Last Saturday, December 12 was a fun and exciting day for me. I already wrote about how I won Toastmaster of the Year last week, and it’s taken me this long to re-group and reflect on another aspect of the morning which was being the host of the Agape TM Live Show.
While planning for our year-end party, we had brainstorming meetings and came up with the idea of a Red Carpet theme so we could dress up like stars and have some fun. I recommended an awards-style twist on Table Topics.
Table Topics is the impromptu portion of a Toastmaster’s meeting where you call up a speaker and ask him or her to talk about a topic for 1-2 minutes.
How I set it up is that prior to the meeting, I contacted all the members and asked them to tell me two interesting bits of information about themselves that most of us probably wouldn’t know.
I took those bits of information and used them in two ways, one as the basis of a treasure hunt game. We passed out a sheet with some these bits of information written on it then people had to guess which bit of information went with which person. Some of the match-ups were pretty hard to guess.
The second way I used the information was to generate a Table Topics intro. I would introduce each guest by telling a little bit about what they were going to talk about, then they would come on stage and tell the story in their own words. Below are some pictures of the Table Topics speakers and what they spoke about.

Joan Ramirez tells us about the time when Jim Morrison of The Doors pulled her up on stage and planted a huge kiss on her lips! She had the crowd on the edge of their seats.

Susan Lowe tells the audience at Agape Toastmasters Red Carpet Awards celebration about the days when her children were regulars on Sesame Street.

Bruce Gordon entertains the audience at Agape Toastmasters Red Carpet Awards celebration as he showcases his live comedy act.

Diane Moseberry tells the audience at Agape Toastmasters Red Carpet Awards celebration how she used her speeches to educate her child regarding practical life skills.
After the interview-style Table Topics we handed out awards.

John McLaughlin shows off his “Best Film Editing” award at Agape Toastmasters Red Carpet Awards celebration. Club President Cynthia Lamb shows her enthusiasm and support.

Shirley Nason Mitchell is awarded “Best Original Screenplay” at Agape Toastmasters Red Carpet Awards celebration.

Before, during and after the Red Carpet awards, we had good food to eat thanks to Linda Lloyd.
For a complete photo gallery of this event, click here.
All photos in this blog are courtesy of Michael Zampelli.com

Yesterday at Agape Toastmasters we celebrated by holding a Red Carpet Awards event. It was a great opportunity to converse and get to know each other a little bit better. The room was festive, we had delicious and nutritious food catered by Linda Lloyd and many of us dressed up in evening wear even though the event started at 8:30 a.m.
The theme for the Halloween meeting at Agape Toastmasters was Overcoming Fear. I was the Toastmaster of the day. I sent out a group e-mail that said:

If you think you can’t hoop, think again. It might be that you’ve been using the wrong kind of hoop. After my speech, two women who swore they have never been able to hoop were hoopin’ with ease within five minutes. It was a blast to see their faces light up.

