Retirement

Prepared speeches

Four speakers took the stage on a Tuesday evening themed around retirement. Enya opened with her Ice Breaker “Love is the only language.” Candy followed with “ABC Model,” and Christy delivered “Inclusion and Respect,” a speech she grabbed at the last minute. Before the meeting, a message in the group chat cheered her on: “@Christy Christy！！！Yes！ I feel proud of you for grabbing the last chance to deliver a speech!” Vera, who also served as Meeting Manager, closed the lineup with “Why I Spent A Year to Prepare IELTS?”

Candy recorded video of every speaker and shared them afterwards: “每个人的视频都有 大家自取哈😄” For those who preferred privacy, she offered to send clips individually: “有想要自己昨晚视频的，可以私信我哈。因为有些亲不想传群里，就没有全传了。”

Old friends and new venues

Jason invited former members Bob and Dave back to serve as evaluators, a detail the GE forgot to acknowledge on stage but was corrected the next morning: “昨晚 GE 忘记感谢我们的老朋友 Bob 和 Dave 了，感谢 Jason 邀请他们回来。”

The bigger conversation that night was about a potential new venue. Toto introduced a talent hub near Fubao metro station: a free multi-purpose hall that could seat sixty or seventy people, with air conditioning and a display screen, just one minute from the station exit. Photos got immediate reactions: “Wow it’s beautiful 😍 good find!” and “this stage will make everyone love to speak.” Not everyone was focused on the free rent, though: “你们都没搞明白，免不免费从来不是最重要选项，能吸引更多感兴趣的人才是。” The club planned to trial the space twice in February before putting it to a vote.

Moment of the meeting

After the meeting wrapped, someone summed up the evening’s highlight: “今晚最有创意-XX son, star, speaker, evaluator.” With four speeches, four evaluators (two of them returning veterans), and a lively venue debate, Meeting 959 packed a full evening into one Tuesday night.