ShenzhenToastmastersClub

The Meeting Manager who wouldn’t give up

Andy wore two hats this week: Meeting Manager and sole speaker. That alone is a full evening’s work. But the backstory makes it better.

In the days leading up to the meeting, Andy kept reaching out for help. Could someone generate the voting code? Could someone modify the Table Topics slides? Could someone bring a laptop for the projector? Each time, the answer he got was some version of “don’t worry, it’ll work out” rather than someone stepping in to do it for him. Nobody took over. The voting code got sorted on site. The slides ran as they were. The laptop showed up.

And then Andy went ahead and ran the whole meeting, delivered his ice breaker, personally messaged members one by one to recruit them for roles, and walked away with Best Speaker. After the meeting, the group chat was unanimous: Andy was the star of the night. One member said she wanted to learn from his approach and do the same next week. Another admitted he felt bad for declining Andy’s invitation to attend.

Sometimes the best thing a club can do for a new Meeting Manager is to not rescue them.

Prepared speeches

Andy’s ice breaker was his only speech this evening. It was also his first formal role of any kind at SZTM. The room noticed: one member called him stunning, another said he dominated the evening. Tao recorded a video of the speech for the archive, noting that every ice breaker deserves one.

Table topics: Shenzhen at 46

Stella designed the Table Topics around Shenzhen’s 46th Special Economic Zone anniversary, with the theme “Stories about you and Shenzhen.” Because Stella was moving house, Christy stepped in as TTM on the night.

The ten questions traced a personal arc through the city: when your story with Shenzhen began, a place that holds your personal history, something the city gave you that you didn’t expect, something it took from you, how it changed you, the one memory you’d keep, and what gift you’d give Shenzhen on its 50th birthday. Each question had a title card: THE BEGINNING, YOUR MAP, THE GIFT, THE PRICE.

Brian, a guest attending for the first time, won Best Table Topic Speaker and Best Facilitator. He also volunteered as Ah-Counter and opened his report by pointing out three people by name, which the room found impressive for someone who’d just walked in.

All five Best awards went to men

Jason (Best Host), Andy (Best Speaker), Brian (Best TT Speaker and Best Facilitator), Danny (Best Evaluator). In a club where women are the majority and typically more active, an all-male sweep is unusual.

Is it statistically anomalous? Not really. With four or five awards at roughly even gender odds, the probability of all winners being the same gender is about 1 in 8. It happens. The interesting part is the context: globally, Toastmasters is 55.9% women as of 2025. In China the ratio is closer to 50-50, and in Shenzhen clubs, women tend to outnumber men and participate more actively. This week just happened to be the men’s night.

For reference, women were not allowed to join Toastmasters until 1973. Before that, Helen Blanchard had to register under the name “Homer” to get in. She later became the first female International President.

Sammi behind the camera

Sammi served as On-Camera Master and the results spoke for themselves. After the photos landed in the group chat, the compliments piled up: the photos were called stunning, members tagged Sammi with praise, and multiple people noted the quality was noticeably higher than usual. Good photography at a club meeting matters more than people realize. These photos become the memory.

The iron rice bowl

The club gives every ice breaker speaker a gift. This time, Christy picked a real iron rice bowl for Andy. The chat reaction was warm: someone called it the childhood dream everyone wanted, another said it needed gold plating. A fitting reward for someone who ran the whole meeting and still delivered a speech worth celebrating.

Jason’s birthday

It happened to be Jason’s birthday. The club celebrated during the meeting, and he sent a red envelope to the group chat afterward. Happy birthday, Jason.

Prepared speeches

This meeting was supposed to have two ice breakers: Andy and Jennifer, both new members. Andy had spent the afternoon memorizing his speech, but a company anniversary dinner with American clients ran late, and he had to pull out just hours before the meeting. Jennifer became the sole speaker.

In the group chat the night before, Jennifer’s speech prep followed a familiar pattern. Tao had posted a timeline of “the ideal speech prep vs. reality”: ideally you start a month early; in reality, you open a folder the weekend before, and at 1 a.m. Monday you’re finally writing. Jennifer confirmed it was all too real for her too, that she still hadn’t memorized her lines by 5pm and just had to go on stage at 7pm regardless. Stella laughed that Jennifer had won the easy way, since Andy’s withdrawal left her as the only speaker.

