Are you informed?
Darryl was our Toastmaster of the day and opened our meeting
on time. There were a number of changes to the programme due to last minute
movements but we managed to get underway without too much delay. Sandy read our
Mission Statement and we moved directly to General Business for a change. Helen
discussed the prevalence of spam through the Toastmasters inbox and Craig
discussed the lack of spam in the forward programme! The new programme looked
great and was received with vigour – as opposed to spam which is not kindly
received at all!
Our first speaker, Helen was introduced by David and would be
speaking to us on Ways to Inform. We discovered that Helen has been a member of
Toastmasters for ten years. This was Helen’s third club and she also likes
taking public speaking classes - particularly at Flaxmere High
School.
Helen asked us how adults learn and then proceeded to tell us
the many ways in which we do learn. There were seven points that make up an
informed speech with four general approaches. Finally the delivery of the
speech was extremely important and could be fine-tuned by practice. In
particular we learned not to over whelm the audience with too many facts and to
stick to just two or three points and then back it up with good research. Helen
used good props and great vocal variety. David recommended she look up from her
notes more but overall felt it was a well delivered speech. We have to say it
was very informative - funnily enough!
Kerry introduced Linda who gave a speech from Interpretive
Reading Project 3 a mono-drama. Kerry set the scene and told us that an
imaginary person was beside Linda (the lawyer in this drama) and that Linda was
the main character. The mono-drama was entitled Crimes of the Heart by Beth
Henley. The story was all about infidelity in the Old South. Linda did a
fabulous job of taking us away on the story and Kerry even commented that she
nearly forgot to evaluate it because she was so engrossed in what might happen
next. This women shot her husband after he found out she was having an affair
with the 15 year old black farm hand – juicy! After she’d shot him in the
stomach she then went and made herself a pitcher of lemonade and offered it to
the dying husband who lay on the fine rug in the front parlour! Kerry only had
one recommendation which was for Linda to position her chair so that the
audience could see her better. One of the criteria was that Linda was not to
make eye contact with the audience so it was a difficult recommendation. Great
vocal variety, good gestures made more challenging by having to be sitting down
the whole speech.
Our table topics session was run by Laurel who told members
we were to think of ourselves as a useable item. Laurel had found a Kerosene
brand called Laurel so she proceeded to ensure other items were branded as club
members. Graeme was first up and he was selling the attributes of a microwave.
Microwave Graeme was reliable and turns people on – in particular women with his
three knobs! Russell was next as a weed sprayer. Russell Weed Sprayer stated
he had been accused of being very toxic. He commented that if he sets out to
destroy something its dead. Craig Garden Spade told us he likes digging around
for things and he liked being handled. Tall and with a good long handle on life
he felt he was overall, very sharp. Coffee Maker Jane immediately told us that
she doesn’t like coffee but likes making it for others. She is very efficient
and produces lovely coffee and loves seeing people get together over coffee.
Sandy the Lazy Boy Chair (you can lock the rock and put your feet up) told us we
all needed a lazy boy to relax into at the end of a tiring day. It’s big and
fits all body’s, offering complete relaxation. Sandy - The Blue Lazy boy for
relaxation.
The meeting wound up with a General Evaluation from Carol assisted by the Timekeeper, Patrick.
Overall we had a fun meeting with plenty of variety, Well
done!
Best Table Topics: Craig
Best Speech: Linda
Best Evaluator: Kerry
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