Toastmasters Leadership Village in Hsin-Tien

Linda, Trini, Amy, and I joined the demo meeting of Leadership Village Hsien Tien Advanced Toastmasters Club this evening. Marian Hsiao, the Incumbent D67 Governor complimented the foursome of us for dressing up and adding colors to the demo meeting. No one could be happier than Marian, because a new advanced Toastmasters club was born this evening. Many senior toastmasters signed up as the dual members on the spot. D67 will advance in the world ranking consequently.

The demo meeting was cool and fun without designated assignment takers on the agenda. Senior toastmasters volunteered to take the challenge to play various impromptu roles. Trini was the general evaluator and I was the individual evaluator of guest speaker Norton Moise. Tabletopics session was replaced with Everybody Speaks Session, a debate on what is more important between heart vs love, tie vs water, pen vs apple, book vs mobile phone, hand vs TV. Everyone was given 30 seconds to state their point of view with the wildest imagination possible. The meeting room was full of glee and laughter.

Toastmaster Norman Moise from New Zealand was the guest speaker of honor. He told a story about two boys, his encounter with Ricky, a baby boy who was born on the same day as his, December the 3rd. Norton and Ricky were both delivered by their fathers, Norton in a taxi in Chicago in a snowstorm, Ricky in a car in Dunedin. When Norton read the news about Ricky in the newspaper, he called Ricky's family immediately. He invited Ricky's family for sumptuous breakfast to celebrate Ricky's one month birthday at a fancy restaurant in Dunedin. Two strangers met, and they were connected afterwards.

I was very impressed with Norton's meaningful story at the demo meeting. Norton is a great story-teller indeed. At age of 82, he certainly has a lot to tell. But Norton does not just tell old stories, he makes new stories everyday. The more I get to know him, the more I admire his courage to take the challenge to travel on his own with a pacemaker in his heart.

"Life is about meeting people NOW", says Norton. Thank you, Norton for the valuable lesson in life. "When people buy, you sell. When people sell, you buy", says Norton. Thank you, Norton, for the valuable know-how in the stock markets which will make me and toastmasters who attended the leadership village (LV) demo meeting this evening rich people for the rest of our lives. How about you invite your bridge partner Warren Buffett to a toastmaster meeting in Taipei, Norton?