"A MAN'S BEST FRIEND!"

GENERAL EVALUATION FOR 10 AUGUST 2017

The TOASTMASTER,  Craig (The Birthday Boy) presented us with a very well-presented Agenda. 
The Programme commenced and closed punctually.  The Programme was competently and pleasantly conducted by Craig who kept to the time allocations.  Many thanks for the lovely birthday cake, enjoyed by all.


THE SERGEANT AT ARMS role was conducted extremely well as it always is by GRAEME who always greets us warmly on arrival.  He also sets up the hall.  He arranges the Chart, desk, chairs, heating, timing lights, banner and exterior notices.  All this commences half an hour before our arrival.
Graeme is ably assisted by Ian, David and Craig, who are also always present a half hour before the meeting commences.
Craig also has the onerous task of being Education Officer and all that it involves.  Very cheerfully and competently executed.

Table Topics were conducted by Carol, who chose special days for the speakers to talk about, six members in all had the opportunity to talk about a special day (i.e. Birthday, Waitangi Day, April Fool's Day,Wedding Anniversary, Halloween etc). An excellent choice of subjects by Carol and well answered by Kerry,Patrick, Barbara, Noel, Laurel & Jen.

TABLE TOPICS EVALUATOR.  This role was given to Sandy.  It is Sandy's first time to perform this role, and she did this most ably.  Very clear, precise diction delivered in a very pleasant manner.  Well done, Sandy.

Linda was one of the two prepared speeches and she gave us "The Oratorical Address" from the Advanced Interpretive Reading Manual . This was the acceptance speech by Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian Lawyer,former Judge and Human Rights Activists on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.She received it for "significant and pioneering efforts for democracy and Human Rights, especially for women, children and refugee's rights". Well selected Linda and very well delivered.

 EVALUATION OF Linda's Speech by STEPHANIE.  This was Stephanie's first evaluation.  Stephanie did an excellent job and put a lot time and effort into her introduction and evaluation.  Good, audible diction.  Well done Stephanie.

Darryl was our other prepared speaker and he was also working from an Advanced Manual, The Story Telling Manual, specifically "the Touching Story" which was entitled "A man's best friend". Yes- it was about a dog, Connor, a bull cross, and Darryl gave the story from the dog's point of view, utilising chairs for props and  'barking' out his message in an extremely capable and interesting manner. Well done Darryl something different and well executed.

EVALUATION OF Darryl's speech and presentation, by MARC.  Marc kept well to the time allocation and presented his introduction and evaluation of Darryl's speech with very clear, audible, precise diction.  Also later Marc presented  the Business Session competently and with no unnecessary chatter.  Marc was also very well personally presented. 

GENERALISATION.  This does not apply to today's Meeting, but this is for future reference.  Some times there is an unfortunate tendency to repeat what the speaker has said.  This is time consuming and unnecessary for the listeners. 

Also some Evaluators can speak too long on their introductions and spend nearly as much time as the Speaker.Let's keep introduction short, sharp and to the point.
Evaluations can often be lengthy, repetitive and time consuming and there  have been occasions when the Introduction has stolen all the "thunder" from the Speaker.  All that is necessary is a brief introduction and to mention the Objectives.  None of these recommendations applied to today's Meeting.  Also, it is a good policy to keep recommendations to a minimum remembering to include suggestions on how the speaker can implement your recommendation..  It is the experience of the Speaker getting up to speak at all which is the challenge and for we to give encouragement and confidence to the speaker.  Jane.

Jane summarised the meeting succinctly assisted by David, the Timekeeper, who kept us well to time.

BEST SPEAKER; Linda
BEST EVALUATOR; Sandy
BEST TABLE TOPIC; Laurel