Jennifer’s speech “If I Won an Oscar” was her ice breaker. After the meeting, she thanked the club for the welcome flowers and immediately started writing her second speech. Christy was impressed by the turnaround speed.

Table topics: Deliberate Practice

Rebecca ran the Table Topics with nine questions on deliberate practice, each paired with a photo: stepping out of your comfort zone, a breakthrough from deliberate practice, balancing practice with enjoyment, a mentor who supported you, measuring progress, experiencing a state of flow, keeping up a routine, the relationship between talent and deliberate practice, and whether deliberate practice can apply to non-skill areas like relationships or leadership (download the slides). Christy and Tracy tied for Best Table Topic Speaker.

Word of the Day

Dave chose “persistence”: continually trying even during tough times, the key to deliberate practice.

Meeting Manager debut

Tina ran her first meeting as Meeting Manager. Stella complimented her in the group chat, saying she’d done a great job for a first attempt. The next day, when Andy (who had to reschedule his speech) took the MM role for the following week, Tina became the mentor: Andy thanked her for teaching him how to be a Meeting Manager. Stella remarked that Tina had grown into an MM mentor almost overnight.

Three matching shirts

Stella, Cecilia, and Shirley showed up wearing the same shirt. “What a coincidence,” Stella wrote after the meeting. Nobody had coordinated.

The most relaxed TME

Stella called Danny the most relaxed TME in club history. Danny won Best Master for his performance.

Prepared speeches

Four speeches tonight, two of them ice breakers. The day before the meeting, the group was surprised to learn Mini hadn’t done hers yet: “Cannot believe that Mini hasn’t done the icebreaker speech.” It was only her third meeting since joining. Mini’s “My Life in Do Re Mi” used The Sound of Music’s Do-Re-Mi as a framework for her self-introduction, making deer antlers on stage for “Doe, a deer.” Stella, doubling as On-Camera Master, announced: “Mini is the stage queen. So chill and relaxing on the stage.”

Tina delivered “Beating the Speaking Anxiety,” her ice breaker. Both ice breakers won Best Speaker and received flower bouquets that Christy had prepared as ice breaker gifts. The flowers set off a flurry of admiration in the group chat, everyone agreeing the bouquets were gorgeous, that Christy had really put thought into it, and that the club’s gifts kept getting better and better.

Jason delivered “The Alcoholic,” a sharing-stories speech. Rebecca delivered “Chicken Broth Wontons in Memory,” an Understanding Communication Styles speech. After the meeting, Rebecca watched the recording and noticed she’d blinked a lot during the speech, thanking Andy for catching such a fine detail.

Table topics: Minimalism

Stella ran the Table Topics session with questions around the meeting’s theme: Is keeping things “just in case” a good reason to keep an item? How do you handle your old objects, like phones and clothes? Jason won Best Table Topic Speaker.

Guests and coordination

Stella noticed all the TBD slots on the agenda just thirty minutes before the meeting and scrambled to fill them, admitting afterward how last-minute it had been and how she’d had to call in favors fast. She served as Table Topics Master and On-Camera Master, on top of coordinating the evening. Anna told her there was nothing to apologize for when she was being that supportive, that her help had come exactly when needed. Danny summed it up simply: Stella was impressive for pulling in so many people on short notice.

The result was a full house. Brian hosted the Guest Sharing segment, Jake evaluated Jason’s speech, and DeeDee, Emma, Tangson (a returning guest), and Artins (from Tianjin) were among the guests. One guest even arrived rolling a suitcase, prompting a joke that the club must be doing well if guests were showing up mid-trip.

Jennifer stepped in as Grammarian, won Best Facilitator, and recorded the meeting video. The next morning she announced she wanted to do her ice breaker next. Anna cheered her on, calling her adorable and telling her to go for it.

