Your Story, Your Life

A Friday full of apples

On Friday morning, Tao posted the sign-up for meeting #1043. The speakers had names; the supporting roles had apples. Nearly thirteen hours later, the apples were still there.

Then the names began to appear. Danny asked Tao to choose a role for him and became General Evaluator. Jason agreed to host. Han signed up as SAA and checked what the job involved: arranging the room, opening with a warm-up, and introducing the meeting rules. By Tuesday, those small exchanges had become an evening together.

It was a fitting week for the Meeting Manager to give a speech called MM 101.

Prepared speeches

Mini gave From Awkward Monologue to a Heart-to-heart Class, a project on using vocal variety or body language to enhance delivery. Her delivery was as engaging as ever, and she won Best Prepared Speaker. Later that night, Anna encouraged her to enter a contest. Mini’s reply the next morning was rather less confident, but the invitation was there.

Sammi brought Slow down, her Dynamic Leadership Level 1.2 speech, with Andy as her evaluator. Her improvement was striking enough for Jason to point it out while hosting. Christy evaluated Mini, and Anna evaluated Tao.

MM 101: asking one person at a time

Tao’s MM 101 drew on the week he had just spent recruiting volunteers. The title supplied its three numbers: one message to the group, zero sign-ups, then one-to-one conversations. He described looking at the empty list and wondering whether he had done something wrong. Having run other groups, he recognised the silence, but it still felt personal when he was the one waiting.

Specific invitations changed things. He asked Jason to host and Danny to be General Evaluator. Then he approached Anna about evaluating his speech. She was unsure she could give useful feedback. Tao passed on an idea he had learned from Danny: start by listening carefully and sharing an honest response. Within an hour, Anna said yes. His advice to future Meeting Managers was to suggest a specific role and listen to the person’s concerns.

Before the meeting, Tao had practised through conversations with ChatGPT. He worked on remembering concrete scenes rather than memorising every sentence: the unfilled role, the sign-up message, the silence and the personal invitations. On stage, he spoke in his own words and returned to the same practical advice: be specific, and talk to people one to one.

The conversation continued afterwards. Anna, who had read his script beforehand, said that doing so had left her thoughts less clear. Tao observed that words which work on paper do not always come naturally out of your mouth. David added a reminder to prepare without becoming bound to the script.

A complete story in two minutes

David’s theme was Your Story, Your Life, introduced before the meeting through the documentary series 7 Up. He won Best Host for Table Topics; Tracy won Best Table Topics Speaker.

Afterwards, Cecilia asked a question that will sound familiar to many Table Topics speakers: how do you fit a complete, structured answer into two minutes?

Jason suggested getting on stage more often and collecting stories from everyday life. Cecilia wanted practical techniques too. David offered three ways to arrange an answer: move through past, present and future; compare experiences in different places; or talk about different parts of life, such as work, home and being a parent. Three possible structures for the next time a question catches you unprepared.

What stayed with people

Danny keeps bringing something new to his General Evaluation. This time, every evaluation drew laughter. He had said that his next Pathway would focus on humour and stand-up comedy, and Tuesday gave us a taste of it. Later that night, Stella told him she had laughed until her stomach hurt, more than after Pilates. It was easy to see why the room voted him Best Evaluator.

Han’s contribution drew a different kind of response. After his questions about SAA duties earlier in the week, Anna singled out the change she had seen in him that evening and his growing sense of belonging. Han, who handled SAA and Guest Sharing, and Tina, the Timer, each received five votes and shared Best Facilitator.

The photos gave the group more to talk about. Andy spotted matching clothes with the same style, colour and even pattern, and joked that only twins could manage it. Winston shared the first-half photos, while Tao praised Danny for directing people into a balanced composition. Thank you to everyone who helped preserve the evening, in front of the camera and behind it.

One less job for the next Meeting Manager

The next morning, Tao shared an Agenda Maker that turns the role sign-up into a printable agenda. Han asked how it worked and soon reported that he had tried it himself.

This week’s Meeting Manager had a speech about the job. The next one has a new tool to help with it.

Authentic, even when you cannot stay until the end

Min signed up as Grammarian and brought us the word of the day: authentic. She could not stay until the end because she needed to look after her child. We really appreciated her being there and what she contributed before leaving. To us, her presence was itself an example of being authentic: coming as herself, with both her enthusiasm for the club and her responsibilities at home.

Andy, Christy and Tina also had to leave early. Tina missed the awards presentation, including her own shared Best Facilitator award. Many of our members are parents now. Between children, work and the rest of life in Shenzhen, everyone has a lot to attend to. We may not always be able to stay for the whole evening, but we still make time to come together on Tuesdays.