Office holiday party · The boss · Warm · about a minute and a half
Team Holiday Dinner Toast From a Manager (90 Seconds)
A team lead hosting her team of eight at a restaurant holiday dinner, at one round table, who wanted every person to hear one specific thank-you without the toast turning into a roll call.
Given by Meera, who leads a client services team of eight. 199 words. The names are made up.
The toast
Before the lazy Susan comes back around, I want to go around this table the same way the dumplings do, one line each, and I promise I'll be faster than the dumplings.
Keziah, you took every six a.m. client call all spring so the rest of us didn't have to, and you never once brought it up.
Sorin, you rewrote the onboarding doc nobody asked you to rewrite, and two people at this table learned the job from it.
Noelani, that's you. You started in March and were running your own accounts by June.
Darnell, you're the other one, and you ask the question everyone else is too polite to ask.
Radhika, you are the only reason the shared drive has folders.
Lenore, you caught the billing mistake in August that would have cost us our biggest client.
Ren, you made the Monday meeting shorter just by showing up, and I still don't know how.
And Rashid, you covered my work for three weeks in the spring, and the only email you sent me was two words. All good.
It was all good, because of you.
Everybody, glasses up. To the eight of you, and to the lazy Susan.
Why it works: The lazy Susan gives the list a shape the table can watch, so going around feels like part of the dinner and not a roll call. Each line is one sentence with one real thing in it, and the quiet ones get the same weight as the loud ones.
Make it yours
Borrow the shape, not the lines. Put your own people, your own year and your own detail in each spot, or answer a few questions and get a first draft built from them.