An excellent meeting of Pania Toastmasters today attended by 16 members and one guest, Liz who all enjoyed a great and varied program overseen by the Toastmaster of the Day, Jen, who controlled the ajenda (agenda) well and allowed the meeting to flow smoothly with pertinent comments between each item.
Mike read the Mission Statement (aloud!) to get us underway and the first item on the agenda was a prepared speech by Linda, introduced by Graeme. This speech was intriguingly titled "Turkeys Do it!" and was a demonstration speech from one of the Advanced Manuals.Linda explained how with a recent house purchase she ended up with a large area of scrub, bush and overgrowth. To enable ecologically friendly clearance, she reverted back to what turkeys do in Queensland when building their nests. She very ably demonstrated the principle with diagrams and actually building a nest and showed how with this waste material you can end up with very efficient gardens. A most intriguing idea and extremely capably explained. Well done Linda!
Graeme's evaluation was very proficient and was, among many commendations, able to give Linda three worthwhile suggestions for improvement.He stated that she certainly achieved the speech objectives.
Table Topics followed led ably by Sandy for the first time, again a wonderfully creative session where members were asked to describe weird looking animals that Sandy had found on a 'strange island'. Not an east task, but excellent drawings of the animals assisted and even a copy was available for the audience to peruse.Carol (Octomouse); Mike (cross between a Scottish cow and a sabre tooth tiger);Liz (some really weird looking creature!) and Russell (a two legged swimming mouse) answered extremely well with great imagination and humour. Well done to all who took part and particularly Sandy for the originality of the idea.
Jane evaluated Table Topics and had many worthwhile commendations for each speaker, I believe some others in the audience were probably glad they were not asked, but a challenge is good for us and stirs the imaginative juices!
Patrick was the next speaker, introduced by Laurel.Patrick was completing Assignment Six from the CC Manual "Vocal Variety" with his presentation called "What Is Happiness?". We find it in many places and Patrick certainly found his after the horrific accident that he told about in an early speech, when he spent many months unable to walk and many more in recovery. This man's English is improving with every presentation and this was no exception with great Vocal variety, excellent use of pause and a sincere message all parceled into a very entertaining and interesting speech. Excellent work Patrick only four speeches to go for your well earned Competent Communicator Award.
Laurel's evaluation was well structured and encouraging for Patrick with many commendations and a couple of suggestions for improvement. The vocal variety was the main objective and that was certainly achieved. Great work Patrick and Laurel.
The business session reminded us about next week's venue, and the fact that this Club could have had TWO representatives in the District Table Topics final in Invercargill later this month. Unfortunately Laurel from Div. D cannot make it, but Marc, who is still a member of a Christchurch Club, is going to be there representing Division G, Best of luck Marc from all at Pania Club.
The meeting wound up with the General Evaluation from Craig (standing in for Wendy) with comments for the Evaluators and the Toastmaster, and he was ably assisted by the Timekeeper Stephanie, who was doing it for the first time and did a tremendous job, keeping us right to time until the General Evaluator spoke,then we last a couple of minutes!
BEST TABLE TOPIC: Liz(guest- Patrick's wife)
BEST SPEAKER;Linda
BEST EVALUATOR; Laurel
REMEMBER; Next week's meeting, due to our rooms being required for a two day conference, is to be at The West Shore Sea Scouts Hall, Meeane Quay. Bring you lunch and a Table Topic!
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