Yes- I was Shot At

What a tremendous meeting we had at Pania today, a great turnout with 15 members present and also two guests. Brenda brought along a workmate Pip (who visited us once last year) and Noel a workmate in Graham. Both seemed very keen and hopefully will be signing up in the near future. This filled the room and made for a fantastic atmosphere and what followed was evidence of the atmosphere, the fun and the entertainment.


Graeme was our very efficient Toastmaster and keep the meeting running smoothly ,with much to get done, we finished only 1 minute past 1.00pm.

The first speaker was Russell  and his title was “Yes- I was shot at”, probably the best speech I have seen Russell deliver (and many others agreed) it was from an Advanced Manual being the “Dramatic Talk” Project.Russell entertained us with the story (true) of his escapades when travelling on a 11 hour train journey in Peru. A Policeman standing on the platform shot at the train and then boarded it and held a passenger with gun to head,right next to Russell, the army came to the rescue with the Policeman apparently the worse for drink and protesting about something! No one was physically injured although perhaps a few were psychologically effected ? Russell finished with the moral “that Alcohol and Firearms do not mix!” Well done Russell you deserved the “Best Speaker Award”.

Next up was Jane with another Advanced Speech in “Sell A Product”. Jane sold us the benefits (and downside) of joining! weightwatchers, a well presented speech and sincerely delivered, with some very good points to joining Weightwatchers (if you are not healthy and are overweight) some of us are fortunately not in that situation! Did you know that weightwatchers was started in 1951 by a lady in New York that lost 40 kilos (down from 100 to 60) in a reasonably short period? It works and Jane clearly showed us how. Well done Jane,if I was overweight you may have convinced me to join!.

Barbara evaluated Russell’s speech and made an excellent job of it (good practise for the Evaluation Contest at Area Day next week), she confirmed that Russell really met the objectives with excellent imagery, gestures and certainly entertained us, also had an excellent recommendation for him.

Laurence evaluated Jane’s speech and commended her knowledge of the subject (she used no notes) and the excellent audience participation to start the speech. He also had some excellent Recommendations for her to consider. He got “Best Evaluator”

Jan presented Table Topics (a bag full of kitchen items for members to talk about), Brenda had a bent Table Spoon (but had not seen a bent one before-sits on the edge of the pot etc) and gave a lively account of alternative uses for a spoon, priced at only $1.95 each!. Guest, Pip, was next up and had to explain what an eggwhite separator was, took a few seconds to catch on what the object was but entertained us with her explanations , which showed some great imagination, and offered the items at $1.99 less a 20% discount!! Finally Noel had a difficult item to explain (it was an item for assisting in opening “ringcans” like Coke,some baked beans, fruit cans etc, for those with handling difficulties), Noel gave us some excellent suggestions on what the item could be used for (without what it is designed for) and entertained us with his thoughtful reply. best Table Topic went to Brenda.
Timekeeper, Wendy gave us her report and Table Topics Evaluator Mike handled his assignment well with little time for preparation.

Viv gave a very good General Evaluation with feedback for those not already evaluated, and some excellent suggestions to most.

In the business session Barbara was presented with “BIG” Pania for winning the International Speech Contest a couple of meetings ago, come along and support her in the Area Contests of Evaluation and International Prepared Speech to be held Friday night 15th March, commencing at 7.00pm in the Hastings Baptist Church Lounge, Lyndon Road, Hastings (almost next to the Hastings District Council buildings) entry is by Gold coin donation and you will be entertained!!!

Thanks Barbara for another excellent Newsletter distributed at the meeting.