Experience

Before the meeting

The evening started with cake. Brownie had a Black Forest cake sent all the way from Nanshan to the Futian venue, though she couldn’t make it to the meeting herself. The cake was described as “披着白森林外衣，黑森林的心,” and it didn’t last long: “吃光光，第一次.” Meanwhile, the venue had been moved to the salon area on short notice, and Brent stepped in as TME after the original host couldn’t attend. New member Tracy also joined the club that day, paying her dues right before the meeting.

Not everyone had a smooth journey to the venue. Stella, driving in from another part of the city, took a wrong turn near the Bonded Zone and ended up at the Huanggang Port border crossing: “我明明快到了，一不小心走到黄冈口岸里去了.” She then accidentally got on the highway for good measure.

Prepared speeches

Four speakers took the stage under the theme “Experience.” Jason’s speech “Binge” had members buzzing before the meeting even started: “Jason 每次的标题总是具有巨大想象空间.” The title also served as an impromptu vocabulary lesson: “我第一次知道 binge 这个词，词汇量之贫乏.”

Anna delivered “The Trust I Lost,” ending with a cliffhanger that left the audience wanting more. As one member put it: “One smart way of Anna is that she put a ’to be continued’ hook in the end of the speech and make all the audience look forward to her next speech.”

Table Topics

Stella ran the Table Topics session on the theme of “Experience.” She later said she enjoyed the preparation process: “准备 TT 的过程很有意思，下期 TT 的灵感又有了.”

After the meeting

Brent shared a story from his commute: he ran into Christy on the subway, and she wasted no time putting on her VP Membership hat. “在地铁上和 Christy 不期而遇，就这么点时间，被她催着缴费.” He added: “小姐姐工作太认真了.” The turnout that evening was strong enough that one member simply noted: “今天人好齐.”