Something about books

A new venue and a book in hand

Meeting 971 was the club’s first time at the Fubo International Talent Station, and it came with a twist: everyone was asked to bring a book. The idea was a book drift, where members could share or swap reads. Before the meeting, the group chat got into a lively debate about what to bring. One member asked: “话说我可以带毛选嘛？这个涉及政治吗？真心觉得毛选挺鸡汤的,” which drew the reply: “你那个叫社会主义的苗，我这个是资本主义的草.”

The new venue’s large screen was used for the first time, and the PPT switching didn’t go smoothly. As the Meeting Manager later recapped: “昨天第一次使用那个屏幕，刚好场地活动很多，工作人员没法一直现场支持，设备切换下一张 PPT 时有些问题.” Candy stepped up and rearranged the speech order to keep things on schedule. Edwin, drafted as last-minute SAA after being forgotten in the role assignments, handled the screen for the entire meeting: “还感谢@Edwin, 会议开始才发现我忘了抓 SAA，edwin 丝滑衔接，会议中一直帮忙操作那个我身高够不着的大屏.”

Prepared speeches

Max Zeng delivered “The Value of Toastmaster,” his first prepared speech. He had been nervous in the days leading up to it, at one point asking if he could switch to Chinese. The post-meeting consensus was clear: “会前怕讲不好，问能不能用中文讲，实践证明你完全没问题.” Fellow members encouraged him: “先从 0-1，再 1-100” and “最紧要敢讲.”

David spoke about “Three Lessons I’ve Learned as a Father,” and Candy delivered “When You Lose A Horse,” a mentoring-focused speech.

Table Topics: the book club edition

Stella ran Table Topics as an English book club session, asking participants to talk about books they brought. Mid-meeting, she reminded the room: “场地不聚声，大家安静哈，不然很影响台上的 speaker,” a sign that the new venue’s acoustics needed some getting used to.

GE Brent’s feedback left an impression. One member’s reaction summed it up: “@Brent you are sooooo REAL.” Not everyone stayed long enough to hear all of it, though. As Brent noted to one early leaver: “你跑这么快，是晚上要加班吗？都没听到我给你的 suggestion.”