Autumn Ball 2010
by Elena Semenchuk, Art Talkers Club
On a beautiful day of Indian summer, on November 7th , one of the brightest annual Toastmaster’s events, the Autumn Ball , took place at the premises of the House of Scientists. In the ballroom, decorated with multicolored leaves, about 100 people gathered – members of the Toastmaster’s community and their guests.
Area Governor, Lily Nabochenko, having opened the Ball, passed control to the Masters of Ceremonies – Marina Chernysheva and Dmitriy Odnorogov who started the program by warming up the audience. From three statements announced, only one was true and the audience was supposed to guess which one. All of them seamed highly unlikely, but the Toastmasters are famous for their resourcefulness so a majority of the questions were answered correctly!
After the first portion of fun came an even more exciting part – the Humorous Speech contest. Four great speakers from different Toastmaster’s clubs participated. The first was Svetlana Stavska, President of EBA club with the speech “Be aware of your dreams “. Who could imagine a tender girl like Sveta would dream about a job at the US embassy constructions? In a funny way she told us about pitfalls of her job. Beware of your dreams, they can come true, warned Sveta. The next to deliver her speech “Surveys” was Irina Tagiltseva from Dnipro Hills club. Ira gave examples of surveys which can be comic, ludicrous and even intrusive. Moreover, sometimes we encounter surveys in places where we least expect them, for example in an embassy or in the Civil Registry office. She suggested taking any unexpected situations with humor. Alexander Shevchenko from Top Talkers was the third speaker. In his speech “Natural Selection” he shared his ideas and his own experience of how the harsh Ukrainian environment hardens a human’s character, body and mind. The last speaker was Levon Petrosian one of the most prominent members of Toastmasters in Ukraine. His speech “Esse quam videre“ which in English means “to be but not to seem” was about pretending, wearing “masks”, fake watches and what can come from it, because nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest. The recipe from Levon was as follows – “Just be who you are”.
After a short break filled with anticipation, Lily Nabochenko announced the results. Alexander Shevchenko took 1st place, Levon Petrosyan 2nd and Sveta Stavskaya 3rd. All the speakers received certificates and the 1st place winner received a chocolate fondue pan. Also the Area Team prepared small gifts for the MC’s and the past Area Governor Yuliya Dmytryshyn. Lily expressed her gratitude to those who helped to organize the exciting event. With this the official part was over, and the excited participants were treated with refreshments and got an opportunity to talk to each other, exchange news and impressions and take pictures with the other Toastmasters and friends.
However, this was just the beginning of the Ball itself. The premises were, as if by magic, turned into the real Ball room, filled with beautiful ladies in cocktail dresses and serious men in dark suits. It was not your usual ball but a “swing ball”. Professional swing dancers were invited to give a master class in swing. They showed some movements for the participants to follow and the latter eagerly formed couples and got involved in the process. It turned out that dancing swing was not an easy thing, but again I can hardly imagine a task that a Toastmaster would fail to perform.
Alas, all the good things come to an end and at 9 PM there was time for the Ball to end. Lily Nabochenko thanked everybody again for coming and for making such a great event happen.