fellow Toastmasters and most welcome guests!'.

Table Topics 23.5.05

Sun - what is the centre of your world?

Mercury - Mercury was the god of Communication - what new language would you like to learn and why?

Venus - Goddess of love - love makes fools of us - what is the most foolish thing you have ever done to impress someone you fancy?

Earth - being earthed describes a state of being solid and connected. When you're upset, what do you do to earth yourself?

Moon - If you could take anyone up with you in a spaceship to the moon, who would it be and why?

Mars - How many uses can you think for a Mars bar?

Jupiter - God of plenty and expansiveness - and indulgence - what's been your biggest indulgence?

Saturn - God of harvest & reaping and thus of limitation and ending – what have been your limits and how have you overcome them?

Neptune – king of the sea – also god of earthquakes – who or what would you use your trident on to destroy forever?

Uranus - Uranus is the only planet which rotates on its side and so can be considered strange and erratic. What strange and erratic tendency do you have?

Kiron - Kiron was a centaur - and the archetype of the wounded healer - if you had the power to find a cure for any disease, which would it be and why

Sedna - Inuit goddess -married reluctantly - unhappy - rescused by father - pursued by angry husband - storm at sea - thrown overboard by her father - tried to get back in canoe - he chopped off her fingers, which became seals - if you had to sacrifice something important to keep yourself safe, what would it be and why?

Pluto - King of the underworld - also a cartoon dog - If you had to die tomorrow, how would you spend your last day?

Mind you, you might want to give them your own unique slant.

Of course - they are great topics though! I'm going to try out themed topics next year and see how they work. They have a big advantage in that they create a strong link in people's minds. Well done again!

BTW - you could try all of these out on AskH2G2 and see what your responses would be like! I'm guilty of having looked on Ask to get inspiration for topics in the past.

Traveller in Time on lynx
"Well done !
Just take it for granted, you will always forget some details when it goes for real. Good you got all the public to interact. "

I hadn't thought of looking on <./>Askh2g2</.> for inspiration - what a good idea!

I've been asked to be Toastmastser next week! I'm told it will be very quiet as it's half-term and people will be away! I'll have to have a look at the brief for the role.

The role of Toastmaster is tougher, but it gives you the chance to develop your leadership skills. You create the agenda, introduce your own little innovations for the night, and essentially act as the anchor for most of the sessions. It's not too bad, but you need to stay focused throughout the evening as to what is coming up next and how you want to approach it. A little bit of research goes a long way - find out what the speakers or other officers have done in previous speeches, and glean from that what they might be interested in. You'll be fine.

Does your club go on through the summer? We're finished now until September.

Mind you, I'm a bit tentative about the start of the next season. There was a rather nasty killing in our town at the beginning of the year which devastated the community for a month or so. You could have cut the atmosphere in the place with a knife it was so bad. The court case is going to occur around then, and if that happens we have a big problem on our hands regarding new members.

I don't know if our club is going to go on during the summer - it's a new club, so we don't have a precedent - plus, I imagine there might be a fear that we lose new members.

I must admit to being nervous about being Toastmaster for the evening. Still, the appearance of confidence is half the battle, I think - proper preparation is probably the other half.

Why will the court case deter new mambers, Woodpigeon?

Mmm, what's a mamber?

Found this neat link http://www.toastmasters.org.nz/index.cfm/Ask_a_Toastmaster

I like the Mark Twain quote about the nervous and the liars! How true!

You'll be fine. The best thing about Toastmasters is that mistakes are part of the whole experience. It's like a big safety net. What's the worst that can happen? Even if it were to go pear-shaped, all you will get is empathy from nearly everyone in the audience. The hardest thing to do in Toastmasters is to give a prepared speech without notes, and you have proven yourself to be extraordinarily good at that already. As Toastmaster you will have your own notes, and the agenda laid out for you in advance, so in reality it's not half as difficult as giving a speech.

Regarding the events of the recent past, the community I am living in is fairly small, and when this particular thing happened it received wall-to-wall national coverage, enough to make people think that there was something wrong with the place. It involved the death of a young boy and the details are fairly lurid by all accounts. Nobody is looking forward to it one bit.