What I Did on My Lunch Break

By Ms. Sara Brunner

On Monday, September 17^th, Carolina Little, Kathy Lu, and I took a trip to Audubon Engineering.  We checked in and took the elevator to the 7^th floor not knowing what to expect. We were greeted by one of the members at the elevator door and followed her to the room. To my surprise, the room was filled with people; in fact we had to sit to the side because all of the seats at the tables were taken. The meeting had already started and everyone was eating their Jason’s Deli- catered lunch. The first thought that came to my mind was, “Hey, how come they get free lunch during their Toastmasters’ meeting and we don’t? “

As the meeting progressed, we were all very impressed with the Toastmaster. She was very good about getting everyone involved and speaking.  During segues, she would select people in various rows to stand up and share what their pet peeves were. It got everyone excited and involved; and it was nice to see every individual in the room contribute to the meeting. It also gave us the opportunity to learn more about the group.There were two speeches given that day and they were both Ice Breaker speeches. I found this to be interesting, because I had never seen two individuals give their Ice Breaker speeches at the same meeting. Later on, I discovered this was only Audubon Engineering’s second meeting and realized that with a new club most of the speeches for a while would be Ice Breakers.  The first speaker shared  how she overcame her fear of public speaking; while the second speaker  discussed his experience with sky diving. Both speakers did a great job incorporating humor into their speeches and getting the audience interested in what they had to say.

Overall, I believe the Audubon Engineers’ second meeting was conducted very well. The only area I recommend they work on is recognizing guests during the meeting. As their guests, they had us participate in the “What is your pet peeve?” game; however, the Toastmaster did not fully introduce us to the group.  All and all, I think everyone did a great job at the meeting and it was very enjoyable. Not a bad way at all to spend a lunch break.

Editor's note: 

Thanks, Sara, for sharing your “What I Did on My Lunch Break” story. I highly recommended that every Mudslinger go and visit other clubs when you can. It is interesting to meet other people with similar goals. Not every club runs their meetings exactly the same, so you can get a lot of new ideas and energy from them or at the very least, a change of scenery.  Plus, if you want to, you can deliver a CC or specialty manual speech to an outside club and get credit for it. This helps you get out of your comfort zone by presenting to a whole different group of people and helps them by observing someone outside their club.

For an opportunity to visit Audon Engineering Toastmasters on Mondays during lunch, please contact Carolina Little, VP of Ed at Clittle03@slb.com or call extension 1359.