Camellia posted the awards the next day, remarking on how good the vibe had been and how nice the flowers looked. And Tina, who had just completed her first ice breaker the night before, volunteered to be Meeting Manager for the 1036th meeting.

Prepared speeches

Anna’s speech “The Mysterious Voice” was about missing her mom. It was the kind of speech that changes the room. After the meeting, Anna wrote in the group chat: “Sorry guys… I shared a sad story.” The response was immediate and warm. Nobody wanted her to apologize. Members said the speech opened their eyes to a side of the club they hadn’t seen before, one full of laughter but also full of love, and that being trusted with something sad was an honor, not a burden. Others added that small words carry the loudest voice, that it was hard to imagine someone who always smiled also carrying sadness, and that sharing it here meant she truly saw the club as family. As one member put it, laughing together and sharing the harder moments together are both what family is for.

Anna bounced back the next morning: “Morning, Guys~~ heheehhehehe… today is a new day, the sun is brand new~~ cheers!” She then announced she was going for laser eye surgery that afternoon.

Tao’s speech “I’m Fine” told the story of waking up one morning to find half his face had stopped working. Hunt Syndrome had attacked his facial nerve. What followed was the hospital visits, the needles, the face verification apps that no longer recognized him, and day 17 when the tiniest movement returned at the corner of his mouth. The twist: after recovering, he promised to sleep on time. That lasted one month. “You want to know what I was doing last night at 1 a.m.? Writing this speech.” (read the manuscript)

Both speakers won Best Speaker, and both of their evaluators (Rebecca for Anna, Stella for Tao) won Best Evaluator. Tao called it in the group chat the most magical meeting yet, where every speaker and their matching evaluator both took the top award.

Tao also shared his prep method: he had finished writing the speech the afternoon before the meeting, with no time to memorize it. He used GPT voice chat during the drive to the venue, and it told him to remember just six anchor words: Eye, Hospital, Day 17, Promise, Twist, Ending. The full write-up is available as two documents: complete prep notes covering the rehearsal process, and a mobile-friendly handbook distilling the method into ten pages.

Table topics: Places That Inspire

Min ran the Table Topics session with nine destinations: Mexico (Dia de los Muertos), Thailand (Chiang Mai), France (Louvre Museum), India (Ganges River), East Africa (Great Migration), Nepal (Himalaya Trekking), Italy (Florence), USA (New York City), and Russia (Moscow). Each slide offered three angles to choose from: a geography or history fact, a personal travel story, or a philosophical reflection (download the slides).

Danny said the next day he’d really enjoyed Min’s table topics, that hearing about places he’d never been himself made up for a lot of the traveling he’d missed out on.

Word of the Day

Danny, as Grammarian, picked “outwordly,” a play on “otherworldly” that also happens to sound like a Chinese phrase for “the one who loves me.” His definition: something so beautiful it seems unreal, like the one who loves you. Christy immediately asked Anna to help her remember what Danny had said, wanting to write it down. Stella joked that even the Grammarian role was getting AI-assisted these days, a sign of just how competitive the club was becoming.

On-Camera Master

Andy delivered detailed feedback as On-Camera Master, observing each speaker’s stage presence carefully and offering specific notes on their performance.

Prepared speeches

Rebecca’s speech explored six leadership styles: affiliative, coaching, democratic, bureaucratic, altruistic, and authoritative (read the manuscript).

Susie’s speech sparked a chat thread about training family into travel companions. Stella said she had spent years turning her mom into “the perfect photographer and travel partner.” Anna added that Stella’s son was also great behind the camera. Stella’s response: the two of them have to compete for the job.

Table topics: I love (hate) my job

Eight questions, structured as a three-act play in retro pixel-art slides (download PDF).

Act I, The Morning Grind: “Monday morning. Alarm rings. What do you do first?” and “Describe your commute in three words.”

Act II, Surviving the Office: “What do you secretly do during boring meetings?” and “Co-worker’s most annoying habit?”

Act III, Getting Real: “Ever screw things up in your work?”, a nod to Shenzhen’s unofficial motto that anyone who shows up here counts as a local, asking whether guests felt it yet, plus two more.

