An excellent Pania Toastmaster's meeting held today under the auspicious of Sandy as Toastmaster for the first time, Sandy utilised weather as a theme and ran the meeting exceptionally well and right to time!
We opened with the usual Club Mission Statement, read by Anna and then went right into the first speech introduced by David. The speaker was Barbara (and it was great to have Barbara back in the fold after a few months away). Barbara was doing an assignment from an Advanced Manual 'Speaking To Inform' specifically 'Resources For Informing' and it was entitled "Three Little Words".
These words were "Wellbeing, Mindfulness and Resilience" and Barbara wound these into a excellent presentation giving us several meanings of putting these words into practical situations to make a better life for every one. She also mentioned a seminar she attended where Dr Lucy Hone a Physcologist who has written a book "What Abbey Taught Us" and has experienced first hand one of life's major traumas in loosing a child in a motor accident.A very competent presentation and some excellent material for all those present to consider. Well done Barbara, you have not lost any of your speaking skills!
David Evaluated Barbara's speech and gave her due praise for the material and the presentation style but felt that perhaps she needed some more time to link the various parts of the speech together.
Next up Marc introduced Carol , who was again speaking from an Advanced Manual Assignment, 'Interpersonal Communication' specifically 'Diffusing Criticism'.This is not a Manual we often hear speeches from and Carol did an excellent job in the limited time available with a three part presentation.entitled "Doctor, Doctor"(no not the TV programme) but a situation where she utilised Helen as a patient and had some explaining to do to satisfy her difficult client. Carol gave us some excellent visuals like a quote from Frank A Clark "Criticism like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a person's growth without destroying their roots" and five things to remember "Listen,Acknowledge,Question,Paraphrase and Agree with truth" when dealing with criticism. Again a very worthwhile subject, which like Barbara's speech we can all learn and grow from the material presented. Excellent effort Carol.
Marc gave a very polished and effective evaluation for Carol and something we we could all learn from. he had many worthwhile commendations and also three suggestions for Carol, which he felt could have improved the presentation, which unfortunately suffered from a lack of time available.
Russel provided four well thought out local issues to discuss for Table Topics and those selected Noel, Anna, Patrick and Ian answered their respective topics well. Helen gave them all praise for their presentations in her Evaluation of Table Topics plus had an outstanding item from each of them which impressed her, she also gave us a short educational from the latest TM Magazine if you get stuck with a Table Topic, well done.
Craig wound up the meeting with his General Evaluation assisted by the Timekeeper Graeme, who seemed to enjoy utilising the bell today!! but at least kept us right to time.
During the business session, Craig presented the Pania Toastmaster of the Year Trophy to Helen (the 2nd year in a row for Helen) and extremely well deserved for her.
Helen has, in addition to being the Club President, always been willing to assist other members and has almost single handed continued to push the "Five Club Promotion' assisting all Clubs in the Hawkes Bay. A big CONGRATULATIONS to Helen.Next year it could be you.
Best Speaker ; Barbara
Best Evaluator; Marc
Best Table Topic; Ian
