Speakers Evening

Training the brain how the memory works was the topic at the virtual meeting of the Rotary Club of South Queensferry on Thursday 4th June. Sheila Fraser, a member of Toastmasters Linlithgow Speakers, is a former neuroscience technician. Before her presentation, Sheila explained how Toastmasters was founded in USA eighty years ago as a forum for male after dinner speakers. Now it is also open to women and concentrates on teaching people from all walks of life speaking skills and how to make presentations.

In discussing how memory works, Sheila gave the Zoom audience of twenty-six small tasks to complete while watching her presentation. One involved naming and writing down all seven of Snow White's dwarfs. Sheila demonstrated how the brain ages and how memory can be affected by the process. Perhaps bearing this out, only three of the audience remembered all seven of the dwarfs! Sheila's talk was interesting and full of amusing anecdotes about memory which was much appreciated by the club members.

Sheila Fraser was introduced by Robert Farrelly. Allan Smith proposed the vote of thanks.