The questions landed well. Guests rated them “really good and very encouraging.” Daniel moved to the front row early to get a strategic advantage on the prizes, then missed every single question. His excuse: a broken chair distracted him. He later offered a more noble version: “I moved to the front row so people don’t get hurt. Remember Christy tried to throw the prize to me but instead hit the girl sitting before me in the head. I tried to make SZTM a safer place.” The chair, he said, was innocent and should not be blamed for something it didn’t do. He still wanted it removed, though. For safety.

Guest feedback

Guests rated the meeting “Loved it” and said they would definitely come again. What they enjoyed most: “the people/vibe” and “table topics.” Suggestion: “Keep the good job.”

Crossing the sea

The theme came from the Chinese saying 八仙过海，各显神通 — the Eight Immortals cross the sea, each by their own talent. Fittingly, the evening ran as a Table Topics marathon: two prepared speeches, then an extended Table Topics session where everyone got their moment to cross the water without a boat.

The weather supplied its own commentary. Rain started right at 19:15, and the group chat ruled that the heavens were punishing everyone who showed up late.

Prepared speeches

Camellia delivered “The Beach Behind the Mountain,” a speech about the anxiety of persistence — that slowing down isn’t falling behind. Maggie followed with “The Longest-lasting Investment” (PI L1P2).

Guests

Area Director Mango served double duty for Guest Sharing Time and the Moment of Truth. A first-time guest, Tina, got a warm welcome in the group afterwards — the hat she wore earned her the nickname “the sister in the hat,” and someone even noticed it matched the slide deck’s font colors.

The Word of the Day was “versatile” — which, at a meeting where everyone crossed the sea by their own talent, rather chose itself.

Prepared speeches

Four speeches this evening — a heavy program. Christy’s “Fooled by Randomness” grew out of a real investment loss, and her reflection the next morning explained why she turned it into a speech: the loss had genuinely hurt, and picking it apart was the only way to understand how it had happened. Drafting the speech, she said, was really a form of review; every revision made her see herself more clearly. In a way she was grateful for the experience, because turning the pain into something spoken forced her to admit her own mistakes out loud, and only that let her move forward. Her evaluator followed up with the question the speech left open: why the decision time we spend on a tube of toothpaste and on a major investment can be so out of proportion — and the group chat kept that thread going all morning.

Anna unpacked her “anxiety package” (IP 4.0), Min asked “One more kid?” (PM 1.2), and guest speaker Lori delivered her icebreaker, “Jump in, experience everything.” One guest brought a student of theirs along — twelve years old, possibly the youngest audience member of the season.

The afterparty

The meeting doubled as a member birthday party, with cake and drinks prepared in advance, and the evening ended at 沙头四季大排档 over barbecue. The verdict on the venue, delivered in English for the record: “You guys really know how to pick restaurant. Everybody looks sooo happy except for the guy in the middle. Feel bad for him.”

Workshop: What (the heck) is an Agent.

The workshop that built this website. Tao demonstrated an AI coding agent live, and the first version of shenzhentoastmasters.club was generated during the session. The title itself was a last-minute upgrade — the agenda still said “Agent” while the final signup chain, posted hours before the meeting, carried the full “What (the heck) is an Agent.” (download the slides)

The group chat that night ran long past the closing gavel. People were floored by what an AI agent could actually do, admitted they’d been thinking too narrowly about these tools, and started calling for a sequel: what had they just seen, and how could they use it themselves? Someone asked for a hands-on GitHub skill session; another wanted to sign up for an online course on the spot. By the next morning the questions got practical, how does the agent live on a computer, where do the documents go, and a follow-up session was promised. By the next afternoon, one member was already using an agent to organize meeting workflows, and the group cheered her on as she got the hang of it.

Prepared speeches

Maggie closed out an entire path with “Growth without Planning” (Level 5 Project 2), opening with her trademark disclaimer that the story had been dramatized for effect and any resemblance to real events was purely coincidental.

Table topics: the 2026 World Cup

Anna ran Table Topics on the meeting theme — the ball, or the people — with prompts built around what your living room looks like during the World Cup.