On August o4th, Cruisemaster Anna took us on a fantastic all inclusive luxury staycation. We even had a foot spa! We do not have the space to tell the complete saga (our word of the day) of the night, but we have picked a few succulent details to share.

President Paul started our trip cheery as usual, safe from drowning thanks to his armbands. He said something about Brentford football club, his boss and £170 million. I can’t quite get it back together now, the kids at the pool were a bit noisy.

We had our quote master Stuart L dialled in, please find the quote below. He had to leave a bit early to get a soufflé out of the oven.

We started our speeches with the educational speech “GE 101” from Kevin, explaining how to be a great General Evaluator with a special guest appearance of John via video. This GE evaluates 12 roles that don’t get evaluated otherwise. He recommends the sandwich technique to do the evaluations: (weaker) commend – recommend – (stronger) commend, naming each person by full name, and keeping a close eye on timing. The general evaluator has an important role that can make or break an evening.
That said, Nina M did a fantastic job that night as GE!!

Our new member Nicky delivered her speech debut with her Icebreaker “Pathway to Pathways”.  She gave a compelling outline of the most important things in her life: Her 2 boisterous sons (6 and 8), being in the sunshine & outdoors and her job as business analyst. Her motto: Facing your fears and doing what you’re scared of  is the best way to grow. We could not  agree more with that!

Rebecca delivered a compelling educational speech on mentoring with the quirky title “My many marvellous mentors”. The speech brilliantly weaved together education and her own experience  with 3 mentors and we learned about the benefits of mentoring, both for protegé and mentor. These are advice, growth and sponsorship for the protegé, the chance to become a better communicator and listener as mentor. She also told us about reverse mentoring, where a more senior person learns from a junior colleague.
We will put a focus on mentoring this year, and Rebecca’s speech was a great kick-off!

Andy took us to the UK fruit festival in his table topics! Peter, Margaryta, Derek, Rosy, Emily and Ruslan all proved that they are quick on their feet when it comes to impromptu speaking and delivered juicy mini speeches. Nothing went pear-shaped in this session!

Congratulation to our elected best speakers! Nicky’s Icebreaker won her the award as best speaker, night owl Rosy delivered the best table topics and Liz received best evaluator with her evaluation of Nicky. Well done everyone!

We had a fantastic trip, I’m still finding sand everywhere!

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